Showing posts with label that. Show all posts
Showing posts with label that. Show all posts
Tuesday, 8 March 2016
The top ten things that make my life difficult
These are the things that grate on me. Although the numbers are very difficult to get at, I would estimate that annual North American sales of marine electronics related gear is about $800,000,000 per year. My guess is about 15 percent of the sales costs are required to install all of this gear. This works out to about $120,000,000 a year. Of this number easily half is spent working around poor boat design. That's $60,000,000 in annual costs to owners that good boat design would have saved.
Lets look at a small typical new boat package. Chart plotter ($2500), radar ($1000), VHF ($150), sounder module ($500), transducer ($200), VHF antenna ($80). This totals $4230. Using the 15% rule, installation costs would be about $635, this would be about one man day plus or minus to install the system. The wasted cost to the buyer is $317.00, This is a small system, and not an extreme case, of which there are many. So right out of its shrink wrap the new boat is already costing owners lots of real money.
The incapability of most boat builders, both large and small in understanding even the basics of how their customers will use their boats, and what they might want to install on them astounds me daily. Why are the water pick ups on both sides of the hull insuring I can't install a properly working transom mount transducer? Did you think this might be important, or you just don't know any better? It was purported by marketing to be a offshore fishing boat, but there is no mounting plate to install a radar, and no way to get the cable down to the chart plotter. The three hours it took to pull the transducer wire to the console because the 2" piece of PVC pipe pretending to be a grown up conduit is already packed to the max. The boat with no place to install an autopilot compass. A console interior with no mounting blocks to install gear. No fuse blocks, power leads, documentation, wire pulls, and many others round out the list.
# 1 The wire pull.
I chose this picture from the many I have illustrating this point. This is a name brand boat owned by a multi-billion dollar parent company. You now can't get a human hair sized wire through this hole, much less the radar cable that I wanted to install. The sad thing this is all to common. Multiple 90 degree turns, sharp as a razor un-chaffed holes that are all too small to do the job. Certainly you can afford a larger drill bit can't you?
While we are on the subject, there is this stuff called conduit. I think most boat builders are unaware of this tubular material because I don't see it often, or maybe they are used to draping the stuff inside the hull before the deck is attached. It's a very rare boat that can't improve on this problem.
#2 Accessibility, the manger has no room.
This breaks out into three broad sub-categories. You're looking first at the "Blivet." This is 30 pounds of marine gear shoved into a 20 pound space, making usable console real estate more valuable then Trump's Park Avenue penthouse. Two trim tab pumps, Mercury power steering pump, two batteries, battery switches, water tank fill hose, waste pump out hose, and plenty more. You couldn't design in another place to put some of this stuff? Really?
If you look down in the bottom right hand corner you can see the autopilot pump peeking out. I cut a ton of tie wraps to move that big bundle of white wires enough to get the pump wedged under the water fill pipe, and barely fitted onto the floor of the console. This was the only place to put it. There is a third battery under the console. I don't know why they didn't stick the other two batteries there also. Hey, I'm happy, I'm not complaining. I can get three of the four needed pump mounting screws into the floor, and the waste pump out hose helps pin it in place.
The second group covers a variety of sins that include equipment only accessible through a plate allowing you to touch it with one hand, or look at it, but not both. These I call the "Braillers." The other scenario is you have to remove the water maker, and the hot water heater to get at the cheap plastic pump that broke.
The third category is the no infrastructure accessibility for you. This is the inverse of the first. There are no locations for you to mount anything. Paper thin bulkheads that insure screws protrude into the next compartment, and no power for you, at any rate.
#3 Documentation, or the lack there of.
If you look down in the bottom right hand corner you can see the autopilot pump peeking out. I cut a ton of tie wraps to move that big bundle of white wires enough to get the pump wedged under the water fill pipe, and barely fitted onto the floor of the console. This was the only place to put it. There is a third battery under the console. I don't know why they didn't stick the other two batteries there also. Hey, I'm happy, I'm not complaining. I can get three of the four needed pump mounting screws into the floor, and the waste pump out hose helps pin it in place.
The second group covers a variety of sins that include equipment only accessible through a plate allowing you to touch it with one hand, or look at it, but not both. These I call the "Braillers." The other scenario is you have to remove the water maker, and the hot water heater to get at the cheap plastic pump that broke.
The third category is the no infrastructure accessibility for you. This is the inverse of the first. There are no locations for you to mount anything. Paper thin bulkheads that insure screws protrude into the next compartment, and no power for you, at any rate.
#3 Documentation, or the lack there of.
