[Jeroen]

Earlier this morning I got the proposal from Michael of H2O (https://www.h2osports.nl) for the upgrade of my complete electronic suite.

The only part that will remain is the autopilot control unit, electronic unit and gyro compass.

This is what I will be getting

A new 12" digital display. It will function as a plotter, radarscreen and depth/fish finder. It will be fitted with the latest charts of Lighthouse.
A new (doppler) radar
New GPS units and antenna's
New transducer (for the fishfinder)
New Radio.



There is also a whole bunch of cables, various adaptors and so on. Micheal will install it all in the next few weeks, commission all the equipment, and show me the ropes.

The complete works come with a three years warranty and support from H2O. They are not cheap but have a very good reputation. They have maintained Sirion for the last decade or so. Michael knows Sirion inside out and that is worth a lot to me as well.

I want to start sailing her to her home berth, near to our home, around mid-March, my 65th birthday too! So I told Mrs. D the electronic upgrade would be her birthday present to me!

Very excited. I have found another navigation planning app. It seems to be even better than the one I found earlier. I have been planning several trips, including the delivery trip.

Not sure how "readable this chart is.



About a third of our trip will be across the river Vecht, one of the nicest little waterways in the Netherlands. The total distance is 144 km. That includes passing 11 locks and 45 bridges. Out of those 45 bridges, we will need to let down our mast once. Fixed bridge about 3 meters high (depending on water level). Of those remaining 44 bridges about 2/3 will need to open for us! 1/3 we can just sail underneath with our mast up!

We will stop for the night about halfway. Various options, we will decide on the day itself.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Earlier this week I picked up my marina's pennant and the tag that will allow us to raise the barrier and enter the marina's parking lot.



The marina is called "De Gors". I still need to find out what that means. It is very close to where we live. Look at this map. We live on Zuiderlingedijk all the way to the bottom right. You can also spot the Watersportvereniging De Gors toward the top left corner on the other side of the river de Linge. You can see all the boats!



From March 1st to October 1st there is a little foot ferry that takes me across the Linge. If the foot ferry isn't sailing I need to drive or cycle around a bit. Whichever, it will never take me more than 10-15 minutes to get to my boat!!

I am very lucky to have been given this mooring. I have been on their waiting list for more than 5 years!! The marina is set up and ran as a "verrenging", Dutch for society. So it is more a club, that a commercial enterprise. Which means the mooring fees are very very reasonable. But all members have to participate in the maintenance of the marina. Everybody needs to put in at least 12 hours a year. I have already been assigned to work two Saturdays in the "Green-Team". Working on the grass, borders, trimming trees and so on.

Let me show you around:

This is the first view from the dike;





You will have noticed quite a few empty spaces. Twenty/thirty years ago, during the winter months, the berths in any marina in the Netherlands would be empty. Everybody would take their boat, big or small, out of the water for the winter period. There is always the real danger of damage to the engine, water tanks and pipes due to frost. Severe frost might damage the hull as well. But of course, with the climate changing our winters are considerably milder than before. So lots of boat owners will leave their boats in the water. They will do some basic anti-freeze protection, but that's it.

At the far east of the corner, there is a special area for small, mostly open and outboard boats.



This image is taken at the top of the dike, at the entrance to the marina. All members have an electronic tag that raises the barrier. We have some 400 members.



This is our mooring, nr 94. Currently occupied by another member's boat, but they will move sometime in March. I might have to moor Sirion at a different spot for the first few weeks until this space becomes available. Note that the jetty itself is floating. Which is a good thing to. The water level in almost all water ways in the Netherlands is controlled. But the Linge could raise/lower as much as 40-50 cm in a week. So with the boats tied to floating pontoons and jetty's there is no danger of the mooring lines becoming to tight or to loose as the water rises or lowers.



