Category Archives: Equipment

Starlink, a Game Changer

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Connectivity on the boat has always been a bit of a challenge.  On the one hand you want to live in the moment and enjoy the absolute beauty around you.  On the other hand you want to be able to download weather, stay in touch with family and friends, and do basic things like banking.  

For the last 14 years we have been hustling to stay connected while on the boat.  It was always a challenge and it was invariably expensive.  So, how did we stay connected before Starlink?  We had several options which we ran consecutively as inevitably one did not work for various reasons.

Local Data Plans

When we are near land, we would visit the local communications shop, pick up a SIM card and purchase a pre-paid monthly data plan.  This would allow us to get basic WhatsApp (which is an amazing, free, app), low data apps, cruising apps (navionics, weather), basic email, and would give us a local phone number.  On average, this ran between $50-$150USD per month.   As you can see, we end up with a lot of different SIM cards.  What we have found is that Vini, Digicel and Vodafone do not work in different countries.  So, we end up with Digicel SIM cards from multiple countries.

Iridium Go

We have Iridium Go which is a satellite based communications technology and was our go to means of communications while we were underway (on passage or on route).  Iridium Go gave us a limited number of minutes of voice calling, text messages (with limited characters), limited email (no photos, attachments, logos), SOS, and the ability to download weather.  You could not access the internet.  The bonus with the Iridium Go is that you can take it with you in case of an emergency and you had to evacuate the boat.

We had the external antennae, spare batteries, and multiple sim cards.  The equipment costs around $1500-$2000.  Prior to Starlink, we were paying $160 per month which gave us unlimited data and 150 minutes of talk.  Once we got Starlink, we dropped this plan to the lowest possible plan which is $70 per month which gives us 5 minutes of talk and 1500 text messages – virtually nothing but it keeps the account active.  We mainly keep this for a back up plan in case something goes wrong with Starlink and we need a communication tool.  Expensive back up.

GoogleFi

I no longer have a cellular company in the USA so when I return for visits I have to use our GoogleFi account (on an android phone $500.  Originally I would tether GoogleFi phone to my iPhone to give me connectivity when I am not in a wifi zone.  Then I just started transferring the GoogleFi SIM card to my iPhone which is much easier than carrying two phones.

The GoogleFi monthly service is $30/month.  We hope to cancel this service this year when I return to the states.  I plan to sign up for a travel sim with www.mintmobile.com with my iPhone for connectivity.  If this works, I will have to port my main cell phone number (which I still use for WhatsApp) to Google Voice which is free.  

Other Communication Costs

We have other communication costs including our website hosting fee of $50/mo, Predict Wind $299/yr, and a few smaller expenses.

Starlink

Starlink claims to give you access to the internet virtually anywhere.  If you carry around their dish which is not really likely.  However, it is a complete game changer for cruisers and people who travel both on land and at sea!  It now gives us internet access 24/7 whether we are near shore or thousands of miles offshore.  

Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by American aerospace company SpaceX, providing coverage to over 70 countries. Starlink has launched 5,828 satellites into space and 5,438 are currently in use.  That’s a lot of satellites!

Here is a photo of our Starlink dish which we mounted to our dinghy davit.

What does it Cost

Well, it aint cheap that’s for sure.  We were lucky in that Starlink was offering a special to New Zealand rural customers.  We were staying in Whangarei at the time and that is considered a rural area so our equipment cost $300 NZD ($180 USD) as opposed to $599. 

Monthly Plan

They have many plans but since we are moving a lot, we are on the “mobile plan” and the monthly cost while we are near shore is $199/mo NZD ($128/mo USD).  If we go offshore or are more than 12nm from land, we upgrade to the Mobile Priority Plan and pay an additional $2-$3 per gigabyte of data.  It doesn’t sound like much but it adds up quickly.

Connecting Starlink

The website brags of an easy set up with a simple plug and play.  However, for cruisers, we had to do some modifications.  The first thing you should know is that Starlink is a power hog!  It draws on average 3amps (with the motor disabled and ice melt turned off) on 12v.  Even so, at start up it can be as high as 7amps and if you are doing a lot of downloads it can run 4-6amps.

