Arwen's meanderings

Hi everyone and welcome to my dinghy cruising blog about my John Welsford designed 'navigator' named Arwen. Built over three years, Arwen was launched in August 2007. She is a standing lug yawl 14' 6" in length. This blog records our dinghy cruising voyages together around the coastal waters of SW England.
Arwen has an associated YouTube channel so visit www.YouTube.com/c/plymouthwelshboy to find our most recent cruises and click subscribe.
On this blog you will find posts about dinghy cruising locations, accounts of our voyages, maintenance tips and 'How to's' ranging from rigging standing lug sails and building galley boxes to using 'anchor buddies' and creating 'pilotage notes'. I hope you find something that inspires you to get out on the water in your boat. Drop us a comment and happy sailing.
Steve and Arwen

Wednesday, 4 January 2012

new splashproof Aquabourne windup radio for Arwen

I also had another really useful Christmas present from my sister in law and her husband......a lovely Aquabourne wind up/solar 2 band am/fm radio....which is splash proof.



Now I have for sometime been getting rather frustrated and confused in the boat. Occasionally I like to listen to the radio especially on my longer passages and up until now I have had to use my mobile phone. This is fine but it requires me using headphones and so I then can’t hear any radio messages properly from my handheld VHF. Apart from which, don’t you find that constant mini earphones in your ears start to make them burn after a time – or maybe it is just me frying my brains! And worse still....sometimes I can’t quite work out whether the voice I’m hearing is from the radio or from the VHF which makes listening to dramas on the radio ....a confusing experience .......because they are interlaced with weather reports, people doing CH16 voice checks and on occasions the inane twittering conversations of idiots conversing on CH16 instead of some other one.
There are some huge advantages to this new radio addition to Arwen’s inventory!

• It never needs batteries, having an integrated solar charging panel, compact folding winding handle and the ability to charge it by USB (cable supplied)

• Apparently it is energy efficient and thus will work for a long time on low amounts of energy (highly environmentally friendly and cost effective)

• Thanks to a 14 inch extendable and adjustable aerial it has fantastic reception – I am genuinely really impressed with it

• It has a 3 high power LED torch built in and an alarm clock.

• You can charge up iPods, phones etc using the crank handle

• It’s a nice compact design and lightweight

• After 1 hour of charging in sunlight radio will work for 20 – 30 minutes; works for 7 – 9 hours when fully charged.

• It has a robust, tough feel to it – the build quality seems good and it has a rubber coating which feels grippy


It does take a little winding I must say. The old wrist starts to give up after a while especially if you crank it at the recommended three turns per second. However, it is a minor niggle. I’m well chuffed with this little gadget and can’t wait to road test it on Arwen’s next trip

Steve



2 comments:

katherine493 said...

Hi,

Im thinking about buying this radio and your blog came up in a search... just wondered how does the phone charge thing work - does it come with all the connectors you need? (I have a nokia!)

Thanks

Katherine

steve said...

hi Katherine - it doesn't come with connectors. I have't charged phone on it as i use a power monkey for that....sorry not much help here.

steve