So… water on a boat. Most of the time you don’t want it but in one case you do: the water-tap in the galley. It had been dripping since mid-November and it was one of those jobs that should be easy but in the end are one of those never-ending stories.

When I noticed that the water pump would make a funny noise from time to time, it turned out that the drip caused the pressure to drop and the pump would kick in slightly. Given the history of these pumps, I’d rather not do funny things to them. So should be easy, get a washer, take tap apart, replace washer. It was very corroded and I couldn’t open it with a vice. Nope.

So, let’s find some time to go to Homebase and find a tap I like there. It’s a pretty long bicycle ride but it’s essential as far as I’m concerned. I find a nice tap but when I come back to the boat it has a 26mm hose opening and not 21mm. I would need to enlarge the hole near the sink and get a adaptor from the existing hose. Nope.

OK, so maybe I should get a caravan water tap in that case. I don’t like them, they look flimsy but given the COVID circumstances better a flimsy water tap than a dripping water tap. But when I got it by mail order 2 weeks later it was also not a good idea it turned out. I couldn’t connect my existing hose on it without an adaptor. Nope.

Right at that point it was a beautiful Sunday morning and I was fed up. I took the fancy taps I bought (oh yes they come in pairs and I only need one) to Homebase and take my existing tap and see what can be done.

I found a friendly kitchen salesperson, explained my predicament and he found (almost) exactly the drippy water tap I had brought with me. In pairs. I could go to the surplus area out back to find one but it may have missing bits. I’ll get the pair and fitted it in. Cleaned the old hose and washer inside. Connected it, turn on the tap. Water everywhere. Now that washer is leaking. Fortunately the washers I bought earlier worked even though the opening was a bit too small but now the pump needs to build more pressure and it can handle it. Case closed. Cross fingers.

The tall ship Ilen is visiting our marina this week. Reminds me so much of my favourite tall ship Enterprize back in the good old days when I was living in Melbourne!

I’m doing a rope splicing course online through Premium Ropes located in Amsterdam. Absolutely brilliant. I had all the tools on board but was planning to get to know them. Now I do and there are a number of jobs I have to do over the winter to make things better!

Here’s what they have to say on it:

Premium Ropes organizes workshops in Splicing Modern Ropes for yacht clubs all over the world. In two separate webinars we explain the various materials and rope constructions for modern ropes. We will also explain which rope is best to use for a specific application. But this webinar is mainly about ‘Doing It Yourself’. You will learn how to splice ropes consisting of Dyneema® or Stirotex fibres, splice with double braided polyester lines and make soft shackles. Many practical examples are also shown on how to apply this to your own yacht. During the Webinar there are opportunities to ask questions. At the end of the training you will have a better understanding of the materials of which ropes are made. You will grasp the basics of splicing and with the learned techniques be able to optimize your ship. Whether you are a cruiser or a professional regatta sailor: this is a workshop you don’t want to miss.

And here you see my results:

When I got out this morning to get my weekly Bread41, this is the weather that greeted me. The water on deck was frozen so I had to be careful getting ashore!

Using the NanoVNA antenna analyser I did some analysis on my handheld antennas using a sweep from 144-440MHz centred around 292MHz. I did perform a calibration using the provided online documentation before I started all this.

I also used the provided SMA-JJ RG316 coaxial cables to connect the antennas to the analyser. I used the

nanovna-saver

software on my Mac connected to the USB port to control the analyser.

AnyTone D878 High Gain rubber duckie

This is the standard antenna provided with the AnyTone D878 handheld transceiver.

Reteviz RHD771

This is an antenna I’d bought thinking it would be a better antenna to use “in the field”.

forgot to save the gain image

Baofeng UV-9R rubber duckie

Standard antenna that came with my Baofeng UV-9R handheld transceiver.

Feedback

Either to the NDR Whatsapp group or through my QRZ email.

Update 8/12/2020: this article from AD5GG is a nice introduction to some of these graphs as they relate to antenna tuners.

I had bought a Nextion touch HMI display to hook to my DMR hotspot. It took quite a bit of fiddling both with the hotspot and I had to download more Windows software to program the screen with the correct bitmaps:

But here you can see I made a QSO with someone in Florida:

And this is how it is properly mounted on my Vodafone 4G broadband modem:

Roasted quinces cake

Ingredients

Roasting the quinces

• 3 quinces, peeled, quartered and remove core
• 250ml water
• 250 g sugar
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 large piece of lemon peel (remove the white bit)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• optional: 1 star anise

Muffins

• 150 g softened butter
• 150 g brown sugar
• 1 table spoon spice mix: see this site for the recipe
• 3 eggs at room temperature
• 2 table spoons orange blossom water
• 150 g self-raising flour
• 1 roasted quince in pieces

Preparations

Roasting the quinces

Pre-heat the oven at 200ºC. Add all the ingredient in a Dutch oven o.s.s. Put it in the oven for an hour, covered with aluminium foil. If you want to turn the quince parts 1 or 2 times. No lower the temperature to 170ºC. Remove the foil and roast the quinces for another 45 minutes. They have to be completely soft when you stick something sharp in them. Remove the quince parts. You can cool down the liquid and use it as a syrup for mixing or to drizzle over the muffins. Leave one quince apart for the muffins and cut it in small pieces.