This is one of my biggest pet peeves. I don't understand why boat builders can't provide anything more than a bag stuffed with a random assortment of product information, and call it documentation. No wiring diagrams or labeling, no layout drawings, and no bill of materials detailing what was installed on the boat, and where you might possibly find it.
I think in many cases as built wiring diagrams may not exist for many boats. A contractor designs and builds a wiring harness, and Bob at the plant knows what plugs into what, but maybe not why.
I think in many cases as built wiring diagrams may not exist for many boats. A contractor designs and builds a wiring harness, and Bob at the plant knows what plugs into what, but maybe not why.
The thing that drives me even crazier are interface blocks with no information. Lots of tiny wires with bright colors connected to lots of other colorful pretty wires, and not a wire tag to be seen. What's connected to what? Who knows without taking the time to play Sherlock Holmes. There is a magical machine called a label maker that makes my life easier, or a real wiring diagram would work well also.
I'm not going to belabor this but the factory used a pull string, or it's relative the pull wire to haul wire bundles through the boat when it was built. Why don't they pull a new string with it? Is it too costly? Or are they trying to break the Guinness world record for the largest string ball they're creating behind the plant. Pennies at the most to have a second pull string taped on before the pull, often saving me many hours struggling to fish the two ninety degree turns. with a vacuum cleaner and the special hemostats.
#5 Hey, they will never see this stuff.
Sloppy work just bothers me. I see a lot of it, especially in hidden locations. Things screwed down in the closest place that can be reached, if screwed down at all, Wads of extra wire heaped up into a piles. In the case of this boat, I think the wiring harness for their fifty footer was being used on their forty footer, and the excess had to be heaped up somewhere.
Also included in this less than esteemed category are unfinished surfaces gleaming with fiberglass spears eager for your blood, and ragged cutouts gnawed open by rabid beavers.
#6 You can have way too much tech.
Also included in this less than esteemed category are unfinished surfaces gleaming with fiberglass spears eager for your blood, and ragged cutouts gnawed open by rabid beavers.
#6 You can have way too much tech.
Whats the difference between a boat and a Toyota Corolla? Toyota will make a make more than a million Corollas this year. If they design a piece of high tech gear to use, a factory is built somewhere in the world to manufacture a million of them annually. That's about 4000 a day or about 500 an hour.
It's funny, I can't think of a single boat company that does a million of anything even in their wildest dreams. The Point? Low volume custom high tech has a high costs and a very short support life.
An example of this is the power distribution panel above. Take a simple thing like a circuit breaker, attach it to a computer board with a relay, control it with a computer, and it instantly becomes expensive, and much less reliable. Do boat marketing marketing gurus think the buying public has become so flaccid that the average boater can no longer turn on a switch? Oh Buffy, I'm exhausted from the effort it takes to turn on a light switch. I do wish we had a touch screen like Dave has to turn on the lights.
I stare at the custom made all digital panel that makes the gang plank automatically extrude itself out of the hull. "It's broken," I tell the owner. "Well replace it," states the owner. "I can't. It came from Italy and is not made anymore," I aver, "but I could make a nice little panel with four buttons. One will say in, another out. The other two will say up and down. I will wire them directly to the hydraulic pumps. It will last for years, you just have to hold the buttons down to use it instead of having it operate automatically." "Make it so" is the owners response, "will it have a LED display?
Levitating TV's, complex AV systems, joystick controls and touch screens switching panels are all fine with me if you want to pay for them. Just make sure there is a back up in place when things go array, and be sure your pocketbook can endure the long term repair waltz.
#7 Stuff that's just darned inappropriate.
It's funny, I can't think of a single boat company that does a million of anything even in their wildest dreams. The Point? Low volume custom high tech has a high costs and a very short support life.
An example of this is the power distribution panel above. Take a simple thing like a circuit breaker, attach it to a computer board with a relay, control it with a computer, and it instantly becomes expensive, and much less reliable. Do boat marketing marketing gurus think the buying public has become so flaccid that the average boater can no longer turn on a switch? Oh Buffy, I'm exhausted from the effort it takes to turn on a light switch. I do wish we had a touch screen like Dave has to turn on the lights.
I stare at the custom made all digital panel that makes the gang plank automatically extrude itself out of the hull. "It's broken," I tell the owner. "Well replace it," states the owner. "I can't. It came from Italy and is not made anymore," I aver, "but I could make a nice little panel with four buttons. One will say in, another out. The other two will say up and down. I will wire them directly to the hydraulic pumps. It will last for years, you just have to hold the buttons down to use it instead of having it operate automatically." "Make it so" is the owners response, "will it have a LED display?
