AIS Class B Transceiver Install

One of the systems we wished we had when we brought the boat down the coast from Seattle to Portland was an AIS transceiver.  AIS is an identification system that lets you identify and locate other vessels that are equipped with AIS. The International Maritime Organization's (IMO) requires ships of 300 or more tons and passenger ships to have AIS. We would like to see and be seen by large ships.  AIS receivers let you see other ships, whereas AIS transceivers let you see other ships as well as transmit your position, speed and heading to other ships, adding another layer of safety.

AIS uses Very High Frequency (VHF) and Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to gather and transmit AIS information to either a dedicated display, or it can overlay AIS information onto an existing chart plotter or navigation software such as MaxSea or Rose Point. Our Furuno chart plotter and radar are older and cannot decipher AIS, so we thought about upgrading our chartplotter. Unfortunately a new chart plotter and repeater at the nav station would end up costing more than $10k, so we decided to leave the Furuno chart plotter and repeater in place.  We can still use the Furuno for our radar display and GPS data display.  We will now use computer charts and overlay AIS information onto the laptop chart. 

 After some research, I chose the Comnav MarinerX2 Class B AIS transceiver, partly because it doesn't come with a VHF antenna. I didn't need a VHF antenna because I chose to use a splitter and use the same antenna for AIS and VHF, which is allowed. Plus it saves me a trip up the mast, which is not my most favorite thing to do. The splitter has a PL-259 plug for the antenna, and two plugs, one for the AIS and one for the VHF radio. That way, the VHF and the AIS share the VHF antenna. The splitter also has a FM connection, but I won't be using it since my radio antenna seems to be connected to something already.

 It was a bit of a mental exercise trying to figure out where to mount the AIS and the splitter since the nav station area is at a premium for real estate. I found a little spot for the splitter near the VHF radio, since the antenna cable already routes to that area and it's a short run from the splitter back to the VHF radio. The AIS is a little bigger than the splitter, but luckily, it has a low profile, so I mounted it under the nav station desk. It's not in the way at all, and we can easily reach under the desk and press the "silent" button to stop AIS transmission in pirate alley – if in the area.

 Instead of mounting the GPS antenna permanently and running the cable through a through-hull cable connection, I ran the RG-58 cable through a ventilation clamshell. This allowed me to test if the GPS placement will work in the current location, without having to drill a hole.  I’m going to be running some other cables through the deck (future project) and I may wait to see if I can bundle it and some other cables together in the same through-hull.

 The AIS has a NEMA0183 interface and a serial connection. I used the serial connection with a serial-to-USB cable and connected up to an old USB hub under the nav station. I won’t have to run individual USB cables to the laptop, I can just connect devices ( PACTOR modem) up to the hub and then we only have one cable from the hub to the laptop.

 For the power connections to the AIS and splitter, I used the chartplotter and radar circuit breaker. This way, we only have to flip one switch and we’ll have AIS, radar, and chartplotter all powered on. This is nice, especially since we are running out of space on our nav station for additional power switches. We currently have one slot left and we are saving it for the hot tub : )

 After the AIS was all wired up and powered on, we went to http://www.marinetraffic.com and looked for Bliss in the marina, but even after a while, we didn’t see anything. I thought there may be a delay on how long the data is displayed on the web site, so I called up the local Coast Guard station and asked if I was visible on AIS. The watchstander asked for vessel name and MMSI number and told me that I was not visible on AIS. The AIS interface showed GPS satellites in range and the AIS unit up and running, so I thought I maybe didn't connect the VHF correctly. I decided to swap the PL-259 cables one for the other. The one for the VHF to the AIS and vice versa. I powered everything back up and within minutes we could see Bliss on marinetraffic.com. The Coast Guard watchstander had offered to help if we needed another AIS check.  I called up the station again and this time he could see Bliss on AIS.

Simrad HLD2000 Autopilot

We started having problems with our Simrad Autopilot several months ago.  We were receiving a Rudder Response Feedback Failure on the Simrad AP22 display.  At first it would only happen while sailing in strong winds, but then it started happening in light winds and even when we were motoring.  We did some research online and also checked out the manual, which suggested looking at all of the wiring, connections and junction box.  

During our investigation, we discovered that the autopilot pump on the hydraulic linear drive was extremely corroded on the bottom.  We also found steering fluid on the hydraulic arm and around the autopilot area. We disconnected the hydraulic linear drive (Simrad HLD2000 MK2) from the brains (Simrad J300x), and brought the unit out into the cockpit for a closer look.  With the amount of corrosion, we decided to have the unit tested at our local Simrad repair shop. They said the unit tested good "to factory specs" after refilling with steering fluid. They suggested that we clean up the unit and reinstall it.

We took the pump off the unit to clean the rust and then repainted it. We put the unit back together again and then put it back in to the boat. This required some major "boat yoga" with Geralyn helping through the quarter berth and me on top of the batteries. We got the unit connected and bolted down and then started testing at the dock.  The test failed – the linear drive was not working.  How frustrating!  It was such a difficult job to remove the unit and put it back in.  We noticed that when we powered up the autopilot, the clutch would engage and take over the wheel by locking it.  So we assumed the clutch was working, but the pump wasn't.

