Arduino Uno + Grove = Ultimate Boat Sensor

We've been pretty busy on the boat front lately but nothing solid yet.  Still working on all aspects.

On another front, I've been working on the ultimate boat sensor setup.  I've combined an Arduino Uno and a Grove Base Shield along with the following sensors:
1) Real Time Clock

2) MQ-5 Gas Sensor (LPG, NG, little alcohol..)
3) Barometer
4) Temp and Humidity
5) MQ-2 Gas Sensor (LPG, i-butane, alcohol)
6) Compass
7) I2C Chain (Can use up to 7 I2C devices)
8) Compass
9) Moisture Meter
10) Air Quality Sensor (Carbon Monoxide,..)
11) Light Sensor
12) 2 Relays
13) Motor Control for 2 small motors
14) GPS  (Backup, location/time for logging data)

All the sensors are from Seeed Studio purchased from EpicTinker.com.  The Arduino has a USB port so all the sensors will output a NEMA0183 type sentence which can be read from any MFD or software.  Should be fun.  Future enhancements will be motion detector and maybe a touch sensor and WiFi.  The Arduino is a lot of fun to work with and uses very little juice so we may have a few more for other things???

This should cover a lot of thing that might go wrong on the boat but also monitor our environment as we travel through uncharted territory.

Finished "The Ice Master" book last week, very well done, recommended reading.

Cheers,
LJ

Preparing for Arctic Sailing

In preparation for our Arctic sailing adventure, I've been putting together a list of books on the subject and reading what's available on the web.  I've read a few over the years, my favorite is actually Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing.  I know it's an Antarctic adventure but I hold it as one of the most amazing pieces of seamanship ever accomplished.  Captain Bligh is of course is my other.  Another of my favorites is the story of Dave & Jaja Martin's arctic journey chronicled in their book, Into the Light.

The biggest thing I take away from all the books is that the more prepared you are, the better your journey will be.  I guess this should be obvious but so many of the polar expeditions left ill prepared and equipped, it's astonishing.  The thrill of leaving and the adventure ahead left many men in fates still unknown.

I'm lucky in that we have over two years to get our act together.  My list so far is outlined below, any additions or suggestions appreciated!  I'll go over each of these in separate posts to get as many eyes on them as possible so as not to miss anything.

Boat - Getting the best possible yacht within budget to complete the trip.
Navigation - Charts, Radar, GPS, AIS, Ice reports, Weather Reports.
Clothing - Foul weather gear, layers, gloves, boots, hats, goggles.
Sustainability - Heating, provisions, water making, fuel, sails.
Schooling - Home school activities for kids.
Science - Preparing for experiments and data recording while sailing.
Research - Being ready by learning from past voyages.
Communications - Regular tracking, voice, data, email and emergency.
Safety - Life raft, ditch bag, life jackets, survival suits, comms.
Backup - Parts, systems, etc.
Admin - Insurance, regulations, medical and visas.
Crew - Selection!

LJ

Two possible names and software dev

We've narrowed the new name down to Ice Monkey or Arctic Monkey.  I guess we're going to wait until we've purchased the actual boat and have spent some time on her before we make the final decision.

On the last post I told of purchasing the OpenROV kit.  I've now completed my software development environment setup.  It consists of Ubuntu 12.10, Eclipse IDE, the Arduino IDE, g++ and gambas for the kids. Most of my mods for the project will be C++ apps to control and read sensors.  I plan to add temp and photo sensors to record sea water temps and water clarity to the ROV.  The founders of OpenROV also have a sea water sampling module that would be fun to add.

Best,
LJ

Underwater searching

One of the most fun things we did while on our last sailing trip was to explore underwater.  Zetty and I are both have our PADI rescue diver certifications.  Our kids are fascinated with swimming and all things that go with it.  That said, I wondered how we could accomplish this while in the cold of the Arctic.  A little searching on the web and I think I've found the perfect solution.  A homemade ROV was my first thought but after looking at many designs, I knew that there was not enough time.  Then I stumbled upon the super cool OpenROV Project.  This looks like the perfect project for the kids and I to put together   We've already made a few projects from the www.makershed.com including our latest, Tiny Wanderer Complete Kit.  These kits are not terribly hard to build and its a good father daughter team exercise.  As the OpenROV project uses much of the same computing hardware, I thought it could be a good match.  I've ordered the kit and anxiously await its arrival.  I concur with the project's founder's that it could really bring underwater exploration to the masses. Who knows, maybe we'll be the ones to find Roald Amundsen's lost plane!

