We started our 6 week Spring sailing adventure about a week ago and spent the last week at Fisherman’s Village Marina. I finished a bunch of upgrades that have been ongoing on Terrapin since I bought her last May. The most important is the modernizing of the electronics and navigation systems. This includes a new chartplotter mounted at the helm. It is a so-called multifunction display which means it can process and display data from any device connected to it; wind direction, wind speed, AIS, compass heading, rudder angle, autopilot control, GPS position, and of course the chart showing where we are. This is all made possible by a new industry standard connectivity called NMEA 2000. There is a single cable (backbone) running down the mast from the wind speed/direction sensor all the way to the stern of the boat. Each device is then connected to the backbone with a T connector and a short “drop cable”. The result is that every device has access to all the data in the system. Laura calls it the spinal cord, a good analogy! Well, I spent about 5 days hooking it all up and surprise, surprise, it all worked! I also installed a new helm seat raised up about 5 inches so we have a better view, a new toilet pump, and a bunch of other minor items. We also had a visit from Mack Sails to adjust the rigging. The original head stay was supposed to be adjustable and somewhere along the line, a fixed length stay was installed. This meant you could not adjust the tension, and thus the angle of the mast. Mack Sails, who installed our new sails last November, came out and added a turnbuckle to the head stay and helped get the rigging adjusted properly. I can’t wait to sail her, there should be a big improvement.
Update March 17, 2018
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