We decided to disconnect the pump leads from the J300X and do some testing with a volt meter.  When we connected the volt meter to the J300X leads and pressed the buttons on the autopilot to turn to port or starboard, we got a spike in volts. This told us that the J300X was sending voltage to the pump, but the pump wasn't activating. Feeling pretty energized from the troubleshooting, we took the whole unit out again and disconnected the pump. We connected a couple of leads to the starter battery and tried to get the pump to energize straight from the starter battery. Nothing!  We opened up the pump to make sure the wires were connected on the brushes.  We noticed that one of the brushes was stuck.  The next day we took the pump to the Simrad repair shop to see if they could fix the problem. They called later to let us know that one of the brushes wasn't making contact and that they were able to fix it.  We tested the pump one more time on the boat before installing it on the linear drive – it worked!  After a few stretches, we reinstalled the unit in the boat.  We then did the dock side test again and it went well.  Phew!  We weren’t able to do the sea trial test that day, but will complete that to make sure everything is running smoothly.  Fingers crossed we’ve fixed the problem that was causing the error in the first place.

Hasse Inspection

Carol Hasse of Port Townsend Sails came in January to inspect the sails her loft made that we bent on in October 2011. http://www.porttownsendsails.com/about.htm  Everything looked great.  Unfortunately there wasn't enough wind to inspect the sails while sailing, so we had to check them out at the dock.

 

Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS)

Digital Selective Calling (DSC) is part of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), an internationally agreed-upon set of safety procedures, types of equipment, and communication protocols used to increase safety and make it easier to rescue distressed ships and aircraft.

DSC can be used to initiate ship-to-ship calls and distress signals. For the distress signal to work, the ship's Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) number must be programmed into the radio. A Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) is a series of nine digits which are sent in digital form over a radio frequency channel in order to uniquely identify a ship. Preferably, the radio is also connected to the GPS, so when the "Distress" button is pressed, the preformatted distress message will include information about the ship, as well as the position and time of the distress signal.

Non federal MMSIs are assigned by the Federal Communications Commision (FCC). For ships that do not intend to sail to foreign ports, the FCC has agreed to let BoatUS issue MMSIs. For boats that intend to travel to foreign ports, the MMSI number can be obtained through the FCC as part of the application for ships station license. A ship station license as well as an operator permit are required if you intend to sail to foreign ports and use your radio. A station license or operator permit are not required if you are sailing in international waters, only if you intend to visit foregn ports.

Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Maritime_Distress_Safety_System
Digital Selective Calling (DSC)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Selective_Calling
Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_Mobile_Service_Identity
MMSI through BoatUS
http://www.boatus.com/MMSI/
MMSI through FCC
http://wireless.fcc.gov/uls/index.htm

Kyocera KD135GX

These panels seem to be pretty common in the marine world. Since we took measurements of the bimini, and solar panel manufacturers give you exact measurements of their panels, I could superimpose the panels on the bimini and see how they would fit. These panels fit inside the backstays and block a portion of the windex window.

I even played around with the panels mounted sideways, but that just doesn't look right.

Solar Survey

We're thinking about adding solar panels above the bimini, so we took some measurements to see what sort of panels we can fit up there. The last time I was aloft, I took a picture of the boat from above, so I decided to create a little diagram with the measurements superimposed.A couple of tricky bits with mounting panels above the bimini. For one, we have double backstays that go through the bimini. Also, the bimini has a small window so see the windex on top of the mast.
We'll have to find some panels that fit inside the backstays, and don't interfere with the view of the windex too much.

Reefing Line Calculations

This weekend we'll run some small line through the reefing system and check my measurements. Our boom is 12.80 ft, but I put down 13 to round up. The Selden Single Line Reefing installation manual says to make the short reefing lines the length of E (the boom). Then, the long reefing lines should be 4xE for reef 1, and 6xE for reef 2. I've added the loop around the boom (2) as well as from the gooseneck to the deck (2) and from the mast base to the cockpit (14). Then I added 2 extra feet beyond the rope clutch.

Port Townsend Rigging Lazy Jack Project

Pictures of our finished lazy jack project.

Selden Single Line Reefing System

The Selden diagram was a little confusing, so I created my own with Visio. The picture is of the Selden single line reefing block. One end is eye spliced, and goes towards the luff reefing grommet. The other end is a block with a line through it. One end of the line goes through the leech reefing grommet, and gets looped around the boom with a bowline and a loop. The other end goes to the mast base or cockpit, where you set the reef. Pulling on the reefing line pulls the luff and leach down at the same time, therefore reducing sail area (reefing).

Wax On Wax Off

With colder weather on its way, we decided to get a coat of wax on Bliss before winter.  There are a few steps involved.  First, we wash the boat really well with diluted Simple Green, rinse well and towel dry.  Second, the surface was a bit dull, so we decided to polish the boat before waxing.  We used Collinite 870.  After using the polish, the surface shined like new.  Finally, we added a coat of 3M wax.  We will try the Collinite 885 wax next time.  The topsides and one side of the hull took us both ten hours - what a work out!

