You say tomato…

So the boat makes a loverly greenhouse.

We opted this winter to use clear shrink wrap to cover Evenstar.  The thinking is that it would be warmer, in case we ended up living on the boat mid winter the extra comfort of a few degrees of greenhouse effect would make a difference making it livable.  Additionally any work to be done above decks would be easier if we didn’t need to wear gloves and have to keep stopping to get blood circulating again.

Frankly, with the mild winter we’ve had if I tried to grow tomatoes on the deck the would have died from the heat.  Late January and I’m working under the cover in a T-Shirt and I’m dropping sweat in my eyes.  Go figure.  Maybe I can grow bananas instead.

Progress is indeed being made getting her ready for moving on in June.  Fortunately we’ve not had to as the interior of the boat isn’t really inhabitable, what with the entire aft cabin ripped up for autopilot installations, the tool cabinet emptied all over the boat to clear a space for the SSB radio installation, tools and parts everywhere and a complete sense of disarray and disorder.

There is a comprehensive master list of projects to be done before June. It’s six pages long.  I will be thrilled if I can cross off two pages of it.  “Casting off” may be leaving the marina we are in and anchoring 200 yards off shore to keep working through the list.  Though in fairness much of the six pages is stuff we want to do (e.g. make new curtains, cosmetic work) versus those things that we absolutely do not want to leave without (e.g. a reliable autopilot installation).  There’s an awful lot we can live with, or live without until we get it sorted.  Even something like the SSB isn’t really critical while we are still in North America though I’d like to have some time to learn to use it before I really need it.

The other issue is that no battle plan (or work plan) survives contact with the enemy.  Two examples are the Single Side Band radio and the new Furuno autopilot.  Replacing the old burned out Icom SSB IC-710 with a newer IC-802 should be pretty simple, right?  I’ve got a largish unattractive SSB-sized hole gaping in the nice mahogany on my Nav Station where the old SSB used to sit.  Just slide the new one in, run the cables and turn it on.  Except…the new control face isn’t the same size as the old one, in fact it comes in two pieces instead of one – one control face, and a separate speaker.  And they are both smaller in height than the old SSB and smaller than the hole, though wider when put side by side.  So this goes from a straightforward electronics installation into a carpentry project.  In the mean time, the power that worked when the old SSB came out is now dead as a doornail, so when the new unit is wired together for testing…nothing.  So it’s time to trace back wires and look for a break.  What is in theory a day of threading wires and screwing things together turns into several days of looking for wood, performing carpentry tasks I have little aptitude for, and trying  to solder wire connectors smaller than mouse turds onto wires that are too big (don’t even ask about that…).

We’re doing the less critical SSB because the dreaded Autopilot project which I have been procrastinating on for over a year has ground to a halt and it’s not even my fault!  For once.  After doing some research I had one of those epiphany moments, where you slap your head and say to yourself “I can’t believe I was such a completely clueless dumb*%&# about this!”. 

To back up a bit – Evenstar came with two Raymarine Autopilots.  Two separate control processors, two different drive systems, and one switch to rule them all.  One drive system had a big, strong rotary drive in line with the steering system, the other had a pair of what is known as “linear drives” which are a piston with an arm that connects near the rudder post.  One linear drive unit is not strong enough for a boat this size, so two were installed to operate in tandem.

Last year when the new Furuno autopilot arrived it was my intention to wire it to the stronger rotary drive system and leave the linear drive system intact with the existing processor.  So I very wisely pulled the controller off of the rotary system and sold it on E-Bay.  Now I had room to install the Furuno system, as soon as I figured out how to wire it to the old drive.  Right-O, that never happened.  Fast forward to this past summer, and the linear units start acting up.  Our autopilot freezes up at a critical moment, so we disconnect the drives so we can drive the boat in a direction away from the breaking waves and rocks and we realize these drives are no longer reliable.  We spent the rest of the summer with no autopilot since I’d disabled one and broken the other.

This is where the astute observer says “But wait!  Why didn’t you just connect the autopilot processor from the linear system and plug it into the rotary system.”  This astute observer is smarter than me, because this didn’t occur to me until about two months ago when we got the word back it would cost over $1,500 to rebuild the linear drives.  At that point I realized that for $1,000 more maybe I should get a brand new completely compatible drive unit for the Furuno and use the old Raymarine control processor with the old rotary drive. 

With much passion and excitement I ordered a new 24V Accusteer LA100 Hydraulic Linear Actuator.  It had to be built and shipped ground from the Pacific Northwest…weeks.  Finally, it arrived.  Resolutely I piled the box in my car and headed to the boat determined to FINALLY get this thing installed, no matter what.  Got to the boat, hoofed this big heavy unit down the docks and onto the boat, ripped all the mattresses off the bed to get to the installation area, then went to pull the new Hydraulic Linear Actuator (doesn’t that sound like something out of bad SciFi, like I’m installed a new Flux Capacitor in the boat?) out of the box to see where it would fit.  It was then I noted the dreaded words LA100-12 on the outside of the box.

As in model LA-100, 12 Volt version.  Not 24 Volt like I ordered.  I didn’t even get to take it out of the box.

So now, I am waiting with baited breath for another Hydraulic Linear Actuator in the proper voltage to arrive so I can once again try to install this.

Fortunately, I have a few other things to do in the meantime so I don’t get bored.