Ahoy, mate! Or as our kids would say, “ahoy maatje”! Welcome back to another chapter of our journey on the water. Today, we’re diving into boat maintenance and upgrades as we tackle the installation of new lights and replace the solar panels.
One of the biggest concerns when sailing in the dark is the lack of visibility. There are all kinds of solutions for this, but Kay came up with his own. He had a vision of a light shining so bright, it would take your sight away. Previously, when we needed visibility in the dark to scout for dangerous obstacles in the water, we used a big flashlight. But its range was limited to where you pointed it.
Anchoring in the dark always carries the risk of getting stuck in grass or hitting rocks due to poor visibility. “That’s a problem I can handle,” said our captain. And so, he installed big lights at the front of the boat.
But these lights need a power supply. This is where the excessive solar supply comes in handy. This week, we installed the power supply for the lights, which involved drawing cables from the front of the boat to the new utility closet. This required a lot of drilling and cable pulling, something I’m not particularly skilled at, but thankfully, my job mostly involves handing tools and ensuring Kay doesn’t get hit on the head.
In a previous vlog we told you guys about the broken solar panels. We needed to have them shipped to Croatia. When we arrived at the boat, the solar panels were waiting on the table, safe and sound. It was a task we were hesitant to tackle for fear of damaging them again, but it had to be done. And so, we took out the old ones, replaced them with the new ones en drilled holes to screw them up, real nice. This sounds like a good dirty talk by the way.
But nothing dirty about it. We were both very anxious not to break them again. My job included handing tools and ensuring nothing fell into the water, which is trickier than it sounds. Over the years, I’ve dropped quite a few items into the water under the Luna boat. Last year, many tools disappeared, but thankfully, Santa Claus witnessed this and replaced some of them last Christmas.
Everything went smoothly this time. Nothing fell into the water, and the panels are all secure.
That means we’re ready for a new task! And this one might not seem important until it’s absolutely necessary – then it becomes lifesaving. We installed a bilge pump capable of rapidly pumping out water if the boat takes on water. It’s a dirty job, but if we ever need it, we’ll be grateful we made the effort to install it. Once again, being prepared is crucial for us!
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