We have excellent facilities. This is the clubhouse, with a large bar and the office of the harbour master. There is always a harbour master on duty, 24/7. We are very lucky to have a couple, Fred and Nel, living on their boat in the marina. They are the semipermanent harbour masters. But a number of other members step in now and then as well. I might take a shot at it myself too in the future.



The busiest period is during the summer months. Our marina is a very popular destination for passing boats to stop for a few nights. We have special moorings for non-members. They can use our facilities, toilet, shower, bar etc. Of course, they pay a fee, per meter boat length and per day/night. 220VAC is available as well. Members can attach their boat with a semi-permanent cable and pay a fixed fee. Passing non-members pay for the actual usage of electricity.

These non-members are very important to our society as they bring in quite a bit of money every year. That and doing all the work with volunteers keeps the cost down. Most members come from the local village here. This also means we can rely on a lot of professional services from various members. There is a guy who has a welding company, a couple of professional electricians, painters, a guy who runs a crane company etc etc. The complete marina, docks, jetty's, and clubhouse have all been built by the members themselves over the years.



This shed is a bit sinister-looking. These days marinas are responsible for the environment. So they have to offer facilities to take used lube oil, contaminated bilge water and so on and dispose of it properly. This is where we keep all that dirty stuff.



Also, there is this fancy-looking sort of hoover. It is for extracting the contents of the boats' waste water tanks. Not sure how much it will cost. As a boater you are not allowed to discharge anything onto the surface water anymore. Everything needs to go into a waste water tank. Everything meaning, the kitchen sink, shower and toilets all drain into the waste water tank.



There is a very nice little play-ground for the kids. My grand kids are going to love it here.



We have a small slip to launch and retrieve small boats from trailers too. The little crane on the right is not so much for lifting boats, as for lifting stuff in and out of boats.



This is the entrance to the marina, seen from the east to the west. Notice the green and red beacon on the marina entrance.



Lots of small boats out of the water too. With the boats out of the member, most people will take the opportunity to do some hull maintenance. In fresh water, you still need to redo the anti-fouling paint every other year. You might have to replace the anodes on the hull as well. Check the propellor, rudder, bow thruster and so on. Most members do all these sort of little DIY jobs themselves.



Sometime in March/April, the marina will arrange for a big hydraulic mobile crane and all the boats will be launched, usually all in one weekend! Very busy weekend, with a lot of members present.

Another handy feature/facility for the members. We have a couple of these hand carts. People tend to bring a lot of stuff when they go out on their boat. So you get one of these and load everything from your car into one of these hand carts and drive over to your boat and unload.



This image it take from the most eastern point of the marina looking east along the river de Linge. About a kilometre and a half from where we live.



I have joined another society. It is a society that owns and operates a traditional steam tug. It is called the Jan de Sterke. build in 1913, so 111 years old, with a length of 14,5, 12 tonnes displacement. A 65 iHP steam engine. Lovely little tug. It home harbour is nearby Gorinchem. I might be putting some volunteer hours in helping to keep the engine room going.



I have also agreed to sail along with them in the Sirion to their first event of the year. Known as "Dordt in Stoom". https://dordtinstoom.nl/english/

A fantastic Steam-event in Dordrecht, about 35 km downriver from us. A couple of the other members are going to come along with me and we will be taking photographs and video images of the Jan de Sterke under full steam on the river. Pretty cool, I am really looking forward to it. I plan on staying in or near Dordrecht for the full weekend and enjoy myself!!

[Jeroen]

Earlier this week I called Michael to check when he would be starting with the big Electronic swap. He had already started! So today I drove over just to see how things were going.

I also had a list of jobs I wanted to do and some things to check.

In essence, all the new equipment is already installed, but they are still running some wires and cables.

As these images will show, it was all a bit messy with stuff everywhere.

Both the new VHF radio and the new chart plotter/radar/Fishfinder screen are already installed. Not much to see as they both have their covers on.





Lots of boxes and my old equipment is in there somewhere as well.