Levitating TV's, complex AV systems, joystick controls and touch screens switching panels are all fine with me if you want to pay for them. Just make sure there is a back up in place when things go array, and be sure your pocketbook can endure the long term repair waltz.
#7 Stuff that's just darned inappropriate.
I find this type of stuff all the time. Start by looking at the ground block in the second picture up above, and bounce back. It's the block with all the black wires attached to it. This is a brand new boat, and they have already broken a big ABYC fashion rule. Yellow wire for DC negatives is now the new black. This sort of stuff bothers me at a subliminal level.
The iron nipple attaching the the two bronze parts together. A long term accident looking for a place to occur. Dissimilar metals, rust potential, and I have no doubt it was discovered to ooze liquids shortly after the boat hit the water. The white stuff is 3M 5200 used a "Leak Stop" goo.
Also on the list are standard flooded lead acid batteries located in places that insure they will never get their water levels checked very often. This makes it a sure bet I will be struggling them out of the boat prematurely, and replacing them with sealed batteries. I've never seen a dealer install anything less than the cheapest batteries available in a new boat unless the owner knows enough to write a check for something better. Throw into the mix prodigious usage of sealants to make sure things can never be separated for all time, and destroyed screw heads galore left for me to deal with.
Now it time to harp at owners, but fear not, it's a short list.
#8 Make sure you put all of that stuff back.
Irritating it is to deal with loads of other peoples crap that's in my way. The owner however is paying the bill to use my skills in this way. I heave the stuff out trying to ignore the black mold at the bottom of the pile that's dining on sunscreen thats oozed out of the tube. When I'm done I heave it back in. I just wish I didn't have to deal with it in the first place.
#9 Darwin is always at work.
The iron nipple attaching the the two bronze parts together. A long term accident looking for a place to occur. Dissimilar metals, rust potential, and I have no doubt it was discovered to ooze liquids shortly after the boat hit the water. The white stuff is 3M 5200 used a "Leak Stop" goo.
Also on the list are standard flooded lead acid batteries located in places that insure they will never get their water levels checked very often. This makes it a sure bet I will be struggling them out of the boat prematurely, and replacing them with sealed batteries. I've never seen a dealer install anything less than the cheapest batteries available in a new boat unless the owner knows enough to write a check for something better. Throw into the mix prodigious usage of sealants to make sure things can never be separated for all time, and destroyed screw heads galore left for me to deal with.
Now it time to harp at owners, but fear not, it's a short list.
#8 Make sure you put all of that stuff back.
#9 Darwin is always at work.
"I thought duct tape would work."
"If it's good enough for my house, it's gotta be okay on the boat."
"It was just a small leak."
"I thought that lamp wire would work okay, I used wire nuts you know."
#10 The maid is on vacation.
It shouldn't take a wearing a Tyvek hazmat suit and boiling your hands in Clorex afterwards to work on a boat. Sheesh, you don't know what soap is, do you?
That's my top ten, and don't get me started on the other things like anchor lockers that are hard pressed to hold more than fifty feet of rode, curvaceous foam dash surfaces designed to prohibit mounting anything, extensive use of out gassing fuzzy monkey fur, colorful pleathers that promptly degrade in the presence of any sunlight, and snow white leather furniture and carpets that will stain just by bringing a bottle of Merlot on board. They'er supposed to be boats, not Liberace's parlor. I got a lot more of this you know, aargh.
Many thanks to Rick Laporte for suggesting the story. I have added links to his blog M/V She-Kon, along with TJ, and Deb's Retirement Project, and Steven Robert's geek driven Nomadness.
Thursday, 17 September 2015
Yacht certified Whats that mean
When I read about the 34' Silverton with 27 souls on board that capsized, my initial reaction was "Clown car". I mean where could you put all of these people on a boat of this size, and what was the boat's rated capacity? It turns out there is no rated capacity for passengers on this vessel. It falls generically into the category of "Yacht Certified", if it was certified at all.
Power boats up to 20' in length are legally mandated to have a permanent label indicating maximum horse power, and passenger capacity. Larger recreational vessels, 26' and up typically fall into the "Yacht Certified" category, or not certified at all.
The "Yacht Certified" label is bestowed upon a vessel by the NMMA (National Marine Manufacturing Association) because it complies with all applicable ABYC (American Boat and Yacht Council) standards. This is an extensive list, but for vessels over 26' in length, but there are no standards related to capacity or stability, and I asked the NMMA to verify this. The USCG also has a lot regulations regarding passenger capacity, and stability, but recreational vessels over 26' in length are excluded from compliance. It seems to me there is a hole in the system that the 34' Silverton disappeared into.
