tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30988947.post505887440318568865..comments2023-08-02T03:27:10.384-07:00Comments on Sailing Vessel Architeuthis: Tahanea and Zombie Hand (part 2)jkibelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00339537714884722376noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30988947.post-34515886031304538302011-07-14T12:55:53.100-07:002011-07-14T12:55:53.100-07:00The following is what I emailed in response to Con...The following is what I emailed in response to Connor's question. I figured I should post it here too in case anyone find's it useful...<br /><br /><br /><br />Hi Connor,<br /><br />We're trying to finish some stuff up and leave Tahiti today so I'll have to keep this brief but I'll give you a really quick rundown...<br /><br />Self steering: Our autopilot is great and has been well worth the money. You can find all the information you need on it in the "Autopilot" photoset here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/kibele/collections/72157608843050565/ I've filled in the photoset description and individual photo descriptions with part numbers and all that kind of stuff. We also have an Aires wind vane but it only works in ideal conditions. Randall on M31 Murre seems to like his monitor wind vane which works pretty much the same way but we like the autopilot much better despite the power draw on the batteries. I think the worm gear steering on our boats makes the servo pendulum wind vanes far less effective than they would be otherwise. They still work, just not very well. If I had enough money, I'd look into a Hydrovane or one of the similar auxiliary rudder windvanes.<br /><br />Refridgeration: What works fine in California does not cut it down here. We have a very old Adler Bourbor cold machine and it works but we can't run it constantly because of the power draw. I thought about adding better insulation to our ice box before we left and didn't get around to it. I wish I had. If you want to really be able to use your fridge, you should insulate the hell out of it, get a good modern fridge unit, and get a good thermostat control unit. That being said, we just mostly leave ours off, try not to get perishables, and just generally turn it on for a few hours a day. We're surviving and having a good time and know lots of folks who have no fridge at all.<br /><br />Sailing: Make sure you can go downwind easily and comfortably. For us, this mostly means using a whisker pole. We picked up a used line control one to pole out the genoa and it was really useful on the long passage to the Marquesas. A spinnaker pole somewhere in the 15 ft range would work almost as well and be a lot cheaper. Don't worry too much if you don't have a spinnaker. We bought and asymmetrical spinnaker and we don't use it much. It's nice to have but less useful than we'd thought it would be.<br /><br />Radio stuff: SSB or, preferably, ham radios are really really useful. I was not a radio person before the trip but got the ham license for the trip and it's been a huge help. We have an ICOM IC-706MKIIG and the associated tuner and have been happy with it. We did not need a fancy ground plane. We just used copper strap to ground everything to our cockpit drain through-hulls and it works great. Rather than adding insulators to our backstay, we pulled the core out of some 5/16 line and ran wire up the rope sheath. Then we attached that parallel our backstay and held it off a few inches with pvc stand-offs. We did not get a pactor modem and really wish we had. We can get weather faxes via the radio and decode them with our laptop but the process takes a long time and requires supervision. Getting weather via the modem would be a lot easier and we'd also be able to get email at sea.<br /><br />That's all I've got time for now and I think that covers the major concerns. You should definitely check out the marineryachts.com forum if you haven't already. There's tons of useful information on there and you can find links to Randall's blog. He's out here somewhere on Murre too and he's super helpful.<br /><br />Good luck and have fun.<br />-Jared and Christinejkibelehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00339537714884722376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30988947.post-45271515941032347372011-07-13T15:21:34.283-07:002011-07-13T15:21:34.283-07:00Hi Jared and Christine,
I've been following y...Hi Jared and Christine,<br /><br />I've been following your blog for a while now and I figure it's about time to introduce myself.<br /><br />I bought a Mariner 31 in February and am slowly but surely getting it ready to leave. I live aboard in Berkeley, CA currently and plan to head south hopefully around February 2012 with a couple friends.<br /><br />I've got a list a mile long on things to do before I go, but I'd love to hear about what has worked and what hasn't for you guys in terms of equipment and fitting out. I know your internet access is intermittent and I don't want to take a lot of your time, but if you get a chance to email me, I'd love to exchange messages.<br /><br />My very best wishes on your continued travels.<br /><br />Take care,<br /><br />Connor Dibble<br />s/v Ardea<br />cddibble@gmail.comConnor Dibblehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05697334995434793362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30988947.post-79684222811756741462011-07-12T10:36:23.998-07:002011-07-12T10:36:23.998-07:00Hi Christine,
I wonder if you got Dengue fever. M...Hi Christine,<br />I wonder if you got Dengue fever. Most cases are mild, and it would fit with the rash. If so, you would be immune now to that strain at least.<br />sounds like fun out there!Bobnoreply@blogger.com