This has been a week of work and enjoyment.
We bought an IPAD II before leaving Key West for the Bahamas. I enjoy it, but it IS NOT a computer! There are a lot of advantages to the IPad however. We subscribe to a website called www.ActiveCaptain.com. Our primary use of this site is for information regarding marinas and facilities around the world that other cruisers have visited and commented on. This is one of the largest cruiser based sites on the Internet-built and managed by cruisers for cruisers.
ActiveCaptain sends out update emails on a regular basis, and several were sent regarding IPad based navigation software apps. After comparing all they offered, we downloaded the INAVX Navigation app and bought the charts for the US and the Bahamas from Navionics as that is what our Raymarine E-80 uses. VERY NICE backup to our normal navigation software! The standard in charts for the Bahamas are the three Explorer chartbooks, and comments I have seen stated is that the Bahamas charts are not very accurate in Navionics. so using Explorer chart Waypoints and routes plugged into INAVX and the E-80, we experienced FLAWLESS navigation around all points in the Bahamas. Way cool!
What we found was I could plan the routes on the IPAD in the comfort of the cabin at night before leaving, and transfer everything to the E-80 the next morning manually. Now Raymarine has taken the new E-80 chartplotter to the next level and it comunicates with the IPAD INAVX via Bluetooth. Doggone the luck of the Irish!
I have spent two of the last three days in the bilge troubleshooting and then replacing the bilge pump switch. The air conditioner removes moisture from the air while cooling the boat. That water drains to the bilge. As the bilge is the lowest open area in the boat, all water seeks that area. On a boat, ya gotta get rid of "the bilge water" fortunately we are not plagued with "bilge water rats"! So in the bilge is a pump and a float switch. As the water rises, so does the float (like a toilet tank). When the float reaches a certain height, the pump comes on, drains the bilge, the float switch drops and the pump shuts off. This past week, the last step DIDN'T happen!
To get to the bilge pump and switch, I had to remove the engine exhaust hose and move the muffler out of the way. That still gave me only about a square foot of space to work in and the prop shaft ran right through my work space. Using a manual hand pump, I emptied the bilge of 13 gallons of slimy, oily water. Then proceeded to unbolt and pull the pump, then unscrew and pull switch out. I would say this was a corrossion issue probably. As we use a special switch (not a run-of-the-mill float switch for this boat) and a cycle counter/alarm, I had to prove the switch was bad. Now I am not the proficient electrician my dad was. It took a while! I finally ended up getting it replaced through the one year warranty. And Friday morning got the entire thing put back together! It worked and so did the engine!
We are in St. Cloud again this weekend to see Renne's Dad and Step-mom for Labor Day. We should be back in town on Monday. We have friends from Glassy Mountain, SC coming in on Tuesday. On Friday, we will leave for Norfolk, and expect to pick up a Space-Available flight to Europe for a few weeks to spend with our friends, Barb and Doug Schindler (saw them last year in Spain, this year in Italy). We will have lots to talk about from there.
Thanks for showing up. Come down to the docks tomorrow evening and share some Sundowners with us. We will be glad to see ya.
JonNe'
No comments:
Post a Comment