ELECTRIC DAY

The weather this morning was nasty and the forecast just as bad.  So stayed tucked up in Scottie Bay and got stuck into the electrical jobs that I can’t find an electrician to do.

First I set about the easy job and fitted a new light over the chart table, it works but just need a couple of small screws to mount it properly.

Emboldened by this early success I took on the solar controller.  I even read the manual again and all I could figure it was not reading the battery.  So with my trusty light on a wire I eventually found a wire that was only letting current pass one way, therefore stopping the controller from reading the battery.  I just removed the non return valve in the system and hey presto juice flowed again into the batteries from the solar panels.

The only worry is that without the non return valve something else may go beserk, someone put it there for a reason.  We shall see.

There is one other boat in the anchorage, a nice schooner with a guy sailing himself.  This afternoon he brought some fresh cod over that he had just caught.  I cooked it straight away and wolfed the whole lot, swilled down with a Lighthouse lager, beautiful.  I will start fishing when I have my boat in order very soon.

With a full stomach I decided to see if my run of good luck would hold out and wired up the AIS.  Very tricky and small wires in tight spaces.  I switched the unit on and bingo, lit up like a Christmas tree and asked me for data.  I called up a passing tug boat and asked if he could see my signal and he confirmed yes.  Truce should be showing up on marine traffic soon.

Now it’s time to clean the boat up, have a rum and hope the weather improves tomorrow.

Logged 24th April 2016