It's kind of amazing how happy and exited it makes me to see a video from you pop up in my feed/notifications. Thank you so much for all the effort you put into documenting everything and entertaining/informing us!
Small inflatable mattress on the bottom does miracles for these sorts of soft-bottom inflatables. Keeps your feet warm and water away from your stuff (as it can accumulate under the mattress). Also in a pinch it is an independent flotation device.
When you first posted this, I wasn't quite able to understand what you meant. But then I saw the recent episode from "Alex Hibbert Originals" where he lost his dinghy Alenson, and replaced it with a new one that had an insert that inflated, and suddenly it made sense. Thank you, I will look for something to fit in there!
Getting such a great result from your first shakedown looks nothing short of life affirming, freakin scary and constantly tense all at the same time... what an astonishing achievement though Maddie... brilliant success (so far?)! Been following you since almost the start and have very much appreciated your attention to detail, total dedication and pro delivery throughout... epic stuff! Warm congratulations & deep admiration Captain! Fair Winds!
That's a pretty darn good description, honestly. It was amazing and nerve wracking. I was glad to get back to port, but then, I wanted to go right back out. haha. Thanks for the kind words and long time vieweing, Artiz!
Just a thought... A lot of times, knot meters can be regularly cleaned without hauling the boat. If there's a plug near it's throughhull, you can just pull it out, and quickly plug the throughhull. Then take your time and clean it up. (A quick clean every week or two is probably in order.) Not a lot of water comes in when you pull it out as long as you plug quickly, and the bilge pump should take care of it just fine, either way.
I need to figure out how to access mine from inside still, there's a huge water tank forward. That said, I can see what you mean, and I'll be sure to remember that. :)
Put your lines through the washing machine. I wash some of mine once a year, others just when they smell or are going green. They either come out like new, OR they show they are dead and should be placed. Great thing is they smell pleasant too. Great to see your seaworthy and enjoying the fruits of your labour. Fair winds.
Most of the lines are not on the floor near my washing machine. I'll be washing them before long, but I'm holding off until I catch up with the backlog of footage so I can make a video about it.
I spy a definite cloud 9 moment for you there, and can only imagine the excitement flowing as you gave the Mermaid's Rest the go. Awesome to see running and progress. Only thing that can top this, will be navigating the Mermaid's Rest with electrons and electromagnetic propulsion! *^^* Not sure what kind of Marine radio you have. I spent 14 years as a FM comms radio tech, primarily Motorola, before my current occupation. A good tip, especially for newer radios that have a lot more microprocessing (aka delay), is to key up the mic, but wait a second or two before speaking. This will make sure your first bit of conversation is not cut off. Then keep it keyed up for a second after your last word. The older pure analog radios were pretty near instant with their keyup and generation. So much so, that surveyors would just tap the PTT to send "pops" as messages. Looking forward to seeing this project progress
Awesome seeing you get her out on the water, great job. The shifting issues are most likely old cables. When you install your electric motor get a new shifter and cables. I say that cause your electric will only need 1 cable since it wont have a transmission. You gonna notice a huge difference in response and torque with the electric.
The existing levers use morse cables, so they'll be removed entirely. Thankfully, the reverse loosened up as I used it. I am very excited to get dug into the electric conversion!
Yay ! Another one 😀 Thank you. I am a bit skeptical about that growth being the reason, but I am looking forward to the upcomming episodes to be proven wrong ;-)
Hi Maddy, I'm not a boat guy, but am impressed with your courage. It would scare the shit out of me just getting out of harbour haha. Good to see you're happy.
Yup! We sailed back home the next day, but it was raining too hard to record the trip. That's how the sheets got cleaned up, putting them under tension while soaking wet squeezed a lot of crud out of 'em.
You were so excited , made me smile. Happy for you. It's gonna be an adventure owning a boat that actually sails. Enjoy. Low speed is little damage when docking. High-speed docking causes more maintenance and only necessary in hard wind/current. Btw my 2 cents on the stuck gear at undocking, is your idling RPM maybe too high? my boat s gearbox needs a real low rpm to shift. But then again, its a totally different brand/type. Cheers🎉
I think it was just crud in the morse cable, it got easier and easier to shift as I used it. Thanks for the kind words, it was such a lovely experience to finally actually enjoy the boat as a boat.
Madison, if I can call you that, chill! I'd sort the throttle control out so it goes in and out of gear asap for this trip as when you need it to move this will bite you in the arse. Make sure you have a power pack and waterproof case for your phone when using navionics. When you get chance 'mouse' all your running rigging and wash your running rigging. That way you will lose all your green algae. Your doing fine.
Madison is just fine, and thanks. :) I'm going to be replacing all the lines (either wash and reinstall or replace if worn), and I'll certainly mouse all the runs.
