AIS Class B transponder

I think it is a good idea to get AIS information on board in North Sea traffic lanes in the Netherlands. For all commercial vessels and vessels above 15 m in length the AIS class A transponder is obligatory in the Netherlands. Because I think it will be nice not just you to see the others, but also it would be useful that others see you I decided to go not just for receiver, but for transponder device. My boat is not extremely fast, and it can be very useful when crossing the big ships  traffic lanes a front of Hoek van Holland, Rotterdam, or Westerschelde area in front of Antwerpen for example. I do not have marine plotter on board, and I considered mainly wi-fi options. Funnily there are not many of them:

Smartfind M10 / M10W AIS Class B Transponder
XB-8000 Class B AIS Transponder with Built-in WiFi and NMEA 2000 Gateway
EasyTRX²-S Klasse B AIS Transponder
Watcheye B Class AIS Transponder

I went for the cheapest and easier to install: Watcheye, it has integrated GPS antenna (so no need to drill extra holes in the hull), I got also the antenna splitter from Watcheye (no need to install second VHF antenna), and the Watcheye wifi device.

 

The installation is pretty simple and straight forward. I display the data with iSailor software on my very old Android Samsung Tab. I normali use Navionics, but iSailor was the cheapest software solution (other possibility would be WinGPS Marine, but it was way too expensive for me) which would permit importing AIS and NMEA data via wifi direct on the nautical charts. The free Apps solution were like displaying on a radar like display.

Samsung Tablet as GPS Plotter.

I was thinking a lot about the installation of GPS plotter, because of the high price, at the end I decided to go for my old Samsung 10.1 tablet with installed Navionics charts. I used fixation for the tablet above the navigation table (a.k.a. sink :) ), and connected the charger through the USB port. Looks nice, and the plotter because of it size is also seen from the cockpit :) On top of that of course one could use all the features of a tablet on board, like wi-fi, internet, TV :)

Rebedding the deck hardware

It was a lovely day today in the Marina Den Oever (the name of the American city Denver originates from over here :). I decided to rebed all the deck hardware, stanchions, cleats, and chain plates :)

Lovely evening in Marina Den Oever

Rebedding hardware.

Re-bedding the chain plates with poly butyl tape.

I decided before the winter really comes to re-bed the chain plates. In the Don Casey book "Sailboat Maintenance Manual" actually the recommended material is polysulfide sealant. I visited more than 5 shops here in Netherlands, and I did not find such a sealant. Because of that, I started to look for alternatives. I found several reviews and sailors in Internet who actually recommend the use of polybutyl tape when sealing movable deck hardware like the chain plates and stanchions. I found such a tape in the shop called KOK-Watersport: poly butyl tape KOK watersport. 3 meters of it cost just 6.50 Euro. The procedure which I found is pretty basic. 

1. Remove chain plates.

2. Clean and Dry chain plates and the through holes.

3. Repair the deck with epoxy if necessary.     

4. Apply the poly butyl tape.

5. Tighten the chain plates.

6. Remove the excess of the poly butyl tape.

Cleaned chain plate.

Poly butyl tape applied.

Tightened chain plate.

Removing the excess of the sealant.

The search of a new engine :)

When I purchased the boat the engine was the original Peters 6HP engine. It is a great little thing which works as the Dutch say as a small sunshine :) It was even possible to start the engine completely manually. The cruising speed on engine was 3 kn. At this time when Sasha has been produced I assume it has been fine, because the engine has been used just to get in and out of the harbour. However, since I plan to use the boat in the tidal water for the safety reasons I decide to upgrade the engine. I did a check in Internet and at the end I narrowed the options to 6 possibilities.

1. Beta 10, 2 cylinder, naturally aspirated, diesel propulsion engine developing 10 bhp at 3,000 rpm with a swept volume of 479 cc;

2. Beta 14, 2 cylinder, naturally aspirated, diesel propulsion engine developing 13.5 bhp at 3,600 rpm with a swept volume of 479 cc. The big brother of Beta 10, same size but more powerful;

Both Beta 10 and Beta 14 engines are recommended by Jeremy Rogers on his web site as a replacement engines for Contessa 26.

3. Sole Mini 11, Basis Mitsubishi, 2 cylinder 11HP / 8,2kW;

4. Yanmar 1GM10, 1 cylinder, 6 kW / 9 HP;

5. Nanni 2.10, 2 cylinder 10 HP, 7.36 KW;

6. Vetus M2.13, 2 cilinder, 8,8 KW (12 PK);


The price of the new engine is similar for all the models and ranges inclusive the taxes between 6-7000 Euro.

I decided that it will be too much for me, and started looking for good second hand engine. I found nice second hand fully revised Yanmar1GM10 from a Yanmar dealer near Kagerplassen estimated to be 10-15 years old and on 500- 1000 working hours from a boat used in "Westeinderplassen" lakes in Holland.

I started reading about this engine, and apparently it has been used in a lot of the Canadian versions of Contessa 26.

Fortunately it appeared to be a nice engine:

a. The lightest and most compact marine inboard engine around.
b. Proven reliability. A very simple and tough engine that when properly maintained and supplied with clean fuel and water will never let you down.
c. Relatively cheap to maintain and run. A 1gm 10 uses about 1 litre per hour at 2600 RPM. This rises to about 1 3/4 litres at 3000 RPM.
d. Spares are easy to come by as the Yanmar network is worldwide.
e. If something does go wrong there is nearly always a Yanmar specialist around. Or a tractor mechanic who will understand the engine. It only has one cylinder so there is less to go wrong.
f. Raw water cooling can be an advantage because its simpler; there is only one water pump and the cooling system is very basic. Thermostat and cooling system are easy to check and replace.

There is a really nice blog about this particular type of engines:
Yanmar 1GM10

Ok, now is time to find someone to install it :)

Brilliant Summer :)

Brilliant Summer with Sasha and nice people in Ijsselmeer and Markermeer :)

The happiest day... 29.03.2014

 

They say the happiest days in a boat owner’s life are the day he buys a boat and the day he sells it. 29 March  2014 was a happy day for Radoslav Parashkov :) 

I became proud owner of the legendary Contessa 26. I am the third or the forth owner of the ship. The boat has been produced in 1976 by Jeremy Rogers:

http://www.jeremyrogers.co.uk/about-contessa/contessa-26-specifications.php 

The number of the boat is 280, but funnily in the customs papers it is wrongly recorded as 28. 

Sasha is the third name of the boat, first she has been sent to Wells under the name of Myfanwy ("Beloved" in Gaelic.)  In 1990 she was moved to the Netherlands and named from the new owner "Dansende zon" ("Dancing sun" in Dutch) because of the nice sunset reflections on her port side one evening. Her next owners got her around 2000 (she was co-owned) and decided to keep the name. In March 2014 she became property of my family. This is her story :)

Sasha at the entrance to marina Volendam.