Category: Sailing
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Responding to a Mayday Relay
The other Saturday, K and I decided to make the most of the warm weather in Ireland, and sailed to Killiney Bay, dropped the hook, and had lunch. As the tide turned, the movement became a bit uncomfortable, so engine on, anchor up, sails up, and we started heading back. Glorious wind and boat speed…
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Solar upgrade
As noted a while back, the solar panel I have on Blue Opal wasn’t working well with the Votronic MPPT solar charger. The panel I have is a 55 Wp panel, and the testing I did led me to the conclusion that it basically can’t put out enough voltage that the Votronic can buck down…
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Fuel senders
It turns out that Blue Opal has had an electronic fuel sender since I bought her, it’s just never been hooked up to anything that can display the signal. I’d noticed the wires going to the top of the fuel tank, but had concluded that they didn’t do anything useful. As it happens, this conclusion…
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Jammed single line reefing
The other day I discovered the single line reefing setup on Blue Opal had jammed in the reefed position; we were able to go sailing anyway, with the reef in, and it didn’t interfere with our sailing (other than reducing the sail power in the lighter airs that were present). I figured something had jammed…
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Saltwater under the head
When Blue Opal launched this year, I opted to check all of the seacocks while she was still held in the slings. In doing so, I discovered a significant quantity of water in the space under the head, and it was salty. I called for a pause on the launching process while I checked it…
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Adding a gas detector
I’ve been meaning to add a gas detector to Blue Opal’s bilge area for a few years now, and finally got it done. I opted for a Pilot Mini via SVB, and wiring it in was trivially easy (though I need to re-site it due to the power cabling I had not being long enough).…