I spend about an hour and a half talking to Michael and one of his colleagues. Michael is a very interesting, young, guy. He knows an awful lot and has worked on just about all the systems on Sirion in the past. And he doesn't mind answering a billion questions from me on all kinds of stuff.

In the end I did not get to do any of my jobs. It just did not make sense, because I would have to move all of their stuff first. So I just let them get on with the job. I checked one thing though; the length of my shore power cable. As I showed in an earlier post it is quite a distance from our mooring to the shore power outlet. But my shore power cable is 15 meters, so I think that should be enough.

On the way back home, I stopped at my favourite ship chancellor. To stock up on some more stuff.

I bought a hand held VHF Radio, an almanak and a little pocket guide about wildlife along the dutch waterways. The almanak is a legal mandatory requirement. Every ship over 7 meters needs to have the most recent almanak on board. These days it can be in digital form as well, but it needs to be downloaded permanently on a device. I have the digital format as well, of course. But I still prefer paper for this.



I also decided to get a hand held VHF radio. Next to my brand spanking new build in set. This is an ICOM M25. Very nifty little device. It is really light. Only 218 grams, including rechargeable battery! and that battery last 11 hours too!

It is also water proof and floats in the water when you accidently drop it overboard. It will give an audio signal and a LED starts flashing when it goes overboard.

I bought it for at least three reasons. One, I believe you should always have a back up radio. Two, I might be steering Sirion from the open, rear cockpit, when I am sailing solo, especially during docking and in locks and so on. I need to have a radio on me, rather than to have to run into the cockpit.

Three, I am an absolute sucker for these sort of gadgets! Look at this, I think it looks great!!



Next week, Michael should be finished. I will go and check again and hopefully get all my other jobs done as well. I need to talk to Andre, the harbour master, to get Sirion re-launched early March!!

Looking forward to it!

Jeroen

[Theyota]

I think you are rigging up that boat like you are planning an Atlantic crossing… what next? A water maker ? Oh boy… I do love your enthusiasm and the effort to share it with us. Keep it coming and Thank you good sir!

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Theyota

I think you are rigging up that boat like you are planning an Atlantic crossing… what next? A water maker r!

A watermarked? Now, there is a thought! Obviously serious has a large, 150l, fresh water tank. And almost all marinas here over the possibility to get water. And more often than not, fresh water is free of charge too.

But there is another reason why a watermarked makes a lot of sense on a yacht. You will also need a separate tank for it. Cleaning your boat, hosing it down is best done with demineralized water as it leaves no spots behind. Especially when you sail on salty water it works even better!

No need for a shimmy!

I have tried my new portable hand radio yesterday. I rode my bicycle over to the river and a nearby lock. Listened in on several channels. I am quite impressed with the sound quality. It is also amazing how light this thing is! Very happy with it.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

I spent a couple of hours at the marina yesterday. The upgrade of the electronics is just about done.

For all that money spent there is surprisingly little to see. Quite a bit of the equipment and wiring and so on is of course hidden behind.

Here you see the two main new components on the steering stand installed.



With the protective covers removed



The VHF radio and the Touch Screen Display. The touchscreen is capable of being an integrated chart plotter and radar. It will also display all AIS data from all other ships. In addition, I had a new fish finder/depth gauge installed and that will be displayed on the screen as well.

Michael still needed to tie up the last few wires in the mast and test the equipment. He will also need to program the Sirion calling name (PH9422) and its MMSI and ATIS code into radio and AIS. I will leave him to it.

The mast has a new radar dome and two new GPS antenna's. The one on the starboard is the GPS used by the autopilot and chart plotter. The one on port is dedicated to AIS. It is mandatory AIS has its own GPS antenna. In theory, these GPS antennas could have been mounted inside the boat, but I am very happy Michael recommended to mount them outside.



I spoke to Andre and the plan is to have Sirion back in the water next week!!

My wife and I have planned to sail her home on 19, 20 and 21st of March. We might only need two days, but with boats it is always a good idea to have sufficient time allocated.

