Summer in Baltimore
May 29 thru June 3
—Blogpost written by Bob
Wednesday, May 29
I dropped Maggie off at the airport this morning for her flight to Sarasota, FL. She is flying down to Sarasota to help clean out her friend's (the one who recently died) residence.
From the airport I drove to Annapolis to pick up some more items I need for some of my ongoing projects, this time at West Marine. I managed to find everything I needed!
When I got back to the boat is was very hot (reaching 93 degrees) and humid. I worked on indoor projects, like completing the mounting of my new chart plotter in the navigation station. I also surveyed all my existing breakers on my electrical panel and worked at a way that I can create two new circuits (one for the AIS transponder and the other for the secondary chart plotter.)
In the late afternoon a micro blast of wind came through the marina--it was like a 50 mph wind that only lasted 5 to 10 minutes and then suddenly quit. After the wind quit there was a light rain but it didn't amount to much of anything. Crazy weather!
In the morning, I helped my boat neighbor rip off the old teak platform on his forecastle. I love ripping things apart! By the time the demolition was completely done, it was already 9:30 AM and beginning to get hot outside. I really didn't feel like starting my wiring project at that time.
I began the project by gathering together everything I needed and then doing the inside work first. I never got to do the outside work because of the high heat in the afternoon.
After I ran into problems with the AIS, I stopped work on it and began to upgrade the software on the secondary chart plotter to match the version on the primary chart plotter at the helm--this was a requirement for them to communicate with one another.
So, while I made a lot of progress today, nothing has fully worked yet...
We had a light breakfast in the boater's lounge and then returned to the boat to give Captain Jack his bath (due to his falling in the harbor yesterday).
Of course, Maggie is the only one with enough patience to bathe Jack. She talked to him while he was being bathed and even used conditioner on him. What a life!
This morning I ordered (an old fashioned) DYMO embosser on eBay to replace my newer electronic DYMO label maker which recently gave up the ghost. (I don't think the electronic version is capable of tolerating the marina environment for very long.) I hope that the old fashioned embosser (using plastic tapes) holds up better.
After lunch at the Tiki Hut (at Bo Brooks), we came back to the boat and I dug into the SeaTalkng Network Manual. Then, I took photo's of the parts of the network that were available for observation and pieced together a hand sketch of the network. Below is one of the photos--this one shows the network connections around the fluxgate compass (which is located under the v-berth).
I haven't been involved with the boat's network wiring until recently because the network was added when I upgraded the autopilot (last summer). (The network cabling was done by my boatyard.) When I added the AIS receiver, I got involved in just a bit of it but now I feel that I have to fully understand the entire network.
On this morning's agenda was cleaning the raw water strainer for our A/C--this was accomplished easily. It was the first time we cleaned it this summer season. Usually we clean it weekly during the summer (and from now in we will be cleaning it weekly).
I'm experimenting with infused vodka, in particular two different flavors, cucumber and cantaloupe. I decided to try small sized samples before embarking on a larger batch. We recently purchased cucumber-lime flavored vodka but it tastes artificial--so, I am going to make my own. (I made the cucumber infused vodka several years ago and it turned out great as I recall.)
I got both network cables fed through the bulkhead into the starboard cockpit locker and got all the cables nicely arranged in the cockpit locker. I loosely fed the network cables into the engine compartment to pick up another day.
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Driving Maggie to the airport is nothing like this happy image, believe me. |
From the airport I drove to Annapolis to pick up some more items I need for some of my ongoing projects, this time at West Marine. I managed to find everything I needed!
When I got back to the boat is was very hot (reaching 93 degrees) and humid. I worked on indoor projects, like completing the mounting of my new chart plotter in the navigation station. I also surveyed all my existing breakers on my electrical panel and worked at a way that I can create two new circuits (one for the AIS transponder and the other for the secondary chart plotter.)
In the late afternoon a micro blast of wind came through the marina--it was like a 50 mph wind that only lasted 5 to 10 minutes and then suddenly quit. After the wind quit there was a light rain but it didn't amount to much of anything. Crazy weather!
Thursday, May 30
In the morning, I helped my boat neighbor rip off the old teak platform on his forecastle. I love ripping things apart! By the time the demolition was completely done, it was already 9:30 AM and beginning to get hot outside. I really didn't feel like starting my wiring project at that time.
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| Equipment gathered for my upcoming wiring project. The 3 and 15 are amperage ratings of the fuses. |
I began the project by gathering together everything I needed and then doing the inside work first. I never got to do the outside work because of the high heat in the afternoon.
Friday, May 31
It was considerably cooler this morning than it has been the last couple days—it was a very pleasant change!
This morning after my shower I got right to work with the wiring of the secondary chart plotter and the AIS. I moved the wiring for the circuit breakers so that it created two open circuits for the two new pieces of equipment.
Then, I got the secondary chart plotter up and running. Before I could connect it into the network, I had to upgrade the software to the same version as the helm-mounted chart plotter.
