Rendezvous

[Doug Ritchie]

On the old board, there was talk of putting together some 365 Rendezvous'. I know we're spread all over the place, but I would be interested in getting an East Coast one going for this coming summer if anyone were interested.

[aschoenberg]

Hi Doug

I bought my P365 Ketch in Salem Mass. in Sept of 2005.  She has been in  Maine since and will be cruising down your way next Sept. Would love to hook up. We plan on sailing to Nova Scotia this summer then down the ICW.  You may know the boat as the late Angela Nancy - she is now the San-i-ti.  PO took the prior name with him.
Regards
Andy

[Doug Ritchie]

I was docked right next to Angela Nancy for a winter season a couple of years ago! I know the boat well.

If you haven't sailed to Nova Scotia before you're in for a nice surprise. Great sailing. I particularly like St. Margarets bay and Schooner cove. We took Rocinante up about 3 or 4 years ago, going straight from Boston across the Gulf of Maine directly to Halifax. Great cruising ground.

When and if you get down to towards Salem, if you'd like, you can raft up with us on our mooring (5000 lb) and we'll give you the grand tour.  

We can always be reached via Skymate email on the boat at mailto:rocinante@skymate.com">rocinante@skymate.com

Doug

[aschoenberg]

Doug

You tickled my interest  - - one of the things that we have been trying to figure out with this trip is getting e-mail on the boat.  I was told that I would need an SSB with transmitter and Sat phone  -

Since it appears that you have e-mail access on your boat - could you please fill me in with the set up?  Thanks

Right now I am deep into figuring out what I need to put refrigeration on board - mostly the electrical system upgrade -
Glad to know that you are familiar with our boat
Best regards and happy new year
Andy

[Doug Ritchie]

We have a sideband on Rocinante, but decided on the Skymate satellite email for a couple of reasons. It's cost was reasonable, it has good down-loadable weather charts, and will send position reports to friends and family while we are traveling automatically every day. They look like this:

http://mapserver.maptech.com/bp/mapserv ... 32_-16_-16

These position reports go out as a Maptech charts that shows the boats position on that chart.

Another feature that I like about the Skymate, is that it uses very little electricity (milliamps) and does not even require the computer to be running to receive email. A green light at the nav station tells me that I have email waiting. I then just fire off the computer if it's not running and open up the Skymate program just like any other email program and receive my email.

We opted for the unit with the GPS for position reporting as well as a battery backup in the event that we have total electrical failure. The unit sends position reports without having to have a running computer. A good safety feature we figured.  Between this and the G-pirb, we figured it would give searchers the most information possible in the event of an emergency.

Skymate also provides free blog pages for the boat (although we haven't set ours up yet) which allow friends and family to read about your trip.

The coverage with Skymate is almost completely global with very few dead spots, and is quite a bit cheaper than using a satellite phone.

I also like having yet another GPS as a backup. (Rocinante now has 4   )

I"ve used the sideband "airmail" and other variations with the Pactor modem, and it does work well, but depends on radio propagation and if using the free one, you are limited to the amount of text per month. The sideband also uses more wattage, even though to send text it's pretty quick.  

Since the cost of the Pactor III (i think that's the latest version modem) is pretty similar in cost to the Skymate, we decided to go with the Skymate for it's added features/benefits.

We've been very happy with it so far and the Skymate folks are nice people to deal with.

[aschoenberg]

So Doug you've got me totally interested....

What is required to have SKYMATE on board - equipment, software, and signup?

I would love to have e-mail on board for our trip and was overwhelmed by the SSB thing.

Thanks
Andy

[Doug Ritchie]

You need to buy the Skymate satellite modem (we bought the Skymate 200 kit). Nothing more than a small black box. It connects to a laptop or desktop PC via a serial cable. You load the small 50 meg program (comes with the modem or downloadable on their website), mount the antenna and (gps receiver if you get that option), mount the little green light, and that's about it. Setting up the account and activating it takes about 10 minutes.

Check out their website for the FAQ's on it.

http://www.skymate.com/user_groups/recr ... ating.html

[Doug Ritchie]

On this picture, if you look to the upper left of the monitor, you'll see the green light that comes on when email is waiting. The unit itself was small enough to mount behind that panel on the lower left side. This was also a very easy run to the computer cabinet, which was once the wine cabinet.



