Wednesday 5 April 2017

Cookers and Navigation

 
When we bought the boat it came with a GRP cooker box, which slides in/out from under the doorway, this is not an ideal place to cook. It creates condensation in the cabin and also traps the user if something goes wrong. However, the cooker holder looked useful, so finally I got round to making it fit to the outside, by use of a wooden fixture, so it hangs off the winch. 
 




We have always kept things simple on the boat and have not fitted any electrics such as a ChartPlotter.  A handheld one is quite expensive, so a simpler solution was sort. An old iPhone 5, waterproof case and a homemade plastic clip, which will go over either a weather board or onto a halyard bag provided a good start. With both MemoryMap and Navitronics loaded it seems to work very well.
 

 
To help keep the phone charged a solar charging battery was obtained. Only time will tell if this combination will work. In the past we have only used the phone when approaching a destination and use old style "paper" charts during a trip. This should keep the battery use in the phone down to a minimum.
 
Aedon A8 Portable Power Bank 20000mAh 2-Port USB Solar Charger
 
 

Fine Weather Continues

If weather stays like this for the rest of the year, we're in for a treat. Five days a Coniston soon went by, only light rain on one day and a variety of winds, meant we had a good time.