HOWdy Digital MADDY the Sailor 🙂 ... FENDERS but no AMPLIFIERS or GUITARS ~~~ ANCHORED in a peaceful BAY ... then getting your BOTTOM "cleaned" ... ALL - N - ALL a very productive SEA-TRIAL ... every SAILOR needs a new DINGY ! ... COOP the WiSeNhEiMeR from Richmond, INDIANA ...
Great to see you motoring/sailing. Assume no wind so no actual sailing. It will be interesting to see how you feel about diesel vs. electric after you motor up most of the Hudson and all of the Erie Canal- I think that is your route from an earlier episode. Being able to motor 60-70 mi/day at 5+knots with diesel vs. maybe 15-25 mi range on pure electric with moderate size battery bank and some solar. I know you have a massive number of lithium cells/bats, but you will need ability to recharge them while off grid. How would a 80-100lb thrust trolling motor hung off stern powered directly from 1000w of PV panels using DC to DC converter move your boat during sunny no wind calm day?- maybe 3 knots? Then use lith bats during night if needed. I'm sure you have a plan, but it does appear that sailboats with electric propulsion seem to have to compromise a lot due to electric- eg recent Beau & Brandy motoring across FL.
We sailed on the way home, that's how the sheets got cleaned, but it was raining so hard that I couldn't get the camera out. I'll tell ya a story that'll come out later; When I was crossing the Erie Canal, I last saw a diesel pump on the west side of Lake Oneida, and then nothing until Niagara river. My first experience with "range anxiety" was with my diesel. However, free power points were fairly readily found at the free docks... How's that for ironic? If I've done my math right, I should be able to fairly easily do 70 nautical miles on a charge, more if I go slower. Of course, I'd need to recharge, but that's about two days of running rivers (assuming ~8h/day), so lets say I use ~40kwh/day, that's 11 hours to recharge at a 30A/120v service, or 6~7 hours on a 50A service. The breakdowns I had with the diesel really reinforced my plans to go electric.
"Fucking pinch me" Maddy you're an absolute down to earth star, that's the same kind of thing real people would say.. obviously not the RU-vid glitterati with their polished personas but real people who work hard and occasionally swear when exited or emotional (not me I use curse words like a comma, because I choose to and not because Im illiterate) Fantastic score on the wee dingy, and those lines turned out great with a lot more time left in them hopefully, Im a Scotsman (and no we're not all as tight as a duck's arse in a storm) but we do think if you look after the pennies then the pounds will take care of themselves, hopefully your cents and dollars will be as kind to you. As always, thanks for the share and be safe till the next time.
I grew up hearing "watch your pennies, and the dollars will take care of themselves". My daughter got her first apartment last week, and that was one of the last things I said to her when we were unpacking her new place. It's solid advice. Thanks for the kind works, Scott! ^_^
Are you going to be able to take it out into open water before you leave? and are you going to open the sails? glad that all your hard work is payioff and that you took the time to meet people who can help you 👍
I couldn't record it, but we sailed back the next day on the sea trials. On the trip home, we got to sail up the easy coast in the Atlantic Ocean. It was amazing!!
the boat did not sink, the motor is running, as far as i can se no dammage to humans or boat or doks. So not that bad a trip, and it is more experinc, and as an big plus, you all looked like you had a good time . I know from other videos and life, that just because i works well today does not mean ther will be no problems later, that life, but looking forward too from your journey from loud diesel boat too all electric boat.
@@TheDigitalMermaid yes from what you told in your long video about the trip home, it had its test of conviction and determination. Test I am imprest you past and beat. Sure you one day will sit one your electric boat and smile at the memory of that trip drinking at good glass of wishky. Just not the next couple of days. But i am confident you will get there. To me you seam to be a strong minded girl, maybe stronger the you yourself think.
Pinch! It's really happening. :) It's weird, I've nailed my dockings 100% but departure continues to challenge. I think it's the transition from zero momentum to necessary momentum that is hard. Figuring out exactly where it is you're supposed to be pointing a long vessel when you're at its extreme end has been ... a journey. How did you clean your lines? Mine aren't there quite yet but another year will do it.
You know, back when I did skydiving in the mid 90s, one of the instructors said that people either get out perfectly, and struggle with landing, or vice versa. I could nail my landings, but I was absolutely confetti in the wind when I left the plane. The lines were cleaned by simply getting soaked while I was sailing home. When I used a sheet on the winch, the tension would squeeze the water out of the line like a sponge being wrung out, taking a lot of grime with it.
Kind of you! I ended up having to use the dinghy a few times on the trip home, and her soft bottom wasn't a problem. I saw a recent video from Alex Hibbert where he had a new dinghy with an inflatable insert for the sole, and it keeps things drier. I think that's what I'll try to do. I can see the benefits of the inserts you're talking about though.