Lets take a quick look at the numbers. 17 adults at 180 lbs equals 3060 lbs. 10 children at 90 lbs equals 900 lbs. 250 lbs of gasoline (full tanks) equals about 1500 lbs. 40 gallons of water (full tank) equal 340 lbs. The holding tank full weighs 150 lbs. The boat's dry weight is 12,500 lbs. If the tanks are full you have 1990 lbs at or near the waterline, and you have movable loads of 3960 lbs.
This is where it gets complicated. I think that the movable load, if properly distributed wouldn't have been as dangerous if properly placed. I think that a much smaller movable load improperly placed could be very dangerous. The question is what information does the captain have about the vessels actual passenger capacity, and stability? The answer is all too often close to zero. There are no rules that are usable, other than your instincts. If the tanks near the water line were nearly empty, does that mean you can increase the loads, or decrease the loads? If you have four people sitting on the flybridge, does that change the equation? The owners manual for most vessels is mute on the subject.
This is where it gets complicated. I think that the movable load, if properly distributed wouldn't have been as dangerous if properly placed. I think that a much smaller movable load improperly placed could be very dangerous. The question is what information does the captain have about the vessels actual passenger capacity, and stability? The answer is all too often close to zero. There are no rules that are usable, other than your instincts. If the tanks near the water line were nearly empty, does that mean you can increase the loads, or decrease the loads? If you have four people sitting on the flybridge, does that change the equation? The owners manual for most vessels is mute on the subject.
If you own a Cessna 182 aircraft, the manual tells you exactly what loads have to go where, and how much is load is allowed to insure proper balance and center of gravity in flight. Why is there so little information available to the owner of a powerboat? I'm pretty sure had the captain had some capacity/stability information available about this boat, it would have been followed. Some manufacturers do provide some general guidelines, but a lot don't.
In the end, I think manufacturers need to do a far better job of advising boat owners what the weight/load/placement limits are for their vessel. After all they design and build them. I'm not going to be an arm chair captain on what happened in this case. There are way too many variables here that are unknown. Was the boat taking on water? What were the sea conditions at the time? Were the actual loads too great, or in the wrong place? The list is endless, and in the end the experts will figure it out, and we will all learn something from it. But I don't like the fact that for most, there is no information available other than guessing, and this seems to be a shame.
The photo I used is mine, and is not the vessel discussed.
The photo I used is mine, and is not the vessel discussed.
Monday, 1 September 2014
Glen L Boat Plans My Boat Plans Is An Efficient Boat Building Guide That Includes Easy To Follow Instructions Download NOW!
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Obtaining Good Boat Plans Wooden To produce A Watercraft
Generating a watercraft from scratch is a rewarding hobby. In an effort to begin, it really is crucial to work with detailed boat plans wooden. Most blueprints will let you know that plywood is typically the very best sort of wood to utilize to get a vessel. Make certain the blueprints you do find are simple to follow and outline all products you will need to work with.
Watercraft blueprints might be found anyplace on the internet. You are able to usually find some blueprints for free in the event you look at some hardware retailer internet sites. For extensive blueprints, more details, and far better instructions, you may must pay for them. Checking into DIY forums can help you uncover the blueprints you will need to begin making your watercraft.
The most effective variety of wood for constructing a wooden boat is plywood. It is because plywood is dimensionally stable. This implies it's going to expand and shrink much less during the adjust in temperature. You can find specific items you can do with plywood that can not be completed with plank wood.
Blueprints that call for plywood are normally less difficult to comply with. Considering that plywood is a extremely light material, it's going to be easier, and much significantly less time consuming, fixing and modifying your watercraft. Plywood also floats really properly on water. This sort of wood can also be lighter and makes it less difficult to lift when producing adjustments to your watercraft.
Most watercraft blueprints list the common essential materials including nails, a hammer, tape measure and paint. Even so, some very detailed blueprints can demand supplies like an airbrush kit to decorate your vessel and make the paint job appear specialist.
Boat plans wooden may be for novices or specialists. Most of the beginner blueprints need that the builder begin with plywood simply because it really is less complicated to start with. As you progress together with your watercraft creating, you'll be able to move as much as harder, costly supplies to create the watercraft of your dreams.
Generating a watercraft from scratch is a rewarding hobby. In an effort to begin, it really is crucial to work with detailed boat plans wooden. Most blueprints will let you know that plywood is typically the very best sort of wood to utilize to get a vessel. Make certain the blueprints you do find are simple to follow and outline all products you will need to work with.
