What we Chose -Sailboat Parts and Products on Brick House

Every year, instead of insuring our sailboat, and kissing that huge premium goodbye…we instead put money into upgrades and maintenance to be sure BRICK HOUSE keeps floating and sailing – keeping us safe and comfortable as we go.  This list is a running log of the many products and upgrades we have installed on her over the years and why. I hope it can help anyone who may be outfitting or upgrading their own boat. Please feel free to contact us if you have any specific questions about any of these systems, including the installation…since anything we install on our boat, we usually install ourselves and have learned some lessons about that along the way.

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LATEST ADDITIONS TO BRICK HOUSE

Brick House is now out of the Zululand Yacht Club Boatyard in Richards Bay, South Africa now… And we have sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Aghullas…the Cape of Storms…We did a lot in that boatyard, and we are still putting up videos from all the work we did there, and the work that we are completing here in the water, and the Hout Bay Yacht Club. We are in Lockdown currently…so there is a lot of time to finish those little projects.

2020 Updates

March 2020

Well, partly to blame for water in the bilge was our leaky hot water tank, original to the boat! We have replaced it with a  Torrid Marine Hybrid Hot Water Heater.  

We have had to be very careful running our unregulated KISS wind generator with our new Freedom Won LifePO4  batteries. Lead acid can take a good equalization cycle every now and again, but with Lithium batteries, not so much! In fact, if the BMS were to shut things down due to too much charge coming in, something could have A problem so the hot water heater would have 2 functions…1. As a “diversion load” for the wind generator to prevent overcharging of the batteries, and 2.It of course heats the water when we run the engine, and when we plug in to 110 shore power.
But when do we plus in to 110 power? …it’s 240 volts all over the world!
Consulting with John Gambill at svHotwire.com who designs the element for Torrid Marine, altestore.com, and Morningstar, we were able to devise a system so that with the flip of a switch, we can divert not just the wind power, but the solar, as well as shore power, to power the unit through the dual 12v/110v element so that indeed we CAN have hot water at a 240 volt marina. It is working well, but still being tweaked all the time (mainly because we are on lockdown and have time to play)

February 2020

Our portable generator has broken, and so our only alternative way to charge the batteries for those days with no sun or wind, is the engines alternator. We hate to run the engine to charge batteries…so we decided to instead upgrade our alternator. If we have to run it, it may as well be for the shortest time possible!

Also, our biggest concern upgrading to lithium batteries was that we would burn out this new alternator, so after MUCH Contemplation (Thank you Wakespeed, Balmar, Electromaax for your endless patience for your excellent products!) we decided to go with the old tried and true Balmar 614 Regulator to protect both the batteries and the alternator. We also opted for their simple and robust relay to shut down the regulator and alternator if the Freedom Won sends it its message that it’s no longer wanting any more charge and it about to shut down…the regulator will quickly shut down the alternator and save any spikes from burning out the diodes of the alternator. The regulator was easy to program once I got the hang of it, and it works very precisely to bring the charge to a custom charge level. It is working perfectly. We almost opted for the Wakespeed because of its CAN communication with our particular batteries, but it proved too difficult to get it here in Africa, and there seemed to be a few questions about it. We also almost opted for Electromaax’s Smart regulator, but that too, was too difficult to receive. Balmar seems to be the clear winner in being able to be found either locally or have shipped easily, around the world. We had an earlier model of a Balmar, and it never let us down, so we felt it prudent to stick with what we know works, and has so many happy customers.

Upgrading the alternator also required upgrading our alternator belts to an Altmount Serpentine system, which is simply bigger thicker pulleys with a bigger thicker belt. Patrick managed to put those on pretty quickly, and have been a nonissue. We wish everything was so simple and dependable! here is what we got: Balmar Alternator, Regulator, Serpentine Kit

 

January 2020

Our Trojan T-105 lease acid batteries, our 3rd set in 13 years, we’re showing serious signs of deterioration, after just 2 years this time. Our engine battery compartment had dissolved after some especially rough passages this year suggesting leaking Lead acid. Patrick rebuilt the entire battery compartment, as I continued my research on lithium batteries. I wasn’t brave enough to do a DIY installation from the cells up, but I didn’t want these so called “Drop in” batteries where inside the battery were the cells, the BMS, etc, all sealed up in a neat package and when they break…you throw them out. So I chose something in the middle of those…LifePO4 batteries inside a box….where everything is replaceable and repairable, including the BMS, cells, relays and everything else. All the advantages of  DIY but done by someone who really knows what they are doing. We went with a company called “”Freedom Won out of South Africa, but now international. We got a 400ah system from them, and installed it in about 30 minutes in to our battery compartment. We used to struggle to keep our lead acid batteries charged. Now, but 2 or 3 pm, they have been charged up nicely, and we can start to use the energy for other things. Part of this is due to using less amperage because at the steady voltage, our refridgerator and other things actually use less amperage. We have been running them since January 2020, and so far so good. The best thing…if you run them down to 10 or 20%, you get 10 years out of them…down to only 40%, probably double that. Won’t that be nice!!!?!