I have also taken all the old electronic equipment back home with me.

I have already put the old radar dome and displayed it on a Dutch internet forum marketplace. Got one response already. Let's see if he/she bites.



I have destroyed the old VHF radio. I could have probably sold it second hand too. But I am a bit cautious on this one. This radio also has Sirion Calling name, MMSI and ATIS programmed in it. Once programmed in a radio, it can not be changed or deleted by the user. It has to be taken back to the dealer. And that will cost money. A brand new unit, similar to this one will cost less than Euro 200. So I don't see anybody spending money on an old unit.

So I decided to just smash it up, in order to avoid Sirion's unique Calling name, MMSI and ATIS showing up and being misused by somebody.



Jeroen

[Thad E Ginathom]

Super progress, Jeroen. Looking forward to pics from the trip home.

Glad to see that the protective film is still on the radio screen. But didn't the big screen have one? Didn't you learn from your years in India: never remove the protective film

(The film on the control panel of our microwave oven has just been removed, after several years. I am all for keeping them whilst they are still neat, but was only allowed to pull it all off once the top few inches had fallen off. Early suggestions got this response from Mrs G: "I'm Indian. Leave the film alone." )

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Glad to see that the protective film is still on the radio screen. But didn't the big screen have one? Didn't you learn from your years in India: never remove the protective film

Tell me about it. I always take them off. Bad experience many years ago. In 1983 we bought our first home in Brighton, UK. Lovely little two bedroom home with an extended kitchen, right on the edge of Kemptown.

In those days I was still working in the merchant navy and that meant long leaves. So I did a lot of DIY jobs when we moved in. The biggest by far was ripping the complete kitchen out and installing everything brand new. I put a new roof on, new ceiling, rerouted the central heating pipes and moved the radiators, redid the plumbing, electrical works, new floor the works

And obviously installed the new kitchen which we got from B&Q. A trusted name in kitchens.

The last thing I did was put all the doors on. I finished after midnight. Mrs D had already gone to bed. I found her in her brand new kitchen the next morning. She was very happy with her new kitchen. Apart from the doors. They looked a bit dull. And they should have been pretty high gloss dark green. (Yeah, the 89’s baby)

So I took all the doors off, loaded them in my car and sped back to B&Q, ready and primed to pick a fight.

I showed the guy at the service desk one of our doors. He did not say anything. All he did was pick off the protective foil!

Since I remove protective foil immediately so I understand what is really underneath!

Jeroen

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I showed the guy at the service desk one of our doors. He did not say anything. All he did was pick off the protective foil!

That is the funniest DIY story I have ever heard!

[Jeroen]

Sunday was a very nice day. In the morning I attended a car and coffee gathering of the Dutch Jaguar Daimler Club. Very pleasant, see my fiddling with cars thread. It was only about 20 minutes from Marina Strand Horst where my Sirion was still inside the big hall, waiting to be launched.

I had a chat with Andre, the broker and harbour master. The plan is to launch Sirion this coming Tuesday. At last, fingers crossed that all goes well. Several repairs have been done that involve the hull integrity. New glands on the rudder and a new fish finder /depth gauge. So we will need to double-check that they don't leak.

I had loaded up the Jaguar with lots of stuff. This boat is kitted out well. But we wanted to bring some of our stuff and some was just too old.

I brought about four of these piles.



I went through the various drawers again. Ad, the previous owner, had left a lot of charts and nautical books. In the end, I decided to bin most of them. Especially charts, almanaks, tide tables lose their relevance in a few years after publishing, if not faster.

Here you see me checking for the first time how the main sofa extends to become another double bunk. I also discovered more storage space behind it. Always useful.



The drawer under the sofa has now become my documentation and chart storage facility. Well, I don't have the charts yet. Neither the Almanacs. They tend to publish new editions at the start of the season so I am holding out buying them.



I did manage to get a copy of the new Almanak part 1. This details with all the formal rules and regulations on all inner waterways in the Netherlands. Legally you are obliged to have an up-to-date copy onboard.

