Contrary to some people’s belief (John Grubbs :), Lazy W does not get its name from the work habits of her Admiral or Captain. Rather it is a reference to the constellation Cassiopeia, the Lazy W. Cassiopeia was our first choice for a boat name but neither of us wanted to have to spell that mouthful (actually we could not spell it!!) when making marina reservations over the VHF, thus Lazy W.
And now, by popular request, here is some information on Lazy W for the engineers in the reading audience.
Questions have arisen concerning the electronics onboard. Here is a quick rundown of the electronics at the upper helm.
Port side electronics
Furuno Echo Sounder Fish Finder (LS-6100) – gives us water depth, latitude/longitude position, speed, and course. However, the speed gauge never registers above 0.0 knots thus confirming my opinion that Lazy W is indeed a very slow boat!
Standard Horizon GPS/Chart Plotter (CP390i) – new for this trip. Has now developed an attitude – when turned on it freezes up, beeps and won’t allow itself to be turned off! The Admiral has to go below and turn off the bridge circuit breakers. The Captain then makes many attempts to cajole it into restarting which it eventually does. Many phone calls to tech support over the past few weeks. Each time a software update is loaded the chart plotter develops new problems. She was sent on a cross-country trip to CA for repairs and when she returned she was still not working correctly. We are still dealing with her issues and with tech support.
Also visible are the bow thruster joy stick and the engine gear shift controls.
Starboard side electronics
JRC LCD Color Radar Plotter 1800 – held up our departure from
Throttle Controls (red knobs)
Furuno Nav Pilot – our last boat, Sea Venture, did not have auto pilot capabilities. We have grown to love this feature of Lazy W.
Datamarine Depth Gauge – probably original equipment. It is a repeater gauge for the lower helm equipment.
We have a Standard Horizon DSC VHF Radio (not visible) and a Danforth Constellation compass (recently reworked by W.T. Brownley).
Center helm – the many gauges we monitor throughout the cruise
Now for the main plant!!! All of this is underneath the salon floor. This is Frank’s territory – the comments are his.
Here is the through cabin sole access – provided by a re-worked aluminum stepladder:
Of course once you are in the Engine Room, you can see, smell and hear all sorts of equipment:
· Battery switch
· 8D Batteries
· Halon Engine Room Fire Extinguisher
· Inverter
· Aft head plumbing :-)
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· Gulf Fuel Oil polishing filter
· Top of Port Lehman engine
· Racor primary Fuel oil Filters
· Air Conditioning water hoses
· Main Engine Sea
· Sound enclosure for the 10kw generator
· Hot Water Heater
· Fresh Water Filter, gage and pressure switch
· Fuel Oil Supply Manifold
· Overboard Discharge lines with siphon breakers
· Generator Battery Selector Switch
· The forward air conditioner controls
· The Reverse Osmosis water maker
· More overboard discharge lines
The main engines are Ford/Lehman diesels. These naturally aspirated engines are the same displacement as the Yanmar engines on our previous boat, Sea Venture, about twice the weight and half the horsepower!!!! They are fine for propelling the Lazy W at hull speed (8 knots). At hull speed we get about 2 nautical miles per gallon (half the fuel consumption of Sea Venture). However, efficiency declines when the Admiral wants to water ski, and we push her to the blazing speed of 9 or 10 knots. Lazy W rolls more than Sea Venture - largely due to hull shape. The hull flattens aft and she has chines which help her roll less than other boats we considered.
She carries 500 gallons of fuel (ouch!), 250 gallons of water, a huge quantity of food and alcohol plus the two of us!!!
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