 

Xantrex Battery Monitor

The instructions on the Xantrex installation manual says that these two wires (yellow & brown) should be twisted to reduce noise interference. Originally, they were not twisted. We thought this may be the cause of incorrect readings on our starter battery charge, but that wasn't it. After twisting the cables, the problem is still there.

We had the starter battery tested, and the battery health came back at 50%. So we started looking for a new starter battery. Our fist choice is Mastervolt, but there is a limited sales network here. We may have to settle for our second choice, a Trojan 31M AGM.

Mast Boot

During our Tides Marine Strong Track project, we droppped some fasteners inside the mast sail groove. The fasteners fell inside the mast boot, which forced us to cut the boot to retrieve them. The boot was looking a little tired anyway. This is our new mast boot before, during and after.

New Sails

Our new sails are here from Port Townsend Sails and our old sails are in consignment. Our friend Matt helped Geralyn bend on the genoa while I was trying to figure out how to remove the broken tap from the boom. This genoa is smaller than our old genoa. This one is 120%. 100%, being from the headstay to the mast, the sail goes past the mast 20%. Our old genoa was 135%, and didn't have the luff foam, which gave it a funny and not very efficient shape when reefed. The main is drastically different in that it is not integrated with the stackpack and lazy jacks. With this new setup, the mainsail, lazy jacks and possibly stackpack, will be independent of each other. Also, our old mainsail had three reef points. Our new main has only two, but they are deeper reefs, so that the second reef is where the old third reef would have been. We like this better because the old third reef had to be set from the mast. Possibly the last place you want to be when you're setting the third reef. Now we can set reef 1 & 2 from the cockpit. Another big difference is that our new main is loose-footed, so the foot is not attached to the boom. Can't wait to get the lazy jacks installed, so we can go for a test sail. We tried dowsing the sail without lazy jacks and it took Geralyn and I 15 minutes to flake the sail.

Broken Tap

I feel like I dodged a bullet. In my eagerness to mount the lazy jack hardware, I started mounting padeyes into the bottom of the boom. We have a Selden boom, and it has our reefing lines inside the boom along with some blocks that give us 2:1 purchase when reefing. I thought if I cut the fasteners down so that they were just inside the aluminum, I wouldn't run into any of the internal reefing controls. On the second hole of the first padeye, I broke the tap inside the boom. To make matters worse, the broken tap prevented the second reefing line from moving. The tap broke flush to the surface, so there was no way to get it out by reversing. Finally, I had the idea of pulling on the reefing line really hard to dislodge the tap. It worked. When I pulled the line out of the boom, I could see the tap had gone into the line, but not the blocks. I didn't want to leave the tap in the boom, so we coaxed it out with a magnet, since the boom is aluminum and the tap hardened steel.

I think if I continued mounting the padeyes, I may have done permanent damage to the boom. Luckily, I had the idea to contact Port Townsend Rigging. The folks at Port Townsend Rigging suggested a boom slider that goes in the bottom groove of the boom. That way, I don't have to drill any holes and compromise the internal reefing system.

Aloft Again

Lazy Jacks

We're installing a new set of lazy jacks that is independent of the stackpack. We saw the Port Townsend Rigging Lazy Jack system at the Seattle Boat Show, and decided to try it. First step was to mount two cheek blocks on the mast about 25' up. We're just now starting to feel comfortable going aloft, but going aloft with tools and doing precision drilling and tapping is another story. Luckily, with Geralyn on travel, my friend Matt agreed to help. Here are some pictures of drilling, tapping and mounting cheek blocks for our new lazy jack system. The first picture is a template we made to mount the cheek blocks exactly 15 degrees off center.

Fall Chinook Salmon

We have neglected our blog a little, and here's why - it's fall Chinook salmon season on the Columbia River.  We have put in some hours with a line in the water. Geralyn caught this one. It was delicious!

Tides Marine Strong Track

Our old Tides Marine Strong Track was looking quite tired, so we ordered a replacement. The company has all their orders on file, so if you give them your track number, they can pull up your order and provide any assistance or replacement. Tides Marine has really impressed us with quality and customer service. This is our new track.

Naked Bliss

We removed the sails in preparation for removing the sailtrack and bending on new sails. Removing the sail was a little involved because the stackpack and lazy jacks were all integrated. We like the stackpack concept, but we're not sure about it being sown to the sail. We may go back to a stackpack someday now that we have options. Bliss really looks strange without sails.

Portlight Film

Our forward berth portlights are clear, so they don't provide much privacy. There's also no way to shut out the sun in the morning and we didn't want to use curtains. We looked into some very expensive magnetic panels that go over the portlight, but decided to try a cheaper option for now. This film is made by Gila and it provides privacy, UV protection, and shuts direct light out. It also comes off pretty easily with a soapy solution. We're pretty happy with it so far. We like being able to see out of the portlights, so we probably won't do all of them, only selected ones throughout the boat.