Watercraft blueprints might be found anyplace on the internet. You are able to usually find some blueprints for free in the event you look at some hardware retailer internet sites. For extensive blueprints, more details, and far better instructions, you may must pay for them. Checking into DIY forums can help you uncover the blueprints you will need to begin making your watercraft.
The most effective variety of wood for constructing a wooden boat is plywood. It is because plywood is dimensionally stable. This implies it's going to expand and shrink much less during the adjust in temperature. You can find specific items you can do with plywood that can not be completed with plank wood.
Blueprints that call for plywood are normally less difficult to comply with. Considering that plywood is a extremely light material, it's going to be easier, and much significantly less time consuming, fixing and modifying your watercraft. Plywood also floats really properly on water. This sort of wood can also be lighter and makes it less difficult to lift when producing adjustments to your watercraft.
Most watercraft blueprints list the common essential materials including nails, a hammer, tape measure and paint. Even so, some very detailed blueprints can demand supplies like an airbrush kit to decorate your vessel and make the paint job appear specialist.
Boat plans wooden may be for novices or specialists. Most of the beginner blueprints need that the builder begin with plywood simply because it really is less complicated to start with. As you progress together with your watercraft creating, you'll be able to move as much as harder, costly supplies to create the watercraft of your dreams.
Thursday, 21 August 2014
Archive How to make a boat out of cardboard that floats
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Friday, 24 January 2014
The Arduino autopilot that Jack built
Autopilot kit for sale. Only $350, some assembly required. Jack Edwards, a mechanical, engineer, loom builder (yes as in weaving), and many other things in his professional career has built a functioning Ardunio based sail boat auto pilot system. The little Ardunios have piloted his aptly named boat the Wile E. Coyote over 400 miles this summer using both heading, and GPS track mode with cross track error correction. There are some chores left to complete such as wind instrument integration, but it's an impressive success with such a tiny capital outlay.
Jack's boat is a 1983 Robert Perry designed 40 Nordic Yachts sloop with a vintage (1986) Wagner compass steer autopilot. So why build an Ardunio based system?
In Jack's words, "I always wanted to have an autopilot with modern capabilities and thought about building one using PC based programming but couldn't figure out how to handle the interfaces with inputs and outputs. About three years ago my son showed me an Ardunio a friend had loaned him. Wow, that was exciting and now I have it to a point where it is a working system."
The elements in Jack's autopilot, are the same as found in any autopilot. We have a computer processor. In this case he is using two Ardunio Megas. One for the GPS processing, and the second one for everything else.
There is a display to view data, and a DC motor drive system for the hydraulic pump. A nine degree of freedom IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) with a magnetometer, gyro, and accelerometer along with a rudder position sensor.
The Ardunios are 2560 Megas. The one I purchased from Sparkfun cost me $62.10 with shipping.
Don't let the small 4" x 2" size fool you. There is considerable computing horse power in this little board. 16 analog inputs, 54 digital input and output pins, 14 of which can be used as PWM (Pulsed Width Modulated) outputs. Add to this 4 serial ports USB port, and a 16 MHz clock, all driven by an Amtel AT2560 RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) processor.
The quarter sized Pololu IMU is the heading compass. It has a retail price of about $40.00. Like any digital heading compass on a boat it needs to be located about a meter away from any ferrous metals, and requires initial calibration.
Jack used a Honeywell hall effect sensor to build the rudder reference. As the rudder turns, the shaft in the sensor rotates, and the voltage changes. The voltage output varies from .5VDC to 4.5 VDC.
This voltage range covers up to ninety degrees of rudder movement (+-45 degrees). So a reading of 2.5 volts would mean the rudder is centered. The rudder sensor voltage readings are read by the analog inputs on the Ardunio. The rudder centered is at 2.5 volts.
For $18.00 you can have a data display from Adafruit. It's 20 characters wide, by 4 rows, and you can create up to 8 special symbols. This is available for a couple of dollars more in a variety of LED colors. It has PWM adjustable dimming capability, and contrast control.
The difference in this system is the solenoid valve that when open allows manual steering, and when closed the pump does the steering. The pump is managed with a Pololu Qik 2s12v10 serial DC motor controller.
Jack, like Robert is also standing on the shoulders of giants. Ardunio software is open source and is licensed under Creative Commons. This means a vast array of software is available for free use with attribution. For example in Jack's software module A_GPS routine that is parsing the NMEA sentence RMC (position, speed, track) you see the line "GPS Reading based on code by Igor Gonzalez Martin. 05-04-2007." Instead of having to start from scratch, there was existing software that could be just tweaked, if needed at all to use. This is the miracle of the open source community. In the case of a marine autopilot there was a lot of existing usable code, but a good chunk Jack had to write himself.
