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Sunday, November 17, 2013

Projects Assessed

As I look around my boat, I see a lot of projects that I have written about, and thought it about time to write about what has worked, somewhat worked, or failed, for some of my more "controversial" projects.
These are in no particular order and itemized with links to help create some order. If there is a project you have seen here with "svSolace" as one of the tags, and you would like feed back on that project, just comment below and I will add it to the list. Here's a start with 10 items.


  1. Davit support written about here. Still holding up and supports the davit arms well. Works very good.
  2. Sanitation lines using polyethylene pipe written here. Works as expected. Odors from this hose are so far eliminated. I will in the future replace other sanitation hose with the polyethylene as I am able to procure it, in other parts of the world. I'm currently cruising and so not everything is available to me as I go from one country to another.
  3. The hot modified BBQ written about here. Its been nearly three years with this mod. The valves on the burner have needed a disassembly from time to time to lubricate and make functional again. Also the BBQ plate needs a clean from time to time. Best done ashore. Great mod and still does great steaks!
  4. Chain stripper modification can be read here. It works. Very pleased with it.
  5. The rudder shaft seal upgrade. It has been three years now with this mod. It's as water tight as the day I put it in. Works extremely well.
  6. iNavX, the affordable chart plotter. I've been using this for just seven months now. But it is almost indispensable. I use it for both daily planning, and for navigation along the way. Mostly used in conjunction to my Furuno by providing another chart to compare .
  7. Using the iPad with iNavX and connecting to the network with an iMux. I installed the iMUX at the same time iNavX came onto my boat. I must say that I have had difficulty getting a connection at times, and sometimes it drops the connection. It is installed in a cupboard, and so I intend to install it outside the cupboard and hopefully this will help with the connection issues. But once the connection is made, everything works, including the AIS data, and autopilot control.
  8. Our solar panel mounting can be read here. The mounting system works well. But we are in an area  of the world where there is very little wind. So at the moment we don't put our panels up to charge the batteries as we use to, because we motor everywhere. That should change as we move into another ocean. On the negative side, one of our stanchions holding the railing for the solar panels has been bent and the base mount has had the weld cracked and bent also. We put this down to a very bad sea state in which we were beam on to some very big waves that hit the side of the boat. No damage to the solar panels, but enough force to bend the stainless mount. Consider this if you put two panels on each side. We will get the stainless fixed when we haul out and put some extra gussets in the base.
  9. A fuel filter monitor can be read here. Works as stated. Very effective at telling when to change the filter. I would recommend this small device. Also, it's not very expensive.
  10. An inspection window for a holding tank can be read about here. I put this in because the tank sender unit use to clog up every so often, and I didn't like having to take apart to clean. Now the window works good, but it also need to be unscrewed and clean about once a year. No disassembly required, but still not a pleasant job. I think this holding tank monitor is probably the answer.