WHAT WORKS: SOLLIGHT LIGHTSHIP LED LIGHTS

Several years ago I bought two items called Lightships which are made by a company called Sollight. They have turned out to be one of the most reliable and trouble free items on board and just do what they are supposed to do. A sailor could not ask for more than that. They are small LED light fixtures that are solar charged. They look like miniature lunar lander or some high tech bug with their three legs and suction cups. The suction cups are there so you can mount them to a hatch like this:

Those suction cups are pretty tenacious too. The units stayed attached to the overhead hatches all season until I pulled them off to be used at home in the winter.

On the opposite side is a small solar panel that charges up the battery contained in the unit and a switch as shown here:

The three position switch allows the unit to switch on two white LEDS for general illumination or a red LED only so that night vision is not ruined while moving about the cabin. The third position is the off position and no light will come on at dusk. I purchased two units three years ago. I use one in the main cabin and the other in the head. I would not say that you'll be able to read by their light but, they will shed enough light so you won't be tripping over things in the middle of the night. The one I installed in the head is about as bright as a night light but, not so bright that it will jolt you awake like the other lights on board will do. Another good thing is you never have to worry about turning them off because they might drain the battery as they shut off at dawn and start charging with the first rays of dawn. They also make it look like someone in the cabin as they turn on at dusk even if you are ashore and therefore can act as a possible deterrent to a thief who does not like to take any chances. They get Capt. Mike's approval because they just plain work.

REPAIRING A XANTREX XBM BATTERY MONITOR DISPLAY

In the two seasons since I converted BIANKA to electric propulsion. I only had to make one repair on it. That was to the Xantrex XBM battery monitor and that was partly my fault involving it's installation and not because of a defect in the product. The battery monitor in an electric boat is an important device. About as important as a fuel gauge in other boats. It shows you a number of things but, most important is the current you are drawing from the battery bank when using the electric motor. For this reason I installed the XBM in the cockpit. As shown in the photo below:


This was a great location and it was where the original Westerbeke panel was located. The meter on the left shows the current the 48 volt wind generator is providing to the battery bank the XBM battery monitor on the right shows the wind generator current and a little extra that is being provided by the 48 volt solar panel. Those were happier times. When I was getting ready for the second season under electric propulsion I noticed that the display on the XBM seemed to be getting dimmer and harder to read. Finally by the end of June the display was totally unreadable and looked like this:

As you can see the display is completely unreadable. The digits appear to be all on. So I call Xantrex customer service and after a considerable time on hold I was connected to India I assume. I installed the the Xantrex the previous June and this was now the July of the following year. The warranty for the XBM was one year. So it was out of warranty. Ok that is a given. But, Xantrex has also discontinued this model too. Can I get it repaired? After all it appeared that only the display had a problem. No was the answer. Can I purchase a new display part. Again the answer was NO! The best I could get from Xantrex was a discount if I bought a new Link Pro unit. Not really an option at this point since my system was set up for the XBM monitor and had a prescaler built in for the 48 volts. In addition to spending several hundred dollars on a new link pro I would also have to by a new prescaler too. Now I don't expect things to last forever on board. But, I don't want to spend several hundred dollars on a new battery monitor after only a year. Still it looked like there was not much I could do about it. I went on line mostly to rant about not being able to get the XBM repaired. When someone posted that maybe I should try and contact a company in the Netherlands called TBS. BINGO! That was the key. It seems TBS actually makes the units for Xantrex. I told them my story about Xantrex not providing parts or servicing the XBM and asked if they have a new display that they could sell me. The answer was yes. It would cost me about 10 Euros ($15 U.S) but, I would need to do a wire transfer to the company account. Unfortunately, the wire transfer cost an addition $30 dollars but, it was still cheaper than paying $300 plus for a new battery monitor and prescaler. So the new display arrives and it's time to make the repair.

NOTE FROM CAPT. MIKE:I am making this repair because I have experience in repairing and working on small scale electronic systems and circuit boards. If you do not have experience in soldering and desoldering on electronic systems you probably would be better taking the unit to a qualified marine electronics shop for repair.

The first thing I needed to do is desolder and remove the wire terminal connectors from the back of the XBM.

