More Modifications

After the trip to the Broads we now have another list of further modifications we would like to make to Naughty-Cal. We should point out however that the boat performed faultlessly for the whole fortnight, despite being put into some situations beyond here design capabilities.

The first modification is to the navigation gear. We have a Raymarine Tridata ST60 which shows the speed over water, water depth, water temperature, trip data etc. And we also have a Raymarine chart plotter which amongst other things shows us the speed over ground. The difference between the SOW and SOG is the tide strength. The trouble we have is that the chart plotter screen is quite small and the SOG is displayed in the top corner of the screen in quite small text. It is obviously preferable to see where you are going rather than how fast you are going. So we intend to add a second ST60 screen to show the SOG data. This will include some minor wiring and drilling holes in the dashboard but there is a neat area on the dash where we can place the new unit.

Next up we intend to fit a chain counter to the anchor winch so that we know how much chain has been deployed. We have marked the chain at 10ft intervals but it is difficult to see them when sending out the chain due to the deck design of the boat. A chain counter fitted to the dashboard will instantly tell us how much chain we have sent out and how much is left to pull back in. We thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon at anchor so fully intend to do it again sometime soon, most probably during the August bank holiday weekend.

Finally the OH has decided that he quite likes sea fishing, so we are going to add a couple of stainless steel rod holders to the rear of the boat. These hold the rods so that the angler needn’t be holding them for the whole time he is fishing. It also allows the angler to have multiple rods set at once.

It does seem strange that the more we use Naughty-Cal the more items we find that we need to add to her. It is evident that her previous owners used her for little more than a river cruiser, for which she was perfectly specced, however now we are using her more as a sea boat, her designers intention, more items are being added as we progress to journeys further afield. The planning will soon start for next year’s big trips, but for now we have the bank holiday to look forward to afloat plus trips to Portsmouth and Southampton in the near future.