Muffins

Pre-heat the oven at 180ºC. Mix the soft butter with the brown sugar and spice mix until the butter is aerated. Then, one by one, add the eggs. Only add an egg until the mix has absorbed an egg completely. Finally, add the orange blossom water. Now spoon the flour and quince pieces into the mix. Fill the muffin shapes and put in the oven. You can also make a cake in a springform of ~22cm (which I prefer). The muffin cook time is about 15-20 minutes, a cake would be around 40 minutes. You can check by sticking something sharp in it and it should come out dry. Let it cool on a roster. You can serve it with the syrup drizzled over it.

It was very good with a Killahora Rare Apple Ice Wine 2018

Original recipe to be found here.

And here I was eating it with my friends:

This makes living on a boat worthwhile…

It’s 15° here in Dublin. I have also had a craving for French fries since the start of lockdown. Let’s combine the two and throw some cycling in the mix to make myself believe I’m doing a healthy thing:

A couple of months ago I bought a DMR hotspot with the assumption that it was able to work on the VHF band (since I’m not allowed to work on UHF on my boat). But it didn’t do it! So, even though supposedly the MMDVM board would support it, it was minuscule SMD soldering so I gave up to fix it.

Luckily I was able to get a dual-band system but it would not fit the case of the Raspberry Pi Zero. That computer was also rather underpowered and so I have upgraded to a Raspberry Pi Model 3 B+ at the same shop. It also has more full-size USB ports so I can connect it to other equipment much easier.

It is working fine:

And on a legal frequency:

You can see I was chatting with Jan, PA3CJP in the Dutch Brandmeister Talk Group 204.

Today I received my signed copy of the book that I helped edit and type-set: Follow the Sun — how to rebel scientists solved Covid-19.

“How do I happen to do something like that,” I hear you ask? Well, I’m glad you asked!

A long, long time ago in a galaxy far away...

False start. But when I was much, much younger (but just as stupid as I am now) I was the editor-in-chief of a magazine of the computer club S.T.A.C.K. at the TU Eindhoven. There was a porter working there who taught me a lot about the art of type-setting and I have always had a soft spot for doing this work. So when my dear friend Melanie O'Reilly asked me if I could help her out with this project she took on (in my spare time), I gladly agreed. It was a bit more work than expected but the result made everyone involved very happy. Even the printer and publisher gave positive feedback!

This is the front cover I designed, based on a photo I took in Malta in 2009:

And the main author signed my copy in Irish:

Just need striped pyjamas… Oh, can’t get them, this prison has no shops.

There is still a thing called fax that is being used on boats and ham radio. It is actually called weather fax and I got a licence for MultiMode this week to help me decode all kinds of interesting signals.

So just now I went to 4608.10kHz to Listen the the Northwood (GYA) UK weather fax transmission. And it works great!

And here is the previous weather report for the Atlantic:

May I remind the dear reader that I had to replace my fresh water pump back in March? Well, about a week ago this new one gave up the ghost. It happened when I went to bed and I decided to sleep on it and try to fix it the next day. Well, I fixed it for about 15 minutes (not knowing exactly what I did other than fiddle with the water hoses and fill the water tank). And after I put everything away, it stopped working again. Looking at the manual that stated there are no user-serviceable parts inside, it must have been the pressure sensor. Fortunately I hadn’t bought this online but through a local shop in Dun Laoghaire, Solas Marine, I called Tom and a replacement would be ready in a few days.

Today I cycled to Dun Laoghaire to get the replacement. Nice cycle ride and it is much better to cycle there compared to before the pandemic! (I also cycled because I need the exercise as the swimming pool is still closed for my aquarobics classes).

I installed it and I have water again! Civilisation has returned (for as long as it lasts). The sound is also different from this one even though it’s the same model, I hope that is a good sign…

And a photo, because that is what you were looking for?

Did a pleasant hike to the Poolbeg Lighthouse at the end of a beautiful day…

Another beautiful morning in Dublin. I had to bring my bicycle back for repairs for the third time. They can’t seem to get the gear wiring tension right. Anyway, I know a lovely place on the Liffey were they bake fresh granola muffins in the morning and the cinnamon wafts around it.

This is the way to do breakfast.

As you may know I had to buy a new mainsail since the last one started tearing apart a year ago (it must have been at least 20 years old).

This has been a process with lots of stumble blocks (like most things with boats). The full sail looks amazing but reefing is a problem with the spray-hood up. The boom drops onto it and it is very difficult to tighten the reefpoint close to the boom so I had to lower the spray-hood. And in general when you have to reef the main sail, this is because it is windy and wet and you want some protection from the elements at the helm.

