We sought to strike a balance between what needed to be installed at build stage and what could be added retrospectively.  We were given excellent advice by North Sea Maritime in this regard.

 

We installed at build:

 

· An electronics package that included chartplotter, radar, VHF DSC, Navtex, Autopilot with wind facility;

· Red LED lighting in the aft cabins, galley, chart-table, and aft heads for night sailing;

· Bimini for sun – but very useful in northern rain.

 

We retrofitted:

 

· Eberspacher heating (D5) for the time before heading off - www.eberspacher.com/products/air-heating/airtronic-d5.html ;

· Cockpit tent – for northern climes;

· A couple of inverters for power tools and the laptop;

· Bunk slats from IKEA – Sultan Liared – the best way to cut these to fit is to match them to the bunk cushion layout and the bunk base       panels for ease of access below the bunks;

· Repeater chartplotter (Simrad DS34) in the cockpit – positioned under the sprayhood so everyone can see and you don’t need to go to the helm position to read/operate it;

· Fans (one Hella 155mm 12v at the chart-table and one at the galley, 12v Caframo fans in the cabins);

· Roller-bearing genoa cars with control lines back to the cockpit;

· Wichard Gyb’Easy Boom Brake - www.wichard.com ;

· Preventer from the end of the boom;

· Covers for the hatches to reduce UV degradation;

· A cover for the dinghy to increase its lifespan;

· A hoist for the outboard to prevent chronic backache;

· Stainless steel security grill for the companionway, the two main saloon hatches and for the forecabin, for ventilation plus safety;

· Awning for the foredeck which also has a connector to use with a pipe so it can act as a raincatcher;

· Side panels for the bimini, for those late afternoon and early evening sun-going-down hotspots;

· Backrests on the pushpit for real comfort;

· Racor twin pre-fuel filters that are in parallel so that if one gets bunged with dirt we can quickly switch over to the other and sort out the bunged one later - www.asap-supplies.com ;

· SSB radio (ICOM 801with an SCS PTC II usb Pactor modem) - www.sailcom.co.uk ;

· EPIRB – GME MT403G;

· Windpilot Pacific self-steering - www.windpilot.de ;

· Reading lights in the saloon – a feature introduced later on new OVNIs – www.ecs-marine-equipment.co.uk/marine-equipment/quartz-bulkhead-light-item-18610.html ;

· Compartmentalise the fridge – we had been faced with a choice at build of a large fridge and reduced galley storage or the obverse; we chose a smaller fridge and larger storage because of the need to keep a large fridge full for it to be efficient and it would draw more power, and we also thought more galley storage and bigger working surfaces would suit us best; but the downside of the smaller fridge was that it is positioned at the aft end of the centreboard box and has an unfortunate slope on one side which meant that there was a risk of an avalanche every time you pulled something out from the bottom.  Alubat have got round this by compartmentalising it, as we saw at Southampton Boat Show in September 2008, so some clear Perspex has been inserted to stop the avalanche and enable us to see what is in the fridge;

· Lee cloths in the saloon and the aft cabins;

· Watermaker – Spectra Ventura 150DL, delivering 24 litre per hour, drawing 9 amps (www.spectrawatermakers.com and www.furneauxriddall.com );

· A fourth 90 amp service battery, giving us a 360 amp service bank and a 100 amp engine battery;

· Gas level indicator - www.gaslow.co.uk ;

· A 25kg fishermans anchor;

· A Fortress FX37 anchor www.fortressanchors.com .

 

We also tried to make life easy for ourselves and crew by adding such as:

 

· Fluorescent tape to the mast and the top car of the headsail, so that they aligned at the correct reefing positions – easy to see at night;

· Galley bum straps;

· Blazer 2 million CP spotlight so that we can pick out moorings and scary objects at night from long distances - www.cluson.co.uk/productsMain.aspx?CI_ID=249 ;

· Mosquito nets in the cabins.

 

Needless to say, there’s a whole lot more besides and we will find out what works and what doesn’t … and what we don’t use … and what else we need.

 

The most daunting tasks were fitting the windpilot and the watermaker as they involved cutting holes in the boat.  However, the old adage of “measure twice, cut once” was applied and mistakes were avoided.  In the end both were quite straightforward to fit.  

 

For the watermaker through-hull we bought a ¾” BSP scoop strainer and a Forespar Marelon two-way valve from Aquafax - www.aquafax.co.uk .