All re-electroniced (and broke)

Well, somehow all the boxes got cabled together and worked bar one issue with the new analogue radar (the reed switch that tells the scanner when it was in the ahead position was not plugged in properly from the factory and needed a little attention)

It went from this:

and this:

to this:

The pilothouse looks a little bit different now with bigger clearer screens and a much smarter navigation system overall:

Shame that it is still operated by the less than smart captain. We think it will be like a modern mobile phone where you (well, we at least) end up using 10% of the functionality most of the time and still struggle with that small bit..

For the mildly interested, here is how the FLIR sees things at night:

That is Swanwick Marina, like a 1960s' black and white TV picture. Shame that we are old enough to remember those.  Here is the Lymington river in pitch darkness with a yacht entering the nearby marina:

Yes, impressive kit. For the boating folks contemplating getting a FLIR - just do it. We were told by the original owner of Due North, the lovely N63 that was at the Southampton show this year, that he considered a FLIR as a must have tool for night cruising. We get why now. Eye-wateringly expensive kit of course but somehow it feels almost worth it where some things we buy for the boat just feel like a straight renewal job.

Overall impressions of the Time Zero Touch 2 kit from Furuno? Very positive so far. As folks who were very anti touch screens on a boat, we get how the TZT2 system helps for setting up things in port and gentler seas. When it is very rough, we have the controller to use. Or we can occupy ourselves by hanging on to something solid in the boat. The configuration of everything is not trivial, we found a few issues on our first run but nothing that needed surgery - just some config changes that even the captain could manage with emailed advice.

More on the kit after a few decent trips. For now, we are happy but poorer.

St Daviding and a canine diversion

It was strange to spend a winter away from Penarth so we felt that we had to go back for a long weekend to see a few of the local folks and to escape the carnage of the pilothouse. Driving there on St David's day seemed most appropriate

Lorna, the owner of the two fluffy dogs that have starred in here many times before, kindly provided an excellent B and B service for us. She even lent us the fluffy dogs for walks, Pip looking chilled (as he nearly always is):

and Poppy looking intelligent (she is):

It was a social time indeed. We caught up with Steve, the man who used to operate the big yellow waterbus on the bay together with Bronwen his spaniel:

The worried expression was because she had far too many people around her who were eating and she had to decide who her victim would be. We also had the chance to inspect the many upgrades that Simon and Nika had made to their lovely timber yacht to prepare for a summer cruise to the Baltic. They are braver than we are, expecting no impact from whatever pops out of the Brexit chaos.

Whilst we were away, the electronics refit work continued and Roland the engineer checked and deemed OK the main engine shaft alignment. Less successful was getting a wireless remote device to work with the crane. Some investigation is needed - we will report back later......

Upon our return, we found that the old radars were now resident on the boat deck:

Not sure how useful they will be there to be honest. Their next home will be on eBay as they still work well and might be a useful replacement for someone with the old  Navnet system who doesn't want to go through the fun and expense we are enjoying.  We also had one of the three new screens but again, propped up on the pilothouse seat it probably isn't terribly useful yet:

Progress though.