Meet the new La Rea!

YYZRC

Thats too bad re: the Atmos. Slick unit but missing what I think could have been the biggest win.

For the Starlink, do you have the dish heating enabled? I've heard it cycles on even when ambient temps are well above freezing.

LaRea

I'll start paying attention to when it trips.  Not sure if heating is on, but it has been a while since the temperature dropped below 60*F.

YYZRC

Its a setting in the Starlink app.

LaRea

New trim tab installed, with screws long enough to retain the hinge pins.  Ironically, the stbd tab actually had no interference with the swim platform, so no need for cutouts, so no need for reinforcing brackets, so the whole thing was an exercise in futility.  

In the background is the drill press that I bought expressly for this job.  Can't drill 304 stainless without a drill press.  It'll probably get sold before we move aboard.  

LaRea

Yesterday was our first real chance to zip around on that Williams Minijet, and that thing is a friggin rocket ship!  We finished the engine break-in and got to hit full throttle for the first time.  She jumps up on plane like she was shot out of a cannon, and she'll do zero to 40 mph in about 5 seconds. 

This is my good buddy Alexi heading out for a joy ride ...



I also learned how to remove the water jet assembly.  We were doing about 25 mph and sucked up a chunk of thick plastic -- maybe part of a paddle or a 50-gallon drum.  This time, it took me 60 minutes to remove and reinstall the pump ... next time, probably 30.  

Here's the offending chunk.  We were able to continue at 5 mph and get back to the mother ship.

LaRea

Today I replaced the stern docking camera, and wow is this one better.  It's an Annke (formerly known as Hikvision) FCD600, which has two cameras with an onboard processor that stitches the image into a single 180-degree image.  



Here's a snapshot from the stern.  The wider field of view will be great for docking.  Bonus, it sees all the way up to the horizon, so I can see boats behind me when we're underway.  



I'm impressed with this camera.  The image stitching is seamless, and it has good resolution all the way out to the edges of the picture.  

Ian

A shame it doesn’t dewarp

LaRea

Yeah, I'll have to train my brain how to interpret the image without thinking about it.  Gonna have two more cameras like this for the port and starboard sides, all pulling double duty as docking cameras and security cameras.

Another weekend project: I removed the crappy windshield tint film from the bridge windshield.  Looking through the film was like wearing glasses smeared with oil -- blurry and wavy.  Here's a before-and-after from only 200 feet away, and it was much worse when looking at distant objects with binoculars.  

captkevin

Wow thats hard to believe how bad the tint was. Are you going to replace? Or go without?

LaRea

I think go without.  I'm guessing any tint will have similar distortion.  If we start cruising the tropics and the bridge gets too warm, I'll upgrade the air conditioners!