Life Rafts
posted by John & Phyllis
Web Site
Question: What sort of life raft do you have on Morgan’s Cloud?
Answer: We have a RFD Beaufort 6-person commercial SOLAS raft.
The advantage of this raft is that Revere and RFD Beaufort are partners in it: Revere in the USA and RFD Beaufort for the rest of the world. Or at least that seems to be how it works, although you can buy a RFD Beaufort in the USA too. Anyway, this means that you can get these rafts serviced at any of some 300 RFD Beaufort service stations anywhere in the world as well as at Revere stations in the USA. For example, there are 23 service depots in Norway.
Contrast that to many of the American-built rafts from companies like Swilick, Winslow or Givens that can only be serviced in major yachting centers. This is not a trivial issue if you plan to sail to out-of-the-way places, as we found to our cost when we had to ship our old Givens to the UK from Norway to get it serviced—the shipping cost twice what the service did.
Having said that, I’m not sure that the RFD Beaufort is as good a raft as the top of the line offerings from the above companies. It was certainly a lot cheaper, even though we opted for a commercial quality raft that is SOLAS certified. However, we are comfortable with the RFD because, in our opinion, the most likely scenarios which would force us into the raft are fire or flooding, not extreme weather. Frankly, we think it unlikely that we would make it into the raft alive in a storm strong enough to overwhelm Morgan’s Cloud, so whether or not the RFD is the ultimate storm survival raft is academic to us.
Labels: Equipment
Radar Scanner Position
posted by John & Phyllis
Web Site
Question: [edited for brevity]
What is your preference regarding the best place to mount a radar antenna? As far as we can tell from the pictures of Morgan’s Cloud you have mounted yours on a pole aft.
Our previous experience with radars tells us that the antenna should be as high and free as possible. Wouldn't a radar antenna mounted on the mast just above the first spreaders give better range and a more detailed radar picture than if it were mounted lower?
It also appears from the pictures that your antenna isn't mounted in a way that makes it able to tilt so that it can compensate for heel of the boat when sailing?
Answer: First off we should say that we view radar as the most important piece of electronic equipment on Morgan’s Cloud—yes, more important than GPS, since we can find our way with a compass and sextant but we can’t see unlit objects at night or through fog—so we have given a lot of thought to the position and installation of our radar scanner.
We prefer a pole mounted aft for the scanner over mast mounting for the following reasons:
- The scanner is much less vulnerable to damage from an errant halyard or sail.
- We do not agree that a higher position for the scanner is a significant benefit. Small targets, like buoys, don’t show much over a mile regardless of scanner height and large targets, like ships, show at 10 miles—plenty of room to plot and take avoiding action—with our current scanner height. In fact I think that putting the scanner substantially higher than ours can be a disadvantage since it will be subjected to more motion in a seaway.
- A scanner on the mast is more difficult to service than one on a pole and heaven help you if the cable needs replacing.
- Mast mounted radars are very vulnerable to damage when the mast is un-stepped.
- We don’t like the added weight aloft. Sure it’s not that much, but with the lever arm, every pound counts.
About the only advantage I can think of for a mast mount would be a theoretically less impeded view forward. However, in the real world we have never found that there was any appreciable radar shadow cast by the mast and rigging.
Our radar scanner can be inclined to compensate for heel using a clever system based on a speedboat
hydraulic trim tab pump and
actuator. We got ours from
Edson, although a reasonably handy owner could duplicate our system, by buying the gear directly, for a fraction of what Edson charges.
We would not be without this tilt feature since it is just plain dangerous to sail around with a huge radar blind spot on either side of the boat when heeled. This was graphically brought home to me the second year I owned
Morgan’s Cloud (before we installed our incline system) when we were nearly run down in thick fog by a trawler that we only saw at 100 yards and that visually, not on radar, approaching from our port beam. Yes, I know we had the right of way but with huge steel trawlers traveling at 10 knots that is scant comfort!
Incidentally, we far prefer our manually controlled (using a switch in the cockpit) inclining system to gimbled backstay systems like the
Questus. Our thinking is that no matter how well damped the latter is, there are just too many bend cycles being put on the cable. Also, back stays are prone to vibration, surely not a good thing for sensitive electronics.