Disabling the Motor

So, why did we modify the unit?   We disconnected the motor that made the dish rotate as it searched for satellites.  We simply locked the dish into a flat horizontal position so it has easy access to the sky.  This was a little scary as you have to drill a hole into the unit so be sure you know what you are doing before you attempt this project.

Converting to 12 volt

We converted AC to DC power to save more power, to save the ‘inefficiencies’ involved in converting 12v to 120v and then to 48v which is what the Starlink dish needs.  This conversion savings is small, but also eliminates the super basic Starlink router that runs hot and doesn’t have much functionality.

Converting to 12 volt also allowed us to control and monitor the usage on our CZone setup, and we created a ‘schedule’ that turns Starlink off at night and on in the morning (our time zone).  And a button we can press when we leave the boat to turn off the dish when we leave to go exploring.

We are using a 384watt 12v to 48v DC to DC converter, and Tycoon POE injector to get the power to dish.  Since Starlink used their own wiring plan, we also had to create custom CAT6 network cables to make it all work.    We chose to cut/hack the ‘ethernet adapter’ cable as part of the hack and leave the ‘long custom cable’ supplied by Starlink intact.   This gives us the opportunity if any of the ‘custom hacked cables or pieces’ fail we can plug in the original router and cable and be back in business.  Tho we do have backups of each of the customized hackery to convert it to 12 volt.  

In the process of doing our conversion we also joined and helped others get this working and its amazing how ‘fragile’ all the pieces can be.  The converter wasn’t stable or the POE injector wasn’t putting out enough juice, or the custom CAT5 cables were not crimped cleanly.  Lots of debugging when into why the ‘speeds were off’ or simply intermittently working or just not at all.

Routers

We use a Mikrotik router so that we simplify our network.  Every device wants to create its own ‘hot-spot’ / access point.   That requires you to change your Wi-Fi connection depending on what you were wanting to do onboard.  Iridium Go! was the most annoying since it did not provide a way to change the network settings, so we were always switching networks to be connected to iridium satellite vs boat instruments vs media server vs anchor alarm vs CZone network.  Using a decent router we were able to disable all the ‘access spots’ so that connecting to our one network everything is available.  We can see boat navigation instruments and the internet at the same time without having to switch which device we are connected too.  

Conclusion

As you can see there is a lot that goes into “staying connected.”  Hopefully, we will be able to ditch GoogleFi by early summer (saving us $360/yr). We also plan to start disconnected Iridium Go during non passage times.  This would save us $70/mo every month we are not using Iridium Go.  However, when we wanted to initiate Iridium Go for a passage we would have to buy a $15 SIM card, pay $50 start up fee and pay the $70 or the month.  Sill a LOT cheaper than spending $840/yr for access we only use 12-20 days a year.

We will still need to purchase local SIM cards for access while we are away from the boat and of course we will have to continue paying for our web hosting and Predict Wind fees.  But in my mind, every little bit helps when you eliminate costs.

Feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions on Starlink, the set up, power saving techniques, and or other communications.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  We visit the beautiful anchorages of Whangaroa in our last blog post.

Life Saving Life Raft

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What do you do when you have to abandon your ship (or in our case, our home)?  There are a few different trains of thought here.  Some people say that you jump in your life raft and get away from the boat.  While others say, jump in your dinghy or life raft and stay tethered to your boat.  If your boat is not sinking, which catamarans don’t sink, then they are a much bigger target to spot than a small dinghy or life raft.  Of course, everything has to be reconsidered if you are on a monohull.

So, unless Sugar Shack is on fire, we would stay with the boat.  One of the safety features on Sugar Shack is the life raft.  We currently have a Winslow 6-man offshore life raft which came with the boat (2001) and was last serviced in 2011.  Yep, that was a long time ago.  We needed to service and re-certify our life raft before our next big Pacific Crossing (from French Polynesia to Fiji).

However, as luck would have it, some friends of ours gave us their old Viking 8-man ISO Pro OffShore Life Raft.  They bought a much smaller life raft as their boat does not require an 8-man size.  This is a bigger life raft than our original one (8-person vs 6-person) and is a very well-known brand.  The problem with the new to us Viking is that it too needed to be serviced and re-certified.  We decided to keep the Viking and sell the Winslow.  Which means we needed to take the Viking to Station de Survie Nautisport to be serviced and certified.

