The Blue View - Frustrated Broncos Fan

Having grown up in Colorado, I have always been a Denver Broncos football fan. Marcie and I have lived in a few places other than Bronco Land in our pre-cruising lives, but I could never get excited about the local teams. I wasn't as fanatical as some Denver fans – but, it's always been the Broncos for me.

Following the Broncos, however, has been a real trial during the last 15 years. When internet is expensive, slow, or non-existent, or Nine of Cups is in the middle of the Indian Ocean on a long passage, or our clocks are upside down and the game doesn't start until 2 am local time, catching even the score of the latest game, let alone a few game highlights, is difficult. Luckily, our youngest son, Brad, is a more devoted fan than I am and can be depended upon to send me a synopsis of the game via email. Not quite like watching, but better than nothing. I confess that in some years, had it not been for Brad, I'd have totally forgotten it was even football season.

A couple of weeks ago, however, we found ourselves in Georgetown, Guyana, in an air-conditioned hotel room with free high speed internet on a Sunday during football season. Our time zone was not so different than Denver time, and the Broncos were playing – OMG - the Boston Patriots! Was this the beginning of a new harmonic convergence? A grand trine? How lucky could I be? Even if it didn't start until 9:30 pm local time, I was up for it.

The only way to 'watch' the game in most other countries is via the internet. Other than the Superbowl, I don't remember ever being in a place in which we could literally watch a Broncos game on TV. Many countries have sports bars with a multitude of TV screens scattered around showing all the favorite sporting events, but rarely does American football make the cut. If you're interested in the local soccer, rugby or cricket game, you're all set, but no NFL games. I guess that's only reasonable – how many people in Denver would stay up till the wee hours to watch the Collingwood Magpies play the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League?

Usually the internet has been too slow or we were paying by the byte, making it far too expensive to try to stream that much data. Instead, we tried to listen to the game on internet radio. In the past, we could listen to KOA radio in Denver and catch the live broadcast. Then, in the post season three years ago, I had rearranged my day, so that I could listen to a Broncos playoff game, Marcie had popped a big bowl of popcorn and I was all primed for the game when I discovered the NFL no longer allowed internet broadcasts of the playoff games. Last year, this extended to the regular season games, and I couldn't find a way to listen to any of the games.

Sure, I could buy an “NFL Season Pass” which would allow me to listen to the game broadcasts, but it is expensive, and we haven't been (and probably won't be) in many places this season that had reasonable internet. I certainly wasn't going to buy the package, so I could watch one game, even if it was the Broncos-Patriots game.

I did find a site that displayed the play-by-play action via a cryptic line of text. Every thirty seconds or so (longer if a timeout was called or a commercial ad was running), a message like “2-10-Den 38 (4:15) 23-R.Hillman left tackle to DEN 42 for 4 yards (97 – A.Branch)” would appear on the screen. It's hard to get excited 'watching' this way. No KOA radio team with color commentary and enthusiastic play-by-play action - no instant replays - no crowd noise... but it was a lot better than nothing.

For the first half, I followed the game while working on a few other things. During the third quarter, I time-shared between play updates and reading on my iPad. During the fourth quarter, and then overtime, I was pretty much glued to the game, waiting patiently for the next play update, cursing the longer delays while a commercial ran. Marcie had long since gone to sleep. It's really hard doing my cheering silently and my fist-pumps and touchdown dances without actually moving, but I managed without waking her. It was a great game, especially since Denver squeaked out the win.

So, soon we'll be in Trinidad. Internet is slow and expensive, and whoever the Broncos are playing, it probably won't be as exciting as the Patriots game. On the other hand, every game is important for the Broncos between now and the playoffs. Maybe I'll just watch a little of it...

The Blue View - Windlass Chain Counter

 

In the last two Blue Views, I talked about our experience with windlass controllers – what worked for us and what didn't and our own version of a handheld controller. In this Blue View, I want to show you how to make a digital chain counter.

The chain counter keeps track of the revolutions of the windlass gypsy, calculates exactly how much chain or rope is deployed, and displays the result in feet or meters on a small LED display. It uses very little power, drawing a few hundred milliamps when operating and only a few milliamps when it's not being used.

I know, I know – if you've never sailed, you probably couldn't care less. If you're an old salt, you're probably thinking “why don't you just mark the chain, ya idgit?”. Well, we do mark the chain, and use the marks as our backup system. We've actually used three different methods to accomplish the job - I talk about the different methods we've used in my book Nine of Cups Guide to Anchors and Anchoring.

I could argue that there are times when the marks are difficult to see, like when the chain is coated in mud or it's a dark and gloomy night - both of which are true. I could also argue that after we are hooked and I go forward to attach the snubber, it's nice to be able to double check, at a glance, that how much chain I think Marcie deployed is actually what's in the water. Probably the biggest reason I built my chain counter, if truth be told however, is that I'm a geek and just really enjoy these projects. Marcie is quite patient as I explain how much easier her job will be and that I'm doing this just for her – or that I can't imagine how we've managed to cruise all these years without whatever I'm planning to build.

The first issue to resolve is how to keep track of the windlass revolutions. If a magnet is passed in close proximity to a magnetic reed switch, the magnetic pull causes the switch contacts to close. By attaching the magnet to the bottom of the windlass gypsy, and attaching the reed switch to the deck or the base of the windlass just below the gypsy, each rotation of the gypsy will pass the magnet over the reed switch, closing its contacts for a few milliseconds.