For the land lubbers out there: what does reefing the main sail mean? It is the process of reducing the the surface area of the main sail so the boat is not overpowered, it is the sailing equivalent of depressing the gas throttle but it is a bit elaborate and not as quick. Here is a nice article that tells you how it is done on my boat. I have 3 reefing points so I can use the main sail in terrible weather.

Also the cars are attached to the main sail with some flimsy plastic bits and tiny screws that just don’t work. The sailmaker promised to replace these:

Since I want the boat to be ready for single-handed sailing, I also bought a new sail cover with the lazyjack bag system which will look like this:

I can’t go up the mast yet but I did fit the bag. There are a few issues but at the moment it looks quite nice:

But the spray-hood is a problem again. Now I need to wrap a sail tie around the area to prevent chafing underway. I think I need to lower the spray-hood by cutting off a couple of centimetres of the hoop:

Incidentally, this is with the first reef properly set up!

P.S. Lazy bags image stolen from: www.sailmagazine.com/diy/lazyj…

Ever since March when I threw my old cushions covers out during the lockdown, I wanted to get new ones. During the same lockdown I’d also ordered some waterproof LED lighting strips that never arrived (no surprise there as they had to come from China but for 10€ I figured it was worth a gamble, I lost). I did order new LED strips with a fancy kit to hook them up in different ways.

Now that we have a new partial lockdown in Dublin till at least October 10 and I have issues with my main sail (in a following post), I don’t see this boat going anywhere. So I’m “stuck” in Dublin, at least I can use the WeWork office of my job and it is relatively cheap to live on the boat so I can safe lots of money so make good use of when we will be free next year (maybe, if we survive this one).

So today I bought some new mustard and black velvet cushion covers. Admire my showroom interior puny humans:

And with the LED “mood” lighting activated (it is finally becoming a bachelor pad):

Finally I have some decent light in the navigation and galley areas:

The advantage is that it is USB powered so I can use it with both shore power and battery power! And when I change it to red, I have light for sailing at night that doesn’t destroy your night vision. I also installed it in the V-berth so it is everywhere! Now I feel at home because these things were bothering me since I started my live aboard adventure in Scotland 3 years ago!

I saw a gentleman doing a paint job on another boat and since I knew the owners of that boat, I asked about the painter (John). We got to talk and he was willing to do the job, as long as I had the paint. Fortunately, before restarting my new job, I did buy new paint for the roof in case the weather was agreeing with it. I never got to do it and the last two days were perfect weather for it! And John had time to do it. I love it when a plan comes together.

Look at what a professional can do:

The new roof is shining beautifully:

This job really needed done for the last two years and definitely before winter. I’m so happy it got done. Thanks John!

I like it dark when I sleep. Currently in the v-berth it is too light. Remember I did try to do something about the roof hatch. So I needed something better. You can get some very fancy Plastimo blackout blinds. But I figured I can do something similar for a lot cheaper. I went to Eason to get an A2 portfolio binder for papers with black plastic covers. I cut the covers into the right size for my hatch and port holes. Then I cut some holes in for some suction cups and voilà:

Cost: < 10€ !

😴

Today we did another sail with Gil and Paddy. Look at the new main sail:

Unfortunately there are a few problems with it which I hope work out with the sailmaker:

• When reefed, the boom is too low so I have to lower the spray hood. This wasn’t the case with the old sail. And must be fixed because I’d like to keep a dry cockpit and cabin entrance in bad weather!
• The block for the main sheet on the boom is doing funny stuff because the boom can’t freely rotate. I think this happens because the clew of the main sail is now attached to the boom and not the boom plate. I will change this (against the wishes of the sail maker but he should have given me a copy of my old sail).
• I managed to pop the rivets off the boom vang inside the boom. But this was always a weak spot. I’m going to design a bigger plate with 8 rivets so it will take a huge force to get that out!

Here you can see the Poolbeg Light House on our way back into the river:

I took the loss of the winch handle last Saturday as an opportunity to properly fix something that had been bothering me for some time:

So when we got back from our sail yesterday, I plugged in the shore power because I had a full fridge and needed to keep it cool. But lo-and-behold: it didn’t work. Again. WTF!

I bypass the new fuse system, and still doesn’t work. By this time it’s getting dark and I was hungry and frustrated. By now I have learned my lesson and I kept the fridge on the topped up battery and went back to the club for some dinner.

This morning I applied Occam’s Razor to my problem and I come to the conclusion that it must be the plugs on the shore cable that cause the issue. Look what I found:

No wonder nothing was working. Why did I approach the problem from a software engineering perspective where you know the problem is in the most complex system. But here it’s mostly mechanical stuff and there was too much tension on the cable the way I had put it together back in Scotland 3 years ago. But look what vaseline on the copper does for you: it looks like new! So I checked the plugs on both ends, cleaned and greased them. Put the fuse system back in, and everything is fine. So, I didn’t have to replace that system at all (but at least this one is IP67 rated and not IP55 so it will survive a flooded boat. 😏

Conclusion: I am an eediot, man!