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My work was interrupted at mid-morning due to a cat overboard. Captain Jack tried to jump from the floating dock on the port side onto our boat’s deck and apparently misjudged the distance. His front feet made it onto our boat but he ended up in the water. Our boat neighbor scooped him up with a net and held onto him until I got around the boat on the dock. I left him outside on the boat while he dried off.
A little later, Lola decided to take a stroll on a neighboring boat. I had to interrupt my electrical work (again) and chase her home. From then on, they were on restriction (kept inside the boat) while I continued working.
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Before addressing the software issue on the secondary chart plotter, I continued with the wiring for the new AIS transponder. When I got it connected (except for the network connection) I tested it. I had power but I couldn’t get any transmitting signal on the MarineTraffic app on my iPad. So, after taking a break for lunch, I hooked up the network connection to the AIS and fired up my helm-mounted chart plotter (which controls the AIS). Still, I had no signal and the chart plotter indicated "No AIS" in the status bar.
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| The SeaTalkng backbone (shown above) is some of the network connections. |
After I ran into problems with the AIS, I stopped work on it and began to upgrade the software on the secondary chart plotter to match the version on the primary chart plotter at the helm--this was a requirement for them to communicate with one another.
So, while I made a lot of progress today, nothing has fully worked yet...
Saturday, June 1
We had a light breakfast in the boater's lounge and then returned to the boat to give Captain Jack his bath (due to his falling in the harbor yesterday).
 |
| Captain Jack's bath in the head sink. He sure looks small with his hair all wetted down! |
Of course, Maggie is the only one with enough patience to bathe Jack. She talked to him while he was being bathed and even used conditioner on him. What a life!
----------
This morning I ordered (an old fashioned) DYMO embosser on eBay to replace my newer electronic DYMO label maker which recently gave up the ghost. (I don't think the electronic version is capable of tolerating the marina environment for very long.) I hope that the old fashioned embosser (using plastic tapes) holds up better.
----------
After lunch at the Tiki Hut (at Bo Brooks), we came back to the boat and I dug into the SeaTalkng Network Manual. Then, I took photo's of the parts of the network that were available for observation and pieced together a hand sketch of the network. Below is one of the photos--this one shows the network connections around the fluxgate compass (which is located under the v-berth).
 |
| The connections at the forward end of the SeaTalkng network. A blue backbone cable runs to the area under the v-berth where a white spur cable connects to the electronic compass. |
I haven't been involved with the boat's network wiring until recently because the network was added when I upgraded the autopilot (last summer). (The network cabling was done by my boatyard.) When I added the AIS receiver, I got involved in just a bit of it but now I feel that I have to fully understand the entire network.
 |
| SeaTalkng connections in the instrument pod at the helm. (The yellow connection leads to our ST-60 instruments.) |
Sunday, June 2
On this morning's agenda was cleaning the raw water strainer for our A/C--this was accomplished easily. It was the first time we cleaned it this summer season. Usually we clean it weekly during the summer (and from now in we will be cleaning it weekly).
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| On the left is cucumber infused vodka and on the right is cantaloupe-infused vodka. (I had to use rubber bands to hold the poorly fitted lids in place.) |
I'm experimenting with infused vodka, in particular two different flavors, cucumber and cantaloupe. I decided to try small sized samples before embarking on a larger batch. We recently purchased cucumber-lime flavored vodka but it tastes artificial--so, I am going to make my own. (I made the cucumber infused vodka several years ago and it turned out great as I recall.)
----------
I got both network cables fed through the bulkhead into the starboard cockpit locker and got all the cables nicely arranged in the cockpit locker. I loosely fed the network cables into the engine compartment to pick up another day.
Monday, June 3
It was nice and cool most of the day with a strong westerly breeze (maybe 15 knots). We packed up most of our winter clothes on the boat so that we could take them to our storage unit. We left for Annapolis at about 8:30 AM. My first priority was to get my iPhone checked—the hotspot was not working recently. Verizon did a reset of the phone and the hotspot worked after that.
We then went to our storage unit and dropped off our winter clothes. We drove from there to Goodwill to drop off some clothes we no longer need and then to Bacon’s to pick up plastic zippers for cockpit cushion backs that Maggie is making.
We stopped at Annapolis Seafood and picked up some Mahi-Mahi as well as some cooked lobster claws. After lunch at Italian Market, we stopped at Safeway in Annapolis to get a few provisions.
When we got back to the boat I began marinating the Mahi-Mahi in lemon juice and cleaned the lobster meat out of the lobster claws. Maggie will be making lobster mac-n-cheese later in the week.
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| Our 12-volt electrical panel with temporary yellow labels in three places. |
Shortly thereafter, we continued the wiring project where I left off on Sunday. We had to clean everything out of the quarter berth, remove the platforms under the cushions and remove all the panels around the companionway to get access for the continued routing of the network cables. We completed the project at around 5:30 PM. I was beat!
I never even checked if everything was working--we'll find out tomorrow...
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