On our old Maxwell windlass, I had to drill a small indentation in the gypsy bottom in which to mount the magnet. I used Sika bedding compound to hold it in place and seal it from the elements. On our newer Lofrans windlass, a magnet sized dimple just the right size for a magnet was already part of the design. When we replaced the windlass last year, the gypsy came with a magnet already bonded in place.

The reed switch is mounted either in the deck or in the base of the windlass. The maximum gap between the magnet and the reed switch should be about 0.25” (6mm). The Lofrans windlass has a pre-drilled hole in the base that is intended for a reed switch, so all that is necessary is to drill a hole in the deck to pass the wiring through. As with any hole in the deck, the core should be sealed with epoxy to prevent damage. Once the switch and wiring are in place, the entire hole can be sealed with silicone.

The block diagram shows the general design. The handheld enclosure has two pushbutton switches which, when pushed, connect 12 vdc to the 'Up' or the 'Down' terminals of the windlass motor controller. The reed switch contacts are connected to one of the microcontroller input pins. The microcontroller knows that each time the reed switch contacts close, the gypsy has made one revolution, and from this, can calculate how many feet or meters of rode have been deployed. Since the microcontroller cannot tell which way the gypsy is rotating, it also checks whether the 'Up' button is being pushed. If the gypsy is rotating and the 'Up' button is depressed, the chain is being retrieved. If the gypsy is rotating and the 'Up' button is not depressed, the chain must be going out.

The display is a three digit, 8 segment LED display. Since the LEDs draw a measurable amount of current, the display is turned off when the windlass has not been operated for about five minutes.

All in all, this was a pretty simple design, and we have been using it for about four years now. Generally, I am happy with it, but I plan to do a couple of things differently in the next version. First, the LED display in the current version is quite bright in low ambient light, but hard to read in bright sunlight. I will replace it with a backlit, daylight readable LCD display which should make it more visible in either the bright sun or at night. Also, with all the new technology now available, I plan to make the handheld module wireless and battery-powered, eliminating the cable. It should be pretty straightforward to incorporate matching 90mhz – 2.4 ghz radio transceivers in the handheld module and in the control module mounted in the forepeak locker.

For those of you who are interested in building your own windlass controller and chain counter, I am happy to provide the design details for the current version – just send us an email requesting them. Alternatively, if you aren't in a hurry, I plan to build the next version during the first few months of 2016, and should have all the design details available soon after. (I'd start working on it now, but I can't seem to find the right LCD display and RF Transceivers at the hardware store here in Bartica, Guyana – go figure.)

The Blue View - Handheld Windlass Controller

In the last Blue View, Nine of Cups was in Suriname and I talked about installing foot switches for controlling a windlass, and using a windlass motor control module to reduce the current that passes through the switch contacts. Now we are 50 miles up the Essequibo River in Guyana, anchored off the small town of Bartica. In this BV, I want to address the usefulness of a handheld windlass controller and how to make one.

Navigating the river was a challenge at times. The river has a strong tidal current, and it is necessary to wait until the current is flowing in the right direction before heading upriver. I know this is nothing new to you sailors who grew up sailing in waters with a large tidal swing, but for a guy who grew up in Colorado, it never ceases to amaze me when a river not only flows backwards six out of every twelve hours, but does so with great enthusiasm. The river is quite muddy, making it impossible to pick out shoals and rocks visually. In addition, the electronic charts are off by several hundred feet, and most of the channel markers have long since disappeared. Finally, the local fishermen use long nets, either stretched between poles stuck in the river or between an anchored float and their small dugout fishing boats. Our trip up the river had to correspond to the tidal swings, but had to be in daylight as well. We anchored offshore the first night, a few miles up the river on the second night, and made it to Bartica during the flood tide on the following day.

The river is quite muddy, and every time we haul the anchor, it and the chain come up coated with thick grey mud and clay. Our Boss anchor pulls up great gooey globs of the stuff. Rather than getting the mud all over the deck and down into the chain locker, Marcie uses the deck wash and hose to wash the mud off as the chain comes up. She leans over the bow pulpit, raises the anchor a few feet, and sprays the exposed chain until the mud is washed off, then repeats the process. Unfortunately, in this position, she can't reach the windlass foot switch with her toe.

Our handheld windlass controller makes her job easier and faster. She can lean over the bow pulpit with the hose sprayer in one hand, while controlling the windlass with the other. When we have a lot of chain out and the mud is thick, raising the anchor might take a half hour using the foot switches, while the handheld controller might knock ten minutes off the process. Notice that we still have the foot switches mounted in the deck. If either the foot switch or the handheld controller stops working, the other remains as a backup.

The handheld controller is nothing more than a SPDT rocker switch mounted in a small palm-sized enclosure and connected to the windlass motor control module with a long, three conductor cable. The cable is long enough to reach from the motor controller to the bow. One switch contact connects 12vdc to the 'Up' connection on the motor control module and the other contact connects 12vdc to the 'Down' connection. Since the current required for these connections is less than 5 amps,(typically 3 amps) for our Lofrans windlass motor control module, the switches and wiring can both be small. I used a waterproof Cole Hersee “Contura” rocker switch from West Marine (C-H Pt. No. 58332-22-BP). I store the handheld controller in a small bin mounted in the forepeak locker when not in use to keep it out of the elements for most of its life.

In the next Blue View, I'll talk about our chain counter. It's not difficult to add a small display and some circuitry to the handheld controller so that Marcie can see how much chain is in the water as we drop or raise anchor. Marcie may disagree, but for you fellow sailor-geeks out there, it just doesn't get much more entertaining than that.