2015: Going High Tech

iPad and GPS.  I'm not reporting on a breakage but a NEW toy.  For 2014 Christmas my eldest son gave me an iPad, a basic one but a lovely present nonetheless.  I added a waterproof case and a small Garmin GPS – the iPad and the GPS communicate via Blue Tooth.  We still use our laptop on the chart table below as the main nav system.  It’s a great system but, on occasion when you are entering harbour at night time for instance, it would be nice to have something in the cockpit so you don’t have to run up and down stairs frequently.  It’s not a big problem but now, we no longer need to do that .  We have the iPad in the cockpit! 

The iPad has Navionics which we down loaded from the Apple Store (app is free if I remember correctly) and then you download the charts that you want, in this case Europe, for a fee.   The GPS remains out of the way down below telling the iPad where we are via Blue Tooth.

Be careful, I ended up downloading the Caribbean charts too, completely unintentionally.  You can do this if you allow ‘one click’ purchase which I stupidly did thinking it would be more convenient in not having to re-enter information when making a number of purchases.  Well, I thought I was navigating around by pressing this and that but, as it turned out, I purchased a second set of charts.  Trap for (not so) young players.  Anyway, we’ll use the Carib charts eventually when we head back across the ‘pond’.

Anyway, the iPad in the cockpit is just so cool.  We even use it extensively as we just sail along to check on course, speed, etc – saves a trip downstairs.  I can’t speak more highly of this setup.

Another thing to bear in mind.  Unlike the CMap charts, which we have on our downstairs laptop and are loaded/unlocked from CDs/dongle mailed to you by CMap, the Navionics Charts are downloaded over the internet.  This takes some time as you have to download each chart one by one as you work your way along the coast in the area you intend to cruise.  Internet connection for data is essential for the downloading aspect, but otherwise it draws happily on the GPS. 

Fabulous solution - wished we'd done this earlier.  Trying to follow the river channel for nine hours up to Seville (Spain) springs to mind....

View from Castle of San Giovanni, Kotor, Montenegro - WJ3 on anchor

2015: In the Marina & Loving It

Preveza Marina continued (Part 2):

Generator Coolant Water Pump.  The generator has a coolant system that you fill with antifreeze and this keeps the insides of the important bits of the engine cool.  Keeping the coolant cool is the job of the raw water that is circulated around the engine and spat out with the exhaust.  Well, this time it was the coolant water pump’s turn to fail.  Shortly after we set off on our trip north for Croatia there was clearly a major leak and gathering in the drip tray was all this coolant.  We returned to Preveza where our new best friend Stefan soon diagnosed the problem as being a failed coolant water pump ie it had corroded through its casing.  I thought that’s what the antifreeze coolant was supposed to stop.   Two weeks later, we had a new spare pump and fitted, at a modest cost that I still grit my teeth over – US parts imported into Europe means BIG money, mostly taxes.

This folks is what caused all the teeth gnashing, many weeks delay
and almost broke the annual cruising budget!!

Masthead Anchor Light.  This was working perfectly when we tested it shortly after we returned to the boat this year.  Once on anchor, however, we found it would not work, or would eventually.  After a trip up the mast to check the fitting and globe, when it seemed to work properly after some fiddling and testing, we then found that it would flash regularly rather than remain constant when turned on.  I still have no idea why it flashes but we just left it – it made it so very easy to identify our boat when returning to the anchorage at night time!  I might add, for all of you that are tut tutting, there are any number of combinations of anchor lights around Europe eg flashing single and multiple red and/or white lights at mastheads, in cockpits, tiny cheap solar lights that you can hardly see (especially when near a town with all their lights showing), and many boats without any anchor light at all.

There'll be a few more folks in town shopping today

Bike Repairs.  Our folding bikes are indispensable.  I’m surprised to see so many cruisers walking to/from/around town when they could be biking it.  Ours needed a service and a local Greek bike shop owner in Preveza did a wonderful job of restoring (read replacing) our fancy Shimano gears and generally fixing the bikes back to almost new.  We also lashed out and purchased some helmets.  The shop was a referral through Aktio.

Outboard Safety/Cut Off Switch.  Our Yamaha switch had given up the ghost some time ago although it would cut off when you pulled the clamp from the ignition.  Eventually it wouldn’t do that so I had to disconnect the switch, let it hang down and then use a coin or copper washer to make the electrical contact that would turn it off.  Tried to get a switch in Greece but not possible apparently.  Will get one in Oz and take it back overseas in 2016.

Ruins always seem conveniently located in Greece.
This is Nikopolis, Augustus's celebratory city just outside Preveza