Krisanngria and I have a date and we are already late for the party. Being a beautiful woman, she takes a very long to get ready and cares not a bit for your timeline. This girl just isn’t ready.
This season’s jewelry: new navigation lights, a new VHF radio, and a new float switch.
All of last year we relied solely on our hand-held VHF as our old Standard Horizon had finally kicked the bucket. Using a handheld might be OK while in a harbor, but could be risky on longer distances like crossing Cape Cod Bay. So I set out to find a replacement, preferably one that was reasonably priced and would fit in the existing cut out on the panel without modifications. Krisanngria is 35 years young and presumably so is our old Standard Horizon. Since then a lot has changed technology-wise and I didn’t know what I was getting into. An alphabet soup of features awaited my choice: AIS, GPS, NMEA, MMSI etc. And here I thought all I wanted was VHF… In the end I chose an ICom with an excess of features, but no AIS, that I have yet to learn. With some shimming, the new radio came very close to fitting the former slot. (If you look closely there is a slight gap). However, because of the thickness of the decks, the GPS can’t pick up the satellites. A GPS antenna and a helm station will go on the worklist of the future.
I did not pull the mast last winter and that was probably a mistake. At a minimum I knew I had to install a new Windex because the old one blew off in one of the tropical storms last year. But as I progressed through the commissioning process I discovered that the anchor light was not working, the steaming/deck light was working incorrectly, and the bi-color light wasn’t working. Several flights were made up the mast to diagnose, troubleshoot, and resolve the problems. Ultimately, all the fixtures were replaced, but the combination steaming/deck light still light up at the same time and should be separated to eliminate light pollution when steaming at night (which I rarely do anyway) Another item for the worklist of the future.
Finally, a couple of days before my launch date, we had the hose aboard to flush the engine so we could give the bilge a quick test. With the switch in the manual setting, the pump worked fine. Next, we switched to the automatic setting and filled the bilge with water… nothing. We repeated the test several times with the same result and ended up pulling out the float switch. The switch had somehow disintegrated and there were no working parts remaining in the device. With the float switch not working, uncertain as to whether I could find the replacement, let alone get it delivered in time with all the supply chain problems, and being very reluctant to put the boat on the mooring without an automatic bilge, I postponed the launch date.
Post Script: My friend Mike helped me with all of these projects. And, when I say helped, he basically did all the work while I read manuals, passed tools, and tried to learn something about boat electrical systems which remain a mystery-though less so. Also, I’d like to plug RG Products of South Florida– the inventor and manufacturers of the Ultra Safety System float switch. They were just fantastic to work with.