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December 2019 No other bottom paint has ever worked for us…so now we are trying the next logical idea…Coppercoat from Coppercoat USA. It’s important to follow the directions carefully when applying Coppercoat, and we couldn’t follow the directions as closely as we would have liked to have. We hope this will not effect the success of our application. Coppercoat is more expensive by about 50% to good quality conventional antifouling, but when it works, which is 99% of the time, it last for 10 or 15 years, with just gentle cloth wipe downs when needed. Also, due to Propspeed working so well on our props, we applied it again on this haulout, alongside the Coppercoat on the rest of the hull.

UPDATES

January 2020. Coppercoat and Propspeed working well. One failed area of Coppercoat where we knew we couldn’t apply it well. About an inch or two square…barnacles are growing. Light wipe down of hull in 20 minutes cleared all slime very easily.

April 2020. Coppercoat and Propspeed working very well. Light 20 minute wiping cleared all slime away extremely easily. Another boat who launched same time as we did, travelled same rout to Hout Bay…2 months ago, and now again, has had to have a diver go down and strip SERIOUS barnacles and growth off hull. I think it’s safe to say, Coppercoat application was a success after all! yeah!

Coppercoat Application Video

December 2019 We finally got quite serious about our security system on Brick House and got the best of the best for Brick house. We hemmed and hawed and finally decided on a Custom GOST Security System. More info to follow once it’s installed!

UPDATE April 2020 -System tweaked, after a bout of false alarms when deck sensors were too close to a big metal hunk on the deck…but now we are false alarm free, and everything is in full operation …every night, and every time we leave the boat. Wonderful timing! Most people in South Africa on lockdown are NOT as worried about the virus as they are rioting and crime. It’s nice to be the most alarmed, and protected boat in the marina at a time like this!!!

November 2019 -We needed a new anchor swivel, so we went to our favorite anchor swivel manufacturer at Mantus Anchors and got both a new Anchor swivel as well as their new Mantus M2 Chain Hook to try out once we are back in the water.

October 2019 – We love our Manson Supreme anchor so much, that we got in a Thailand 2 or 3 years ago, and once we got our nice new Maggi anchor chain, we knew it was time to dump the old CQR, our secondary anchor for decades. It was even rustier than the old anchor chain. So we ordered directly from New Zealand, a new Manson Boss Anchor. It fits almost perfectly next to our Manson Supreme Anchor, and with a small modification of where we put the pin on to the bow roller, it will fit even tighter!

September 2019 – We will be heading to South America and heading south til we just can’t stand the cold anymore. We purchased the Grizzly model of the Cubic Mini Woodstoves out of Canada, along with a number of accessories for the stove. We also got the non-electric Caframo ecofan to help spread the heat around the cabin! We also purchased an Engine Heater so that when our engine is running we can get free heat from it.

August 2019-Fleet Management here in the boatyard did some maintenance welding on our Monitor windvane, built us “granny”bars to spec, and supplied lots of able-bodied workers to help Patrick remove and replace the bottompaint, blisters, and make Brick House look pretty again, as well as more seaworthy than ever before! Thanks Morgan, Sipho and team for all of your cooperation on our project!

July 2019 – Maggi Chain USA  This was a long time coming. Our chain was over 25 years old, and after regalvanizing it twice it was truly a scary pile of rusty chain. We were losing confidence in it, but I all we could find in SE Asia was unproven chain made in China.  So we decided to wait until South Africa. We just could not trust it despite many local cruisers singing praises about how it lasts at least 3 years in not always so windy SE Asia!

In China, chain can be good, but it can be really really bad too due to a lack of quality control and unless you have YOUR run tested, you just don’t know for sure what you have.  We needed American or European made chain if we didn’t want to be replacing chain in a way too short 3-4 years, and we needed to be very sure of what we were going to get! To me, new chain looks all the same…it’s what it does and the physics involved that are important, and We need to go with reputation for quality…hence Maggi.

