Here is our latest upgrade. It is our new wind generator. We had the pole made and Barry installed the generator on the pole and strung the wires. The wires had to go down the inside of the pole, through the hull and then through the dungeon, which involved me rolling around in the dirty space at the bottom of the back of the boat to string the wires forward. Then we got an electrician to wire it to our system. It is quite crappy out today so there is no sun so our solar panels are not putting out any power but now our new wind generator is humming away and the power is flowing. It is not very noisy and there is no vibration through the boat so I think we did a good job of installing it.
Yesterday we finished the installation of "Bob" our new wind vane, which will steer the boat without using any power. We had to fix the lines, which one again involved drilling holes in the hull to put a block on, so the lines could be lead to the steering wheel. I also sewed another line on so it is ready to go.
We have got the boom back on, the reefing system has been simplified and seems to work quite well. I had to sew some straps on at the mast so we can hook the reef cringles at the mast into the hook on the gooseneck. That is getting technical, but I had to put two stainless steel doughnuts, one on each side of the sail and sew strapping together so the doughnuts hang on either side of the sail, ready to be hooked on when we want to. Believe me I really sewed those suckers. There is no way they are ever coming undone. First I did a back stitch across the ends, then I did an x stitch in the same direction. Then I sewed a back stitch down each side and down the middle, so if that sewing ever comes undone I will be amazed. The new reefing system can not all be done from the cockpit as before, it requires someone to go to the mast and hook on a doughnut once the sail has been lowered. Hopefully it will not be me all the time, but possibly!!
We are hunkered down inside, reading, embroidering, doing computer stuff, playing games online, and resting. It is pouring outside, so hopefully the water use ban will be lifted and I can give the boat a good scrub one of these days.
Last night we were invited to an acquaintance house and attended a lovely dinner party. Another cruiser gave us a ride and it was nice to see a Kiwi home and have pleasant conversation.
The other thing is that I found out that the ham radio is transmitting. I called someone the other day and they could actually here me so I was really pleased. That will be fantastic when we are on passage to be able to communicate with people.
I wish all of the Mother's out there a happy day. May your children be in touch with you today and may you share some special time together.