Couple of quick updates aboard US 101. I figured out what the issue was, and my new Raymarine X-5 autopilot appears to working as it should. I haven’t given a proper sea-trial, nor full calibration but I did confirm that it’s working and motored around while calibrating the compass, and then also did some light-air reaching and the pilot held the boat on course beautifully. The boat is on the trailer while i’m in Seattle, so I pulled the rudder off and took some measurements, so that I can give them to Ron Moore before he builds my new rudder. Apparently, Moore rudders had slight differences in the rudder posts over the years. I also took some measurements off of the boom and gooseneck, and will be giving those to Ballenger Spars so that I can have the new double-reefed slotted offshore boom built. A short week with me having to head out of town, but over the course of the next month, the boat should be almost fully-prepped to begin heading offshore by March
US 101 sitting back on the trailer for the first time in a while. Notice that the rudder is currently out of the boat. The bottom paint is doing an excellent job of staying clean while the boat is in the water.
First functional sea-trial with the new X-5 autopilot. When I tried to sea-trial it last week, the X-5 would make a couple of small corrections and then veer sharply off course. I was confused and the manual didn’t fully explain the problem. I called tech support and he suggested I switch the leads going from the computer to the drive unit. I did this and re-calibrated and it works. I had originally installed it exactly as the instructions prescribed, and even though the manual doesn’t explain this issue, it is fairly common to need to switch the leads around, backwards. My friend Rob suggested this as well, as his X-5 had had the same problem.
Notice the difference from last week? Last week, I just had the new X-5 control head, but now I also have the little tiller-pilot socket next to it. With the X-5 not working until today, I had to RE-install my ST2000 tiller pilot for last Saturday’s 3-Bridge Fiasco. Oh well. Now I have even more redundancy. Don’t worry about the brown streaks, i’m doing cosmetics last...
Before hauling 101, I ran into Jen Mooney and her husband Curtis. Jen is from Canada and is entered in this year’s Singlehanded Transpac aboard an Ericson 27. She and Curtis are in town working on her boat and sailing, so I offered to take them for a quick stroll around the estuary. I think she liked how light weight the Moore is. “Wow, it’s so much more responsive...”
Shot of 101’s transom with no rudder
Shot of the rudder. That thing is seriously heavy and has been repaired multiple times. It’s full of epoxy and probably water as well. It feels to me like it is de-laminating at the top aft port corner of the rudder. I noticed the rudder was a bit trashed when I bought the boat. It’s 30 years old and tired. Same with the boom. She already has a 6-year old mast, so by the time I get a new rudder and boom, i’ll be set! The rudder has epoxy paint on it, but not anti-fouling paint. That explains the brown stains. It develops growth in just a couple of days, and I have to scrub with my dock brush.
See you in Seattle!
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