September 15, 2013
One massive installation finished! The new are installed and ready to go. This was probably the easiest installation I have ever done. The actual installation of the system only took a bit of time to fish the wires through odd stations on the mini. Unlike a conventional boat where you have lockers and cabinetry or for that matter a “down below”, OGOC only has self contained sections flooded with flotation foam and a small hole drilled through to pass wiring. So the real effort was in pulling out the old system, drawing up a schematic of the new system, re configuring the mounting and tying back systems and making sure it was all tidy and won’t get damaged when moving the equipment around in the boat “stacking”. Every time we tack or change the angle to the wind with the boat, we have to move ALL of the equipment inside the boat to balance it out. That means that it’s critical to be able to drag stuff from one side of the boat to the other without catching on wiring and damaging the system.
Here’s the new ACU 100 pilot heads.
And the accompanying EV1 Sensor Core tucked right up under the cabin top looking like a little UFO!
And finally, the rest of the wiring throughout the boat.
Culminating with the new P70, i50 and i60 control heads (The i50 is on the other bulkhead).
Can you believe this whole installation went off without a hitch. When I powered up the system there were no error messages, no inappropriate blips or bleeps or anything! I am so excited about getting out on the water and trying it out. First I’ll need to fish new coax in the mast and rig the mast up and hopefully at the end of the week we’ll be in the water for our first training run with the new system. Good news is that I found the GoPro!
The last few days have been like Christmas morning. Opening up packages, marveling at the contents, getting all giddy with all the little parts and pieces has been my fun for the past few days. has furnished One Girl’s Ocean Challenge with the new Evolution Autopilot system. There are two new ACU100 autopilots, an EV1 sensor core, GPS unit, controllers and all the fantastic backbone cabling to hook it all up! Most sailors would be a little apprehensive about setting up a new onboard system just before a big race. I on the other hand…..am super excited about it! The previous Raymarine onboard system had worked way way above and beyond it’s task of pushing OGOC over thousands and thousands of miles. An upgrade was well in order and the new Raymarine system is very exciting! This pilot functions off of a “back bone” cabling system that runs through the boat with “spur” cables that hook in to the backbone. This new design reduces a significant amount of cabling throughout the boat and allows me to put the displays anywhere I want. The new EV1 Sensor Core replaces the traditional gyro compass and constantly feeds data back to the computer head based on 9 axis of rotation. It also requires almost no calibration upon setup! Then, the system continuously learns how the boat moves in different conditions and slurps up the information into its database.
Here’s the previous computer heads. OGOC has two completely independent autopilot systems. That way, if one fails, the other one is ready to put in play. Twice now in my racing, I’ve had to switch to pilot #2. It’s a nice little maze of wires and notes written throughout the boat of which wires do what…just incase I need to do some emergency surgery on the system!
The new computer heads take up significantly less space. The cabling system will also be greatly reduced once the installation is complete.
The controllers (wind, boat speed and depth and autopilot)
have also been changed out for the new P70 autopilot controller, i60 wind controller and i50 depth and speed controller. The displays are beautifully clear and consume less power!
Ultimately, the whole boat’s wiring has been explored. It’s been a very good exercise. The wiring on the boat was fantastically done by the previous owner, but it was uncharted territory for me….literally! Now I’m building a proper schematic of the system. It’s an awesome tool for the “just incase” moments onboard!
September 10, 2013
33 Days to the start of the and the work is well underway. Fortunately, the boat was in excellent shape when I left France three months ago! But nevertheless, OGOC is in final preparations for race mode. The first objective was to pull the little hood off of the companionway where all of the clutches are and fix one of the solar panels. There was a dodgy bolt in there that kept catching on the panel and was threatening to rip it apart. In an effort to save the panel during the spring training, I removed it, but now the panel needs reinstating. The hood was removed….dodgy bolt knocked down to size and the hood was reinstated.
The next task is the one that everyone cringes at but I seem to love.
Sanding…..sanding…and more sanding! The bottom of the boat needs to be slick like butter. OGOC has the coolest bottom paint that sparkles up nicely. A little presanding with some 800 grit and then extra hard muscle work to burnish the bottom and she shines up like metal! The bottom is only part of the “below the waterline work”. Next up is the keel and rudders. They have had many years of different colours of bottom paint as the traditional orange fluoro paint isn’t readily available back home. Now it’s time to renew the orange and make her bright and smooth again. On goes the mask, crank up the sander and prep for paint. Then it’s that wonderful job of sanding again.
Now as everybody knows, you can’t do any work without having an office and supply shop! Here’s my work bench, the computer and my teeny little speakers playing the edge radio from back home. I think everyone else at AOS will be happy when we move the boat out of the shop so they can stop listening to the Canadian girl singing along to her music!
Diane
September 7, 2013
The short list of work to do on the boat includes such things as: renewing the non skid in the cockpit floor and a few of her dents throughout in the gel, renewing the fluoro paint on the keel and rudders, reinstating a bunch of hardware that has been replaced, reinstating all of the standing rigging for the mast and last but certainly not least…..installing all of our glorious new Raymarine electronics and autopilots and a new vhf radio from Icom.
Then and only after all of that can I go sailing to test the new pilot, calibrate and make sure everything is ready for the delivery to Douarnenez! The Mini Transat race starts in 35 days!!!
Over the years, CMC Electronics continues to provide OGOC with amazing technical support of our autopilots and various onboard electronics. They have absolutely pulled me out of the fire, corrected my errors in installations, helped me with trouble shooting and certainly gone above and beyond the call. A solo sailor is only as good as their autopilot. Without it we can’t leave the dock! Well now thanks to CMC Electronics we are welcoming Raymarine onboard.
OGOC will be going into the Mini Transat race with THE state of the art…top of the line autopilot system! In the next few days we will be installing the .
This new Evolution autopilot system is taking the world of autopilots to a whole new level with their innovative breakthrough in intelligence. The Evolution autopilot perceives its environment and instantly calculates and evolves steering commands to maximize performance. The result is precise and confident course keeping, regardless of vessel speed or sea conditions. So thanks to CMC Electronics, welcome to our newest partners Raymarine!
September 1, 2013
Thanks to Cheryl, ABYC’s fantastic bar tender, who drew the winning ticket! The winner of our $5,000 travel certificate is Brian Neysmith. Thanks so much to everyone who purchased a ticket! In total we sold 159 of the 200 tickets. Off to France tomorrow to get the boat ready for the start on October 13th!!!
September 1, 2013
We’re doing the draw for the $5,000 travel certificate at ABYC at 1pm. See you there!!! 🙂
Diane
August 30, 2013
Only 2 days left to get your ticket for the draw for a $5,000 travel voucher! The big draw is on Sunday at 1300 at ABYC. You’ve got fantastic odds with 1 in 200 chances of winning. Just click on the donate button on the homepage of our website, donate $100 and I’ll take care of everything else 🙂 Thanks everyone who has bought a ticket and good luck!
Diane
August 29, 2013
One packed crate in the back of our truck, ready to ship to France. Yes, for those of you who know me well, you will note that most of the contents is FOOD 🙂 Plus a bunch of other important stuff like charts, emergency equipment and more food…..
August 29, 2013
Two days left until the big draw for our $5,000 travel voucher. Don’t miss out on getting your ticket from our homepage! In the meantime I’m packing the shipping crate to take all of OGOC’s goodies back to France for the Mini Transat race October 13th.
Diane
