MacGregorSailors.com

NEW TO BOATING & TRYING TO FIT BOAT OUT.
LOOKING FOR BEST POSITION TO MOUNT EPPIRB. STORAGE FOR MAPS, BOOKS ECT.

We keep our maps behind the galley in plastic holders. Welcome to the site.

I keep the maps at home and have photocopies in 3 ring binders - they are in various stages of magnification or shrunk as I felt like at the moment and stored in those clear plastic document protectors with the top sealed with tape. Got a lot more use on the keel boats when we didn't have gps, which is why I like to mag the local charts, made me feel like we were sailing faster. I also kid myself and think I can find the eraseable white board markers and grease pencils on board somewhere so I can write on them when I need to. One of the best copies I have is of a book called Chart 1 - I wish I had had a color printer at the time - but it has helped to explain all the symbols, terms and abbreviations. You can download a pdf from here if you do not have access to a hard copy.

SEAHORSE has her 27 meg radio, and electrical fuse panel on the portside vertical bulkhead as you come down the ladder. the VHF, fire extinguisher and epirb on the starboard side bulkhead. All at about head height when standing on the cabin sole [ floor to landlubbers] I had a right old time running the power cables across the beam from port to stbd, between the skins...just behind the head of the ladder.
Maps??? who needs maps...My old dad, ex crayfisherman, now sadly deceased, would have had to be one of the best "by the seat of your pants" navigators I have ever come across...always said...If you want Australia, and you are going north, turn right...or if you want Africa, turn teft. And visa versa going south... Our coast is just about that straight...and hardly a safe anchorage in the whole lot...check it out on Google earth...32 s X 115 east
Puggsy

Ray
West Marine can supply all sorts of racks and shelves for storage solutions and can deliver internationally at modest cost. I have installed a magazine rack in the corner by the mirror which will take an A3 photocopy of the charts I regularly use. I also have racks for binoculars, navigation tools and nick-nacks around the boat. See some photos at
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/morwenn ... y&aid=5177 and read the blog entry "Modifications" from 24/4/09. Have fun!
Cheers
Nevil
"Morwenna"

Morwenna/Nevil, Just checked your photos, is ballast tank vent hose just so you don't get air pocket and get full ballast Or is there another good reason for that venting

ray jones wrote:NEW TO BOATING & TRYING TO FIT BOAT OUT.
LOOKING FOR BEST POSITION TO MOUNT EPPIRB. STORAGE FOR MAPS, BOOKS ECT.

A quick google... Maps versus Charts.... Maps represent landforms shown in relief using elevations normally delineated from a datum based on mean sea level. Nautical charts are meant to facilitate pilotage and coastal navigation. Pilotage is a form of navigation that relies on correctly identifying natural features and landmarks to establish a safe course of travel. Nautical charts depict the coastline in high resolution accounting for the effects of tidal changes and the character of waterways.

I have both and have them rolled up in a tube and tucked away... Chartplotter and Topographic Maps on different GPS units makes life easy. For my sailing/hiking I am looking at SPOT versus an EPRIB.

Skideep
The vent line from the ballast tank to the anchor locker removes the requirement to run below to manually insert the vent bung after launching and remove it before landing. Filling or emptying the ballast tank is now a one person job achieved from the cockpit rather than either needing a crew person to do it or having to run below leaving the boat to its own devices.

I have retained the original vent bung so that I can manually check the level of water in the ballast tank if necessary and so that I could insert chlorine tablets into the tank if I was to leave it full for any length of time.

Several other people have done the same mod too.
Regards
Nevil

As Nevil has noted, the installation of a passive vent line from the ballast tank to the anchor locker eliminates any need to go below when filling or draining the tank. It also has the distinct [or should I say "de-stinked"] benefit of exhausting any ballast tank odors directly to the exterior of the boat, rather than into the cabin, when the tank is being filled.