As an ex-charter boat, Valdolese is basic, and that's the way we wanted her. Firstly we need to do some housekeeping in St. Martin at Bobby's Marina.
Slipping
She needs to be slipped. Anticipated jobs will include:
- Anti-fouling. The last coat has not bonded well to the original paint beneath it. It will need to be stripped to the original gel coat and at least 2 - 3 coats of a good, running anti-foul applied,
- Checking of the through-hull fittings,
- There is play in the cutlass bearing (the end bearing on the propeller shaft) so it will be replaced,
- Servicing of the sea cocks (ensuing that they work smoothly and are free of corrosion),
- Replacement of the speed and depth transducers in anticipation of new instruments,
- Installation of a new feathering propeller.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Once Valdolese is back in the water we will address the following:
Instrumentation
We will be upgrading the entire instrument package. Throughout the journey, we'll assess its reliability and performance and make recommendations as to what we would do differently the next time around.
After a lot of research, we have made the decision to standardize on Navman. We will be installing an instrument pack containing:
- Speed and log – Speed 3100,
- Depth – Speed 3100,
- Wind – Wind 3100,
- Autopilot control head and computer – Pilot 3380,
- GPS plotter – Trackfish 6500.
Like most instrument manufacturers, Navman have their own proprietary bus for interfacing instruments (in addition to the standard NMEA protocols), in this case known as Navbus.
Navman doesn't make a radar, and so for an additional watch keeper, we've decided on a Furuno 1723C 2.2KW unit with an integrated GPS plotter mounted at the navigation table. It also will serve as a backup to the Navman Trackfish unit, as both units accept CMap NT+ chart modules.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Communications
Supplementing the existing Uniden VHF on board, we will add:
- Icom VHF IC-M422 with a remote control microphone HM-127 for the helm station,
- Icom VHF IC-M32 handheld,
- Icom HF SSB IC-M802 for long range communications, weather faxes and email,
- Icom AT140 antenna tuner,
- Pactor III PTC-11usb modem,
- Iridium / Motorola 9505A with prepaid minutes.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Water maker
You cannot survive without water for long, and with an estimated delivery crew of four, additional tanks would have caused installation problems and a weight penalty. For efficiency, we chose an engine-driven water maker, producing 24 US gallons per hour (80 litres/ hr), from Aquamarine.
Safety
There is primary (boat performance, integrity, and communications) and secondary safety (when things go wrong). Apart from standard secondary items such as the 10 pax life raft, life lines, medical kit and storm sails, we will be taking:
- an EPIRB (the standard one from Aquarius - a GME MT300 121.5 & 243 MHz) and, depending on whether Valdolese will be Australian registered prior to leaving, another encoded by AMSA with the vessel's details,
- a MOBilert (man over board) monitoring system.
Additional Fuel
As we will be traversing the Doldrums over the equator during the longest leg, the standard 170 litre fuel tank will be supplemented by two collapsible 200 litre tanks from Turtlepac.