The Viking Life Raft

We rented a car to transport the life raft which weighs in over 115lbs (not something you can carry on the bus).  This is super exciting for me as I have never seen a life raft inflate nor have I seen the inside of one!  Lots of firsts for me.  The tech at Nautisport, Terangi was super nice and spoke excellent English!

The life raft came to us in a hard case for storage which helps maintain the integrity of the raft.

We immediately search for documentation that tells us when it was serviced last.  We discover it was born in November 2002, the last service was 2015 on the raft, and 2014 on the cannister.  Well drat!  Typically, the life expectancy of a life raft is 20 years, so this only gained us 2 years before we have to buy a new one.  New rafts can cost up to $6000-$6500! 

The cannister has to be serviced every 10 years.  Since the last service was 2014, we did not have to service it.  However, we do have to service it in 2024 which means our certificate will only be good for 2 years (rather than the typical 3 year certificate).

Opening the Case

The shell is removed exposing a gray shrink wrap which is then removed.  The black fabric (upper right) is the bottom side of the raft.  Slowly we unwrap the raft exposing the orange top side.

Inflating the Life Raft

When you pull the emergency cord to inflate the raft it will automatically blow the large zip tie holding the outer shell and blow off the shrink wrap covering while simultaneously inflating the raft in 2 seconds.  Since our cannister is in good working order we decided to use an outside source to inflate the raft. (which took about 2-3 minutes).

There is a built-in tether to the raft that gets attached to your boat or to the rescue boat.  This tether connects to another line which is accessible around the entire bottom of the raft.  If you decide to get in the water (for swim, bath, or fishing) and need to get back into the raft, you step onto the white line (left photo) under the raft and use the triangle rope ladder to pull yourself up.

Features

Terangi pointed out a lot of features.  There is a water catch feature on the outside that can be funneled inside.  (top photo and left bottom photo).  The black edge leads to a small pocket that collects water.  In addition, there is a window (lower right) and a small hole (top and middle right) to stick an antennae out (your EPRIB or beacon).

Inside the raft are a few elements including flares, flashlight (with spare batteries), whistle, mirror, horn, sea sick medicine, bucket/scoop (top left).  There is a large white arrow pointing to the emergency knife, a drogue (sea anchor), spare line and empty bag, life ring with line, and small paddles.  In addition, the life raft has a flashing light on the exterior and a small interior light.

There are two different trains of thought when it comes to additional perishable items.  Some people like to have water, food, batteries, and other items inside the life raft.  But you may be forced to open or service the raft more often to replace those items. So many people, like Sugar Shack, have a separate ditch bag.  In our ditch bag we have everything from t.p., glasses, sunblock, batteries, can opener, blanket, medical supplies, utility knife, money, water bags, long-term food (space food) and oh so much more.  We can then toss this into our dinghy or the life raft if we need to.  Plus, it is easier to access and replace items when needed.

Keeping the Life Raft Upright

Under the raft are four large pockets that hold water to keep the raft upright.  Or as Matt stated, it is a good place to store his beer while keeping it cold.  You can also see the rope that is used as a ladder (center U shape) and the line that goes around the entire raft to hold on.

The life raft technically can fit 8 people.  But, to be honest it would be a cramped stay.  But for the 2 of us it was very roomy and spacious.  The silver floor lining helps keep your warm inside and acts as a barrier between you and the sea.

The Outcome

We stayed for an hour to watch the initial assessment and reveal.  But left them to their work to complete the service and certification.  They replaced all of the essential items including flares, batteries, medicine) and tested the air pressure over 3 hours.

We left with a fully serviced and certified Viking Life Raft good for another 2 years at a cost of $690.  Not bad.  We anticipated it being well over $1000 so I felt good about the overall process and I learned so much about our life raft which I hope to NEVER have to see again (especially out in the open water).

Farewell Fakarava was our last blog post (see passage post).   Events from this blog occurred in March 2022.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.

Honda Generator

Need Power: Honda Generator

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Sugar Shack is its own city. We generate our own power using solar panels, engines, and/or a portable Honda Generator.  We also make our own water using a Spectra watermaker that desalinates the sea.  Typically, on a sunny day, we generate enough power to operate the boat. Sugar Shack has eight Solara Ultra 150-watt solar panels that can generate 1200 watts of solar.