You need to do this to remove the circuit board from the case. The photo below shows the circuit board after the terminals have been removed:

You then go to the display side and carefully remove the grey protective cover from the front of the unit (I also got a new one with the new display). You then remove the three screws holding the front cover to the case:

You can then slide out the circuit board. Here is what the circuit board looks like after it's been removed from the case. The LCD display is on the left:




There is not much that you will be able to fix on it because of it's complex and specialized integrated circuits. The display and maybe a defective switch is all even I would tackle on this unit. To remove the defective display I used an XACTO knife to cut through the leads at the base of the display.

The traces on the circuit board are very fragile and the area is very small . Trying to desolder the many leads of the display using a soldering iron will probably damage a number circuit board traces. So I cut the leads and removed the bad display that way.


I then used the tip of the soldering iron to remove the remain pieces of leads that were attached to the circuit board traces.



After a little cleanup of the circuit board traces it's time to install the new display:

The defective display is on the left. The new display has a protective film that is removed before operation. the display also comes with a new protective panel which is at the top of the photo. Here is the new display mounted onto the circuit board.

All that is needed is to reassemble the unit including resoldering the wire terminal strips connect the wires and once again be able to monitor the battery bank.

LESSON LEARNED:Even though the Xantrex manual says this unit is splash proof. It does not mention anything about the sun. Having the XBM display exposed to the sun (even though it was covered when not in use) is what lead to it's failing. I have reinstalled the XBM under the cockpit in a location that I can easy see it when I lift a cockpit hatch. That should offer more protection and prevent another failure of the display.

MAST DOWN, MOTOR ON!

Bob over at BOATBITS had not posted for a few days which was unusual for him. But, I assumed he had been off on a sail. I was partly correct. His CAL 34 was demasted as he sailed "toward" Antigua. After he cut away the mast he turned on his electric motor and headed to Saint Criox for repairs. Here is the money quote:

"The motor to St Croix was uneventful, if a bit slow, but we made port with battery power to spare thanks in no small part to our Electric Yacht drive and Honda generator as they ran for twelve hours without a rest in really big sloppy seas and just seriously all around kicked some serious butt!"

While it's sad to read about the demasting. The good news for those of us with electric propulsion systems is that his electric motor did the job of getting the boat to St Criox for repairs in less than ideal conditions.

Splicing made easy.

Splicing is a good skill to learn for all boaters. But, it takes time and practice to master. This product called the EZ Splice looks like it might be useful when one needs to make a quick and easy splice for emergencies when one does not have the time to make a proper splice. I also do like the way you can make a "spring" line for those docking situations that have a lot of surge or wave action.

I might check it out at some point.

WINTERIZING AND TESTING THE ANTIFREEZE ON BOARD

I've mentioned one of the nice things about converting BIANKA to electric propulsion is those recurring pleasant reminders of cost savings of going electric. This shows up most dramatically at the end of the season when it comes time to winterize the boat. Not having to change oil, filters and buy gallons of antifreeze to winterize the engine certainly something that I do not miss doing nor does my wallet. The only thing I really need to do is winterize the fresh water system and as I pointed out in this post on winterizing BIANKA I only need to use a small amount of propylene glycol antifreeze to do that. Though if you still have a diesel to winterize you might want to take a look at Maine Sails sage advice on that issue. I'm only dealing with the on board water system here.

While I have not had a problem with winterizing using this method I did have an online discussions with some other sailors about checking to make sure that the after winterizing that the antifreeze was not diluted to the point of being ineffective at the temperatures in my location. Not a bad idea I thought. Some use chemically treated slips of paper that change color to match the level of protection the antifreeze solution is providing. Others use the floating ball gauges and others use an optical hand refractometer.

So I began researching the testing methods. The antifreeze test strips were reasonably cheap around ten bucks for 50 strips. But, then I read they were only reliable for about two years. This might make sense for a boatyard that winterizes a lot of boats but, not for me. They could also give erroneous readings if contaminated. The next device was the floating ball antifreeze testers. Reasonable in price perhaps only ballpark in accuracy.

The third option was the hand refractometer. The most accurate in my opinion but, also the most expensive. In my initial research I saw prices of $120 to $220. Way to expensive to make sense for my wallet.
 But, found other antifreeze refractometers for around fifty bucks. Now that's more like it. Even better it has scales for propylene glycol, ethylene glycol and one for checking the charge on flooded lead acid batteries. That's a win, win, win situation in my book so I bought it.

