Evanston: 30 holes
Evanston: 30 holes
In the past two days I drilled thirty holes in GANNET’s deck. Argghh! This on a boat that previously did not leak, although I had not tested that in heavy weather. Even worse GANNET has a balsa cored deck and probably at least partially a balsa cored hull, although I believe that Moore 24 hulls differ.
I do not like balsa cores, which were once in fashion to reduce weight; but obviously I don’t dislike them enough not to own a boat with one. When Moore 24s were built they were probably necessary. But when water gets into the core, as eventually is almost inevitable, bad things happen. GANNET’s previous owner replaced about 40% of her deck core, a long and unpleasant procedure.
I did the job as carefully as I could: drilling holes for the solar panel screws only through the top fiberglass layer of the deck, screwing the panels in place, which is when the photographs on this page were taken, then removing them, drilling the holes again one size larger, filling each hole with epoxy, then screwing the panels down a final time with sealant over the holes as well, and pushing sealant up from below into the four holes carrying the electrical wires. Wriggling to those in the stern with an open tube of sealant in one hand was fun.
“Nevertheless,” quoth the raven when he got tired of “never more,” my long and somewhat sad experience causes me not to like to drill holes in boats. And thirty in two days? Oi!
I’m making plans to do that, hopefully making it the two hundred miles to the north end of Lake Michigan and the forty south to Chicago sometime this summer.
The Harken winches are dramatically bigger than the Barients they replaced, but weigh less than a half pound/a quarter kilo more. Thanks Drew for providing me with the Barient 10 weight.
I am impressed by the construction and finish of the Aurinco solar panels. All four are 25 watt panels that should produce 1.5 amps each. Only ⅛” thick, they won’t be toe-stubbers.
Positioning solar panels is, as are many things on a boat, a matter of compromise: avoiding shadows; being out of the way; and aesthetics. The latter causes me not to stick things on pulpits or towers or to have a windmill, which would easily produce more power than GANNET needs at less expense.
I moved the two forward panels around frequently Tuesday evening while sitting on deck with a glass of wine, finally leaving them a few inches either side of the forward hatch running forward parallel to the centerline. Just before drilling holes Wednesday morning I decided they were too much in the way there and moved them outboard. At times they will undoubtedly be shadowed by sails. That will depend on angles of wind and sun and course. Time will tell if the solar output is enough for GANNET’s needs--THE HAWKE OF TUONELA’s three panels total 180 watts.
After I arrived at the marina I realized that I had forgotten to bring a camera with me. Then I realized that I did have my iPad, which I used to take these pictures.
I had not used the iPad as a camera before. While the pictures are not too bad--I have deliberately not made any adjustments to them in Aperture--I can’t recommend the iPad as a camera. Holding up something like a picture frame or a mirror to take a picture feels ridiculous. And I had great difficulty in locating the camera icon on the screen in bright sunlight. It was blind point and tap and hope.
Friday, June 15, 2012