Ad had installed a TV. It was a special subscription service offered by Duth PTT or KPN as they are known these days. Not sure that service is still offered though.



Irrespective, we don't need a TV. If anything we have ipads and iPhone and we can stream just about anything if we want to. So I ripped it all out. Lots of cables, chargers and so on.



Ready to be binned!



I also cleaned out the various lockers inside the open rear cockpit. I had done an inventory last time. Ad had similar stuff all over the place. So I sorted it properly, and binned everything that was not useful, overdated and so on.

Now we have all the cleaning materials in one locker.



And all engine-related stuff, spares, fluids and so on in another.



I took two of these loads to the bins at the marina. Luckily they collect the old liquids (oil, petrol, thinner etc), but also the paper charts and the electronics.



Saved me from taking it all back home and disposing of it all.

New floor mat and toilet brush in the head!!



This is Mrs D piece de resistance. I just arrived this evening. Four champagne glasses! Plastic champagne glasses at that. This is a boat and we don't do glass. Not sure why it says "useful every day?"



Mind you, our wedding, 41 years ago, at the Bridgetown, Barbados Yacht Club was an "only champagne affair. Luckily my father-in-law was paying. So I was not complaining. My wife had told him, she wanted only champagne at her wedding.

Andre also helped me with a few things. He also helped me to come to terms with the wastewater disposal/holding tank system. I had trouble figuring it out, so Andre managed to explain it all to me.

If all goes well, I will be doing a few little test sails later this week!! Can't wait, fingers crossed!!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Just now received two images from Andre. Sirion is back into the water





Tomorrow morning I am visiting a boat show in Leeuwarden. All the way up north, well over two hours driving. On the way home I will stop at the Marina.

Really exited and looking forward to it!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Got up at my usual 0600AM, but by 0700AM I was in my Jaguar driving north to Leeuwarden to visit Boot Holland. A small, but always very nice boat show. I spend about 3 hours roaming around. Bought the latest charts and almanak.

Then I drove to Strand Horst, the marina where Sirion is moored.

I had a boot full of stuff with me, not just the few things I had bought at Boot Holland. Just piled everything into the forward cabin. Did a few quick checks on the boat and the engine and started her up. Started immediately.

The weather was quite nice, with very little wind and good visibility. I must admit I was a bit nervous. This was the first time I would be taken Sirion out, all by myself, on waters I was not familiar with at all!!

Before I cast off, I had a quick check of the radio. I am familiar with my new VHF radio. The course I took not so long ago had this exact radio. So I powered it up and tuned into channel 10. The default channel for Dutch inland waterways. I also powered up my fancy new plotter/radar/depth gauge / fish finder.

It did power up, but it is way more complex. One of the problems, Raymarine does not supply you with printed manuals anymore. You have to download them. I had a look at their support page on the web. But very complex I could not figure it out. I will talk to Michael and make sure I get the correct manuals.

Even so, the plotter gave me excellent information on everything that I needed for a first trial run.

So I slipped the bow and stern line and back out of the mooring carefully. I had to reverse out and that is always a bit of a challenge on a motorboat with one propellor and rudder. (and bow thruster). The trick is to understand the boat wants to follow the rudder in reverse. There is a so-called wheel effect of the propellor which is always more pronounced in reverse than going forward. It appears this effect on Sirion is pretty manual. Also you can use the bow thruster to steer the boat when going in reverse. One of the very legitimate uses of a bow thruster.

Made it out of the marina with no problems!!

Me being extremely happy!!! Notice I am wearing my life jacket. I am just by myself, the water is still very cold, this is pretty open water I am entering and there are large barges out there! Safety first.



In due course, I will show some more details on how all of this works. Just a few shots of my plotter. This was about 10 minutes after I had left the mooring. you can see a ship coming towards me and one behind me. I can click on those ships and it will tell me the name of the ship, speed and so on. It also tracks speed and direction. All part of the AIS! Very cool and extremely useful



If there is any danger of a collision the system will warn you. I still need to fine-tune the various settings for the alarms. There are about a billion settings you need to think through.