Before reaching S Africa we ordered a barrel of Maggi chain in the USA, who imports the chain from Italy where it is made, and had it delivered to South Africa. Yes…we went a round about way to get the best quality chain we could possibly find, but this is cheap insurance, since what our boat hangs on with, is worth being very careful about. Consistent quality control was what we are after, and are pleased to finally have new chain. We will sleep much better now during a big blow, because we are very sure we have the very best anchor chain!

This Company is Florida was a pleasure to work with…but the delivery by ship was a little slow, which I suppose is to be expected….but it was worth the wait to get the Cadillac of Anchor chain!

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July 2019 – Navionics Platinum + We have always used Navionics charts…since we left 12 years ago. We have found them to be very reliable and accurate. They add new cool features so frequently that there have been very few years where I wasn’t pretty stoked about a new feature they added. This year is no exception. The Platinum Plus Charts are actually not new and they are tried and true…we just haven’t been able to afford them and they have not been available in the oceans we have recently sailed. There is a good sale on them right now, and as we prepare to go off to South America at the end of this year, and we needed charts anyways, we got the Platinum + Navionics Charts for South America, instead of the usual basic versions. They include satellite imagery/photography available right on our Raymarine chartplotter, among many other things.  The thought of having the satellite charts right on our Raymarine chartplotter is amazing to me, and I can’t wait to get a good look at it all! Technology is finally evolving very quickly in the yachting industry, and Navionics as usual is on the forefront.

We also got a C-MAP chart chip for the same area, all on just one chip, simply because we like to be overcautious and have the best charts we can get, not just the best 1 Chart. It’s always good to have redundancy and 2 “votes” of what the underwater topography really is. If Navionics and C-Maps both agree, that’s a good sign. If they differ…we take the most conservative vote until we get local knowledge. We feel well prepared having the 2 heavy hitters nautical charts on our chartplotter!

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June 2019 – Richards Bay, South Africa is turning out to be a real treasure of a place to work on one’s boat. We managed to find a South African company called AMT Composites. 

Not only did the technical professional staff there discuss our project over the phone for more than an hour to be sure we got what we needed,  but they were able to quickly deliver all of the high quality materials, free of charge, right to our boat within days of paying!

To be honest, we did initially buy some not so great resin here locally..so buyer beware…go right to AMT Composites to get it right on the first try!

After our first resin purchase blunder, we started checking with the local contractors here. They ALL pointed us to AMT if we wanted quality materials. AMT Composites imports the best products from all over the world, including Gurit resin, hardener, filler and other materials which are as good if not better than West System, and more affordable! They had every thing we needed including Peelply to paintbrushes. Patrick is happily rolling in fiberglass, fixing decking, hull, keel, and other.  Happier than a pig in sh**!  Our boat will soon be stronger than ever!

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May 2019 – We used a company near Richards Bay, South Africa, to rebuild our Engine heat exchanger, make us a new custom sized 316 Stainless Steel sink, parts for our water tank cover, and will be doing firewalls for our new heating system in a few months. They have been very professional, and have extremely high levels of expertise. Their prices are a little high, but overall affordable. When you need a perfectly crafted item created out of stainless steel, aluminum or other, they are the person to go see. You can seethe sink they made us, below. We have not bought a new faucet. Will probably get one at Home Depot when I travel home in a few weeks.  Here is their contact information:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January to May 2019...we added nothing to Brick House…we cruised, had fun, and made our way towards Richards Bay, South Africa for a major haulout.

2018 Additions

December 2018 MILANO Pull Out Kitchen faucet. “This top of the line” kitchen faucet as seen in our Plumbing video rusted severely within 3 months. Customer Service was quick but with appalling results. Long story short…we are looking for a new faucet…

 

Update April 2020 – Ripped this out when after 6 months it was a rusting, flaking disaster. and replaced with a Moen Faucet in August 2019…they even gave me a 25% off coupon to use, so I bought their top of the line model…it’s been 8 months and not a single hint of rust!

December 2018  New Fresh Water Piping, etc. No it’s not very exciting…but neither was losing our precious fresh water, or having a wet bilge. Patrick solved this with new PEX piping. You can watch all the details on his YouTube video here.

September 2018 -Profurl supplied us, under warranty, which was kind because I think we were slightly past the warranty period and/or, it was partially our own fault…new foil extrusions for our headstay. See the “New Headstay” Video from late 2018 for more detail. Profurl really stands by their products, and after the abuse we put this through, it still keeps going! Thank you Profurl/Wichard for your excellent support!