I'm back, staying in contact

OK, I'm back.  Skiing was great, ready to go again with the kids next week.

Most of the people we've told that we're going on a sailing trip asked, "Can we track you?"  On our last circumnavigation, we updated a website when we could.  It turns out that was few and far between.  It was costly, time consuming and difficult.  This time around, the Blue Planet Odyssey will have trackers in all the boats.  I've looked into a few and here's the list I've narrowed it down to:

1) DeLorme - inReach
2) Briartek - Cerberus Cyberlink
3) Spot - SPOT Connect
4) Iridium - Extreme 9575 or 9555

I'm still putting together yet another spreadsheet on costs, coverage, installation issues etc.  I'll post a link as soon as I'm done.

Boat search is going well, waiting for more information on a few select yachts.  Zetty is working hard on the home schooling and we've started to experiment on menu's in the pressure cooker that the kids will eat!

Cheer's,
LJ

Name change most likely

So after Zetty previewed the blog, she asked, "when did we decide to call a new boat, Chunk Monkey?"  OK, I may have jumped the gun on that one but we do both like Chunky Monkey ice cream.  The Shannon is named "Monkey's Orphan" after her father Fireball.  A Monkey's Orphan was a boy on board in the Royal Navy who played a fiddle to keep time for hauling etc.  Zetty's suggestion of "Ice Monkey" fit the bill and I like it too.  Soooo watch for the blog to change names in the future.

I'm putting together my "Boat Survey" spreadsheet which will compare all the boats we're looking at and their various features, equipment etc.  Hopefully this will give us a good comparison between them so we can come up with a logical choice.  All of them are going to need a little work to get ready for high lat sailing so we're trying to get going this summer if possible.

No posts for the next couple of days, on the sticks in VAIL until Monday!

The Crew

Today a little about the Morgan "Crew" that will be making the journey.  My wife, Zetty, and I have three children, Zoe (6), Leah (4) and Rose (1) .  As noted, the kids are pretty young now, which is why we are going to opt for the 2015 passage.  By then Zoe will be 9, Leah 6 1/2, and Rosie will be 4.  They should be able bodied sea-women by then!  They have two Opti's to practice their "long" distance sailing in between now and 2015.

Zoe and Lou (LJ)

I was born and raised in Oconomowoc, WI USA.  I started sailing when I was about 6 years old and have never looked back.  I've competed mainly in the I.L.Y.A scow classes, X, M-16,C,E and A during my career.  My father, Lou Sr., was a huge sailor, and many of our family vacations as kids landed us in the Caribbean on various charter yachts.  In 1986 my mother and father purchased a Nautor's Swan 43.  For the next 12 years we plied the Caribbean islands and then ventured across the Atlantic to the Med.  I was hooked on long distance sailing!  In 1997, my father decided to retire and fulfill his life long dream of circumnavigating.  He again went to Finland and bought a Swan 57RS for the trip.  That's a picture of her during our visit to Antarctica in 1999 in the blog background.  We started the Millennium Odyssey, (MO), in London and finished back in our home port of Falmouth Harbor, Antigua in 2000.  I met my wife on that trip and after returning home, before kids, we purchased a Shannon 43 Ketch to keep our cruising up on the Great Lakes.  All told, I think I must have about 60,000 ocean miles under my belt.  I am a member of the Royal Ocean Racing Club.  Our route on the MO took us around Cape Horn, to Antarctica and around Cape of Good Hope so we did a fair amount of high latitude sailing.  My wife and I think that was the best part of that whole trip and hence our decision for the Northwest Passage.

Leah and Zetty

Lisette, better known as Zetty, is from Lyndhurst, in the U.K.  She also grew up in a sailing family, more so than mine.  They spent many summers in Poole Harbor  sailing Cadet's, Wayfarer's and Red Fox's.  Zetty's father Paul Boot, was the founder of Red Fox Yachts.  When Zetty was eighteen, her parents reluctantly let her sail across the Atlantic as one of two crew on a 28ft boat and she was hooked.  She spent a summer as a Bosun's Mate on the Tall Ship Lord Nelson.  We met in London just before the start of the MO in '98.  She was crew aboard Happy Spirit, an Ocean 60, a boat owned by her friend Liz's father.  Zetty joined the Risque crew 4 months later.  Zetty currently campaigns her MC Scow here in Oconomowoc on Lac La Belle.

Rose