Added AIS to my E120

[Mike Brown]

Just got the AIS up and running on the E120 on our 43. I installed an ICOM 5000 receive only AIS. The two biggest problems were running the data cable back to the E120 and finding the 12V wire that becomes live when the navigation switch on the panel is turned on. I'm not the contorsionist I used to be :) Other than that it was pretty straight forward. Looking forward to knowing what's around me. I think the wife will appreciate it even more as she's always concerend when we have commercial traffic around us, which is often.

[CAN DRAC]

Mike, smart choice of equipment! It's really helpful when navigating between shipping lanes and staying away from barges and commercial traffic. But don't ever let it replace your eyes on the horizon as not every boat is broadcasting their position!

[Mike Brown]

Franc, whenever we encounter commercial traffic, which is often, Fran asks if we're in their way. This will be a good tool to let her know that we're fine. As a matter of habit I'm always on the look out for the big boys. This will give me one more tool to ensure we're fine. Nice to have their ID too just in case I need to check with them.
Mike

[James Taylor]

Congratulations Mike.
I snaked cable off the rear of our E120 remote to monitor the e120 on our flat screen (cheap repeater). Purchased an electrician's snake to get the cable under the Deck table and deck.Was not an easy job!!
Just ordered a battery monitor and will be installing it soon.
Will be hauling out mid Dec.

James

[foster]

Hello,
This seams to be a great idea the E120 on the flat screen. Could you give me more detail on the video cable you used to do this. These video cables often have quite big plugs how did you manage to go all the way to the forward bulkhead of the saloon ?

If you have pictures that would help a lot.

Thank you.

Denis Foster
s/y Hibernia

[James Taylor]

Hello
Purchased the video cable from a online supplier that was marine compliant and had to cut the cable ( about 3 feet from end) to work wire through the hard rubber protector ( connect the serial connector head to the e120 first then push the cut end through the hard rubber protector and pull about 50-60 ft of wire thru the connector) then under the deck table and deck . Fish the wire under the deck to the starboard lazzarette (where steering gear is located) and the rest was fairly easy. Strap the wire to the main harness til you get into the cabin via the port side under the galley etc (not difficult). Up into the cabinet where the electrical buss is located . I drilled a hole so our connector can be stored under the wall locker til needed (cannot be seen). Oh I forgot to mention, you must use a connecting block or shrink connectors to rejoin the wire once you get it into the locker. You can, of course, run you wire to any point your flat screen is located. We sit our 19inch flat screen on the nav table and that is why I stopped at the locker.
Will take photo's next time I am at the boat for a clearer picture.

James

[Mike Brown]

James, it's not an easy job is an understatement. I found myself in more tight places than I imagined. The electrician's fish was a life saver for sure. At least I discovered a few more nooks and crannys I wasn't aware of before I did it. BTW if you haven't bought an electrical monitor yet go for a Victron. They have two models the BMV600 which is a single bank (it's what I installed) or the BMV602 which is for two banks. Got it through Jamestown Distributors. Very easy to install and works well with just a little bit of management.
Mike

[James Taylor]

Mike
I picked up the Xantrex LinkLITE Battery Monitor on ebay at a really good price. Will see how that goes. Heard from Franc and he told me to give you his best.
Bet you got a nice long look at the steering mechanism of October Moon on that install. I thought it was great to get down into that lazerrette and see how much space there really is on these boats. Quite amazing.
I completed the winterization of the hvac, and all water systems. Those quick disconnects on the plumbing make bypassing the water tank a breeze(after draining tank of course). Will do the engine once I get it down to Deltaville before its hauled out.

[Mike Brown]

James, we're all winterized, other than the AC unit which I will do once she's hauled and blocked. Rather than disconnect the tanks, water heater, etc I ran a couple of gallons of the pink anitfreeze through each tank. I ran all faucets on hot and cold until the pink flowed freely. That includes the swim shower too. Once she's hauled I'll open all the lines for the AC and let gravity drain the system. After that I'll run some pink through the lines. The process has worked well for me over the years although I'd much prefer to use Franc's method. Move to a warmer climate!
Mike

[James Taylor]

You and me both (move to a warmer climate).
Our sailing plans for 2010 are May-Jun Phila (grandkids and daughter), Jun-July New York (59th st marina in Manhattan, July-Aug Martha's Vinyard and Block Island,. Mid August return to Deltaville, mid Oct Florida for winter. Ambitious but we are going to try and make it happen this year. Will take the Sound up to MV via slack tide at Hells Gate and may return via Montauck if we get the weather and nerve. Will do Wildwood, AC, Manasquan, NY on the way up in day hops.
The boat will be gone all year but we will return home from time to time to take care of business.
If we do all this it will be wonderful, if we do half it will be wonderful.

