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Old 02-01-2014, 05:45 AM   #81
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Thanks Auzzie.
I forgot earlier.... Haiqu, it's good to have you back mate. I look forward to more of your progress on Keppelena.
Cheers,
Bruce
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Old 02-01-2014, 11:55 PM   #82
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Thanks Bruce. Nice to be back in Sydney actually.

I just spent the morning assessing my financial affairs and I'll have to hunker down for a few weeks and just make do with what I've got here. The recent highs in the AUD/NZD exchange rate gave me a belting, as did the need to buy a van which I wasn't expecting to do this trip, although it was on the long-term plans list.

New Zealand is pretty expensive for some basic goods, especially the hardware store items needed to work on the house. I also found basic foodstuffs to be higher than Australia, sometimes by 3X the price. e.g. milk $2.85/litre vs $1.00 and 220gm gas canisters $4.50 each vs $1.00 here. On the other hand meat is cheap, and you can barely finish the huge and delicious single cone ice-creams they sell for $2.50

I opened a bank account in Wairoa so that I can transfer funds over when the rates are better, so the next trip should cost far less.
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Old 02-12-2014, 11:51 AM   #83
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My brother finally got around to moving the yacht in Brisbane and adding a swivel. I quizzed him on water levels and he told me there was some but "not over the floor like last time." It took me three days to get him to admit that there was more than should have been present, and that he probably should have investigated to see if the bilge pump was working instead of drinking beer with my neighbor on his boat. So he's going down again "next week" to sort that out.

Meanwhile, QLD Water Police want the boat moved by Saturday for the Dragon Boat races. It never bloody ends.

But there is some good news: the crane barge guy FINALLY got back to me, so I may be able to do this engine change soon.
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Old 02-13-2014, 12:04 AM   #84
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Old Perkins engine is coming out! Like Humpty Dumpty, there's no putting that table back together again.
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Old 02-18-2014, 02:47 AM   #85
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There's a stinkboat that comes through here occasionally and raises more wake than an ocean liner. I know this because I've had ocean liners pass me in Brisbane and they don't make half the waves this guy does. Anyhow, yesterday he came past again and caused havoc. Fortunately for me I was in the v-berth because there were toolboxes flying about in the galley! I had my rubbish bin upturned and several heavy boxes scattered about all over the sole.

The only casualty was my Nokia mobile, which ended up in the bilges after bouncing around a bit. It's a gonner. :-(
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Old 02-18-2014, 03:53 AM   #86
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This would be a 'stinkboat' as in a boat with an engine?
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Old 02-19-2014, 01:58 AM   #87
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A boat with an engine and no sails. In other words, a power boat.

After two days in the sun the phone came back to life. I've ordered a spare - at $25 why not - and will be backing up my phonebook. Close call.
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Old 02-19-2014, 03:57 AM   #88
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Well done. I'd still suggest a cheap android, they are < $40 in HK and keep your contacts backed up forever.

Paul from Flambuoyant next door constructed a gadget out of an arduino, a compass and a servo motor that automatically keeps something pointed in the same direction regardless of how your boat swings. I took some photos, will have to get them off my phone at some point and post them up. I thought you might find it handy to keep one of those directional wifi antennas pointed at the wifi source.
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Old 02-19-2014, 08:24 AM   #89
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Hey cool, say hello to him for me. I was gonna build something exactly like that, would be interested in details.

Went out to Blacktown for some trailer tyres today. While there the guy showed me some NOS 660CCA batteries he was selling for $40 each. I bought two of them. Been waiting for my other contact to get batteries in stock again for 12 months, times up.
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Old 02-21-2014, 02:53 AM   #90
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Sometimes it would be good to be wealthy. The trade-off is time, waiting for the next little trickle to come in so I can start the next part of the project. Unfortunately at 61 my time is valuable.

Today I paid off the last of the credit card debts from the NZ trip. Between here and the end of June I have $5400 of income and $2700 in payments, not counting the crane barge. Gonna be a lean year.
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Old 02-21-2014, 04:43 AM   #91
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Lean years are often the only way we yotties can get through. I completely understand you and as they say in the classics, you aren't Robinson Crusoe. I'm currently arguing with my bank about $600. In terms of cruising, it is a significant amount and vital to the lifestyle which does not necessarily allow for more than a little work.
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Old 02-21-2014, 09:57 AM   #92
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Glad to see you grok the situation, Auzzee.