August 2018 New Mainsail – We ALWAYS try to buy our sails from Mack Sails, and at least 70% of our sails are Mack Sails.  However this year, when we needed to replace our main sail, it was nearly $1000 to ship it to our location, and we felt that $1000 would be better to put towards the price of a more locally made sail. After much research and at least 12 quotes, we decided to go with the company that had the best customer service, and the company who had NO negative comments from ANY customers.  There was not a single dissatisfied owner with the company we chose, anywhere on the planet that I could find, bu personal email, Messengers questions on Facebook, or anywhere else for that matter. Everyone raves about this company, around the planet. Again, they were NOT the cheapest sailmakers, but from Day 1, great attention to detail, unbelievable knowledge of their product coupled with flexibility for my needs…we picked Zoom Sails based in SriLanka/Malaysia. The mainsail HAD to be right, first try, and it was, and that was due to this companies amazing attention to the details. The sail arrived when they said it would, and in Patrick’s words,”It’s the best mainsail we have ever had on this boat”. Ask us in 10 years. I’m still appalled that most sailmakers will tell you right up front not to expect more than 10 years out of the best of cruising sails!

January 2018 AIS Transponder.

Our Digital Yachts Transponder, originally from Vespermarine before they carried transponders of their own, was becoming less dependable, although we eventually tracked it down to a wiring problem and NOT a problem with the transponder itself. However, before we realized this, we had already purchased a new Transponder. Since this is SUCH an importance Item on Brick House, we bit the bullet and got a Raymarine unit. Raymarine products have been so incredibly reliable and robust on Brick House, not to mention the great technical support we receive when we do have questions, that although not the cheapest Transponder out there, we purchase this unit for the quality.

More information on the link below at :

2017 Additions

December 2017– Oceanmax Propspeed. We knew we had to do something different with our prop this time since we would be heading to colder water, and sailing a lot this year. We had tried almost every other way of keeping growth off our prop, but hadn’t tried Propspeed yet. This year, we put on Propspeed (not the imitation product sold throughout SE Asia), and we will see if that makes a difference. Ask me in a year!

UPDATE December 2018 We had to change out the blades of our Kiwi prop this year, so we can not comment on the adhesion and effectiveness on the Zytel blades, but on the hub etc, it is still going strong. The bottom paint, Jotun Seaforce 90, hasn’t lasted well at all, and we have to scrub the bottom all the time! Someday we hope to get the bottompaint right!

UPDATE March 1 2019 Propspeed now in the only thing not growing things on the bottom of the boat. The Jotus Seaforce 90 did not hold up well. The Propspeed has bee perfect. We switched prop blades halfway through this year, and need to pain those blades!!

Here is a link to the REAL Propspeed for pricing and technical specifications:

December 2017 -Communications – In preparation for the Indian Ocean, we knew getting weather, not to mention email , on our Sailmail and Winlink – SSB/Pactor modem was NOT going to be good enough for this Ocean. First, waiting for the perfect propagation time wasn’t going to work, and second…we needed to get bigger, better reports than the Pactor connections could handle. We also needed to be sure our family could reach us any time. So we researched high and low, and decided that the Iridium Go Marine Package  from PredictWind.com was going to be our best bet. (Be sure to add this antenna (specifically!).

I actually (conveniently) forgot to put this product up here when we first got it (It’s June now). I wasn’t sure we were gonna like it, and felt a certain guilt for abandoning my SSB/Pactor loyalty of 10 years. But I am a 100% convert now…I am so happy to report it has been flawless! So now this post is up here. We can get our weather reports from PredictWind, that cover a much bigger and much more detailed  area than the Pactor connections could handle in the best of times. We can get our email ten times a day if we want, and at any time. The Iridium GO! has been a fantastic addition to Brick House!

But the best things about the Iridium GO…the feature that it released in a big big way for Brick House, is PREDICTWIND. This software/service with the best weather and current forecasting models available is far and beyond the best software/service we have ever had on Brick House. Whether it be waiting for the right hour to take off a Genoa off the Profurl furler, or when to depart for the best weather to our next destination, to what route to take to follow the currents to our advantage, to whether we should leave a full main sail up at night, or if it will be settled weather to stay in an open anchorage. PREDICTWIND, and particularly it’s proprietary models (which 8 didn’t believe at first) have been spot on for our weather both at sea and in anchorages. We never knew it could be so good. PredictWind works in conjunction with the this miracle device as though they were made specifically for each other.  Anyone want to buy our Pactor III modem?

