So I picked up the battery (gel AGM type) at West Marine this afternoon, and hooked it up into the electrical system… and bingo! The autopilot humms and whirrs, the pushrod activated by command. Cell phones charge from the cig lighter, and the solar panels, well, they don’t do very much, but I have every reason to believe they are working too.
The autopilot has a nice home at the aft end of the cockpit, safely tucked away when not in use. I bolted a metal strap onto the undersurface so that I could shockcord a hook to hold it in the boat. THAT would be an expensive splash!
I’ve started loading gear and food into the boat, and found that the beach rollers (think 7 ft by 1 ft yellow inflatable fenders) used to launch the boat from the above-the-high-water-line start tuck nicely under the aft deck and in one of the storage benches. They will be inflated once stored, to provide reserve bouyancy. The anchor, evicted from its tupperware box forward to make space for the battery, has a new nylon bag which is lashed securely to the floor of the cockpit.
I tried out the new bivy sack… man is it nice! It has a pole which keeps the bug or gore-tex liner up and off your face while sleeping. Sweet setup. Hoa will get that one, and I will use the basic model.