The water police wat out in force with 6-7 high speed boats. I saw them climbing on this barge. I think they were practising interceptions and boardings. Pretty cool.



I steered Sirion by hand for about 15 minutes. Very happy with how she handles it. Very light, very nimble. Next, I put her on autopilot. When I switch the autopilot to auto, it will maintain the current heading. I have four buttons, increments of -1o, -10o, 1o and 10o (respectively port / Starboard). So I can alter the course in either one-degree or 10-degree steps.





I was being, slowly, overtaken by this workship. It followed me through a narrow channel. I was not quite sure what they were doing. So I decided to give them a radio call. My first radio call in a very long time. I contacted them for a so-called radio check first. Interestingly enough, officially you have to perform a radio check every day. Which means calling another station and asking if they receive you loud and clear. Nobody does radio checks every day anymore. Radio has become extremely reliable. There is no need. But my radio was brand new and had never been tested. So I called them and asked "Radiocheck". To which they responded, Sirion we receive loud and clear. Next i asked them about their intentions and told them where I wanted to go.

After we understood each other I let them overtake me and I started following them;



They were doing some survey work or so.




Not a bad first day out on the boat!!



By now I was really enjoying myself. I must admit, I had been looking forward to this first trip, but I was also a bit stressed. I have had some serious health issues over the last couple of years. Taking on any new adventures doesn't come as easy as it used to. Learning new stuff is a real challenge. Of course, none of this is really new to me. But I had not done it for a while. I am on my own boat, beginning to understand how all the various systems work!

I was fine and starting to enjoy myself more and more every minute!!

I steered into one of the other marinas. I wanted to practice some more manoeuvring. With no other boats entering or leaving the marina, I spend about 15-20 minutes getting a feel for how Sirion handles in close quarters.

I took a little video. Don't mind the engine noise. I don't know why it sounds so intrusive. Must have something to do with how an iPhone picks up sounds. I was pleasantly surprised by the engine sound. Even at full throttle, you can have a normal conversation in the cabin, no problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aH_pYU9y68

I had put some of these images in our family app. Soon the comments and congratulations of my kids and their partners started pouring in.

By then I was almost an hour into my first trip and decided to turn back to Strand Horst. Also, time to full speed, damn the torpedoes and all of that!!

I was clocking a ground speed of about 16,5 km/h! Which is pretty good for this little boat. Better than its theoretical maximum hull speed!

I managed to make it back into the marina Strand Horst and moored here back in the same position. Not to boost or anything, but I did really well manoeuvring and docking her, first time, all by myself!!



I did a bit more tidying up, and putting away all the new stuff. And I hoisted two of my new pennants. The Bridgetown Yacht Club and the KNRM (Royal Dutch Lifeboat Association) of which I am a member of course.



The pennant of my home marina will go at the front, but I have to modify a few things before it will fit.


All in all, I could not be happier!! Still, a lot to learn. I will meet with Michael later this week or next week and he will give me a full rundown on all the new electronics!

Jeroen

[MrSDey]

My man, you are living my dream. Congrats. Ever since I saw a feather white yacht in a marina on Lake Michigan 25 years ago glistening in bright sunlight, I had wanted one. I even did a test flight in France a few years ago. But living in India, it is near impossible to own one for ordinary people - for one, where do I put the darn thing? I make do with a small motorboat, a canoe and a stand up paddle - but a yacht is a yacht is a yacht. Go enjoy the seas, my man. And even though this isn't a sailing yacht, may you always have a following sea.

[Kkumar]

What a great way to enjoy retirement life. Owning a boat is a very rare hobby in India even though there are a lot of inland waterways here. Eagerly waiting for your next update. Thank you for sharing.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Super! Congratulations, Jeroen!

Looking forward to future voyages.