Are you sitting comfortably?

I came out of our house the other day to find Kit giving a lecture on Greek mythology to a passing lycra clad cyclist who had stopped to ask some directions. This seemed a little odd until I realised that the lycra was branded up with Garmin logos and this unsuspecting cyclist (and senior Garmin employee) was actually being told ALL about Calypso. To be fair he did seem pretty interested - who knows that chance meeting could be the beginning of a great relationship!

The Taming of the Screw

If I'm honest, the science behind the fine tuning of propellers has always been a bit beyond me. I remember on our last boat Silurian there was a lot of cursing and filing down, refitting and more cursing to do with the propeller. This time, I'm determined to get my head around it a bit better and it seems the hybrid engine might provide that opportunity. One of the main things which put us off the hybrid engine in the beginning was that we understood (wrongly) that in order to generate electricity the propeller would need to be in a permanently fixed position thus slowing the boat down. This was immediately dismissed as a no-no, just not something a Rogers would willingly sign up to! After Graeme Hawksley's visit from Hybrid Marine it became apparent that we could actually fit a feathering prop (one that slips into a streamlined position when the boat is sailing forward) which could be forced into a generating position (non streamlined) when we wanted to generate electricity from the prop - ie not during a race. After a little research it seems that the prop for the job is an 18" Featherstream propeller made by a local company called Darglow Marine. The exciting news is that Darglow Marine are keen to use Calypso as a test bed for props working with hybrid engines - I can feel a deal more cursing, filing and refitting ahead! At least we'll have the experts helping us.

The hybrid donkey arrives

Much excitement this week as the hybrid engine arrived courtesy of Graeme Hawksley at Hybrid Marine. As we come to terms with how much power our system (including propeller, wind turbines and solar panels) should be able to pump out we are realising that we have to rethink the whole way we develop Calypso. The latest debate has involved how to cook, now we're thinking of ditching the idea of gas and going electric instead. We can boil water efficiently using a quooker (a clever little immersion heater) and we're even thinking of having a microwave! That might sound extravagent on a 32 foot boat but if we're creating the energy ourselves it could be the way to go and certainly electric is a lot safer than gas on a boat.

Bonding

Easter holidays are upon us (at least they're upon Fiona and me), Jeremy and Kit are mostly found down at the yard "bonding", that's sticking bits of bulk head in and other structural stuff and generally creating the internal layout of the boat. Much progress has been made, the deck has been fitted and come off again, the water tank is in place, the electric cables are all run and the boys are able to see where their bunks will be. As the boat progresses the list of "stuff" inevitably grows and one of our main jobs is researching suppliers to verify their environmental credentials - something we are doing with help from the Green Blue. Yesterday, old friend and low carbon guru Mukti Mitchell got in touch and is going to show me how to calculate Calypso's carbon footprint. Hopefully there is a section which factors in low energy father and son bonding!