Debbie with her friend Jo in 1993
Debbie with her friend Jo in 1993

The last day at Harnser for a while with Steve evaluating and connecting up electronic navigation systems; instrumental and computer. Another late night reading up on operating manuals after phoning home to find Debbie recovered and Diana still unwell

I was very late to bed again last night and then slow to rise this morning. Steven slept better on board The Paxton Princess and then came ashore to cook a nice fried breakfast for us both before I took Sam for a walk. It was a fine sunny day again, but I did not make much progress and got very little done. I did survey the boat electronics and documentation and worked out that it would be a devil of a job to connect all the systems that I had intended at the same time. After taking advice on the telephone, I opted to eventually install the Navstar 2000I interface so as to have NMEA 183 control over the Autohelm 6000 Autopilot and have the Navstar MkIII 2000P Electronic Chart Plotter and Yeoman Plotter on line during voyages.

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This meant that I would have to use the Wayplan computer off-line for course planning only, but I would have better control on the boat. Later, Steve and I washed down the outside of the boat and removed a winter's grime from building off of it. Although they had their back-up memories discharged, all the boat's basic systems seem to be working fine for the season ahead. After Steve had left, I sat down and read the operating manuals for the boat systems to work out just how I would update the chart data and organise things. This meant another late night. I had spoken to Mary, Diana and Daniel on the telephone today. Diana is still getting over her cold and Debbie is back at school after having had three days off school with hers! Not much time for Sam today but he continues to get steadier but will still run after Doris Vincent when he spots her!