Plastic Classic Forum

I am a firm beleiver in the kiss principle, however several electronic devices performed yeoman service for me during my trans Atlantic. First was the Spot messenger which kept the family and friends informed of my progress. Soon 68 folks were following Deep Blue. Second is the NASA instuments AIS receiver (Si-Tex in USA) that set off an alarm whenever a ship came within 16 miles of my position. I rested much better after installing this device. The Garmin GPS 72 was flawless. My Lowrance I finder H2O has more features, but lacks adequate track smoothing. The Raymarine ST40 Speed/ Depth instrument still works like new. LED navigation lights functioned reliably and allowed Deep Blue to maintain her batteries with only 64 watts of solar panels. The Uni-solar flex panels (2x32 watts) delivered about 40 to 50 % of full potential sunrise to sunset. A Force 10 sea swing stove cooked all my food, and a simple adaptor (Harbor Freight Tools) allowed the Coleman fuel bottles to be filled from a 20# propane tank. The bottles, however, require constant attention to prevent rust and had brass caps installed to prevent leakage. The bottles were stored in 4 inch pvc pipes attached to the stern pulpit to maximise safety. The Coleman style bottles are not available in Europe, and must be treated with care. Phil

captphil416 wrote:... several electronic devices performed yeoman service for me during my trans Atlantic. ... LED navigation lights functioned reliably...

Just out of curiosity, since you are mentioning brands, what type of LED nav lights did you have such success with?

Rachel

Rachel; I purchased these lights on E-bay from Australia, brand unknown, for $30 the set. West Marine lists a set very similar as Aqua Signal for $63 per side, Wow. p447 2010 catalogue. As an aside I now recomend a masthead tri-color for any boat headed out to sea. Ships could not see me because my lights were so close to the water. I will install one on Deep Blue as part of her refit. Hope this helps. Phil

Rachel: I found these lights on e-bay at a much more reasonable prices. I have purchased from this Canadian co. in the past, and they have been reliable. E-Bay motors/ parts and accessories/ electrical and lighting/type in navigation lights. Good luck on your search. Leds sure made my life offshore more comfortable. Phil