Ramblings
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A leaky battery
In 2023, I replaced the starter battery for Blue Opal with a smaller 80Ah one, as the 105Ah was having problems. Said problems included finding out that there was acid on the bottom of the battery when I placed it on the mat that protects the top of the companionway. What I didn’t twig at…
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Tuesday Racing
K and I went for a walk after my working day finished, and we had some sunshine and clouds for our walk out on the West Pier of Dun Laoghaire. It seems the racing from the hut doesn’t use sound signals any more, so next time I’ll have to take a VHF radio with me…
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Investigating the engine RPM drop
Monday afternoon after work seemed as good a time as any to do the start of the investigation. I’d already contacted the marina yard manager, and the mechanic is on holiday this week, so I may as well do some fault finding and provide details so the yard can work faster. The diagnostic list was…
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Malahide to Dun Laoghaire
Friday I took Friday off to launch Blue Opal with K. Early train north to Malahide, with bedding etcetera for an overnight stay; we could potentially have brought Blue Opal back to Dun Laoghaire on Friday, but launches have rarely been an on-time thing. It was much easier to say “Friday is splash, Saturday is…
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Woodworking: A custom key rack
When K moved to Ireland, we packed a large bit of wood that was typically used to hold hot saucepans, condiments, etcetera. We haven’t used it for that purpose since, and since we needed a bigger key rack than the one I had already, we opted to convert the cutting/serving board to a key rack.…
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Boat works 2025 – round 9
The yard was meant to have done all of the reinstallation work last week, so I went up to Malahide on Saturday to take a look at the progress. Turns out that while indeed the engine is back in, and the fuel filters are installed, the diesel tanks are just sitting in placed without any…