Labels: Equipment
Limits to complexity
posted by Colin Speedie
Web Site
The new and the old both have their places
We are now at the final stage of selecting our navigation systems, and as new products are being launched all of the time, have decided to wait until the last minute before committing.
But to some degree the choices are being made for (or taken away from) us, as so many of the manufacturers are moving towards integrated systems, reducing the available options for those of us who like to pick and mix the best kit from different stables. For example, it is now virtually impossible to buy a stand alone radar, as everyone is moving towards combined radar/plotters using their own Ethernet type connectivity.
Since the 90’s I have professionally skippered my own yacht on research projects, and have for the last six years used a laptop linked to a GPS for all basic navigation. Being only modestly computer literate has never been a major shortcoming, and although they have simply been fixed to the chart table with Velcro, we have never lost one to damp or rough handling. If you are used to computers at all, they are quick and intuitive to operate, and their large screens offer a good view of the charts. By comparison, I recently skippered a boat with a brand new plotter, and didn’t like it at all – the screen was too small, and the operation was clumsy and slow. And having recently watched two experts trying to sort out a problem aboard a boat with an Ethernet link between instruments and plotter – two sets of software, and by their own admission, a tendency to crash on a regular basis – I wonder whether this is really the way forward?
Of course PC’s can go wrong, too – we carry a spare as back up, as well as up to date passage charts and pilot books, just in case. And as I learned to navigate long before we had any electronic luxuries, if I have to go back to dead reckoning in an emergency it should not a big deal. But with our laptop we can integrate weather files from the internet, AIS information, tidal streams and Navtex at far lower cost than a half way decent plotter. And we’ll stick with an NMEA interface which at least will allow some basic diagnostic tests to be run should it go down 1000 miles from the nearest dealer.
The one thing we have committed to is an Echopilot forward looking echosounder. We used an Interphase Twin Scope for the last seven years, and found that the ability to scan for depth and obstructions ahead of the boat was indispensable, especially in poorly charted waters. But Echopilot sensibly offer the option of a custom transducer housing made from solid aluminium billet (essential for us with our aluminium hull) which will enable us to pull the transducer prior to taking the ground, one of our main reasons for choosing an OVNI. Having heard nothing but good reports of their products, this was an easy choice to make.
And while we’re on the subject of holes in the hull, we think the fewer, the better, so we’re not having a through hull speed/log unit. Paddle wheel logs are unreliable, and often tricky to calibrate accurately, and as a Furuno WAAS GPS reads speed as fast as a log that we shall use a repeater in the cockpit as a speedo, and the trip facility as a log. We are well aware that this is “over the ground”, but we can compensate for that if needs be. And if all of the electrics fail, then we have a lovely boxed Walker Knotmaster towed log that has followed me from boat to boat over the years. There should be a limit to complexity!
Labels: Equipment
Gear Failures and Fixes, Xantrex Inverter/Charger (John)
posted by John & Phyllis
Web Site
Three months ago our venerable Heart Interface inverter/charger bit the big one, helped along by a dumb error on my part (inverters don’t like the start surge from 10” miter saws). We could have got it fixed, but our reliance on computers for writing and photography means that we would be better off with a true sine wave inverter. Also the RF noise emitted by the Heart Interface knocked small birds from the sky.
After some research and consulting with Peter, owner of Jack Rabbit Marine, we bought a Xantrex MS2000. The installation was quite a big job, particularly securely mounting the 70lb (32kg) beast. Finally, all was done and we powered up.
The Problem:
The unit ran fine, albeit with a very noisy fan. I programmed in all the battery parameters and, at the end of the day, shut the boat down as usual by turning off the 12 volt master switches and the shore power. (We are out of the water in refit mode.)
The next morning I powered the boat up. The MS2000 immediately, and without being asked, went into charge mode at a much higher rate and voltage than what I had programmed the day before. We have expensive and nearly new glass mat batteries that do not like being abused so I was concerned. Clearly the unit had lost its memory when I turned off the 12 volt master switch.