October 2017 – We have 3 EPIRBS on Brick House. This year the batteries expired on all 3 so we bit the bullet and had all 3 serviced. We are big believers of making sure these are professionally serviced, and on time. We fix everything else by ourselves, but this is something we want done by the experts that make the units. They found a small crack on the face of one unit we were not aware of, and replaced an antenna that looked OK on another. They know how to Service their units to be completely dependable…this is not something we wanted to watch Utube for and do ourselves. Nor did we want to buy a new cheap EPIRB from outside America even though it may have saved a few dollars.  When it comes to our lives, we want only the highest quality products on Brick House!

There are the 3 that we have: (Click on photo for details on each one)

Long Dinghy Trips, Hiking, or Public Boats

Permanent Mount on Stern Arch

Ditch Bag

Our article about EPIRBS

One of these EPIRBs could just be our last best chance! We have a small portable ACR Aqualink 406 GPS PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) for bringing to the liferaft which lives in our ditch bag, as well as an outside mounted, auto deploying ACR Globalfix 406 Mhz EPIRB. We also have the smallest EPIRB they make, the ResQLink, for when we are venturing in the Dingy to remote islands and reefs, or hiking up mountains to secluded waterfalls.

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September 2017 – We are working with the “Solar Queen”, Amy, and her team, at The altE Store figuring out what has gone wrong with our

After. We not only have added 25% to our daily amperage intake, but are poised for new panel(s)!

solar panels. Now to be fair, our solar charge controller is older than the oldest models out there, and our solar panels, although one of the best ever made by Kyocera, they ARE after all, more than 25 years old. We have noticed a marked decline in energy production in the last year or two. We have not worried about it because we have been in and out of marinas, and motoring in light winds. But as we start preparing to be more independent again, we need to get our KISS Wind Generator , as well as our solar panels producing energy in abundance again.  We suspected the solar panels may be the culprit, but we decided to find the solution with a stepped approach since we had the time to do so. First we replaced our old solar charge controller with a Morningstar Prostar MPPT (PS-MPPT-25M) Charge controller so we could see exactly what was happening using the digital readout. We would need this anyways if we got new panels, and we would get better utilization of the panels no matter which ones we had…old or new. We followed the amperage throughout the day, as well as the total amperage for the day.  We used blankets to cover all but one of the 4 panels, one by one, methodically determining that there wasn’t just one bad panel dragging the rest down…all were equally degraded. The charge controller did its best to  improve the total energy by about 20-25% but considering that we were only getting 6 amps in from our 13 amp panels, and only for 1.5 hours a day; and considering we only were getting 25-30 amps in during the course of an entire fully sunny day, there was little to add. It is said that panels lose 10% of their abilities every 5 years or so. Considering there have been 5 cycles of 5 years, 50% loss was both expected and realized. Amy looked at my records over about a week, and concluded that the panels had reached the end of their good life. It would only get worse with time. We are replacing the old panels with a new, brand to be determined soon. We hope to produce at least twice the amperage if not considerably more. Thank you Amy, for your patience helping us figure this all out! The Morningstar controller was a great choice and base for expanding our energy production abilities!

August 2017– We have been having absolutely NO luck whatsoever receiving wifi signals, and have been buying SIM cards and loading dollar after dollar on to them to get wifi plans, losing money when plans would run out unexpectantly, and using data too fast for the wallet to keep up. We get “free” wifi at most of the marinas we have been to, but over the years, my old wifi antenna setup was apparently dying,  and we had given up getting wifi, blaming the lack of maintenance on the marinas side for not being able to get their internet from their old outdated systems. Guess what…it’s not them! Wifi is still in style, and with our new Halo Long Range Wifi Extender, we can not just use the marina’s wifi signal, but all the surrounding businesses signals too! With our old system, the one signal we could see was the marina’s, and it would just fade in and out making it completely unusable. With this system, we have no less than 25 signals, many of which are 4 and 5 bars! Maybe I didn’t need that smart phone, and mobile 3G/4G hotspots after all!  All the old antennas and tangles of wires, domes, cantennas, pyramids, and other devices that held so much hope are being tossed today. We have found a very elegant, permanent solution which will help us save a lot of money in the next few years. Global Marine Net offers a bunch of services that will help us utilize data more selectively in areas with expensive wifi, and even over 3G/4G connections too, combined with the firewall that is built in to this Wifi setup!