The above photo shows the unit I bought. It comes with two eyedroppers. The one shown here has the blue tape around it to remind me that I only use it to sample distilled water. The little black cap covers the alignment screw should one need to realign the gauge. It also includes the screwdriver in the case. The photo below shows the plastic cover in the open position.

To use this device you open the cover and put a a drop or two of the solution you are testing onto the blueish glass and close the plastic cover to spread the solution onto the glass. You then hold the refractometer up to a lighted area and take a reading by looking into the eyepiece. Here is what you see when you look into the refractometer with no liquid on the glass.
You have a completely blue field. You can see the three different scales for the propylene glycol antifreeze, battery fluid and ethylene glycol antifreeze. When you open the unit up and drop a few drops of distilled water onto the reading glass this is similar to what you will see when you do a reading:


Notice how it is clear at around 32 degrees F scale. This is how you check the alignment of the device. Note: The photo shows a slightly lower freezing point which may be due to some slight contamination from an earlier test. Cleaning the glass or adjust the alignment screw would correct his offset. But you get the idea. Next the cover was opened the glass cleaned and dried and a drop or two of propylene glycol antifreeze taken from BIANKA's winterized water system was analyzed as shown below:

This shows a freezing point of about 15 degrees Fahrenheit on the propelyne gycol scale. Only 3 degrees "warmer" than the pure antifreeze used to winterize the system. The bursting point for pvc piping according to the manufacturer of the antifreeze should be about - 7 degrees Fahrenheit. Which is "comfortably" below the normal lowest winter temperatures in my area. As they say your mileage may vary or location temperatures may be different. But, using a refractometer to test the antifreeze used to winterize the on board water system will give you peace of mind as you wait for spring to return. Just remember:

"How sad would be November if we had no knowledge of the spring!"- Edwin Way Teale

A LITTLE SAILING MUSIC PLEASE!

While I often sail just listening to the sounds of the natural world around me. I am always looking for music that will sound good when sailing for those times when I want to have some tunes in the background. This song performed by Genki Sudo with music written by Heigo Tani is one of those tunes. I can imagine listening to it on board while making five or six knots under sail. It's not a song about sailing but, I really like the music and it's an interesting music video too! Maybe you'll like it also!

REPAIRING A CANON SD600 DIGITAL CAMERA

"I have discovered photography. Now I can kill myself. I have nothing else to learn." - Pablo Picasso

Not so fast Pablo! I find having a small digital camera on board to be very useful. Not only for the usual personal photos, blogging or capturing those strange moments on the water that some will never believe without some kind of proof. But, I also found a camera useful for repairs and maintenance which I'll get into on a future post. While these new digital cameras are great pieces of technology they can also fail. Since I just recently found my Canon Powershot camera (after much searching) on board where it was hiding from me. I thought I would post about two of the repairs I have made to the said camera which others my find helpful in case the camera goes on the fritz somewhere in your journeys.

LCD REPLACEMENT
One day during the conversion to electric power. I was squeezing through one of the cockpit hatches and heard something crack. The SD600 that I had in my shirt pocket now had a cracked LCD screen and was useless. Not wanting to just throw it away I did a search on the Internet and found a site that explains how to replace the LCD screen on the SD600 and other Canon cameras. Of course you could also send it back to Canon and they will fix it for $. But, if you are handy, careful and have a set of small precision screwdrivers you can replace it yourself for about 40 bucks. You can see the steps with excellent photos by clicking here. NOTE: That there are two types of screens available make sure which one you have before ordering the part from Canon. It is explained on the site how to identify which screen your camera has. The second problem I had was:

THE CAMERA WILL NOT TURN ON
A few month's after replacing the screen I dropped the camera rather hard. All of a sudden it would no longer turn on. I thought that's it. I was trying to decide whether to send it back to Canon for repair ($100) or get a new camera. In the end I bought another camera. But, in my spare time I decided to take another look and see if I could not fix the turn on problem. I did. The problem was on the inside of the Memory Card Slot/Battery Cover.

There is a little plastic protrusion that contacts a tiny little switch that tells the circuitry in the camera that the battery door is closed.

Apparently part of the plastic tip broke off and so it was not contacting the switch and letting the camera turn on.

