Such Upgrades!
It may seem like Seadee has been sitting at the dock, but oh no! It has been busy with a bevy of important upgrades from the flybridge to the engine room and from the master cabin to the salon, there is much new and notable to share.
This Airmar PB200 Weatherstation, mounted on the flybridge arch, gives us the real-time and trending wind info for Seadee at all times. It also serves as another (redundant) GPS.
This new Garmin GMI 10 screen on the salon helm shows anything we want on the boat's NMEA 2000 network; here we're looking at apparent wind on the boat. As another example, we like to use it as a split screen showing depth and wind while underway for quick reference.
This independent Garmin GPSmap 441 mounted in the master cabin serves several purposes: it acts as our anchor alarm, it doubles as our dinghy Garmin, and it allows us to see info from the boat's NMEA 2000 network while lazing around in bed. If you don't understand the value of lazing around in bed, try consulting a woman.
To solve our barnacle and seachest debris problem, we had sea strainers installed on all working seacocks. Shown here are the engine and generator strainers (and yes we have already had to empty them). We plan to have the seachest screen removed at Seadee's next hauling.
The air conditioning pump was relocated to the stringer inside the engine room (port side), accommodating its own sea strainer and a more succinct hose structure.
As proof that the barnacles here are of a vicious variety, this turtle was caught napping and has picked up a few on his shell. Good luck with that, buddy!
This is a gratuitous manatee photo. You have no idea the patience it took Annie to get this photo, since the manatee was asleep at the time.
Spiffy Dinghy!
After much use and abuse, Bonus Track (Seadee’s dinghy) went in for some well-deserved repairs. A new hull-plate was added so that Annie can beach it without tearing up the hull as much, as well as new Caribe labels for the sides. An overall spiffing and several hull repairs took place, as well as many other things you don’t care about. The point is that Bonus Track (the dinghy) is now back, better than ever, and possibly the fastest dinghy to grace the flybridge of an N37!
A removable Garmin mounted on the console means this dinghy need never be lost again, and a handy radio holster mounted on the inside of the steering column makes the handheld radio easier to hear and less likely to bounce out.
Slightly easier to dock than the trawler, Andy is piloting this craft with expert precision.
Once again gracing the flybridge, Bonus Track is perched atop its cradles. Notice that it is tied down both by its bow and stern-- we find this can be helpful for keeping the dinghy up on the flybridge during exciting seafaring voyages.
New Snubber Revealed
At long last we had the chance to test our new snubber yesterday! Seadee was built with a bow eye just above the waterline, but until now we have been unable to take advantage of it. This snubber is simple: a loop around the bow eye, and a snap through the anchor chain. That means no messenger line to mess around with, since the snap won’t come loose when tension is released. We tested it out in the Banana River (you can see our SPOT trail
if you’re reading this post within a week of the excursion), right next to the cruise ship dock at Port Canaveral Lock and within (binocular) viewing distance of the space shuttle on the launch pad.
The snap end of the snubber -- this is called a "swivel eye snap shackle."
If it were possible to make the bow of Seadee more intimidating, we have done it. Look at this fine white snubber snaking gracefully up the wide shiny bow.
It's difficult to get an exciting picture of a snubber...I tried to get a dolphin to make a cameo appearance but they were woefully uncooperative.
And yet another riveting snubber photo (especially if you like toe cleavage) -- or you have to really like trawlers.
Merritt Island Weather