For more details:

August 2017 – We love the Working jib and staysail that we had made by Mack Sails after our dismasting 6+ years ago. We will be departing next year across the Indian Ocean, and have some serious challenges for our sails coming up. The first half of the ocean could be a motor if we don’t have lots of sail to put up, and the second half will be windier than we have seen in a few years. We need a very versatile and strong sail for this part of our circumnavigation. After pondering some sails made here in SE Asia, and looking at some lofts, we are buying American. We have purchased from Mack Sails again, halfway around the world in Stuart Florida for another great sail, this time a 130% Genoa with foam luff, and their typical mitre cut, built like bullet, offshore sails. We received it today, and after some maintenance to the Profurl Extrusions, we will see how they fit! UPDATE: Sail fits perfect!! Beautiful workmanship! This sail just EXUDES quality from head to foot to tack! Update December 2018. Almost 1.5 years later…Sail is holding up VERY well. Especially during our lightwind sails, we were VERY happy to have this considerably bigger sail to power us through. We saw huge speed increases that we never thought were imaginable!

July 2017 – Did you know that not every tablet or iPad has a reliable GPS…that some don’t have one at all that will work away from the internet and cell towers?  Neither did I! We remedied this by getting a little device called the Bluetooth Bad Elf Pro+ GPS. It not only provides reliable GPS positions down to 2 meters, but a barometer too! See my article about this here.

You can purchase it or get more details on Amazon by clicking on this image:

June 2017 – Today we received a paper chart of the entire Indian Ocean, as well as some cruising guides from Blue Water Books and Charts , the single best place for sailors to find the charts, cruising guides, marine publications, software, flags and instruments in the world. Its time to start planning next years routes and stopovers, and there is nothing like a good cruising guide to jumpstart it all, Bluewater Books and Charts has been in business for more than 30 years, and is now located in Ft Lauderdale FL

June 2017  – A 27 kilogram ( 60 pounds)  Manson Supreme   anchor has taken the place of the rusty, unreliable CQR that we retired within 6 months of heading out, almost 10 years ago.  With so many anchors being sent off to China for manufacturing, we are happy to know that this is made in New Zealand where so many great products for boats come from! We have now spent many nights in many anchorages with it, one a very rocky spot, one a loose sand spot, and many muddy spots, on very windy nights, often with 40 knots of wind, along with tide/current changes. She has been challenged earlier than expected, and it is passing with flying colors! We have come to trust it so quickly over the last several months, that we are not only promoting it to our primary anchor, but we are selling both the CQR and the Bruce, and looking for a small lightweight but effective secondary anchor. We no longer need 2 huge anchors on our bow with the Manson Supreme on our bow!! It’s the most capable anchor we have had on our bow!

This should hold us!

May 2017 – We WILL be making some improvements to our communications setup for weather and email before we cross the Indian Ocean next year. We currently have a Pactor III modem and an Icom M710 SSB radio to get our emails and weather from while away from cell range. This, with a lot of patience, has worked well enough for us for nearly 10 years now. With so many advancements in technology, it would have been a hard decision to continue with this finicky, but economical way of staying in touch, or crossing over to something satellite based, and more expensive. We have an old Isatphone Pro satellite phone but Inmarsat data is very expensive, and often we used our minutes before we’re even able to accomplish anything. The first definite decision was to use Predictwind. They seem to, by far, have weather forecasting in their Predictwind Offshore application down pat, for satellite or via SSB, on devices, or laptops. There are so many nice weather applications for when you have internet, and there are even some Offshore applications that have the free GFS forecast models, via email requests. But Predictwind has both GFS, ECMWF forecasts (my favorite because it’s the most pessimistic and I like to know the worst case scenario), as well as 2 proprietary models that go down to 1 mile in detail, and account nicely for land masses and currents. I haven’t experimented with the Weather Routing, but the Departure Planning saves hours of work with “What if we leave tonight, or we get a good nights sleep and leave tomorrow morning” scenarios. It’s amazing how far things have come in just 10 years! Now we just have to decide whether we fork up some money for satellite or stick with the tried and true with our SSB/Pactor. UPDATE. In the end, we went with THIS. We will update you more once we get to actually use it!

see more here…

Update April 2020. We are still using Predictwind on our Iridium GO. Our SSB Radio and Pactor Modem is for sale now. It’s just taking up space, and not a good backup anymore since we haven’t maintained the connection for years. We would like to buy another Iridum GO with any money we make selling our entire system.

