Del's Boat




 * Owner: Del
 * Make: Vanguard
 * Model: 1150
 * Type: Steel hulled sailing yacht. 11.5m LOD, 11.8m LOA.
 * Year: 1982
 * Transmission: PRM Model 150D3 hydraulic gearbox, 2.82:1 ratio. See http://www.newage-prm.co.uk/prm/prm150.htm
 * Engine: Well, normally I prefer to use the sails, but it has a Vetus diesel engine (model P4.19). This is a marinised version of the Peugeot XUD9 engine as fitted to Peugeot model 305 diesel vehicles. In the marinised version it delivers 52 HP (39 kW) at 3600 RPM. The engine is cooled by a secondary sweet water recirculation system and has connections for a domestic hot water system. Fuel consumption is approx. 3 L/h at 2000 RPM developing a speed through water between 6 - 7 knots; at 1400 RPM and between 4 - 5 knots approx. 1.7 L/h consumption.

Basic Nav System Details

The navigation system aboard comprises:


 * Panasonic toughbook laptop, which sits on the nav desk and forms the core of the nav system. This only has a single waterproof USB port so I have an external (non-waterproof) USB hub.
 * 1 x Garmin 65 GPS. This has a NMEA 0183 output which essentially feeds GPS data out over RS-232.  Connected via serial port 1 to the Tacktick NMEA multiplexer.
 * 1 x "Mouse" USB GPS. Connected via the USB hub.
 * Tacktick navigation kit comprising anemometer (wind speed meter and direction gauge on the mast head), tri-data depth/speed/water temperature sensor through the hull forward of the keel, LCD display showing wind speed/direction (true and apparent) as well as a bi-data display which can be switched to show any combination of depth/speed/temperature/wind/GPS data, all of which are wireless and have solar battery chargers. This connects via a Tacktick NMEA multiplexer which takes in GPS data via NMEA 0183/RS-232 and outputs multiplexed data to serial port 1 of the laptop.
 * Raymarine S2 autopilot, S100 wireless remote control, control head and hydraulic pump (to drive the hynautic hydraulic steering, connected directly to the rudder). This can take in route data via NMEA 0183 from the GPS/NMEA junction box and steer the required course.
 * Autohelm ST/4000 wheel pilot. This connects to a motor on the steering wheel and is completely separate from the Raymarine unit.  I keep it as a spare as it uses a bit less power than the Raymarine.

To Do List


 * Hook all of the above up to an engine control computer, or at least a throttle controller.
 * Get some better Linux based navigation / route planning software. The problem being the map data which requires various DLLs to be accessed.  Currently trialling this under WINE.