August 15, 2011

Last week I completed the last of the preparations for putting the house on the market, and was able to dedicate two days to work on Circadian. With the house "untouchable," I'll be spending more time on Circadian. In the meantime, things are a bit chaotic because I'm neither here nor there. As every sailor knows, it's OK to stand on the dock or step onto the boat, but you can get into real trouble by standing with one foot on the boat and the other on shore.

I've begun bringing more things for living aboard, but it's a continuing challenge to organize and find the right place for all the stuff since the boat is in the middle of restoration and the aft cabin is stuffed chock-a-block with tools and gear. Because of the sorry state of many of the lockers, drawers and cabinets, I often have to do some refurbishing or modifications before I can use them. Not surprisingly, then, one of my goals for the week was to convert the now-inaccessible drawer under the new v-berth extension into a locker with hinged front so it can be used. Once that was accomplished, I wanted to get started on the installation of the new WH Autopilot, which they say is at least a three-day job.

On one of my trips to the boat, I managed to bring my kayak, which features a clear plastic center section for underwater viewing, down to Circadian. I covered it and secured it in place on the cabin top after rearranging the spare anchor beneath it so it wouldn't foul the genoa sheets.

During one of my days at the house, used the shop to modify the v-berth drawer. First, I cut the drawerfront off the box.

Next, I cut the drawerfront lengthwise so that I would have a lower piece from which to hinge the main section of what would become the door.

I spent about twenty minutes carefully setting up the table saw to cut recesses for the hinges on both pieces of the drawer front cum door. It was time well-spent as the cutting itself was quick as well as perfectly accurate and symmetrical.

I even had some time left to lay on a coat of varnish on both the new locker front and one of the other under-berth drawers that was unfinished. The most painful part of the whole process was having to pay $25 for a pair of stainless steel hinges at Worst Marine, since I didn't have the time to order them elsewhere.

The next morning, I headed to Hidden Harbor to install the newly converted drawer. As usual, it was a nice warm day with some interesting wispy mares tail clouds on the horizon. A bright new sunflower greeted me at the entrance gate when I arrived.

Once onboard, my first step was to screw down the old drawer box to form the new locker space.

Next, I screwed the door made from the drawerfront into place. Once I cover the countersunk screws with teak bungs, it will look great. I also need to add an elbow catch so that the door can't open accidentally. In the meantime, it's ready for use and provides easy access to stowage even with the berth extension in place. Speaking of which, I have given the paper pattern I made last week to an upholsterer to get the new cushions made. It will likely take at least a month, so I'll have to be patient.

With my new locker space completed, I started on the autopilot installation. That is a priority because it must be installed and tested within 30 days from purchase to retain the warranty.

The WH Autopilot consists of several components: the pilothouse controller, used to set and use the autopilot underway, a fluxgate compass to tell the computer the boat's heading, a heading electronics box, which is the main cable junction box, a rudder angle transmitter that tells the computer the actual rudder angle, a 1/4 hp electric motor to power the hydraulic pump, an electronic motor controller, a hydraulic pump that must be plumbed into the existing hydraulic steering, and various cables, valves and fittings to connect all the components.

The first phase of the installation process was determining where each of the key components would be mounted. The locations for some, such as the pilothouse control, the rudder angle transmitter, and the hydraulics, were largely dictated by necessity. Locations for the remaining components were determined by maximum cable lengths, accessibility, protection from weather, and, in the case of the compass, a series of geometrical and magnetic requirements. It was a demanding process that took a lot of measuring, remeasuring, and head-scratching. So, I started with what I thought would be the easiest part: mounting the pilothouse control. I wanted that easily viewed and reached from the helm, and visually contiguous with the other helm instruments if possible. The obvious spot was next to the instrument panel. HOWEVER, because of the limited length of the cable that connected it to the heading electronics box, I wasn't sure if it would be possible, given my options for where the heading electronics box could be located. I was going to have to mount the heading electronics box first, then see how close I could come to getting the pilothouse controller where I wanted it once the cable was connected. The heading electronics box also had to be within the 30 ft cable length of the compass. The compass, in turn, had to be located as close as possible to the boat's center of gravity and at least 30 inches away from any sources of variable magnetic fields, which include everything from radios and the engine to literally the galley sink. I eventually determined that the best compromise for locating the compass was in the corner of one of the lockers under the settee. It was on the boat's centerline, reasonably close to the center of gravity, and away from sources of magnetic influence, with the exception of a bunch of old tin cans of food in the locker that can easily be relocated and replaced with non-ferrous stores. So, now I had to mount the compass and run the cable to the planned location of the heading electronics box to sure it would reach. I had to tear up the saloon and drill a lot of holes to do it, but it was a happy conclusion in the end: the cable was long enough. So, now I could mount the heading electronics box and run the cable to the pilothouse control to see where I would be able to mount that. That too required drilling holes and performing the usual contortions to run the cable. But again, it was a happy result and I was able to mount the pilothouse control right where I wanted it.

Although there is still a lot of work to go before the autopilot installation is complete, I was happy with what I had accomplished. I cleaned up the mess, called it a day and headed back to the house.