Tinkering

Last night I popped down to Ciao Bella as there were a couple of problems that need looking at.  The first and most pressing issue is that the battery has either stopped charging or there is a drain on it.   Last time I was on the boat I bypassed the solar regulator as it looked like it had stopped working.  The voltage on the battery then was 11.6V... last night it was 9.8V, I think I can safely say there is a drain.   I can't find the cause of the drain but I have isolated the circuits and replaced the solar regulator with this natty control unit.  The E07 error message just says that the battery voltage is too low... well done Sherlock :)  It does display some useful information.  Charge /Discharge rate,  Battery condition, voltage etc.  It also uses PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) to charge / condition the battery.  I don't proclaim to understand this BUT it is said to be far superior to on/off regulators.

Next on my list was the way the Genoa sheets are attached.   I hadn't had a major issue in the past but this year my rudimentary method of tying them on has caused them to snag on the shrouds more often than before. 

The, hopeful, cure is to seize them on with a simple whipping.  This only took a few minutes to do and looks much better.  I tried dragging the Genoa back and forth while on the mooring, It didn't catch but the proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the sailing :)

In other news the tiller seems to have picked up some excess play again so I need to investigate that before I travel too far.