All of these parts are delicate. So how do I fix this? I needed some thing to put a little pressure on the switch but, not too much or I would end up breaking the switch too. I found just what I needed by using a medium sized rubber band. I cut a small piece of the rubber band and laid it across the switch. When I closed the battery door the camera came to life. The rubber band allows the remaining tip on the battery door to provide enough pressure to close the switch.
I hope the above information helps when you have a digital camera failure if not remember this:

"There will be times when you will be in the field without a camera. And, you will see the most glorious sunset or the most beautiful scene that you have ever witnessed. Don't be bitter because you can't record it. Sit down, drink it in, and enjoy it for what it is!" ~DeGriff

LOST AND FOUND

Most of the photos on this blog were taken with a Canon SD600 digital camera. I've had it for several years. I usually carry it around in a shirt pocket where ever I go. You never know when it will come in handy. A few weeks ago I lost it. I went to look for it at home and could not find it. Then I remembered I had changed into my boat work clothes and thought I must have left it in the shirt pocket on board. When I got back on board I searched all around but, could not find it. I kept searching several times I looked on board and around the house. Could not find it anywhere. It's not that the camera was so expensive. Indeed newer digital cameras have new more advanced features and more mega pixels. It was that I had a lot of photos on the memory card that I wanted to use here in blog posts. Well, today when I went back on board to start winterizing the water system I finally found it. But, not before looking all over the boat once again. It was actually in a location I had looked at several times but, because it's silver case blended in with the heavy duty crimper it was lying under I never noticed it. It is amazing how something can get lost so easily within the limited confines of a boat. Now that it is found I can once again start posting about some of the projects and repairs that I have been doing on BIANKA.

"To find what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle"
-George Orwell

Cold and deep too!

This year I managed to swim off of BIANKA until about the third week in October. I thought that was pretty good. Until I came across this video of Christina Sun aka Bowsprite who along with Tugster have New York Harbor pretty much covered in their respective blogs. Tugster has been on my blogroll for awhile now. I've been meaning to add Christina's Bowsprite site. It's not only her photos, sketches and chronicles of New York Harbor but, when she does things like this:

that remind me what love for the water is really all about. Anyone who can go for a swim in Gloucester Harbor in the middle of November is a force to be reckoned with and an inspiration to me to maybe keep swimming off of BIANKA a little later next year.

The big small world of Reid Stowe and BIANKA

Back in the late 1990's when BIANKA was docked at the Chelsea Piers and I was pretty much living on board. Reid Stowe and his schooner ANNE was docked a few piers up river. I had on occasion walked by there and had seen Stowe working on his boat but, never actually had a gam with him. At the time I think he was getting prepared to head out into the Atlantic and chart a course that would trace a giant turtle on the waters of the Atlantic. After he returned from that trip he came up with a more ambitious project which was to spend a thousand days at sea. A journey which he is currently embarked on now being some 936 days into that sail. He is actually going to be spending more than one thousand days at sea in order to avoid the winter storms of the Atlantic before returning back to New York harbor.


I've been checking into his website/blog 1000 DAYS AT SEA every couple of weeks. I and many others have been vicariously taking the journey with him through his blog. He is part sailor, part artist and very spiritual as he single hands the 70-foot and 60-ton gaff-rigged schooner ANNE around the ocean. Now that the sailing season is over for me I wish I could be out there with him as he alternates between his art and boat chores. Lately, it seems his computer is acting up and may fail at some point depriving the rest of the world of his colorful, descriptive posts. He is certainly in tune with his environment and the ocean he sails. But, personally I have concerns that he might never be able to set foot on land again after making this journey. But, reading his posts and the things he has seen and experienced I'm sure that would be fine with Stowe but, I and others would sure miss not being able to have a little chat with him should we be anchored or docked nearby the Anne someday.

IT'S OFFICAL!

Thanks to the downturn in the economy and a very reduced work schedule I was able to devote time to a goal of mine. The results of which arrived in the mail the other day. I can now officially be called Captain Mike.

Nor'easter season

I was on board yesterday with the sun shining and the temperature in the seventies. I woke up this morning to a cold raw easterly wind with a forecast of a nasty wet Saturday and possible gale warnings late Saturday. Welcome to the Nor'easter season which runs from September to April. NOAA has a little tutorial on what it's about that you can see here and an up close look at the Nor'easter made famous by Sebastion Junger in his book The Perfect Storm the anniversary of which will be coming up at the end of the month.

