So after a rough drive to Havelock last night we had a pretty good sleep although we both woke a few times to the boat rocking and wind howling through the rigging but it was quite warm and the morning looked beautiful with sunshine and no wind. We got right to it and started by installing the new bow roller, dropped the anchor in place and reconnected the chain, then fire up the engine and lower the anchor....however when the switch was pressed up it did nothing, dad and I looked blankly at each other then pressed again and again but to no avail, I had a look at the wires on the back of the switch and one of the terminals broke off in my hand, as the Mythbusters would say "well there's your problem". I rummaged through my spare electrical box and found a 3 way switch so installed however it was not spring loaded to return to the off position and was rather terrifying to operate as the anchor either plummeted to the sea floor at a mad rate of knots or came flying back up onto deck one time which it managed to grab my foot, rip my shoe to pieces but thankfully I was wearing shoes or my poor foot would have been in a sorry state. I toodled off to the local chandlery and he wanted to charge $170+GST for a replacement switch which I was not really happy about parting with but managed to find a couple of other single spring loaded push button switches (one for up one for down) and at only $8 each I was rather chuffed so back to the boat. I made short work of removing the old bracket and fabricated a new aluminium one for the buttons, wired it up and tested it, works like a charm! but discovered the anchor roller is not that flash, the anchors weight wants to constantly tip forward and tip the bow roller on its pivot so its not great but dad is onto the solution! By this time the title of the post comes into play, the weather was playing all sorts of games, its fine one minute then pouring the next and we are running around trying to fit a tarp over the companionway to stop water getting in, so thanks mother nature for that one. Next task was the bunk inside, we promptly removed the bunk and in no time had framed up a new 50x50 frame, cut some ply and screwed it in place, traced around a dinner plate and cut out the holes to access the storage area behind the new seat back. Then it was off with the cushion cover, cut the foam to suit the new size and clean up the mess from jig-sawing inside. Then the hell of a job of the battery boxes, we labelled all we had to and began removing the tangle of wires that went here there and everywhere, thankfully I knew what a lot of them were. Then we man handled the 70kg batteries out and into the saloon so we could work. We made a decent base for the rear battery which before was just kind of hanging and sliding all over the show, then place the battery back in and frame LOTS of 50x50 around it, reframe the bed so its not so bouncy and 'fall-a-part-e (yeah I made that word up!). By the time we got the second battery in place its getting pretty late and I felt bad using the skillsaw at 9pm so we put the bed base back on so dad could head to bed. Oh and the solar panels were still not charging so power was getting pretty low by now and we just retired to bed to try save power. To be continued tomorrow....
Make up your mind!
So after a rough drive to Havelock last night we had a pretty good sleep although we both woke a few times to the boat rocking and wind howling through the rigging but it was quite warm and the morning looked beautiful with sunshine and no wind. We got right to it and started by installing the new bow roller, dropped the anchor in place and reconnected the chain, then fire up the engine and lower the anchor....however when the switch was pressed up it did nothing, dad and I looked blankly at each other then pressed again and again but to no avail, I had a look at the wires on the back of the switch and one of the terminals broke off in my hand, as the Mythbusters would say "well there's your problem". I rummaged through my spare electrical box and found a 3 way switch so installed however it was not spring loaded to return to the off position and was rather terrifying to operate as the anchor either plummeted to the sea floor at a mad rate of knots or came flying back up onto deck one time which it managed to grab my foot, rip my shoe to pieces but thankfully I was wearing shoes or my poor foot would have been in a sorry state. I toodled off to the local chandlery and he wanted to charge $170+GST for a replacement switch which I was not really happy about parting with but managed to find a couple of other single spring loaded push button switches (one for up one for down) and at only $8 each I was rather chuffed so back to the boat. I made short work of removing the old bracket and fabricated a new aluminium one for the buttons, wired it up and tested it, works like a charm! but discovered the anchor roller is not that flash, the anchors weight wants to constantly tip forward and tip the bow roller on its pivot so its not great but dad is onto the solution! By this time the title of the post comes into play, the weather was playing all sorts of games, its fine one minute then pouring the next and we are running around trying to fit a tarp over the companionway to stop water getting in, so thanks mother nature for that one. Next task was the bunk inside, we promptly removed the bunk and in no time had framed up a new 50x50 frame, cut some ply and screwed it in place, traced around a dinner plate and cut out the holes to access the storage area behind the new seat back. Then it was off with the cushion cover, cut the foam to suit the new size and clean up the mess from jig-sawing inside. Then the hell of a job of the battery boxes, we labelled all we had to and began removing the tangle of wires that went here there and everywhere, thankfully I knew what a lot of them were. Then we man handled the 70kg batteries out and into the saloon so we could work. We made a decent base for the rear battery which before was just kind of hanging and sliding all over the show, then place the battery back in and frame LOTS of 50x50 around it, reframe the bed so its not so bouncy and 'fall-a-part-e (yeah I made that word up!). By the time we got the second battery in place its getting pretty late and I felt bad using the skillsaw at 9pm so we put the bed base back on so dad could head to bed. Oh and the solar panels were still not charging so power was getting pretty low by now and we just retired to bed to try save power. To be continued tomorrow....
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