I think this must be a record – first outside ride on March 1st. And,
first injury of the season. Watch the movie below – warning: extreemly
disturbing injury scene. I lowered the camera down to get a low angle
shot and smashed my knuckles on the ground.Broke a finger nail. I know – danger is my middle name. That’s just
how I roll. 🙂

I have a technical problem that needs a solution. We learned during
the inside passage sea trials that an auto steering servo will greatly
add to my overall efficiency, and make staying on track and not
broaching during big following seas much easier to manage (esspecially
during sleep).

I have a Raymarine ST1000 Tiller Pilot (compass or GPS driven auto
steering for sail boats) but it requires 18″ of tiller movement. My
little tiller handle only requires 4.5″ of movement. Using a large
lever is not possible, as the lever would extend into the cockpit. I
can accomplish the leverage using a block and tackle to “pull” the
handle as shown in the illustration, but I’m not sure how to “push”
the tiller back – or if this is even the most elegant solution.

I just heard back from Raymarine – they say that there is no getting
around that 18″ tiller radius requirement:

———
Unfortunately not, this unit is designed for 18″ and there are no
calibrations or manual adjustment to deviate from that 18″ dimension,
The engineer he didn’t have any recommendations for your application.
I see your application, and my only suggestion would be to increase
the tiller length although from the looks it isn’t something you will
have available.
———

I posted the problem on the PedaltheOcean Facebook fan page – (please
consider joining if you have no already. I update progress there more
often than this blog http://www.facebook.com/PedalTheOcean ) and
recieved 59 suggestions (and counting!) Thanks! There were some really
great ideas.

Some ideas involved pulleys, gears, and hydraulics, but a simple lever
is the easiest option – if only I had room! I sat in the cockpit today
and played around with the Raymarine unit trying to see if I could
find someplace to install it that would give me my 30″ of linear space
to mount it (this allows the actuator arm to extend fully), and
somewhere I could install a lever that is 18″ long (from the end of
the actuator arm to the fulcrum). And I think I found a space that
would work. I can mount the ST1000 under the starboard arm rest and
angle it from the front bulkhead down to the floor near the seat.
There is slighty more than 30″ here. Then, I can make an 18″ lever
that passes through the arm rest. I need about 6″ of throw to push my
little tille handle, and 6″ of movement on that lever works out to be
just about the same level as the steering handle.

Ken is back from Belize on March 17th, so we’ll have a couple of weeks
to install the autohelm before we leave for Tofino sea trials on March
28th.

The other thing I’ve been working on is NEW SOLAR PANELS from PTO
sponsor Goal 0!! These guys are amazing – really. They have sent a
team to their manufaturing plant in China to work with the engineers
on constructing some custom shaped chrustaline panels to fit onto
WiTHiN’s triangular shaped panels. I ran a test with one of the Goal 0
panels and it was pushing out EIGHT TIMES what my flexible PowerFilm
panel was producing.

The images below show some paper cut outs placed on WiTHiN to
calculate the exact size for these custom solar panels.

And the last item that I have been working on is a soft cover for the
arm rests. Ya – I know. What a baby. Both Bryon and I learned during
the inside passage sea trials trip that we really needed something
softer for the skin on those arm rests. We’re tough, but not that
tough!

To solve the problem, I velcroed some medical sheepskin to the arm
rests – CUSHY! Now WiTHiN is FULLY PIMPED OUT! A mirror ball would
complete the decor.

The focus for me now is to train, train, train. I’m out tomorrow for a
6 hour outside ride. And, get ready for the next sea trials at the end
of March. This trip will be solo, and will be in the Pacific off shore
from Tofino. I’m going with Clive and the safety yacht and we will
work out some safety, navigation and communication proceedures. Should
be fun – I’ve been watching the weather out there:

http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/marine/weatherConditions-currentConditions_e.h…

and 20 foot waves with 40 knot winds are not uncommon this time of
year. No wonder they call it the graveyard of the Pacific. Yikes!

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