MacGregorSailors.com

There are plenty of old threads on this but thought I would start a new one while wating to put it in the mod section.
Had a few dramas and and made a real DH of myself by asking Icom why they only install single wires for their radio nmea, then found out the single wires are actually small coax's DUH.
Put the fluxgte beside the dagger board trunk as this position is almost right on waterline and as close to the pivot point as you can get and as important probably the only spot in my boat without any electrical.


Made up a bracket out of aluminium sheet for the rudder position sensor, it is not quite right but within the tolerances.
While doing this I altered the streering geometry a bit by moving the point where the Teleflex attaches and it is now almost straight at the end and much freer, also means the wheel has 3.65 turns lock to lock and so free you can turn it by hand without a wheel at the wheel shaft.
With one rudder and the teleflex connected the rudder sensor spring was moving the steering, next to try it on the water.


Made up a bracket out of a bit of sheet and the old bracket, it's a bit agricultural as got someone else to weld it instead of changing all my mig gear over for aluminium, but will get it powdercoated later.
Mounted the controller at the top or the pedastal as it should be easier to work with it and the plotter there even though it is partly behind the wheel.
Have kept the original wheel as it seems ok to me but will try it before changing.


Revamped most of the wiring and mounted the course computor above the aft bunk beside the sounder module which would be the most logical spot I would imagine but had to shim it a bit to make it vertical, luckily there is ample room behind the radio panel for joining the old motor cables from the batteries to the distribution panel etc, there should be very little volt drop.


Next I will try and commision it oh well got six weeks before we head off.

Do you have an aprox cost for the entire setup?

Oh by the way where are you headed you need this setup, Hawaii or what?

Don't really want to know how much it cost but as I built the system up over the last couple of years with a bit of wheeling and dealing really don't have any idea although the autopilot was $1200+ aus delivered but would have cost close to $2000 here.
We (I did) bought the boat with the intention of cruising the coast around the Gulf of Carpentaria and then across the Kimberlies.
Will be doing at least part of the first bit this year, up till now have just been learning and setting up the boat.
These regions are still fairly remote but there are plenty of safe havens although not a lot of scope for reliable supplies, especially in the Kimberlies.
During our winter the climate is fairly stable but there are large tides 5-10M which means you need to pick times to enter estuaries, unfortunately there are still large areas unsurveyed or done many years ago.
BUT THE FISHING AND SCENERY IS FANTASTIC.

Sounds like a great trip boblee. You should keep a log on a web site somewhere. Even from the Kimberlies you might be able to make the occasional post

Will only be going to the Gulf this year (I think) and still not 100% sure where we will launch as we are now delayed a month later than I wanted.
If we had the next G mobile we would be able to, as most of the communities in the Gulf are set up but they are usually inland a fair bit to allow for floods in the wet.
Will only have the HF radio , vhf, 27mhz and the mobile for communication although am still considering the Next G for internet as we carry the laptop for photo's and dvd's etc but even that would be fairly limited once on the water.
Will try and send some photo's but will probably have to store them until home.
Have spent a bit of time in the Gulf but it has always been a hassle to get to the coastline travelling 30+k's by dinghy and when you get there for 2 hr's fishing it is time to come home. Camping on land there is not usually an option as the biteys big and small make it interesting.
Hopefully some of your fellow West Aussies will be still up there and we may catch up to them but they left two weeks ago.

Even if its not live a photo+log of your trip would be great to see. I was hoping to head north with Oskar sometime soon, but I need to get my trailer back from the mods-shop first

The bloke who has Blue Angel reckons Shark Bay is great especially for the Macs you could probably give him a call as I think he is in Perth.
Let me know and I will give you his email.