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The fun never ends.
My boat came with a sizeable stainless steel holding
tank occupying the space aft of the main mast,
stretching almost to the edge of the sump cliff.
Happily, it is removable. I pulled it to rearrange its
hose connection fittings, and kept it out for a while
so I could run new water hoses, mast wiring, forward
(windlass) battery cable, etc, etc. I can slide it out
through the floorboard hatch (above the sump) by myself
and manhandle it out of the boat, albeit awkwardly.
Can’t imagine refitting a 424 without full bilge and
under-sole access, at least for a while.Tor
Silverheels, P-424 #17
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Cada,
I didn’t know any 424’s had aluminum water tanks.
Silverheels’ are integral fiberglass, so I can only
speak for this setup. The discharge hoses for both
tanks are at the aft lower inboard corners of the
tanks. Those hoses run directly to the freshwater
manifold beneath the galley sink (in my L-galley
layout). My access to those fittings is, as you
guessed, under the tanks’ screwed down plywood cover,
which I cut early on so I could remove just the aft
4-or-5″ to get into that narrow space between the tank
and its aft bulkhead. To run new hoses, though, I had
to stand with my feet in the deep bilge sump and wedge
my upper body underneath the cabin sole to reach and
lead the hoses. Good to get to know that under-sole
area in any case, with its plumbing and wire runs.I believe some smarter 424 owners have cut access
panels in each tank’s aft bulkhead to access those
water tank hose barbs, and to open up that wasted space
for storage. Not sure how that works on the port side
in a U-galley layout.Have fun!
Tor
Silverheels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us
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Thanks for the clarification, Quent. I don’t think any
one chart system has them all. The combination I was
given, which includes various formats, is pretty
awesome, and Capn v6 reads them all. I don’t think it
gets much better than that and don’t feel any need to
“upgrade” from my old PC. I was just curious how far
tablets could go. Seems the techies that design them
don’t know yet that X marks the spot. It’s those
out-of-the-way nooks & crannies that make cruising an
adventure!I really want a tablet simply for its minimal size &
weight, for jaunts ashore and off-boat traveling.Tor
Silverheels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us
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Quent,
You wrote, ” The Android Navionics apps (with) North
America and South America… include(s) all the
charts.”How do you define “all the charts?” I’ve have some
excellent digital charts of some pretty obscure places
that I’ve visited, like the Bocas del Toro Archipelago,
the Serrana Bank (western Caribbean) and the alternate
entrance to Cartagena, through a narrow break in a
submerged, invisible sea wall. Plus lots of very
detailed harbor charts all over the Caribbean and the
Bahamas from a wide variety of providers in a variety
of formats. In my albeit limited electronic navigation
experience, some digital chart providers seem to have
some of these, many don’t. Some of the best are in
older formats that some newer programs don’t recognize.
How far do the Android Navionics charts go? What has
convinced you they “include all the charts?”I ask because I’m going to be shopping for an Android
tablet and then some useful apps. I’m endeavoring to
learn all I can to steer me to the best choices.Thanks,
Tor
Silverheels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us
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Rich wrote: “There are events that could take the (GPS)
system down.That’s another good reason to carry a sextant & the
necessary tools & reference materials aboard, and know
how to use them – especially if you venture offshore.Tor
Silverheels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us
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Welcome to the club, Pat.
I’m usually the last one to adopt new technologies –
just bought my first-ever cell phone, and that only for
its wifi hotspot feature (which I’m using now in an
otherwise wifi-less Exumas anchorage). An Android table
is on my shopping list when I get back to the States,
but for navigation I will continue to use an old,
dedicated laptop that still runs Windows XP, constantly
charged via a 12V-16V power adapter plugged into a
cigarette lighter connection at the nav station. The
laptop sits on the nav table upon a square of non-skid
fabric from Wal-Mart (I think it’s sold as shelf
liner), with a bit of sail twine securing it to the
outboard bulkhead so it can’t go flying when the boat
is hard over on the starboard tack. It has stayed put
through all kinds of weather, even when other things
went flying. Mine is a Panasonic Toughbook, but I
imagine almost any old laptop would serve this purpose
belowdecks. I plug in a $15 GPS puck, 2-way AIS and a
mouse and I believe I’ve got it all.My nav program is Capn version 6, no longer available
except 2nd-hand. Unlike the newer Capn versions and, I
expect, many other programs, Capn 6 recognizes pretty
much every digital chart format ever used, including
the older ones. That is essential for me because some
years ago the cruiser who gave me the program also
loaded onto my hard drive countless digital charts of
various origins and formats, including detailed harbor
charts for practically every cove in this hemisphere, a
cruising sailor’s gold mine! I’d beware of programs
that require buying charts only from them. It will be
expensive and may limit what’s available to you.Capn 6 is too old to recognize my AIS, so for that I
simultaneously run OpenCPN, a constantly evolving,
cruiser-developed nav program available online for
free. It may be that if I ever sit down and study how
to use OpenCPN I might not need Capn 6 anymore – I
think it recognizes the older chart formats – but I’m
used to what I’ve got; it works, and so I haven’t
bothered. The two programs together cover all the
bases.A note of caution: Digital navigation is wonderful, but
print out hard copies of the harbor charts along your
intended route before you set sail. Someday the
electronics – laptop, tablet, whatever – will fail
mid-way. Be sure you can still get where you’re going
when they do.Reef early,
Tor
Silverheels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us
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Hey Ken,
It’s only 700 n. mi. from Tortola to Georgetown,
Exumas, a 5-6 day sail – but we’ll probably stop
overnight at 2 or 3 islands along the way – T&C,
Mayaguana, etc. So I figure it’ll be around 10 days
before I’m online again. (This is my last email. I’m
weighing anchor now.)Hasta luego,
Tor
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That’s happy news, Adam. Thank you very much for going
to all the trouble.I’ll be offshore and offline for the next 10 days or
so. Will hook up with Skip in mid-late April, when I
expect to be back in Florida.Tor
Silverheels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us
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I sometimes use a second bow anchor for the same
reason. In fact, I’m on two hooks as I write this, to
keep the boat out of the adjacent channel when the wind
shifts.Tor
Silverheels, P-424 #17
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Ditto what Ken said – a 22-lb Danforth used maybe 3
times. However, if you ever decide to cruise in the
Mediterranean you’ll want something more substantial
for the bow-to docking that is common there.Tor
Silverheels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us
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Spring lines are awesome tools, Pete, but when you have
to maneuver – spin the boat, etc – in the absence of
docks or pilings you still have to deal with prop walk,
don’t you?Quote:
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Well, I suppose persistent curiosity is a reasonable
facsimile. I remain impressed.Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