If I'm ever going to write a book, it will be about the second method of becoming wealthy. The first, of course, is to have lots of money. The second, and wiser, method is to reduce one's needs and find alternatives to spending. It also promotes skill and innovation, something sorely missing in our current society.
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Old 02-22-2014, 05:01 AM   #93
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None of the "how to get rich" books on the market today tell you how to earn more money. They all focus on keeping more of the money that you already have.

Anyway, here's a blog post with some photos and videos of the gadget I was talking about earlier, that Paul built: Chiara Stella: Directional antennas
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Old 02-23-2014, 06:18 AM   #94
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That looks very promising. David keeps threatening to design/build something like this with an arduino combined with our raspberry pi to record HD TV on a little USB TV tuner. The tuner is plugged into our regular computer but there's little reason to believe that the pi can't handle recording (though it couldn't do the transcode or playback). Right now, if we have the computer on we'll record whatever we can capture on the free broadcast HD TV. It gets frustrating when the boat spins at anchor though ;( We were spoiled by bow-stern anchoring this summer--no spinning and good recordings when the TV was on.

The pi just got mounted to a bulkhead, is hooked up to a little HDMI monitor and wireless keyboard and now we've got our airmar weather station PB100 feeding NMEA0183 sentences to it for logging--and David's learning how to use QT for user interface for use on the pi or other computers on our network (the pi serves up the data). As an aside--you can find Airmar PB100 weather stations for cheap since it's about 3 generations old. Something like $100 often--we got ours new old stock for $300 a few years back. Good source for all of the following: GPS heading, wind speed, wind direction, temp, baro pressure, humidity, pitch, roll, and compass heading.

5V power supply--all of the pi/arduino stuff is reliant upon USB power supply and we note that the little cig lighter ones 12V:5V are rated about 3.1amp but they fry within a few weeks or months of steady use less than 3amps. You have to go ahead and purchase a higher capacity one from an electronics supplier if you want long lasting use. Ours is a 10A voltage converter 12V to 5V and seems to work better. We re-wired a fried USB hub to it and it works great. When David sees this little spinner Del linked to...uhoh...
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Old 02-23-2014, 08:18 AM   #95
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Wayqool! Ask him which Arduino board has the inbuilt fluxgate compass will you? Seems like a terrific solution.
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Old 02-23-2014, 06:31 PM   #96
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I saw reference to Arduino Duemilanove ATmega168 with add-on Fluxgate Compass Module (HMC6352) on a couple different Arduino related project sites. That's this compass https://www.sparkfun.com/products/7915
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Old 02-23-2014, 09:55 PM   #97
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OK I just sent haiqu and Paul (the builder of the device) an email and they can talk about it at length. Maybe we can put the plans and parts list onto the wiki just so Paul doesn't get dozens of emails pestering him about it. It certainly seems like an interesting project. Paul's away in the Cook Islands for a week or two so hopefully it can get sorted when he gets back.

The fluxgate compass wasn't built into the arduino, it was an add on attached via a prototype board. So I think it's the same addon compass that redbopeep mentioned.
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Old 02-24-2014, 07:30 AM   #98
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I'd prefer to use a compass that's compensated for tilt. That way it could double as part of an autopilot project. Unfortunately such devices are harder to use. The HMC6352 outputs degrees of direction, which is a doddle to interface.

Pretty much any processor should work. You would need to isolate the compass from the magnetic effects of the motor.
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Old 02-25-2014, 08:07 PM   #99
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Last night I got up from a short nap to make coffee, and glancing out the companionway happened to notice that the dinghy was sinking. It seems the chop generated by 35kt winds had swamped the thing, which was ;laden with scrap timber and rubbish bags to be taken ashore.

So there I am, hanging off the endge of the yacht with a flashlight in my teeth and a bucket in the other hand, trying to bale enough water so that my oars don't float away, when suddenly the skies light up in a fireworks display that lasts about 10 minutes. On a Tuesday night.

Gotta love Sydney, it's irrational but in the very best ways.
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Old 02-26-2014, 02:03 AM   #100
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Love to be entertained while working on something--you REALLY got it there: unusual project and unusually good entertainment
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