Hello World!
Crumbs, it’s been over a year since my last update. Well it’s not surprising I suppose what with the increasing family population. It’s funny how sailing across the harbour with two toddlers and a baby seems to present a far larger challenge than a 3.5 day Biscay crossing ever did!
Since my last post we’ve done little more than the odd day sail and one or two weekends away.
In May 2009 I organised a stag sailing weekend (prior to getting married in June). About 11 of us got together between yachts Csardas and friend’s Swagman and sailed up to the Folly Inn nr Cowes where we had a pretty raucous time. Hopefully we’ll be allowed back but ….
Late last season I discovered the radar wasn’t working. I wasted a bit of time taking the headlining down and checking all the connections but found nothing. Then while the boat was on the hard over winter I noticed a huge crack in the side of the radome. A few weekends ago pal Phil Steele hoisted me up the mast to remove it. At over £1000 I couldn’t really afford a new one. Insurance was an option but the excess is £500 so still expensive. It’s an unusual make as it is one to connect to a PC but, amazingly, the day after removing it I discovered an ex-display model on ebay and managed to snag it for £320. Really surprised - plenty of raymarines and garmins on ebay but this is the only Si-Tex unit I’ve ever seen on ebay in the UK.
I have a feeling it may have been damaged by a halyard or the spinnaker pole up-haul. And in any case it wasn’t in a great place on the mast. It was fitted a few years after the boat was new and without moving things about at greater expense and hassle it was decided to install it just above the first set of spreaders on the starboard side. Ideally it should have gone on the front just above the steaming light, but that would have put it at the same height as the radar reflector. So the reflector would have had to be moved and we would also have needed more cable. So we went for the easier/cheaper option of going for mounting on the side further down. In retrospect it was a bad idea. First, being only a 12.4 inch radome, the side of the mast presented too much of a barrier and we suffered a significant blind spot immediately to port. Second, I think the spinnaker uphaul which exits the mast a little higher up may have bashed it when the spinnaker was abeam to starboard. But I can’t be sure about that.
So, anyway, I decided to mount the replacement on a pole on the transom. If you were to search the market place you would be forgiven for thinking that the only supplier of such a pole is Scanstrut. But they are very expensive. Another option would be a custom made job but that wouldn’t be cheap either, plus would take time. I finally discovered a much cheaper alternative to the Scanstrut made by NOA in Sweden. I also found a UK supplier. So last weekend I went down to the boat with pole, radome, and cordless drill etc. Here is the end result:
I may shorten the support struts a bit.
Radar, pole all fitted for about 2/3 of the price of a new radar! I’ve probably not paid much more than I would have had, had I fitted the original radome to the transom in the first place. So I’m happy. The radar doesn’t get used much. But boy are you glad you’ve got it when you need it.
Well we’re attempting a family sailing weekend this weekend. But we’ve already delayed it a day due to rather strong winds and rain. I don’t fancy ferrying two toddlers and a baby in the dinghy in those conditions. The weather is supposed to improve a bit so we’ll head down to the boat tomorrow evening (when the launch service starts - so that will make things a bit easier) and the plan is to head into the Solent on Saturday and back again early Monday morning. I’ll let you know what happens …….