Manufacturer’s Response:
I called Xantrex’s support department and got a technician who informed me that my problem was that I had installed the unit wrong. According to him, I should have wired it directly to the battery, bypassing the master switch. When I said that I disagreed, he became quite aggressive and then pulled out that old line “you’re the first person that has ever complained about this”—I hate it when they say that. I looked at the Xantrex manual again and sure enough the diagram showed no switch between the unit and the battery.
Now, in my opinion, this is not just poor practice, it’s dangerous. Think about it: an unsuspecting tech goes aboard the boat to work on the electrical system, disconnects the shore power and turns off the battery master switches. Now he or she is safe, right? Wrong, the inverter is still potentially energized and capable of producing a killing voltage. There is no sure way to make the inverter safe, other than to disconnect the 12 volt input to it from the battery.
This is not just my opinion; direct connection of inverters to batteries is against ABYC (American Boat and Yacht Council) specifications, which, although they state that a charger can be connected directly to the battery (still a poor idea in my view), do not condone doing the same with an inverter/charger. Another scary thing is that everyone involved told me that direct connection complied with ABYC. It was not until I found the relevant entry and quoted it chapter and verse that I was taken seriously.
Incidentally, Jack Rabbit Marine ships the inverter/charger as part of a kit with a switch that they suggest you install in the 12 volt feed, but leave on. This is a bit better than no switch, but still not good since who would logically expect to have to turn off two battery master switches to make the boat safe, particularly since the second switch may end up somewhere obscure?
The Outcome:
To make a long story short and after much to and fro, with Peter at Jack Rabbit Marine acting as intermediary, it transpired that there is a workaround that will make the MS2000 remember its settings. Fine, but what made this experience so irritating was that first I was told there was no solution. Then that changed and I was told that I must return the unit to be “evaluated”; no apology and no offer to pay for the shipping. Remember, this is a 70lb (32kg) unit and just getting it off its mounting and off the boat is non-trivial. It was only when Peter demonstrated, on my suggestion, that the MS2000 on his own boat exhibited the same problem, that Xantrex’s support department finally got with one of their engineers and figured out the solution—it is trivial and takes two minutes.
If I was not angry enough after all that, it transpired that the software revision on our unit is over a year out of date, this despite the fact that the unit drop-shipped direct from Xantrex. Wait, there’s more: I went from angry to incandescent when told that I would have to pay a $40.00 fee, plus a $150 deposit to borrow the necessary gadget, to upgrade our unit to the software that should have shipped on it in the first place. Say what? (Peter agreed to eat the fee, but we still have to pay the deposit and wait in line to get the gadget.)
Conclusions:
1). I’m an electronics technician by trade, albeit a very out of date one, and so knew when I was getting the runaround. How would a sailor with a less technical background have fared? Not a pretty picture.
2). In my experience, support situations are divided into two types: one, where the manufacturer’s mistake is the manufacture’s problem, and the other where the manufacturer tries to make their mistake the customer’s problem. This definitely fell into the latter category.
3). We are very glad that we bought the unit from a knowledgeable dealer with hands on marine experience who, after a bit of convincing, made our case, we suspect forcefully, to the manufacturer. It is unlikely that a deep discounter would have had the knowledge to help us bring this to a satisfactory conclusion.
4). In my opinion, it is just plain un-seamanlike to connect anything, other than the automatic bilge pump, directly to the battery. Yes, I know it is increasingly becoming common practice, but that does not make it right. In an electric fire or other emergency, or when I leave the boat unattended, I want to turn off one switch and know that everything on the boat is de-energized. It is fundamental in house wiring, why should a boat be different? Yes, I know the voltage is lower, but remember that an 8D battery can produce enough current to melt a screwdriver. Fire is not caused by voltage, but by current (amperage).
5). The Xantrex MS2000 looks like a really solid well built unit with a lot of desirable features, but because of this experience, we can’t recommend it.
Labels: Equipment
The advantage of this raft is that Revere and RFD Beaufort are partners in it: Revere in the USA and RFD Beaufort for the rest of the world. Or at least that seems to be how it works, although you can buy a RFD Beaufort in the USA too. Anyway, this means that you can get these rafts serviced at any of some 300 RFD Beaufort service stations anywhere in the world as well as at Revere stations in the USA. For example, there are 23 service depots in Norway.
