Recent content by MADRIGAL

A deep cycle 55Ah electric wheelchair battery provides plenty of electric power for our cruising Wayfarer. The battery is maintained by a 30-amp solar panel with a simple charge controller. Similar to the OP, it powers VHF, LED nav lights, LED cockpit lights (used under boom tent), and USB...

A Yamaha 2.5 HP 4-stroke moves Madrigal (CL-16, Wayfarer hull form) at hull speed, just over 5 knots, fully loaded with rig and cruising gear. A lighter dinghy hull with an extra 1 HP might even plane!

That is a definite advantage of a small sailing boat - and she's still bigger than a Wayfarer. :)

At the time of the Flinders Islet yacht race in 2009, drilling under Sydney Harbour for the new desalination plant had been suspended because dilution of precision, a measure of GNSS inaccuracy, had become too high. A yacht sailed too close to the islet, which was a mark in the race, and broke...

The last edition of the RIN's Navigation News quoted a report saying that aviators in the United States have been advised not to rely on GNSS for positioning owing to the the level of signal spoofing and jamming that has been detected.

Sounds like you have a well-rounded crew. Well done, Skipper.

Perhaps sailing will teach him a thing or two. Next time there's a halyard to retrieve from the masthead: "You're up, Mr Confidence..."

Actually, that sounds great to me. I love the fact that those stroppy lads want to sail with you :)

Wayfarer :)

Seems to work well enough for me, too. Thought it was just absent-minded luck the first time I forgot to solder the braid. :)

So do we. Good to know those GPS antennas survive that - and high temperatures, as Alicat says.

I will need my reading glasses for that job!

That has certainly been my experience. This is a pity, because they are quite expensive. Does anyone know what the things are made of?

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I will contact Icom and may replace the GPS antenna just to be sure. From Paul's post 13, the set clearly won't give position without a functional external antenna. Mine does seem to be in a position to be subject to damage and water ingress. I could not say...

Thanks, Gents. The troubleshooting guide in the manual advises checking the GPS antenna connection for this fault. I don't think this set has an internal GPS antenna, but as the radio does not have a clear view of the sky, I think the external antenna would be necessary in any case. Paul...