Looking at the diagram above you will recognize a lot of the acronyms such as COG (Course Over Ground). There are a couple that your chart plotter doesn't typically show you. They are BOD (Bearing Origin to Destination) and CTS (course to steer).
BOD is a NMEA 0183 sentence that has the origin and destination waypoints, and the bearing between them to the destination. CTS is the direction you need to steer to get back on your original course line.
Rule one! Your autopilot is not allowed to just make up a new bearing to get to the waypoint. It's supposed to keep you on your original course line (BOD). CTS is not the direction the bow is pointing, but the direction you want to travel in. As an example, a sailboat may have to crab upwind to maintain the desired course.
This is done by calculating a XTE (Cross Track Error) correction factor that is added or subtracted from the existing bearing to waypoint. Using this correction a new heading can be derived to take you towards your original course. I've simplified this a lot, but this is a tricky bit of calculating software.
The system is operational. It steers by compass heading (Button 1), GPS steering to waypoint (Button 2), adjustable tack mode (button 3), and yet to be completed wind angle steer (Button 4). The system can also make incremental changes to the heading direction, has a helm data display, and control pendant. There is also gain and a form of response rate control (less pump usage).
There are still some things not yet completed, and assorted minor software issues. Jack has Raymarine wind instruments that speak Seatalk. Rather than write a routine from scratch to parse Seatalk, I have a Raymarine Seatalk to NMEA converter lying around someplace that I'm going to send him. This will speed up development of this wind integration portion of the system.
When running a route, the vessel doesn't start the turn until you have arrived at the waypoint, and this can cause a overshoot on the next leg when turn angles are large. It corrects itself, but it would be better, if the turn started prior to waypoint arrival. There have also been some intermittent system freezes when a new route has been completed, and there are also some issues with the GPS's 1 second update speed. Some of this might be correctable with a faster 10Hz GPS. Have no doubts, that Jack is a persistent guy, and these warts will be found, and removed.
There is a display to view data, and a DC motor drive system for the hydraulic pump. A nine degree of freedom IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) with a magnetometer, gyro, and accelerometer along with a rudder position sensor.
The block diagram shows the primary components and their basic connections. The left side Ardunio has the GPS interfaced to one of its four serial ports.
The other Arduino is handling the data from the IMU, rudder reference, DC hydraulic motor drive, and the data display. The two Ardunios communicate with each other using serial data ports, and a fast software routine called "Easy Transfer".
The other Arduino is handling the data from the IMU, rudder reference, DC hydraulic motor drive, and the data display. The two Ardunios communicate with each other using serial data ports, and a fast software routine called "Easy Transfer".
Don't let the small 4" x 2" size fool you. There is considerable computing horse power in this little board. 16 analog inputs, 54 digital input and output pins, 14 of which can be used as PWM (Pulsed Width Modulated) outputs. Add to this 4 serial ports USB port, and a 16 MHz clock, all driven by an Amtel AT2560 RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) processor.
Jack's boat has a Wagner heading steer only autopilot. Translated this means the autopilot will keep the bow pointed to a compass heading but can't compensate for currents, winds, or waves that are all shoving on the boat. The existing Wagner hydraulic pump on the boat, is being used in the system. The Wagner pump is a 12VDC (PV100-12-TR) and draws 11 amps. This is not unlike a Raymarine Type 1 hydraulic autopilot pump.
"Its only possible because I'm standing on the shoulders of giants." Robert Huiteme.
Jack, like Robert is also standing on the shoulders of giants. Ardunio software is open source and is licensed under Creative Commons. This means a vast array of software is available for free use with attribution. For example in Jack's software module A_GPS routine that is parsing the NMEA sentence RMC (position, speed, track) you see the line "GPS Reading based on code by Igor Gonzalez Martin. 05-04-2007." Instead of having to start from scratch, there was existing software that could be just tweaked, if needed at all to use. This is the miracle of the open source community. In the case of a marine autopilot there was a lot of existing usable code, but a good chunk Jack had to write himself.
BOD is a NMEA 0183 sentence that has the origin and destination waypoints, and the bearing between them to the destination. CTS is the direction you need to steer to get back on your original course line.
Rule one! Your autopilot is not allowed to just make up a new bearing to get to the waypoint. It's supposed to keep you on your original course line (BOD). CTS is not the direction the bow is pointing, but the direction you want to travel in. As an example, a sailboat may have to crab upwind to maintain the desired course.
