Apr. 21, 2005 - Early lunch

Spent a bit of time today, taking an early lunch, to sit down with the almanac, charts and various marina websites to sketch out some crude pilotage notes for our target stopovers, and a couple of possible refuge/alternates..... feel better for getting that done......

This evenings challenge can now be to get the compass mounted in its temporary washboard....

If I get time, I might stick a few key waypoints onto the computer.....

Did I mention that before?

I've bought a laptop, and Maptechs software/charts to use as an alternative to a dedicated chartplotter..... I've also bought a DC power supply adaptor for it, that plugs into a cigarette lighter socket.... I've bought a cigarette lighter socket as well, that i'll need to wire up to the batteries when I get onboard..... didn't do it earlier as I wasn't sure of the polarity, and didn't have a meter with me..... I did solder a long tail onto it... so should be pretty easy to conect up....

I also identified the relevent wires out of the GPS connector... they are now stripped down, and presented ready... and have made up a cable for the laptop with a 9 pin D type connector, and the relevant cables stripped, soldered etc etc.... simple connection of the two when I get on board, and hopefully.... voila!..... we'll see......  I'll use an electrical connector block, and loads of insulating tape as a temporary joiner, and then do something more permanent when the boat is in Ipswich.....

Also, picking up on Stugeron Steve (Mr Average)'s suggestion last night... I've stuck a wireless card and the software in my laptop bag, so that I can log on in the vaious marinas if they have WiFi, and do an update... ta Steve!