Thursday, April 24, 2008

Re-Registering an EPIRB

It was a hard decision to save $300 and pick up an EPIRB off of eBay but I went ahead and did it. The "used" (but never deployed) ACR unit is good until 2011 so that allows a bit of time for prices to come down before I have to decide on a new one again.

To register a previously-registered unit (in the US) you have to call NOAA at (888) 212-7283 and provide enough information to convice them you aren't trying to enable a stolen unit. The instructions on the registration website say you need the previous vessel's name but the nice lady I talked to wanted the person's name that previously registered the unit. Seems more logical since you could easily read the name off the boat's transom as you were making off with the stolen EPIRB.

Anyhow, it took 30 seconds for NOAA to clear the old registration and after that I was able to do a "new" registration.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Stern Ladder Quick Release

This is a in-water release for the stern ladder. It's made from a rail-mount cleat kit, a quick release pin, and a couple strap-eyes. Both readily available at my local West Marine.

The blue line hangs down the transom almost to the water line. A tug on the line releases the ladder and brings it down on your head. The other end of the blue line is fast to the stern rail and is used to pull the ladder back up.

This setup also works well from the dinghy.

Recording On The Boat



Back to the boat as a recording studio. This is a great Zoom H2 on an UltraPod strapped to the saloon table bracket. Pretty good acoustic space but yesterday my dock neighbor was "tuning up" the two big gas engines in his powerboat. Didn't get much done.