2016 Upgrades and Updates

May 2016

Raymarine Es128 Multifunction Display/Chartplotter

When we got our new radar, we needed a new screen to see it all on of course! Raymarine was generous with their discounts and we got the latest model of their Multifunction Display, the eS128 model.  Our new screen is 12 inches – much better for our aging eyes than our old 8 inch C80! And wow- technology has come so far in 10 years!! The feature rich Lighthouse II software runs really fast on it, and the “Hybrid Touch” makes it possible to both touch the screen like you would a smartphone, and/OR use the old rotary knobs and push buttons to get around, whichever you prefer.  With a choice of Navionics+ charts ( our first choice), C-Map, and Lighthouse charts, we aren’t limited to just one chart brand any more…Our  old AIS is displayed, as well as data from our Raymarine wireless instruments. Installation was so simple – there are now separate plugs for everything – so no Multiplexors, or messing with NMEA 0183data communications.  We even have the MFD talking to our smartphone and controlling our autopilot. There is an update coming out soon so that we can even see GRIB (weather) files on the screen too, whenever we may have a wifi connection! The built in wifi allows us to apply software updates right from the unit, as well as use the Voyage Planner software to upload our old routes and waypoints (tracks soon) from our old chartplotter and various applications/files on our PC, wirelessly.  Life is just getting way too easy!  In love with this new display!!!

May 2016 –  Raymarine Digital Raymarine HD Radar–  Our almost 10 year old Raymarine analog radar has deteriorated. Although Raymarine was still willing to work with us to repair it ( their customer service remains soo good! ) …we decided instead to bite the bullet and update our radar with Raymarine’s latest and greatest…

click photo for pricing and specs

Actually, there was ONE model newer than the one we got…the new NEW Raymarine QUANTUM by FLIR…a wireless model. But it was just too new for us (less than 2 months!)…we needed something absolutely tried and true…so we got the RD418HD. Besides that, it was the same mounting system as or old one, so it made for an easy installation.   We will update you later on whether it works well or not…we haven’t even left the dock yet with it!

Click photo for specs.

March 2016 – We just added a Mantus Anchor Swivel to Brick House. You WANT your anchor chain to hold and to not twist, when you have a current or clocking wind…

February 2016 – Alpenglow Lights   We are glad to report that the  Alpenglow LED Overhead lights are brighter than the CFL bulbs we had before, AND they consume so much less electricity!

2015 Upgrades

December 2015 – Sun Protection at Anchor We recently (February 2016) updated some bits and pieces on our Shadetree awning – a new pole and a new clip – but overall, after nearly 8 years of on and off use..its still holding up very well!

November 2015 – We added a Mantus Chain Hook to Brick House, and in the worst bouncy windy weather, our snubber and chain hook does not fall off now!!

November 2015 ( and previously in 2010) KIWI PROP  When we broke our original one this past year, we put on our spare fixed blade prop and promptly ordered another KiwiProp. We love this prop…so fast under power, so fast under sail!

April 2015 ( and previously in 2009) VESPERMARINE AIS  We previously had the WATCHMATE 650, but it broke irrepairably. We loved it, but we could not get the 650 any more. The 850 was overkill for us, since we had an external Transponder already. The 750 was our perfect compromise. It has a few more great features, like weather reports and an anchor alarm. And its a great backup as a receiver if we need it. And such low energy consumption!

INSTALLED PRIOR TO 2015

These are other things we have added to Brick House over the years that continue to function well, and make our boat a seaworthy, oceangoing home. The manufacturers of these products that have also provided excellent after sale support when we needed are noted.

2014 (and 2010 and 2007)- NAVIONICS –Charts for our Raymarine C80 chartplotter, and on my Samsung Smartphone as a backup

2013 ACR – GPIRB –  Our last best chance! We have a small portable ACR Aqualink 406 GPS PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) for bringing to the liferaft, on hikes, dinghy excursions etc, as well as an outside mounted, auto deploying ACR Globalfix 406 Mhz EPIRB.  See the Article Patrick wrote about our EPIRBS

2013  KANNAD MARINE – Man Overboard – An AIS transceiver worn on each person, so if someone falls overboard…our Vespermarine AIS will show us where they are!

2012 RELIABLE BARRACUDA SEWING MACHINE  How we repair our sails and canvas. Reliable Corp continues to provide great customer service, technical support, supplies, repairs and spare parts to us as necessary, often still under warranty!

2012 SAILRITE For all our sewing accessories, fabrics, etc.

2012–ALLIED TITANIUM –Our chainplates, toggles and other bits like clevis pins, bolts and screws, will NOT rust or break again! If you are a subscriber to Practical Sailor , you can see an article

Patrick wrote about titanium here: Practical Sailor Article on Titanium

2012 After we were dismasted in the middle of nowhere,  BALLENGER SPARS  shipped us a new mast after many patient emails back and forth to get everything just right!

