Crazyhorse

Sounds like the internal fluxgate compass gimbal is sticking, happens. The gimbal is there to keep the fluxgate level as any tilt and it loses acurracy. Have repaired a few TPs. There are also calibration settings you might want to try if the helm is moving in a regularly port starboard.

Might be of interest to some? I am advised that the Ministry of Transport has investigated compulsory boat registration and boat licence endorsements for recreational craft on several occasions. If implemented, a registration scheme for all powered boats would likely affect over 200,000 recreational boat users. A registration or skipper licencing scheme would be difficult to maintain and costly to enforce, as it would require significant investment in establishing and maintaining a national database and corresponding enforcement capability. While such a scheme might

Might be of interest to some? I am advised that the Ministry of Transport has investigated compulsory boat registration and boat licence endorsements for recreational craft on several occasions. If implemented, a registration scheme for all powered boats would likely affect over 200,000 recreational boat users. A registration or skipper licencing scheme would be difficult to maintain and costly to enforce, as it would require significant investment in establishing and maintaining a national database and corresponding enforcement capability. While such a scheme might

Nail varnish...excellent at sealing cables, joins...when wife not looking.

Depends on the antifoul. Why would companies produce "thinners for antifoul"!!!? Petit actually advises thinning.

Oh ye jealous all of hoochless boats! I re-read it and seems OK to me! And coffees totally devoid of hooch, well first round was.

Say hi for me!

All well and good when you have either no control over the alternators output (internally regulated) or your external regulator puts the alternator into full output. Belt wear will take place, slippage etc. Being able to soft start and build voltage/current means the output comes up over time, a little longer than full grunt but we are still able to get up to maximum current output within 5 minutes of starting and alternator has no slippage with a temp of less than 50deg which makes a system that will work if you know what you are doing. FLA does require a boot now and again but usually a 16v

Anyone else get their key chain sunblock and little led torch? Was having our morning coffee and it was like a Klingon bird of prey decloaking with Hawk only meters away. Seems customs are on the ball about coastal surveillance and checking local boats too handing out brochures and torches.

This one has me scratching my head too. A German fella at Norsand was going to try to import Selektope which uses ivermectin to drive the barnies larva crazy so they cant stick, 10 years service life!! He said he was told it would need to be submitted for testing and approval in NZ even though Europe has done all the testing! Ivermectin is a stock remedy and restricted medicine so he seems to think that's their concern. Rediculous. It should be here now!

Why? The SP regulator simply takes the parallel voltages and combines them? So you are saying if one panel is shaded producing 14v and one is in the sun outputting 21v this is going to cause...what?

Not heard that? Or do you mean "should" not thin AF? (DESCRIPTION Designed to reduce the viscoity of all antifouling paints (excluding Micron Optima and VC products). Highly recommended if you want to get the perfect viscosity of your antifouling paint for a smooth and even application. Can be used with the spraying application of one-part varnishes. For thinning antifouling paints)

Try googling all round red lights? The only thing that pops up is they are becoming popular in the Med as anchor lights. There is no provision for them in maritime navigation regulations let alone forward facing red? Have seen quite a variety of different coloured lights on "wedding cakes" over the years, even one with multi coloured strobing lights on the stern. (Must have been Xmas!)

Couldnt see a MSA number, she could have been in survey. This from harbour master: With regard to the vessels you observed apparently displaying forward facing red lights. There are no new provisions stipulating requirements for the displaying of such. However, there are of course provisions for specific vessel types or vessels carrying out specific works to display all round red lights. For one reason or another they may have the appearance of being a forward facing light. Unfortunately, without knowing further details I can only offer speculation. Apologies I could

Hope I'm not hijacking the thread? Twice now have come across vessels displaying RED lights as anchor lights. One anchored beside us ("Camilla"? A large old carvel planked launch) who didn't turn it off and steamed away from us with a red light on their coms mast that could be seen from almost all angles. She had port and starboard lit but could be confusing? Mast head led anchor lights are also possibly confusing as the white blends well with stars and street lights in town. We have extra solar lighting lower down but have seen strobing (flashing) anchor lights too which I thought was restr

All that's fine if you are running a V12 etc. This is a 18hp 2 cylinder long stroke diesel and running the alternator where we needed multi belts will overload both the alternator and engine. If the power output is kept at a controlled level where temperature is monitored and wattage slowly increased as the batteries reach a SOC where the current starts tapering off, wheres the problem in that? So far it's working very well.

That's the idea behind a gradual increase in power output so we don't need foot pounds of belt tention. Belt is still great (now 2 years). The alternator bearings would wear before the big end.

You forget we are talking alternators. There is also a 400 watt wind turbine (more like 200w unless a cyclone is passing by) and 120w of solar panels.

Quite agree (as the pages in here from our alternator past issues will attest!). Charging up as I type (again..in the fog). Started at 12.2v from last night (no wind). RPM 1600 and in 12 minutes have bought the voltage up to 14.5v on 240ah SLA and one 80ah start battery currently all charging in parallel. Currently doing 28.4 amps. Exhaust temp 31deg alternator rose to 44 now back to 39deg. One thing I have learnt is that the alternator has to spin at a high speed or won't cool properly. Still intend to fit a blower to it running off a thermal switch. I don't think this setup is really beyond

Single belt driven 120amp alternator.

I disagree, I'm no rocket scientist (ask the ex wife!) and don't believe it's beyond the reach of most to get a setup that works for them. Speeding up charging, we have done it. A Hitachi 55ah alternator that comes stock standard drops out at 13.5v lucky if you get 13.8 which means the thermal controlled regulator had pulled the field back within minutes of starting. Ideal for the start battery but a 240ah house bank? Actually charging now as I type ( exhaust temp 31deg, alternator 40deg start battery at 14.6v 11.2a battery bank in the bow as attached!).

I agree with everything IT has said apart from the twin or serpentine belt required for a greater than 85amp alternator. The trick I have learned from experience is loading. Ours is a standard 120ah alternator that runs off a notched "green" belt (USA) and there are no issues so long as the load is regulated. You can spend lots on smart regulators that run temperature sensors to both batteries and alternator which is basically a set and forget setup, great for those with loads of money to pay for it all or you can add a monitored system, a fraction of the price. Whilst the ZM4 of Graeme Polle

AHA!!! It's the old make you upgrade swindle trick! 18.3 is for the MFD not the gofree. According to the PDF, it does turn on dual wifi but only on the new versions of mfds...Not ours! Kind of puts a bloke off buying stuff that quickly gets upgraded and loses support within in a year!

AP mode is access point. Turns the gofree into a gateway which is actually what its intended for, MFD appearing on a smart phone to allow remote access. The MFD can configure it into gateway mode, internet access, funny thing is Navico can't tell me (or wont?) what instruction sets the MFD sends to the gofree!!! Where did you find the flash file Lats? Tried looking for "18.3" and can only find a PDF. Incidentally, during my sojourn I saw lots of comments about the Gofree not working after flashing it with 18.3!

I thought you said for the gofree? It's only for MFDs with built in WIFI? By the way, Luke couldn't figure it out and Simrads "policy" is that is not what its intended for so there is no support, in other words, figure it out for yourself and stop ringing us. He did say it would be possible using the MFD to put the gofree into AP mode, scan for hotspots then connect. A PC browser should then be able to access the net via the ethernet cable. Not tried this yet.