Absent Minded

Vero Beach, FL
No LL

Look at the nice job we did this morning making a new bail for our bucket. The new bail is made of a piece of #6AWG copper wire. It should be much more corrosion resistant than the steel bail was. I'm rather proud of it.

I finished the bilge project today and I also installed new hoses and hose clamps for the cockpit drains.

Last week, while working on the shaft, I noticed a bit of copper foil coming down from the Lazarette. It had corroded away where it ran through salt water under the engine pan. Uh oh.

The copper foil is used to create a ground plane for the SSB radio antenna and tuner. More than just grounding the tuner, the antenna (our backstay) should have a grounded plane underneath it. That is accomplished with copper foil. It comes in a roll, about 15 cm wide and 2mm thick. It is grounded to the dynaplate under the hull, but it is routed back and forth to make a ground plane.

I had replaced the copper foil a few years ago, so I was greatly disappointed to see it corrode away so fast. I bought some materials to replace it again. Today, we emptied out the lazarette to gain access. Lo and behold, there was the fresh copper foil ground plane.

I was wrong. The corroded fragment I found was a remnant of the original copper. I had forgotten that the new copper foil is routed elsewhere to keep it out of water. I also forgot that I left the stub of the old foil in place to let it extend the ground plane a little. Should I call that absent minded or feeble minded of me?