LinoCat

We decided to have a management meeting on the boat. We did a rough calculation about the flight costs and accomodation and since some people could sleep on the boat and we could get flights for 49Euro and decided to pay the food out of our own pocket it was actually not more expensive than having it in Germany. So we have had the discussions in the hotel and then in the afternoon we went on the boat to go for a short sail. Here we had a nice working breakfast. WELL, this was on the free day so that is why there is also Campari on the table :-) Thomas, Reinhard and big boss Andreas are enjoying themselves in April at the sunyn Algarve coast. We all had fun and still also discussed and decided a lot. We also prepared the action plan and other stuff needed in the near future. So besides Kornelias sea sickness it was a huge success. On the way out from the marina de Lagos in Portugal. I am explaining the controls and the E120 Raymarine plotter zu the "crew" :-) Chilling on the t...

This is a Kyocera 210Wp solar panel. It is now mounted on the davits of Linocat. Currently the mount is build in away that it is not adjustable. Also after havin this panel now for one year and due to experience from Rudolf and Gabriele on the Lagoon "Sunways" we decided to go for another 2 :-) But lets look at the installation now. The thick bar that connects the davits is an add on from there the solar panel is mounted. The cables are then running into the davit itself. By the way since they are open there IS acutally water inside them sicne there is no hole at the bottom to let it out again. To the left the davits are bolted to the boat. Right in the middle of this 4 screws we drileld a hole and routed the cable through after the water came out. This Votronic 225MPP solar regulator was then connected. BEFORE that please make sure to cover the solar panels so that no pwer is produced. Without a load the voltage can shoot up and you might hurt yourself or destroy things. The...

Hi there, before we went over our first bigger passage in the northsea we already purchased a bfa Pacific liferaft. It is ISAF certified and i decided for the 6 person container size. It just fits well into our catamaran. It has additional equipment inside the liferaft lik water, food, light, seasicknesstablets and other stuff. I think we will never use it since as long as a catamaran is afloat you are stupid to jump into the raft. Of course if the boat is burning well THAT is a reason :-)

The dinghy is pulled up to the davits and then is only leaning against the davits. This is the factory thinking. In our case this meant in heavier seas the dinghy was squealing and moving and wiggling and it was just annoying. So the owner of Sunways showed me his idea of adding another stainless steel tube to prevent the Dinghy from rocking in the davits. I gave the order to Sopromar in Lago, Portugal and they did a good job. The dinghy is now pulled in and then secured between the davits and the new stainless steel tubes. As you can see here the dinghy is now absolutly safe and secure. Also there is no wear on the rubber of the expensive caribe Dinghy :-)

TEST

Here you can see the vertical whip on the left side of this picture. It is mounted slightly tilted backwards and fixed also to the aft stanchions. Here you can see the supporting fixpoint. The Tuner is then mounted as close as possible to the hot wire of the antenne. I have mounted it near the motor compartment where the conencting rod of both rudders is running.

Of course you need a radio first. This itself has been discussed on the internet ample times. If you do not care about money then i strongly advise to go for a professional radio like ICOM 710 or 802. Otherwise the cheapest option is an IC-718 from ICOM. I decided to go for the 706 since i want to use also VHF and UHF maybe and i can seperate the control from the backbox and it is neat and i know how to use it. It might not be the best choice though You also need a PACTOR modem if you want to use email. The box on top of the power supply is a Pactor USB modem from SCS in Germany. If you think about updating blogs via HF on the ocean you should directly go for the software upgrade to Pactor III, which is just a license key that needs to be entered. As you can see i have build up everything at home prior to the boat installation. By that you make sure that you know how it works and all cabling etc is proper. Why fumble around on the boat with basic things when you can try it out at home...