Daily Photo - Not Special, just often

colemj said:

That little box is genius - it contains electronics that cover just about any sound or effect that is usually done by boards full of foot pedals and amp controls. Delay, flange, reverb, overdrive, feedback, distortion, chorus, etc. All for $40. She wouldn't be on the boat without it and the headphones.

Click to expand...

Cool. Can I get one for my uke .

Basement boat building while the snow melts.

This little craft will be electric primary propulsion with auxillary sails. Kids wanted a fishing boat for local pike, perch and bass fishing. Electric propulsion just seemed to make the most sense for the task at hand. The boat will have a single 36 sq ft sail for trolling and moving off the wind.

The designer says it's a canoe, but looking at the shape I think it's a small Sharpie 🤔

Boat is a "Quick Electric" by Australian boat designer Michael Storer.

Columbier, St Barts. Too blowy for good snorkelling.

Sorry, no palm trees, sandy beaches or grand yachts....As many of you know, I have been working on replacing my autopilot. The process has been complicated by the tight space in the lazarette, and the clearances around the rudder post. I ended up modeling the lazarette and autopilot in my 3D drafting program to make sure that there is adequate clearances, and room for the bolts. It is really tight. I had chosen a JEFA direct drive, rotary arm ram which I was buying through PYI (as a West Marine Employee, PYI agreed to sell it to me direct.) PYI has been super.

The original plan was to use the existing tiller arm for the steering system. The problem with that was that the drive would need to be mounted forward of the rudder post and there wasn't room for the actuator arm to rotate without cutting a hole through the transverse bulkhead just forward of where the ram would be located. As it turned out, there was a longitudinal bulkhead that abutted the transverse bulkhead right where the hole had to be cut.

Time for plan 'B'. Working with PYI, it was decided to add a custom tiller arm above the existing steering arm. The geometry of the tiller arm length and actuator arm length had to be customized to work properly since the ram was designed for 36 degrees either side of center rudder rotation and my rudder only rotates 30 degrees either side of center.

This drawing shows the final geometry (there is only one link rod and arm but this shows the arm centered and then at either side of full rotation)


I ordered the new autopilot parts last week and began fabricating a new mounting bracket for the JEFA direct drive, rotary arm ram. The image below shows a trial fit of the bracket's interlocking parts.

I plan to fillet the parts together and then glass the whole assembly. The parts in the picture are intended mainly to act as coring for the fiberglass. The bottom and back have a 3/4" marine fir plywood core since those are the areas where the bolts occur that installs the the ram to the bottom, and which holds the bracket to the bulkhead. This shows the sides of the bracket cut out of 1/2" plywood. Having prototyped and assembled the design, my concerns is that the the assembly is heavier than I would have liked, so I am considering building the sides either with 1/4" plywood or a 3/8" foam core material that was left from another project, either of which would then have biaxial glass skins. I also plan to cut down the height a couple inches.

Coffee Break over, and back to work,
Jeff

WOW... good job!
My Alpha3000 install seems a lot simpler as I was able to mount the ram drive on blocking attached to the transom. I too had to model everything in CAD. I did have to cut a "slot" and enclose it in a box for the arm and ram which had to "invade" the port aft cockpit locker. This is OK because it's also accessible from the aft cabin via a removable panel.

Poof old traveler gone, but because I forgot the bolts, new one didn't go back whoopsie

Better shot of the new forward Bowmar hatch,synthetic lifelines, and my sail catchers.

Finally got my velcro pins in, now I can more easily adjust shroud tension before races.
Aren't those portlights ugly? How about those jib fairleads - seen better days. Meh another day a couple more boat bucks.

Simpson Bay Lagoon bridge opening at 17:00

Different day, different island. Isle Fourchue is French and you can spend a night here after clearing out of St Barts.
Interestingly you must clear in and out of each French island even if you are going directly to another French island. Quite bizzare.

Took a Cabrits, Dominica hike today.

Today its a 3 hour tour!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🤔😂

Isle Fourchue to Sint Maarten as another SailNet member is in town so we are drinking and cavorting.

I wanted a picture of Saba Island, but a freighter, a catamaran, and a Sailnet Moderator blocked the view.

Air Force 1.

Getting ready for summer with the new Bimini!