As for me I'm putting an extra line on the mooring.

AN ELECTRIC SAILBOAT CRUISE TO NEW YORK: PART 3

After exiting the Buttermilk Channel I headed to starboard on a course to the Statue of Liberty. Out in the middle of the bay there appeared to be at least a hundred small dingy sailboats in the middle of the harbor having a race. I thought this is crazy having all these kids out here in such small boats. I was later to find that sailors on board these small sailboats were all part of the events of NY400 and consisted of the top racers from around the world and they were fast. But, from what I heard on the VHF some of the tugboat Captains were not real happy to see them out there blocking their usual transits across the harbor. Especially since they were so fast it was hard to keep out of their way.

As I approached the Statue of Liberty I thought I recognized the boat I saw in the distance.

It was the CLEARWATER. A replica of the sloops that plied the Hudson River over one hundred years ago. She makes a pretty picture when her sails are up.

That night I docked at the Liberty Landing Marina. As I came in I saw a relaxed fellow on his 24 foot sloop smoking a cigar peaceful as can be. Chatting with him later I mentioned that BIANKA used electric propulsion. He said that's why you were so quiet when you came into the dock. I just smiled.

Later that night there was a solemn reminder as the lights for the World Trade Center Memorial were turned on in preparation for the anniversary of that tragic event was coming up in a few days on September 11th.

The next day I sailed up the Hudson and docked at the 79th Street Marina. Lo and Behold I wound up being docked next to the Clearwater sloop. Below is a camera phone photo of BIANKA docked next to the Clearwater at the 79th Street Marinia.

I must say they were a busy crew as they went about chores on the deck in between excursions. I good naturedly harassed them telling them that BIANKA was greener they they were. They asked how. I said I use electric propulsion while they still had a diesel for auxilary propulsion.

PREVIOUS ELECTRIC SAILBOAT CRUISE TO NEW YORK POSTS: PART 1 PART 2

WHAT WORKS ON BOARD: Powerstar DC Converter

Before I bought BIANKA I had a 24 foot Bristol. A fine boat of which I still have fond memories cruising with. When I bought BIANKA there were not many things I took from the Bristol. One of the things I did take was this:

A Powerstar DC converter. It plugged into the single 12 volt cigarette lighter jack on board the Bristol and put out 120 volts on it's AC jack. It was a simple device you plugged it in to the 12 volt socket and a red light came on the showed the 120 volt outlet had voltage on it and you plugged in whatever AC device you wanted to use as long as it was rated 200 watts or lower and not too fussy about pure sine waves.

The reason I bought it was to power my new 1986 Toshiba 1100+ laptop.

It had two three and a half inch disk drives used MS-DOS and had NO hard drive and a monochrome LCD screen to boot. And to think it only cost about $1500 dollars in 1986!. Real whiz bang technology at the time. I try not to think to much that my current computer. You know the one with all the USB ports, Hundreds of giga bites hard drive and DVD burner only cost about a third of what I paid for that Toshiba. Of course the Toshiba still works but, like the other seven or eight computers I have bought in my lifetime it is never used today.

But, the DC converter still functions on board BIANKA. It can not be used to power my new laptop because the AC voltage put out by the Powerstar converter is a rather crude approximation of a pure AC sine wave and will fry most modern switching power supplies used in electronic devices. But, the Powerstar will power a Braun hand blender with no problems. So that means yummy Banana pancakes for breakfast as well as other treats from the galley. It has also come in useful many times to power things like the Dremel tool which is used for many projects on board. It's one of the things that really works on board. Even twenty years plus years after I bought it.

