New Kit for Shady

[poter]

After my various recent posts on water heaters AIS etc.I thought that the chaps and girls might be interested in my final list, including choice reasons, just a bit of background first - Shady Too is a Dufour 35 1976 based in Viarregio Italy. Intended sailing area - west coast of Italy down to Sicily including both Corsica and Sardinia this year, then on to Greece after winter in Sicily.

OK starting with recent puchases –
New Jecklles main sail
New electric windlass-not getting any younger so need to help with my back.
New Raymarine wheel pilot because I sail single handed sometimes.
New wireless wind and depth sounder package, Raymarine as I am not happy with the Nasa kit.
Future purchases to fit -
AIS - I am going for a receiver only and link it to a laptop, cost is the biggest reason for this choice.
Heater – defiantly a Morco instantaneous gas water heater, shower for SWMBO
Navionics Android Nav chart for the Med. Based on my tablet, for navigation in the cockpit.
All other safety, diving gear etc. is on board so be ready to go end of April.

Again thanks for all the replies to my posts.
Fair winds to all

 

[Tranona]

You might want to reconsider your wheelpilot as they are not the best bits of kit and is on the limit for your size boat. However recognise that a better one is twice the price. Just hope you have better luck than me with 3 failed ones on my previous boat of similar size.

Still would not have that gas heater on my boat at any price. Much better alternatives available for similar money.

Don't skimp on the windlass.

Good luck with fitting the gear. Lot to do in a couple of months.

 

[GHA]

A few beers worth on a Raspberry Pi might be worth thinking about ? Lots options to see any data coming in & AIS on Opencpn must be as good as any display out there.

 

[LadyInBed]

You might want to reconsider your wheelpilot as they are not the best bits of kit and is on the limit for your size boat. However recognise that a better one is twice the price. Just hope you have better luck than me with 3 failed ones on my previous boat of similar size.

Yes, I wouldn't consider anything less than a Type 1 linear drive connected direct to the quadrant.
A drive that acts on the wheel and has to cope with all the slack in the steering system before it gets to the rudder puts a hell of a strain on the motor trying to cope with all the delay in response.

 

[jwilson]

Personally I'd delete the Raymarine wireless wind/depth kit, and buy a cheaper plain depth sounder, or a basic 4" or 5" plotter with sounder/fishfinder, and put the very significant savings towards a ram-type autopilot. Wind instruments are completely unnecessary for cruising.

A reliable powerful autopilot may not be strictly necessary, but it's really, really nice to have. On a bigger boat
wheelpilots are not very good, sometimes struggle to steer in any seaway, and the constant whirring and clicking in the cockpit gets very annoying.

 

[pcatterall]

Consider where you mount your water/shower heater. We ditched ours which was fitted in the galley as the heat output into the accommodation was too much on hot days in the med.

 

[greeny]

A few beers worth on a Raspberry Pi might be worth thinking about ? Lots options to see any data coming in & AIS on Opencpn must be as good as any display out there.

Sorry to hijack the thread but just out of interest, how do you get the data into the Pi? By nmea from existing system or by radio dongle? I'm playing around with bits and an old computer and interested to know whether radio dongle into opencpn works ok and reliably.

 

[GHA]

Sorry to hijack the thread but just out of interest, how do you get the data into the Pi? By nmea from existing system or by radio dongle? I'm playing around with bits and an old computer and interested to know whether radio dongle into opencpn works ok and reliably.

Bit of both - AIS & GPS are nmea 0183 through a usb/serial adaptor , voltage, themometers , pressure and soon current are through a seperate ESP8266 bord over wifi.

The nmea2K - usb adaptor sounds like it works well but seems hard to get hold of through openplotter, might be similar on ebay. http://shop.sailoog.com/7-isolated-usb-n2k-converter.html

Some great web based signalk displays about now, and an easy app installer to get them working. Openplotter does a great job of shoving everything out over wifi with little setup.

 

[Hoolie]

Don't forget the carbon monoxide alarm(s)

 

[Pasarell]

My old Moody 33 had an original Vaillant gas water heater in the galley that fed the shower and sinks in heads and galley. Very doubtful when I first got it but had it checked out by a gas engineer and after he'd fitted a new heat exchanger it worked perfectly. Checked each year and perfectly safe. Dorade vent above it seemed to be adequate ventilation as the CO alarms never registered anything unusual when it was running. I'm now in the Med with a different and bigger boat and, after one year, I know that managing heat sources down below is really important so definitely would not have one here.
The old boat had an old ST4000 wheel pilot. Probably similar displacement to your boat and it worked very well once gearbox and drive belt sorted out. Having said that the below deck system on my current boat is far superior.
I wouldn't bother with wind instruments either. I have them but only look at them in squalls to see if the previous wind record is being broken. I would go with a simple wired depth system and put the money towards getting AIS with transceiver, not just receiver. Or towards a better autopilot.
Good luck with all the fitting out and hope you have a great season.