New Year Projects

[Levitation]

It is 52 degrees here in the middle of Michigan (unbelievable)... I opened the door to the chicken coop this morning and the girls wandered out stretching and blinking and as soon as they realized the temperature (it has been bitter here for many weeks) and that the snow has melted away, they were spreading their wings and running across their yard like a bunch of nut cases... They don't like being cold and wading in snow up to their tutus...

Today's project is to reinstall the heater back under the helm floor and finally button up the water pump issue... I left it pressurized all night and I see no evidence of leaks...
Then I will get into the cave and measure for storage boxes... I am torn between building boxes to fit or simply buying plastic stuff from Wally World... All suggestions entertained (I do a mean soft shoe routine)

Yesterday I used the ladder to finally install the last two LED bulbs to complete the change over from incandescent to all LED bulbs... These were the red/green marker lights and discovered that Marinebeam had sent the wrong bulb type... He sent the pointed end Festoon bulb instead of the dimpled end... Called Jeff and he went to shipping to check it out... He found that during their recent expansion the storage bins had been emptied and moved, then filled back up... In doing so they put the pointed bulbs in the dimpled bin and vice versa... When the lads fill orders they simply count out x number of lamps from the appropriate bin - and do not read the labels on the little boxes... He promised to re-ship to me yesterday as I did to him. so the bulbs should be passing each other today somewhere on the highway... Jeff sighed and said he had a long evening ahead of him in checking all the bins of stock to see if any other brain farts had occurred...

Anyway - In discussions with him before, he had pointed out that incandescent bulbs don't have much green in their spectrum, so by the time the mostly red light is filtered through the green lens, that marker is not very bright compared to the red marker light... This is doubly true for white LED lamps which have almost no green in the spectrum, and so they recommend that you use a colored bulb along with the colored lens... The marker light LED bulbs from him are specifically Green and Red so there is no loss through the filter... I tested the LEDs on the bench before shipping them back and they are blinding bright - and intense in their red and green color... So I am anxious to get the dimpled bulbs in hand to install and get a look at... You should be able to see my marker lights all the way to the horizon at night...

Well, this boat is finally almost ready to go for a trip this winter... Last issue (I think) is the anchor... Rule of thumb I have always held is that if people don't point and stare at your anchor, it isn't big enough... The real question is what is the biggest anchor that will fit the standard launcher on the R25? I don't want to start another 100 post thread about how to tie off your anchor, just a suggestion as to what will fit...

cheers

 

[Stella Maris]

Denny,
If you check out our website, Rangertug25-solitude.com , you will see the chest of drawers that we installed in our cave on Solitude.

We purchased the chest at Ikea. It fit so well, after Maureen assembled it in the cockpit, I had to disassemble it in the cave are re-assemble it in place. I then used L-brackets to attach it to the plywood floor. We used child locks on the drawers to keep them from opening in rough water or while trailering. Once we installed the chest of drawers, we had a set of drawers made to go under the dinette floor to give us even more space for storage.

Happy New Year!

 

[Levitation]

Will take a look... Thanks...

 

[Zundels]

denny-o,

Thanks for the suggestions on the red and green LED lights, will get them installed. To save on batter power, next we will look at changing out the lights in the cabin, have you changed them to LEDs? Which brand did you use in the cabin and what is their color tone (blueish or a warmer tone?)

Did you find an anchor that is a good fit for our R-25s and your statement "if people don't point and stare at your anchor, it isn't big enough"? We need a second anchor for the stern so replacing the bow with a bigger version might help us meet both goals. For a stern anchor can we use the same style as the bow or a different style anchor?

Happy New Year, Don

 

[Lobo]

Happy New Year to all.

I have a comment on changing your port and starboard running lights to LED's to save on battery power. The only time they should be on is when you are RUNNING, and you have your motor on and you are generating lots of power. If your only reason for changing to LED's on these lights is to reduce power draw, I suggest you reconsider. They are not supposed to be left on when at anchor at night; only your mast-head anchor light is left on. Then again, if you have a sail hooked up to your mast and cruise quietly at night.......

I'm in email correspondence with Peter Weinstein at Anchorsaver.com regarding his unique device for unsticking anchors. Because of the very short distance between my anchor shank and the windlass the one on the website isn't suitable. They are building one that will work -- pricing in the $150 range. I'm talking, I'm thinking, I'll keep you informed. I've only discussed the R25 dimensions and my anchor is a 22 lb Rochna with a long shaft (22" from end of shank to the crown eye hole and 5" from the shank to the windlass) and other anchors will have different measurements.

If the weather would get a bit better I'd stop looking on the web for "stuff".

Have a good 2011.

Dave
"Lobo"

 

[Levitation]

Don, the discussion of the LED lights is in the General Technical Forum (R-25 Lighting Power Draw and LED replacement)...

Dave, my changing the side marker lights is not for current draw, it is for bulb life... My running/anchor light on the mast was used for the first time on the night of July 4 to go watch the fireworks... The bulb lasted all of 90 seconds which was the end of our 4th of July boat trip... The next business day I ordered the Festoon LED replacement bulb from Marinebeam - you know the tune, ". . . once bit twice shy . . . " I liked that LED bulb so much, and especially after I measured the current draw of the incandescent Festoon bulb versus the LED, that I went on a mission to replace every incandescent bulb on the boat...

 

[RProffer]

I will second that emotion on replacing the bulbs for reliability reasons. On my previous boats I had terrible luck with bulbs, especially nav light bulbs. I always check my nav lights before launching because you never know something may happen and you do not get back before dusk. On my previous boats I would be lucky to get two or three trips on a bulb before it blew. I did everything - changed bulbs, changed fixtures, switches, wiring, everything. And I still blew bulbs. With today's price of two bulbs for $10, I decided to have LED's installed in my NAV lights when I ordered my boat. I have not been sorry. Now I will be swapping out my other bulbs to save power for when I am on the hook.