This is done by calculating a XTE (Cross Track Error) correction factor that is added or subtracted from the existing bearing to waypoint. Using this correction a new heading can be derived to take you towards your original course. I've simplified this a lot, but this is a tricky bit of calculating software.
There are still some things not yet completed, and assorted minor software issues. Jack has Raymarine wind instruments that speak Seatalk. Rather than write a routine from scratch to parse Seatalk, I have a Raymarine Seatalk to NMEA converter lying around someplace that I'm going to send him. This will speed up development of this wind integration portion of the system.
When running a route, the vessel doesn't start the turn until you have arrived at the waypoint, and this can cause a overshoot on the next leg when turn angles are large. It corrects itself, but it would be better, if the turn started prior to waypoint arrival. There have also been some intermittent system freezes when a new route has been completed, and there are also some issues with the GPS's 1 second update speed. Some of this might be correctable with a faster 10Hz GPS. Have no doubts, that Jack is a persistent guy, and these warts will be found, and removed.
Jack has done an amazing job, and I think he is now one of the "Giants" others can stand on the shoulders of. The project continues on, and it proves it's feasible to do this with the same capabilities of mainstream commercial autopilots, at a fraction of the cost. Jack is also the only person I'm aware of who has gone this far in the development of a Ardunio based marine autopilot system. For those who are interested in pursing this type of activity, there is now a substantial library of software and hardware details in his Dropbox site you can use to start with. I will provide the link below.
Jack is now so far along in his development his software, like all autopilot manufacturers he now has a disclaimer splash screen, and I think this speaks volumes about Jack's efforts.
"This software was developed as an experiment by the author to provide an auto pilot for his boat. It is made available to others who want to develop a Do It Yourself autopilot. The User accepts all responsibility for the safe operation of the boat recognizing that hardware and software errors can occur. The User also acknowledges that it is their responsibility to safely wire and install the autopilot components in accordance with appropriate codes and standards, and understand the system capabilities."
I now have an Ardunio Mega. I couldn't live without one after writing so much about them. It's huge fun to play with, for me at any rate. I think the first real project will be to make the "Digital Magic Eight Ball". This will give me some experience with writing to a display, and you can bet it will have some interesting prognostications. The second project is to make a sailboat wind instrument with a display for under $200 using the Peet Bros. anemometer. Robert Huiteme has written most of the code, and the balance I can figure out myself. It's good to have broad shoulders to stand on.
Jack Edwards Ardunio marine autopilot drop box link. You will also find his email link there.
Jack Edwards Ardunio marine autopilot drop box link. You will also find his email link there.
The software requires Ardunio's IDE system to view. You can download it for free here. It is available for Windows, Mac OSx, and Linux 32/64 bit operating systems.
The wiring diagrams require Fritzing software to see, and it's free from here.
Product phot0s are from the Pololu and Sparkfun websites.
All other diagrams and photos are by Jack Edwards.
Product phot0s are from the Pololu and Sparkfun websites.
All other diagrams and photos are by Jack Edwards.
Thursday, 20 December 2012
Where did that last five months go in home port
December 22 , 2015 – May 22,2016
Our tropical Whitsundays shakedown cruise was over and we arrived back in our home base in East Coast Marina in Brisbane’s Manly boat Harbour. For us it’s hard to believe that was five months ago because the time has just flown. We had really not been looking forward to life at the dock again but in reality we were so busy splitting our days between spending time with family and friends back in our home town of Ipswich 50 kilometres away and being on the boat working to get her ready for our next adventure, we didn’t have a chance to think about it much.
So how did we spend five months?
Karen embarked on a serious sewing program making good use of both her Sailrite machine and parents garage to transform Our Dreamtime’s interior and produce a range of new bits and pieces topside.
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| Recovering all the upholstery in the salon transformed below. Karen did an awesome job as always. |
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| A nice new helm cover |
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| New covers for all our jerry cans that get stowed on deck |
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| New spray dodgers for the stern tidied up the look |
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| Our Dreamtime is now much cooler below with her new sunshade over the decks |
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| The garage floor was a very handy workspace. Here Karen is marking out some Sunbrella fabric to make new bags for our folding bikes. They turned out great bags then we decided to leave the bikes at home this trip anyway. |
Rob embarked on projects such as removing our non-working washing machine from the boat. We considered swapping it with the near new similar machine we had sitting in storage at our daughters house but decided against it. Firstly without a generator on board the washing machine is useless unless we are connected to shore power in a marina and we had no plans on being in marinas much once we got underway again. The second slightly more serious problem is that we could not work out a way to remove the old machine in one piece let alone get the new one in. We measured, remeasured and remeasured again every path out from where it was located in the companionway to our aft cabin. The maths simply did not work. The washing machine was more centimetres wide, deep and long than any possible exit. We surmise it must have been brought onto the boat when the cockpit floor was out through the engine room when the motor was not in place.