This picture shows my 15" flatscreen running my Cmap program, the waterproof flexible keypad and the instrument repeater showing depth, speed, windspeed, water temp. The Magellan GPS is strictly used as a position link to my Furuno radar screen in the cockpit, the Garmin runs the Cmap, and the Skymate GPS unit is mounted on the stern rail. The Raytheon sideband can just be seen on the far right.

[aschoenberg]

Doug
This was very helpful.  We planned on getting a laptop anyway to home school the kids on the boat.   I like how you have set up your nav station.  The PO for our boat reconfigured the nav station.  I haven't quite figured out yet how I will fit stuff in but I think there is certainly room for the sat modem behind the electrical panel.  If you don't mind me asking another question, how did you solve the refrigeration issue?   For now I think I will be insulating the dry box area but I am struggling with either electrical driven or engine driven compressor.
Thanks again and happy new year
Andy

[Doug Ritchie]

I used the Adler Barbour Cold Machine with the Power Plate. I had made the decision that I didn't want to use the engine to refrigerate. I added blocks of insulation to the bottom right side of the box and decked it off with a piece of plexiglass/lexan, basically cutting the box in about half.

In this configuration, the fridge runs only 2-3 times a day and voltage draw is pretty nominal. So far our solar panel and wind generator have kept up.  When we are running the engine, we will turn the fridge up all the way to get it as cold as it can get. This will keep the box cold for most of a day after we shut the engine down without the compressor running.

I also reconfigured the the "doors" to the fridge. Instead of opening, athwarthship, they now open bow to stern, are independently hinged, and have latches to keep them secure in the event of a knockdown or roll.  I used some weatherstripping to seal the doors as we used to get a lot of condensation there, telling me that we were losing cooling efficiency.

I built and West Systemed to the hull a shelf for the compressor in the port side cockpit locker to the left and above the battery shelf. This spot allows not only for good air exchange, but ease of service.

Hope this helps.

Doug

[Abbotsford2]

Doug & Andy,

We are in Annapolis and plan to leave in June for the summer in Maine.  We could be up for a rendezvous.

We went to Buzzard's Bay and back last summer.  To keep a little consulting business going I need cell and internet access.  We settled on verizon wireless pc card ("aircard", V620) for the PC which gave internet access every evening except for 2 nights in 2 months.  I have a little Radio Shack external antenna when the signal is low.  I am thinking of adding a cell amplifier and antenna this winter.  

We added 12v only Frigoboat refrigeration with "keel" cooler 2 years ago and are very happy with it.  It is located in the compartment to starboard under the cockpit ladder.  

Doug, tell me about wind generators...we will take down the mizzen in the early spring to add radar and fog horn for Miane and are considering an AirX.   And where did you put solar?

[Doug Ritchie]

I would agree that for coastal cruising, a cellular air card is probably the best way to go. That would also allow for some web surfing as well. Offshore unfortunately, they are not an option.

We use the AirX Marine and could not be happier with it. I chose it for a couple of reasons.

1. Self regulating,  no need for a charge controller. The AirX charges just like my Heart Interface charger. Starts with an accept high voltage charge, and then drops into float. This is ideal for battery maintenance.

2. AirX are probably the most popular wind generators out there. My thinking was that in the event of a problem with the generator, they would be easy to get parts and technical advice for. As it turned out, I had a 70 knot gust hit a year ago and it damaged the circuit board. I called Southwest Power, and they sent me a new board, no charge.  It was also a very easy change.  Apparently, what whacked the board was that the generator was running in about 10 knots when the squall hit with the sudden gust. They stated that it was unusual for the board to be damaged from this, but replaced the board anyway. The new board has not encountered that problem and has experienced similar conditions. Perhaps it was just a weak component on the original circuit board.

With regards to the solar panel, we use a Kyocera 125 mounted on the stern rail. I ran the wire inside the stanchion pipe and down to the Trace charge controller mounted in the port side locker.

Doug

[merman365]

Very nice set up for the nav station!! I have been useing our lap top and it works OK(it is velcroed to the top of our nav station)Your system looks great. I am in New Hampshire and would love to take a look at your boat,if you don't mind. to get some idea's(clearly you have a very well thought out boat)I thought I remember seeing post of her at one time.
My # is 603 520 5449 I get to Salem often. Oh yea...I'll even buy lunch!
Talk to you soon. Cheers, Tony