“When the Stick Comes Down” Cruising World Article

To see Part I of an article Patrick wrote about our new chainplates, and new mast when our mast came down in the Pacific, check this out: New Chainplates, and getting the new mast

2012– Our sailmaker of choice –  MACKSAILS

2012 TIDES MARINE – Main Track System – Even Rebecca can pull up the mainsail now!

Update April 2020 -It wasn’t quite time, but we are going to some touch destinations in the next few years so a bit too early is better than a bit too late. Everything has a replacement schedule, and like anything plastic, the Tide Track is no exception. We ordered and put a new on so we can have another 10 years of satisfaction guaranteed.  It felt a bit abusive to throw our track out when it still had good life in it.

2012  PROFURL –When we were dismasted and destroyed the furlers, we wanted to have the same reliable furlers we had on the boat for the previous 20 years, so we chose ProFurl again. They continue to provide great customer service, technical support, supplies, repairs and spare parts to us as necessary,  years later!

To see Part II of an article Patrick wrote about remasting/rerigging our boat in the Pacific, check this out:  Profurl Roller Furling , Tides Marine Main Track, and Mack Sails..

2011 –  SEALIFE CAMERAS  For our underwater pictures… UPDATE 2018. The camera has broken. And we have not found a good replacement.

2009 SEABREATHE – How we make our underwater repairs, clean the bottom and unfoul our fouled anchor.

Update December 2019 -we replaced the unit. We depend on this working and it was getting old…So it was time time to replace it!

2008 – MONITOR SELF STEERING WINDVANE – Our MVP- steers for days without eating, resting or breaking down. Scanmar continues to provide great technical support, supplies, repairs and spare parts to us as necessary..after all these years!

Update 2019-continues to be MVP…replaced the lines this year, and had a part rewelded that looked suspect. Working great!

2007 – SEAFROST REFRIDGERATION  – Always ready for a cold one! They continue to provide great technical support, supplies, repairs and spare parts to us as necessary, even after all this time!
Update 2020 – a few problems over the year…great technical support. Units still operating well

2007 – EDSON – High capacity Manual Bilge Pump. Have never needed it and hope we never do. Tested 2020…Still at the ready!

2007 – RAYMARINE Wireless Instruments – 9 years and counting!   Raymarine continues to provide great technical support, supplies, repairs and spare parts to us as necessary.

Update 2018…replaced batteries in all unit. For how to, check Patrick’s earlier videos

2007 FISHERIES SUPPLY  Our favorite chandlery overseas…they can get anything anywhere!

2007 IMTRA Electric Windlass – TIGRESS Update 2020…Still strong as a tiger, though we did rebuild it last year.

2007 RAYMARINE C80 Chartplotter – So much more reliable than our laptop…and much less amperage draw!. Raymarine continues to provide great technical support after all this time…

Night Flight in SAIL Magazine ( Page 1).

Night Flight in SAIL Magazine (Page 2)

2007 RAYMARINE AUTOPILOT  – There is a time to use our windvane ( windy condition) and there is a time to use our autopilot ( windy near shorelines or no wind – ie motoring). We are glad to have a dependable autopilot! One part broke in 9 years and counting, and Raymarine provided great and fast technical support and  shipped the spare part to us, after all this time!

Update 2020-Still so dependable… bought a new Linear Drive, just because the whole system is getting in in age. We consulted with Raymarine and they felt that may be the high wear item, so we have replaced it with an identical one, and the old one is stored for a backup.

Installing our Autopilot – An Article in Blue Water Sailing Magazine

Advertisements (related items)

Too Simple? Or Decked Out? An Article in Blue Water Sailing Magazine

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You can also see our yearly article highlighting ‘What Worked, What Didn’t’ on Brick House. We no longer can find links to every year…but here are the ones that are still out there…

Year 8: What Worked, What Didnt

Year 5: What Worked, What Didn’t

Year 2: What Worked What Didnt    (A reader found this very rough draft of this article, so we posted it)

OTHER LINKS

About Patrick, Rebecca and Lily…(click here)

Want to Crew? Want to know where we met?

Seven Seas Cruising Association

SEE OUR ARTICLES IN THESE MAGAZINES

Blue Water Sailing Magazine

Sail Magazine

Practical Sailor Magazine

Ocean Navigator

Cruising World

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