AN ELECTRIC SAILBOAT CRUISE TO NEW YORK: PART 1

Well, Labor Day (a national holiday here in the United States) was approaching and I decided perhaps a little cruise might be in order. Especially since I am not currently employed in any work that involves a schedule and a place to be. I was a little apprehensive about traveling too far with BIANKA because the XANTREX XBM Battery meter had failed a little over a month after the one year warranty ran out in June. Several phone calls and two emails to Xantrex produced no results as to what I could do about this issue. On an boat with an electric propulsion system the battery monitor is the equivalent to a fuel gauge on a boat with an internal combustion engine. You don't need it but, it sure helps to know how much fuel or amps you are using. Especially to make sure you don't run out when you need the auxilary propusion most. Below is what the Xantrex display looked like:

There is a happy ending to this story. Even though Xantrex was most unresponsive to my plight with their defective product. NGC Marine the people from whom I bought the Thoosa 9000 propulsion system from stepped up to the plate and are sending a replacement XBM. Unfortunately, I did not have it in time for the start of this cruise.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 5TH

So off I go. I decide that I'll head over to Port Jefferson Harbor on Long Island's north shore for the weekend. It's only about 3 nautical miles away has plenty of space to drop anchor and is scenic enough to enjoy the surroundings. So I head out bucking the ebbing current on a windless day using electric propulsion. Since it's only about 3 nautical miles away I am not concerned about not having the functioning battery monitor for this trip. As I entered the harbor entrance I looked behind me:

Looks like a lot of other people had the same idea of where to spend the holiday weekend. I was actually glad I was under power at this time. Because I was able to get to my anchorage location before most of the power boats coming in made things rock and roll in the entrance.

I dropped anchor and enjoyed a very pleasant afternoon and evening on board. Later, listening to the NOAA weather forecast that called for 10 to 15 knot winds out of the East. I started thinking. Hmmm, sounds like great conditions for sailing West.

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6TH

So that's what I did the next morning. I took advantage of a favoring current and winds and headed toward New York. In three and a half hours I was in Cold Spring Harbor where I stopped for the night. I could have continued further but, one does not cruise in a sailboat because you are in a hurry. At least I don't. I have found that pushing things is when you often get into trouble.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7TH

The next morning after consulting the essential Eldridge Tide and Pilot book on board I took the last of the ebbing current down Cold Spring Harbor and arrived at the entrance just as the westward flood was just about to start helping to push BIANKA and me westward on Long Island Sound.

Past the Execution Rocks Lighthouse and onward to my final destination for the day:

A nice anchorage just east of the Throgs Neck Bridge called Little Bay. This bridge marks the western end of Long Island Sound and the beginning of the tidal strait called the East River which I will head down tomorrow. Even though I arrived in plenty of time to take the favoring ebb current down the strait I anchored for the night to rest and enjoy the beautiful afternoon. With the defective battery monitor I decided to fire up the Honda 2000i generator to help bulk charge the battery bank and then let the wind and solar continue the charging. Besides I get a kick of being anchored next to the bridge and listening to the traffic reports during rush hour to see if they are being honest about the traffic conditions and being glad that I am on a sailboat and not in a car in such traffic on such a gorgeous day. It also brings back memories of going on vacation with my parents in the early 1960's and traveling over the same bridge. I remember looking out and seeing a sailboat anchored where BIANKA is now and wondering as a child what it was doing there. Perhaps I am inspiring that same wonder in someone in one of the cars passing over me on that bridge. I'd like to think so and perhaps they will become sailors in the future.

GO TO: AN ELECTRIC SAILBOAT CRUISE TO NEW YORK PART 2

AN ELECTRIC SAILBOAT CRUISE TO NEW YORK: PART TWO

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 8TH 2009

I lived on board BIANKA for six years on the west side of Manhattan Island starting in the mid 1990's. But, It's been three years since I've made the 70 mile trip. So I am looking forward to the trip but, with a little apprehension since this will be the first time using electric propulsion not having a working battery monitor makes it more so.

After after a leisurely morning on the hook I finally weighed anchor in Little Bay at 11:15 am for BIANKA's "historic" return back to New York this time as the world's first electrically propelled Nonsuch 30. Since BIANKA no longer has a diesel engine and alternator I fire up the 47 lb Honda 2000i generator to help the 12 volt house battery bank deal with the heavy current load of the recently repaired electric windlass as I raise the anchor off of the mud bottom of Little Bay. There was still a nice 8 to 10 knot wind out of the northeast so I was able to sail under the Throgs Neck Bridge and the first 11 miles or so of the East River Transit. I keep the generator running charging the 48 volt battery bank just to make sure the batteries are topped off for the trip though Hells Gate and points further south where sailing will not be an option because of the unpredictable swirling wind patterns caused by the buildings on both sides of the East River.