We are considered “power hogs” compared to most of our fellow cruisers. We run 1 frigerator, 2 freezers, stereo, DiskStation, VHF, and electronics (lighting, AIS, etc…) all day.  On average, we burn 12-15 amps per hour.  If we are under passage, we burn a heck of a lot more while we run navigation, instruments, and auto pilot. 

This is with us trying to conserve power.  All the lights on the boat are LED and devices are turned off when not in use.  We don’t charge devices at night because we are not making power.

On a rainy or cloudy day, we tend to use our portable Honda Generator to charge the house batteries.  It is a 2000-watt, 220V generator that runs on gasoline.  It’s cheaper for us to charge the batteries using the Honda Generator than it is to use the main Volvo engines.  And it is way less wear and tear on the most expensive items on the boat.

Where am I going with all of this?

Our portable Honda Generator that was purchased in 2018 stopped putting out the proper number of amps and was making a horrible sound when we used it.  Matt took it apart several times and discovered the stator was burnt.  Crap! This must have happened when we over heated the generator while trying to weld steel for our engine’s alternator bracket (see this post) last year.

Honda Generator

Honda Generator

We sort of forgot about the issue as we had months and months of sunny days.  But as rainy season approached, we had to bring the old girl back out for service. Same problem, just different day. We decided to price out a new Honda Generator from Tahiti.  If we could hire an agent to purchase the generator for us at a “decent Tahiti” price we would buy it now and ship it to Gambier.  Sugar Shack will not planning on being in Tahiti for another 3 months and buying the Honda Generator now would save us from having to run the engines to charge the house batteries which saves money in the long run.

Pricing

In the U.S. you can purchase an EU20i for about $1000.  In Panama, we purchased the same unit for $1800 but it included shipping from the states to Panama and the agent’s fees.  Not horrible. In Tahiti, the costs are as follows:

  • $2,555
  • $409 (16% VAT)
  • $15 – Shipping
  • $437 – Agent’s fees ($50/hr x 2hrs = $100, 10% fee $296, and VAT on their services ($41)
  • $3,416 total estimated cost

Our Agent told us that VAT ($409) would be waived using “Vessel in Transit” which would just about cover his fees ($437) bringing the new total to $3,007.

Most countries honor “Vessel in Transit” which allows boats to purchase items VAT/Duty free. However, French Polynesia decided to stop offering this discount because “supposedly” some cruisers were purchasing items for locals using this discount.  We pitched a fit because our agent did not tell us this.  Granted he said he did not know about this “new” law.  We would have declined the purchase had we known the 16% VAT was being charged. 

After a snit fit, we were able to get a 10% discount of $255 bringing our new total $3,161.  Three times the cost of a U.S. Honda Generator.  What can you do when you are in a remote third world country?  Ugh.

Wrong Unit

The agent was doing us a “favor” by fronting the money and rushing the purchase of the Honda Generator.  We wanted to get it on the ship which was leaving that day.  The agent did work some magic and was able to get the generator on the ship that very afternoon before it left the dock.  Remember, we only get the supply ship every 3 weeks so we did not want to wait 6 weeks for the next one.  We emailed the agent with the specifics of the Honda Generator that we wanted.  He said he purchased it, put it on the ship, and sent the invoices the following week. We did not have internet and could not download the invoices until the ship arrived.

Picking up the unit was relatively painless.  We picked up our shipping invoice from the ship’s office, waited for the container to be unloaded and unlocked, grabbed our Honda Generator and went back to the boat.  Immediately, realizing it is the wrong model.  We had asked for the EU22i and were given an EU20i.  They both will work, but the EU22i provides more power.  Oh, for fuckity fuck fuck sake!  Not only was it 3x as much but it is not even the correct model.

We contacted our agent who said the store did not have an EU22i in stock and if we wanted, we could send the EU20i back.  We would not be able to get our shipping fees (both ways), or the agent fees refunded ($467). 

Conclusion

We decided to keep the new unit because it is still better to run this EU20i than it is to run our main engines. And we expect to need extra charge over the next several months as we enter rainy season.  Not an ideal transaction, but what can you do?

The good news is we have already used the new Honda Generator 3x in the first week as we had lots of rainy/cloudy days.

Events from this blog post occurred during mid to late April 2021.  Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind our adventures.