Two Bikes and a Boat

Refit Part 5 – Progress Made – Kinship Splashed

2016-05-09 17.15.57crop

We had a very busy weekend.  Kinship has been launched and the mast is up.  Dave and the boys and girls at Loyalist Cove Marina lifted the mast on Monday afternoon capping a weekend of real progress.  For the first time this year we were able to stay on the boat, our cabin is usable even if the rest  of the boat is still a mess while we wait for the first water tank.  Though inside work took a back seat, we made lots of progress on the arch and exterior projects.

On the arch, we have four working antennas for primary and backup GPS systems and the two antennas for the AIS.  Together with running the wiring for the stern light I think we have reached about the 50% point in the assembly of the arch.   The wiring for all these systems goes to the port side and involves crawling a long way into the sail locker to get access.  It was very satisfying to turn on the plotter and see our position mapped and the AIS data from the ferries on the screen.  There were times I did not think I would be able to get everything back together, I am feeling a lot more confident now. We have the radar and wind generator to add next week and we need to sort out the mounting for the solar panels.  The wiring for these systems is easier to get to so I will not have to spend hours contorted in the far corner of the boat

At the this point, my plan is to mount the panels on 1/4 inch starboard and use some easily removable clamps to mount the panels to the frame.  This will allow us to remove them if we need to reduce windage for weather or storage.

On the stern, we have mounted the fantastically expensive removable bracket system for the fantastically expensive Watt and Sea hydro generator.  For the record, the expensive parts did not include the stainless part, which was quite reasonable. Now we can have the dinghy on the arch without the risk of hitting the Watt and Sea.  A new folding ladder completes the cruising set up.

Exit mobile version