It was not long before I was meet by a flotilla of Dutch barges sent over the Atlantic to participate in NY400. A celebration of Henry Hudson's first foray into New York Harbor some 400 years ago. They were heading to Northport (Long Island)and other ports on Long island Sound. I must say BIANKA with it's wishbone boom got some curious looks from the sailors on the barges. (Special note of thanks to the TUGSTER for providing some help in identifying the barges BIANKA passed)

So far I have only been able to identify the barge below. It is the Lemmeraak. Built over 100 years ago in 1902.

I felt sorry for the crews on board these interesting craft because they must have been bucking the current up the East River especially through Hell Gate and that is never fun even if they did have their engines going. I on the other hand was going with the flow which is good advice when making the East River transit.

As the Hell Gate Railroad bridge came into sight it was time to drop sail and start the electric motor to continue the journey down the East River.

I had just passed North Brother Island when I heard something behind me. Holy Ernest Borgnine! It's PT Boat 728 coming up fast on BIANKA's stern. This is an actual restored WWII PT Boat based in Kingston New York. At some point it was used in the filming of the TV show McCales Navy back in the sixties.



And looking pretty menacing I should say.

I was thinking that the U.S. Coast Guard should be using this type of vintage craft for patrols instead of the small semi rigid inflatables they now use for harbor patrols.
A PT boat with it's two twin barrel deck mounted guns, depth chargers and torpedoes would look a little more serious to those who would want to do some harm in the harbor. As you can see here:

BLOG UPDATE: I was in contact with Capt. Tom Whyte who was at the helm of PT. 728 that day. It was returning from a month long tour that included stops in Milford CT, Fall River MA (Battleship Cove) and Bridgeport CT.

That's what I love about sailing around New York City there is always something interesting to see along the journey. For example I've always thought the Hell Gate bridge was a very beautiful piece of structural art work and to me signifies the gateway to bustling part of the city of New York especially Manhattan.

In the above photo you can see the small Honda 2000i up forward which is running keep the 48 volt battery bank charged up since I will be motoring for the rest of the journey down the East River. Also notice the solar panel. This one is for charging the 12 volt house battery bank. The 48 volt panel that is connected to the electric motor's battery bank is on the starboard side and out of of view.
Once past the Hell Gate bridge things will be getting a little nosier as we get close to Manhattan Island.

Speaking of interesting sights. Just after BIANKA passed though Hell Gate she was followed by this tug and barge:

.

Apparently someone in Brooklyn actually did have a bridge for sale:

Or at least part of a bridge.

BLOG UPDATE: After contacting Will at the TUGSTER blog who really knows his tugs. I am 99.5% sure that the Tug in the photo above is the John P. Brown. If you click on the photo above you will get to see a bigger picture and compare it to a photo on TUGSTER taken during the Tugboat Races in September of this tug. Hint: The red and yellow stripes along the side seem to confirm it's id.

A little further on I came across one of the stragglers of the NY400 flotilla. They were most certainly going to know what bucking the currents of Hell Gate is all about. I have not been able to identify this barge yet either but, the sail has a 206 VA on it.

BIANKA continued down the tidal strait doing about 4 knots with only occasionally having to provide a little thrust from the electric motor to maintain that speed in the East River current. As I approached the South Street Seaport at around 3 pm and upper New York Harbor opened up before me. I raised sail and decided to head down the Buttermilk Channel on the east side of Governors Island. I did this to avoid the choppy and busy ferry area down by the Battery. But, also to get a close look at the Queen Mary 2 which was berth on the Brooklyn side of the channel:

A beautiful ship and one I had the experience to travel across the Atlantic on in 2006. It was also a beautiful way to end the first transit down the East River by BIANKA using electric propulsion as the QM2 also uses electric propulsion on it's trips. Everything worked well on board BIANKA and because the electric motor was so quiet it was made all the more enjoyable compared to previous trips which had the noisy diesel engine churning away. I think the next time I make the transit I will keep the generator off too. I hardly used much electric propulsion in making the transit and that was a good thing. So the world's first electrically propelled Nonsuch 30 has passed another test with more to follow.

OTHER ELECTRIC SAILBOAT CRUISE TO NEW YORK POSTS: PART 1 PART 3