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| Washing machine deconstruction 101. |
Rob literally dismantled it in place and removed it piece by piece. Even when we were left with just the light metal casing, it would not fit out until he cut it into bits.
The good news is Karen now has a lovely new locker in its place which is the perfect home for the Sailrite, all her sewing gear and art supplies. She also has a new set of 20 litre buckets with lids as her new washing machine. Very energy efficient and environmentally friendly.
During our time at the dock Karen returned to part time work a couple of days a week which covered our marina fees and Rob was also able to pick up some work in his field of motorsport commentary. It was like old times with him flying off to Perth and Sydney a few times as well as events at the local raceway. It’s great to put some extra dollars in the cruising kitty but he also loves the job.
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| Rob waiting for the cue to interview driver Steven Reed at Willowbank Raceway |
We also embarked on trying to fathom the intricacies of Our Dreamtime’s non-operational watermaker. When we first inspected the boat as prospective buyers, we were surprised to discover the watermaker as it was not mentioned in the inventory. The broker explained the owners didn’t want it listed as it hadn’t been used in four or five years and they didn’t want to go to the trouble of recommissioning it. Basically if it wasn’t on the inventory we weren’t paying for it so couldn’t complain about its condition.
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| Hopefully our watermaker should be operational soon |
We had left it alone until now but decided to investigate if it could be made operational at a reasonable cost. The issue was that we had no information on exactly what it was and the previous owner had made it a very custom installation with different components all hidden away in various obscure nooks and crannies, some of which we didn’t even know existed. The upshot was we think we have worked it out thanks to info emailed to us by the former owners and the advice of a number of fellow cruisers. A complete seals and refit kit for the high pressure pump is on its way from the U.S. at the moment, we have a new high pressure vessel and membrane ready to go when the pump is rebuilt and it should be operational again before we head offshore. Fingers crossed.
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| It wasn't all work an no play though as we had a fantastic visit by Emily, a Rotary Exchange Student we hosted 13 years ago who spent a couple of days with us out in Moreton Bay while visiting from Washington DC |
In April we travelled south to Berrima in the New South Wales highlands for our daughter, Felicity's beautiful wedding to the love of her life Daniel or, as they referred to the occasion, the ‘Oberg-Cooper Merger’. We gained three fantastic new grandchildren out of that merger as Daniel’s Bailey, Tahlia and Darius joined our family
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| Our beautiful bride |
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| Tahlia, Darius, Bailey and Kristian dressed and ready for the family merger |
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| We even found time to check out the Bradman museum at Bowral before the wedding. |
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| Jobs came in all sizes like fitting new drink holders at the binnacle. They work well at sundowners time too. |
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| $5 from Aldi but adapted to a much better use. |
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| The BBQ was remounted to be over the water rather than deck. Much less mess now. |
Our Dreamtime’s recalcitrant refrigeration took up plenty of time and money during our layup only becoming operational the week before our departure date. Our frozen food is currently rock solid and the wine and beer is cold. Let’s hope it stays that way.
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| Grandson, Kristian spent three weeks with us on the boat while Mum and Dad enjoyed their honeymoon. |
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| Rob celebrated a milestone birthday in April with lots of friends at the Manly Deck, a cruisers favourite. |
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| We also celebrated our eldest grandson Caleb's 18th a few days later. |
One of the final items we purchased and fitted for our next adventure was an IridiumGo satellite communications hub. This will allow us to stay in contact anywhere in the world and far beyond the reach of mobile phone coverage. It acts as a wifi hub connected to the Iridium satellite system through which we can use our phone to make voice calls and send-receive SMS messages, send-receive emails on our I-Pads and, most importantly, receive weather information regardless of location. There is also an excellent tracking app through which people will be able to see exactly where we have gone and our current location. It was expensive but will be invaluable when we head offshore.
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| Last minute sewing to finish a sun shade for the aft deck before departure |
The final weeks were very full days crossing off items on the to do list only to add more at the bottom. Provisioning for extended cruising is a mammoth job as is finding storage holes for it all and making sure everything is listed on an inventory with where to find it. Believe us, you could never remember it all.
What now?
Well that’s the next blog but if you are a follower of our Facebook page you’ll already know.
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