Increasing Efficiency: Swapping out Halogen Bulbs for LEDs

February 22, 2012 — Portland, OR

There are two things that give me pause for thought on Pearl: water use and power use. While I haven’t spent a lot of time evaluating either  of these from living aboard before going cruising, I am trying to make a bunch of optimizations around these issues based on what I hope is common sense.

While not establishing a baseline is generally a bad idea — i.e. undetermined starting point — I’ve purchased a bunch of LEDs that were delivered yesterday to replace the halogen and incandescent bulbs on board Pearl.

The incandescent bulbs are primarily used in the Navigation lights. The Halogens are used in the interior spaces (salon, cabin, etc). While I expect power consumption from lighting to be more of an issue while at anchor than under sail, the idea of using only about 10% of the power we’d otherwise be using is pretty attractive — particularly since I found a relatively inexpensive source online for the bulbs at Super Bright LEDs.

Note that while you will have to poke around the site a bit to find what you are looking for, the prices are pretty darned good. Also, I’ve tried out several different bulbs. The conventional wisdom seems to be to get as many LEDs as you can on the “bulb” mountind surface. This hasn’t worked out so well for me. The lights end up being too bright and that requires installation of a dimmer. Super Bright has some slightly lower power LEDs that I think should work well.

Stay tuned. I’ll let you know how all of this experiment turns out.

Day 3 of the refit in Texas

Ok. Pearls hull is back in the water where it should be. Her mast is back on, but the rigging needs tuning. Her sails and boom are still off, but that’s ok. She had a manual raw water pump and faucet installed for the galley sink, as well as a new through hull fitting to support it. This should help a lot with water conservation — something that concerns me in the Caribbean.

Right now, I couldn’t be more pleased even though the recomissioning cost 4x what I was hoping for, and 2x what I was expecting. A part of the increased cost comes from Continue reading “Day 3 of the refit in Texas”

Day 2 of the refit in Texas

February 07, 2012 — Kemah, Tx

Today was a pretty good day. The bushing I ordered from Beneteau arrived and the rudder which was really pretty loose got repaired. It turned out that the old bronze bushing had corroded and fused with the bit it was supposed to slide around. The result was that the fiberglass sleeve in which the bushing was seated had gotten worn. The new bushing was put in place with a Mylar sleeve to secure it firmly. The net result is that Paul, the shipwright, deserves kudos for a perfect fix. The steering quadrant is taut and feels like new. Continue reading “Day 2 of the refit in Texas”

Safety Equipment for Cruising: Take 1

February 02, 2012 — Portland, OR

Okay. Faced with the imminent prospect of setting sail, I realize that a Horse Shoe buoy, a Life Sling, and a bunch of expired flares don’t quite cut it as safety gear. There’s a bunch of stuff that the prudent mariner would take along for heading off shore. The big question is what gear do you actually need? Continue reading “Safety Equipment for Cruising: Take 1”

What a long, strange trip it’s been …

January 30, 2012 — Portland, OR

Pearl has arrived at her new base at the Watergate Yachting Center in Kemah, TX, about half way between Houston and Galveston. She’s off the truck and back on blocks at South Texas Yacht Services, under the care of John Blakeway. She’s covered with road filth, been driven through snow, then run into something that ripped out her port side gate stanchion, Continue reading “What a long, strange trip it’s been …”

Loaded up and trucking

Tuesday January 25, 2012 — Portland, OR

Loading day. Rainy. Freezing. Miserable. Pearl gets loaded to head off to the gulf. Throughout the morning, the theme song from “Smokey and the Bandit” was running through my head. My friends Cita, and Toni from Wind River,  came out to watch Pearl get loaded and to wish her “Bon Voyage!” Continue reading “Loaded up and trucking”

Paper Charts for the Caribbean

Tuesday Jaunary 10 2012 — Portland, OR

Despite having a bunch of fun Navionics on board, I am a firm believer in having paper charts. Unfortunately, depending on how you approach the problem, they can be ungodly expensive for a complete chart set for your crusing area.

One solution I have come up with for providing me with the paper-based backup that I crave for the Caribbean is the Caribbean Chart Pack from NV Charts. At $179 for the pack, I think it’s a pretty good deal. Check it out. I hope it helps.

Navionics over Wi-Fi

Wednesday, January 11 — Portland OR

Being a geek, I love Navionics and all they can do for you. When I started sailing (about 20 years ago), pretty much I had was a chart and a compass. This was pretty much state of the art — if you discounted LORAN.

The Pearl, however, has a a Raymarine Pathfinder RL70CRC which is a chartplotter + radar display. On this, you can optionally overlay radar on your chart — pretty slick. Something I discovered recently, however, is that you can also integrate AIS real time vessel tracking information into this display as well. Continue reading “Navionics over Wi-Fi”