…And More Boat Work
New Handheld Radio and Mount
Even more work to be done, albeit much smaller, but necessary jobs. In mountain rescue as well as most mountaineering, you should have a backup systems and plans just in case something goes wrong with your equipment. This is directly translatable to sailing. In sailing, your two-way VHF radio is critical, it gives you real-time, direct contact to the world. Most notably, in an emergency you can call for help and in the U.S. and many nearby island nations, channel 16 is monitored. The Coast Guard will come to the rescue in life-and-death situations in coastal waters, as well as other boaters if they can. If you lose your engine, you can call for a sea tow. In everyday operation, you call marinas to reserve a slip or fuel stop. Commercial ships will contact you if there is a navigation conflict, e.g., get out of the way! You want your radio to work.
I bought a handheld just in case the shipboard radio goes out. Plus it’s useful for communication when you aren’t in the cockpit and need a radio. I mounted the charger on the chart table as shown above, secure and easy to grab when necessary.
Air Conditioner Strainer Housing
Another job completed was to give the air conditioner strainer housing a good cleanup. It was pretty messy. The air conditioner uses seawater to help channel heat out. It pumps seawater in, cools the heat exchanger and then back out to the sea. The sea is full of stuff. This stuff will clog the pump or heat exchanger, so you have to filter, or strain, it out. The strainer has to be cleaned periodically, which is very simple. However, over time the housing gets dirty and must be cleaned out well. So I had to remove it and wash out the cylindrical object pictured above. Unfortunately there was also a lot of corrosion so I had to clean it with a wire brush as well. The O-rings needed replacement as well. Finally got it done, took about a half-day total. Works great.
Next, sail to Baltimore!
Posted in Sailing by Mark with comments disabled.