[Mike Brown]

James, it sounds like a great plan. I hope you'll be able to do al if not some of it. As you said even a portion of it would be wonderful. My job would permit me to do the same thing but unfortunately my wife's does not. Eventually we'd like to downsize from our house to a townhouse or condo so we could lock it up and go cruising. No worries about lawn care, etc. You mention stopping in Wildwood on the way up. I take it you go in via Cape May channel then run up through the NJ ICW? We make a run to Cape May every year and am very familiar with the inlet. We were out of AC for 3 years and know that area as well. Just haven't been north of Absecon Inlet (AC) other than for day sails. Let's hope the weather will be more cooperative next summer. We're planning on taking 2 weeks off and running down to the Hampton area.
Mike
Mike

[James Taylor]

Did Hampton last year and relly enjoyed it. They have a town marina there with lots of transit slips or you can drop the hook right there off the town marina docks (green top) and go to shore via dingy dock. There is a very nice hotel and lots of restaurants, shops and evening entertainment. Sailed to Hampton twice last year, Norfolk twice via Norfolk downtown harbor (lots of naval carriers and their escorts along with cargo ships etc) then Norfolk via Little Creek on another trip.The naval amphibious base is close to this one. Watch out for the wakes when crossing behind the large boats in the chanel Bill.
We stayed at Little Creeks Taylor's marina for 4 nights and having the B43 with 4 persons on board was phenomenal. The boat was extremely comfortable in slip. We rented a car to go touring the area and used our B43 as our home quarters. Having unlimited water, electricity for air, lights etc helped make it a great stay for us and our guest. After the stay in Norfolk we departed the marina and sailed her back to D'ville. If you ask me which is better , our B43's sailing qualities or her comfort at dock or on anchor I would have a hard time choosing. This boat sails wonderfully (I do not take this lightly since I consider myself a sailor 1st). Her sailing qualities and strength of sail are nothing short of fantastic to me with my limited sailing exposure. But at anchor these boats are equally satisfying when properly outfitted. They truly are like having an upscale floating condo. I know there are better boats out there but pound for pound the B43 is a really really good boat. These boats can very smoothly and quickly get up to 7.5-8 or more kts (SOG is what I mainly use) in winds of 13 or more knots with proper sail adjustment and bottom care.Our B43 sails nicely close to the wind without lots of heeling (wide beam and proper sail plan). Considering how few new B43's Beneteau is turning out due to the current economic situation I think these boats with their quality, characteristics and limited numbers, will remain popular and hold value.
We also did Va Beach via Rudees inlet , dropped anchor at lake Wesley to the left of the inlet, this is a really nice anchorage. The charts advise the bottom is fair holding so we were a little concerned but our anchor set on the 1st try and held for the three days we were there to include a pretty intense evening summer storm. The ride down the beachfront via the Atlantic was great, nice size swells but lots of time between the swells and they were not gigantic, about 2-3 ft..
Also hit Cape Charles Va last summer and I think you and your wife would really enjoy Cape Charles. Nice beach, golfing, quaint town with nice people. Rustic town marina or upscale secondary marina with lots of ammenities. Lots of nice restaurants and shops in a old town environment that is sincere and not made up to look like an old town. One of the last of the real towns though "improvements" are catching up. It took us 3-4 hrs to sail from Cape Charles to Hampton.
I haven't put our boat into winter storage yet and already aching for spring sailing. Gonna try and not have to go through this next winter Bill.

James

[Mike Brown]

James, not sure how I missed your note on Hampton but I did. You touched on some of the places we would like to visit. Thanks for the info I'll share it with the wife and use it for planning our trip come summer.
Mike