So there is a LOT going on with Evenstar. The two largest projects are the electronics upgrade and the bottom refinishing. I’ll address the latter with a later post.
And I promise pictures of the new equipment installs as soon as I’ve vacuumed up all the little bits of snipped wire and insulation and wiped up all the dust. For now I won’t bore you with pictures of gear from manufacturer’s web sites, you can find them on your own if you are dying to know what an MFD 12 looks like. OK…I’ll give you links.
The Great Electronics Upgrade Debacle of 2010 is progressing nicely. Not as fast as I hoped but not as slow as I feared. At this point we have:
- Two functioning Furuno Multi Function Displays (MFD); an MFD8 at the nav station and an MFD12 in the cockpit under the dodger. This is a departure from the original plan of the MFD8 at the helm and the MFD12 on the nav station. Simply put – too many wires in the binnacle and not enough holes. My desire for an MFD within reach of the wheel is lower than my desire to not take the binnacle off and take a hole saw through the deck into the engine room to make more room for cables. These are talking to the NMEA network and each other.
- FA30 AIS Receiver is installed and probably functional. It turns on and does not produce errors and the MFD’s can see it. But I can’t see any ships, probably because I do not have a decent antenna installed on the boat until the rig goes back in and the nearest things likely to be broadcasting an AIS signal are too far away to pick up. This installation involved installing a new back to the unit from Furuno that splits and shares the VHF antenna with the ships radio. But I’m pretty sure it works.
- New VHF antenna installed on the mast.
- Wires for wind instruments run through mast and boat.
- Speed/depth/temp transducer is run through the boat, though it’s new thru-hull isn’t installed.
- NMEA 2000 network backbone is in place and functional. GPS and speed/depth information are viewable, I have no other transducers handy.
- Four FI50 displays are installed, Wind, Digital Data and Multi in the cockpit under the dodger and a Multi on the nav station.
- Functioning ICOM M604 VHF radio. A radio check was successfully conducted, albeit with someone under a mile away. But since the VHF is hooked to a tiny emergency antenna instead of the big one on the mast I’ll take it – it works.
- ICOM Command Mic III remote radio handset is wired and working but not quite permanently installed.
- Actisense NGW-1NMEA2000 to NMEA 0183 gateway installed and working with the VHF. Small glitch in the date shown by the VHF to be resolved.
- One FAP-5011A autopilot control head is installed over the companionway and it’s wires are run. No autopilot brain to plug into yet though.
- Two new stereos are installed and speakers are rewired properly.
- With the exception of one of the old autopilots all of the old electronics are uninstalled. Most are off the boat and sold on E-Bay already, though I’ve got a few things to take off still. If anyone wants a deal on an Anritsu-Simrad open array radar on a huge stern tower send me an e-mail, I don’t think I can ship it!
- The old Seatalk network has been reconfigured to contain a fluxgate compass, an autopilot course computer, and some autopilot control panels. This still needs to be rewired for a new power source. The old install had a switch between AP 1 and AP 2, the new setup will have separate power supplies for the new Furuno system and the old backup.
- New back stay is installed on the rig. This new back stay raises the insulated section about fifteen feet higher above the deck, not only to avoid interference with the radar but for safety.
Good progress, but there is a lot to do still. Outstanding tasks include:
- Radar installation. The rig needs to be up for this since we are moving to a backstay mount. A Power Supply Unit (PSU) needs to be installed (this is optional, but I am doing it to allow the Radar to be independently powered from the MFD’s so I don’t have it on all the time drawing power). Holes must be drilled in the deck and a cable snaked to the PSU from the stern of the boat.
- Navpilot 511 autopilot installation. This includes the autopilot course computer, the rudder reference unit, and a new fluxgate compass. The fluxgate compass will also be used with the AIS system to plot collision avoidance.
- New SSB back stay wire. Not a huge project but something I need to do before the rig goes up; this connects the new back stay as the antenna for the SSB radio.
- GPS antenna needs permanent mounting. This involves putting a plug (already cut) over the hole where the radar tower was and running a cable through it to the aft rail.
- Wave WiFi “Rogue Wave” antenna/router installation. Not top priority, but the cable is already run aft for the antenna so I will install the antenna at least when the GPS goes on.
- Maretron DSM 250 installation. This is going in the aft cabin, it will be part of the night watch alarm system and will allow me to monitor conditions from the cabin. Hopefully it will wake me up if the boat moves. It’s installation location is temporary as there really is no good place to put it in the cabin where 1) I can reach and see it and 2) it doesn’t block any cabinets or storage places. I am holding out for when Furuno releases the RD-33 in the states, it can also preform the alarm functions but will install in a spot near my head then the DSM 250 will move to either the nav station of the cockpit.
- NMEA 2000 Battery Monitor.
- Completion of NMEA backbone.
At this point, assuming the untestable things (VHF, AIS, Wind instruments) all work and I get the GPS receiver installed we are “usable” in that we can navigate with the gear. It’s not complete, far from it, but we are close. If I don’t get the radar in…there will be fog. If I DO get the radar on I do not expect to see for for at least a year…things just work that way.
Of course everything needs to be wire tied down, tacked up, screwed together and tightened. Much of this process is follows the following methodology:
- Read the instructions. Really, I do this. This stuff is too complex not to.
- Daydream about how cool this doodad will be when it works.
- Plug it in to something; jury rig the plugs and wires until it connects.
- Turn it on and test it with all the other gear installed to date.
- Stop and play with the MFD’s a bit because they are too cool not to play with if they are turned on.
- If it works, decide where it’s going then hunt around in the packing mess for the installation hardware you’ve lost.
- Run the cables so they are hidden. This can take a while and be a dirty job.
- Screw it down where it belongs and leave the wires laying there.
- Repeat for next gew-gaw.
- Go back and move it three inches to the left because something else’s cable or hardware is in the way
- Some day go back and clean up all the wires and cable tie them together neatly
In practice it’s not so linear since I’m more like a sugar addled attention deficient hyperactive five year old on Christmas morning bouncing from box to box and seeing what it all will do and how cool it is. Some people would kindly call this “parallel processing” or “multitasking”. Most would call it “all over the road.”
But I am progressing.
And unlike the Teak Project from Hell which was mindless drudgery for 99% of the work this stuff is really, really cool and pretty fun to work on.
