For day and weekend trips
Declaration of readiness for use
I have made some extensive repairs and modifications to Magayon II, a lot more than anticipated, but I want to boat to be ready for day cruises but also for longer trips like to Puerto Galera for the regattas. A log of the work done can be found here.
The boat is now ready for use, with some limitations, which i will address in the coming weeks. (see Current Limitations below).
We need to agree on some rules for the usage. Some suggestions are below under Rules.
Current Limitations
The biggest limitation is the lack of a gasoline motor, which prohibits extended motoring at cruises at this time. We used the electric motor for 3 hours or 15 nautical miles and then a bit more with the “range extender” generator, which we should have run much earlier. We could not make it to the regatta in Puerto Galera because of the lack of wind and the limited capacity. With more days planned for the trip we could have done it, but this is definitely a limitation. Plans:
- For longer cruises i now think it is essential to have a gas guzzler. I have a deal with Peter from the Taal Yacht Club for trading our 15hp motor for a new 8hp motor (paying 10k in addition to compensate for the 15hp motor showing some rust already). But: The new shipment from Yamaha that includes a 8hp longshaft motor will not come before January.
- I am going to optimize the electric motor setup (parameters in BMS, getting a propeller that has more pitch for power at lower RPM to compensate for the different torque characteristics of electric motors, etc.
- I am also thinking of getting two more 12V 100 Ah batteries, which in combination with the two we have in the house, would make 48V, 100 Ah and double the current range as an option for an additional battery in the cockpit for longer trips. We hardly have brownouts in the house so the batteries in the house are a bit of a waste right not.
No tracking device: Tracking is important so that one can monitor where the boat is and organize help if needed, in particular in the waters here. The Trackimo stopped working. When I checked with the company they said that it is an outdated model and they don’t support it anymore. The offered an upgrade to the new model but withdrew the offer when I did not respond immediately (there are regattas to addend, dumbasses). So I need to look for alternatives.
Rules
Since I am a German anally retentive perfectionist engineer I came up with a manual for Magayon II, which I converted into an online version which can be found here. It has different topics. Read the ones of interest to you. It is mostly a reminder for myself.
There is also a printed version containing fact sheets (one topic per page) on the boat. I strongly suggest to read those when you are skipper.
- Until you guys have done your sailing course and are certified as skippers, either Miriam or myself need to be on board.
- Everybody who wants to be skipper of the boat needs to get instructions about the boat from me. Some parts are very sensitive and can break things, e.g. the motor control.
- Make sure that you know the maritime rules.
- Make sure that you have FM radio with charged batteries, logbook and copies of the boat registration and insurance on board (black bag contains all those).
- Watercraft requires to be informed in advance about the boat leaving.
- When leaving the Subic Bay, you need to call the seaport at radio channel 16 and inform them that you’ll be leaving Subic Bay.
- The skipper is the boss. A boat is no democracy.
- Read the guidelines before taking over control of the boat.
- Any damage, or event that does not seem to have caused damage but might have, like ground contact, has to be reported immediately to me so that I can do damage control.
- To be expanded…
The boat is insured because Watercraft requires it. But this is only third party liability, damage on the boat is not insured.