Best Of
Re: Pic Of The Day
Sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean, eastbound from Miami to Bimini.
Meanwhile ... our friend's place in Virginia!
Meanwhile ... our friend's place in Virginia!
LaRea
5 ·
Re: Securing the anchor
You guys use staps?
I put a 5 gallon Lowe's bucket on the bow with a patio chair cushion. I have the mother in law sit up there and hold the anchor for me.
I put a 5 gallon Lowe's bucket on the bow with a patio chair cushion. I have the mother in law sit up there and hold the anchor for me.
PickleRick
5 ·
Re: Meet the new La Rea!
You guys might remember my post from October when I installed a VHF antenna switch. After that, I started getting some weird interference between the two radios, and yesterday I finally figured it out.
From web research -- when two radios interfere, it's usually transmitting on 68 with the other radio on 16. That's exactly what I was seeing. People usually suggest relocating antennas, rerouting or replacing antenna cables, or adding ferrite chokes on power cables.
I was blaming the coil of antenna cable, which @Ian pointed out. Tried rerouting cables but it didn't help. (Most of that coil is actually the GPS receiver for the AIS.)
Turns out it was a grounding problem. When I installed the AIS transceiver, I forgot to connect the ground wire. In the new setup with the antenna switch, the AIS and VHF now share the same antenna instead of separate antennas. With no ground wire, the AIS was picking up enough RF energy to muck up the VHF signal. Ground wire connected -- problem gone.
From web research -- when two radios interfere, it's usually transmitting on 68 with the other radio on 16. That's exactly what I was seeing. People usually suggest relocating antennas, rerouting or replacing antenna cables, or adding ferrite chokes on power cables.
I was blaming the coil of antenna cable, which @Ian pointed out. Tried rerouting cables but it didn't help. (Most of that coil is actually the GPS receiver for the AIS.)
Turns out it was a grounding problem. When I installed the AIS transceiver, I forgot to connect the ground wire. In the new setup with the antenna switch, the AIS and VHF now share the same antenna instead of separate antennas. With no ground wire, the AIS was picking up enough RF energy to muck up the VHF signal. Ground wire connected -- problem gone.
LaRea
7 ·
Re: Pic Of The Day
Another awesome in-person forum get-together! @J3ff meets @LaRea at Pilot House Marina in Key Largo, and a good time was had by all!
LaRea
9 ·
Re: Getting a new lift
It isn't often that a company just impresses the heck out of me. I got every dime i put out for this finger pier and lift they earned and i am happy i made the choice i did. They had to break ice almost every day. Temps in the twenties and today in the teens. The quality of the work was really good and the fact that they didn't let difficult weather stop them was impressive. If anyone in the Annapolis or Baltimore area needs a marine contractor i wouldn't recommend calling anyone else. Anchored Marine Construction. I wish i could of had them do the whole dock but now i need to replenish the repairs fund first.
davidbrooks
5 ·
Re: Meet the new La Rea!
Rainy day project in Key West: finished removing the crappy tint film from the windshield.
We started this project seven months ago. Despite our best efforts, we could not reach the bottom of the center section because we don't have 6-foot monkey-long arms. Believe me, we tried everything. Then July came, we started our Loop, and this job got pushed to the back burner.
In this photo it doesn't look too bad, but the film looks black viewed from outside. And yes, for the past seven months there was a bit of peeled film hanging down from the windshield! All gone now.
So, if it looked so terrible, why did I wait this long to finish the job?
It was a big project. I had to remove the entire helm pod. An hour of disassembly, an hour of hard work to get the film off, two hours to reassemble and clean up. The only other option was to remove the center window, and I didn't want that risk.
Once I took out the instruments from the main panel, there were only six screws holding the pod in place. I'd be lying if I claimed that I designed the pod for easy removal. It just worked out that way. This result makes me happy, and I got a great full-body workout today.
We started this project seven months ago. Despite our best efforts, we could not reach the bottom of the center section because we don't have 6-foot monkey-long arms. Believe me, we tried everything. Then July came, we started our Loop, and this job got pushed to the back burner.
In this photo it doesn't look too bad, but the film looks black viewed from outside. And yes, for the past seven months there was a bit of peeled film hanging down from the windshield! All gone now.
So, if it looked so terrible, why did I wait this long to finish the job?
It was a big project. I had to remove the entire helm pod. An hour of disassembly, an hour of hard work to get the film off, two hours to reassemble and clean up. The only other option was to remove the center window, and I didn't want that risk.
Once I took out the instruments from the main panel, there were only six screws holding the pod in place. I'd be lying if I claimed that I designed the pod for easy removal. It just worked out that way. This result makes me happy, and I got a great full-body workout today.
LaRea
6 ·
