A very productive time late last night and today…
First, at about 2am I got the AIS/GPS information coming from the new radio I installed into the network, and now I have another (better) source for GPS, and can now see commercial ships on our laptop/phones and our chart plotting programs when they’re in the area.
A quick explanation of ais…
The Automatic Identification System (AIS) is an automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel tracking services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels by electronically exchanging data with other nearby ships, AIS base stations, and satellites. When satellites are used to detect AIS signatures then the term Satellite-AIS (S-AIS) is used. AIS information supplements marine radar, which continues to be the primary method of collision avoidance for water transport.
Information provided by AIS equipment, such as unique identification, position, course, and speed, can be displayed on a screen. It can look up vessels via the Internet to give pictures and other information. The biggest thing is it can set off an alarm when we’re going to be too close to another vessel, see what their speed, range and heading so we can take action to navigate safely. Very cool with a geek factor of about 9.1.
Next,
I replaced the exhaust mixing elbow on the diesel this morning. This should help keep the engine cool and prevent water from coming into the engine via the exhaust… (bad)
Here’s what the part looks like by itself…
Here’s what it looks like when installed on an engine…
