The current Kuredu is a 2004 Meridian 381 Motor Yacht. Meridian is one of the Brunswick boat builders group and is the larger vessels which were previously in the Maxum and Bayliner lineups.

The 381 will sleep 6 (grow-up) people quite comfortably in two staterooms and a fold-away sleeper in the salon. The galley is equipped with two basins, gas cook-top, a side-by-side freezer and fridge and microwave. The head has a separate shower with a neat tub for the occasional bath, if you feel like one, and a vacuflush toilet.

She is equipped with two 270hp turbocharged Cummins 6 cylinder diesels, which do a good job of effortlessly pushing her along. Typical cruise is around 21 knots (24 mph or 38 kmh) which is quite fast for a boat her size. Electronics wise she has two depth sounders and we currently use a Garmin 286C plotter GPS with the local Bluechart marine charts for primary electronic navigation. The plan is to install Garmins new 3010 plotter and radar system some time later.

The dingy is a Titan 320 RIB (10' 6") with a new lightweight 4-stroke Mercury 9.9hp outboard. We also have a Honda 2000i generator on board if we need electricity while out at anchor. The Honda will power anything on board as long as we do not run the hot water heater and the microwave at the same time.

Here are the publicity shots of the Meridian 381. The exterior:

And the interior. Kuredu has the second helm option below which replaces the dinette.

March 2006 - Kuredu gets a dink.

We have been without a dinghy (or "dink", as we have got to call it) since new. We have been doing a bunch of homework on this and finally decided on a RIB. I wanted an Avon 320 hypalon with 10 year warrantee. But I discovered, on the day that I went to buy it at the boat show in Vancouver, that the warrantee was ONLY on the material, not the hull, seams, glue etc.  "So", I asked the guy, "I could end up with a perfectly good heap of hypalon in my back yard in 5 years?". "Yes". "then why pay double for this?" "Well, if you live in the tropics......yada, yada, yada...".

So I shopped around some more and bought a PVC Titan 320 for half the price. And it came with a carry bag, cover, seat bag etc. I felt this was good value for money and friends who have them has had no trouble and loved them.

Here we are measuring up for the install. Kuredu does not have her name on yet...

..and then the davits - Weaver arcs stern and bow. I did not like the glue pads on the tubes - it just looks sloppy when a tube looses a little air and the whole dink limps on the back. With the arcs there is no pressure on the tubes and the boat lies horizontal. This also allws us to fit the Seawise motor lift (one of these weekends!).

And also in March 2005 - She gets her name put on!

The printing was done by Jensen Signs in North Vancouver and they did an excellent job. Thanks Steven.

June/July 2006 - Kuredu 3 upgrades

I have added Caframo fans to both staterooms. The admiral has veto'ed one in the salon but since the 381 has a fan which draws in fresh air from outside, I gave her this one (yea, right, I had a choice....) These are great for boats, fold almost flat against the wall when not used, draws 0.4 amps and has a 2,4,6,8 hour timer and three speeds. I pulled the entire inside starboard side of the boat apart trying to figure out a way to run power to the fans. Of course I left the forward stateroom for last and when I unscrewed the back panels of the cupboard, there they were, neatly bundled with a TV antenna - a great set of power cables! Intended for the 12V TV no doubt. They are pretty beefy so I have connected both fans to the same pair.It was easy enough to pass a set of wires back to the mid stateroom.

The second project for the month was installing the GPSMAP 3210. I had mounted the radar dome a few weeks ago so now it was the GPS antenna and the display and then connecting the whole bunch together.

Again I pulled off every cover and panel. Remembering the hassle I had getting power to the rear spotlight, I was going to make sure I knew what to do before I started this time. Again I left the center panel, into which the display was going to be mounted, for last and again - there they were - a perfect set of power cables, this time intended for the Auto-pilot, which I don't intend adding. Not only were the wires right there, this also gave me a power switch for the whole setup.

First step was to decided if the GPS antenna was going to be flush or pole mounted. The pole would look kinda cool but would need a wedge to stand up straight and would be something wich could break off. Also, I figured that, since the GPSMAP 276 had excellent signal from underneath the bimini, this one would be just fine above it. Since there was already a flush mount satilite antenna on port side (the Sirius radio) it made sense to balance it with a flush mount on starboard. (OK, I forgot the damn pole at home but that has NOTHING to do with the decision!). So, I removed the courtesy light, drilled a hole and fed the cable. The feed from the base of the radar arch to the console was tricky last time, so I pulled some of the (very long) radar cable back through the hole, taped the gps cable to it and pulled it back.

First I test-connected the whole bunch up and made sure everything works. What an amazing sight when that monitor powers up and finds signal! Even the radar worked first shot. Garmin really got this right for an electronics idiot like me. Everything plugged right in where it was supposed to and all connections and cables were clearly marked and coded.

The center panel fits over a hole in the glassed console, which is quite a bit smaller than the panel. Since it's about an inch thick, I really did not want to cut or resize it. The 3210 was a very tight squeeze with about a millimeter gap either side. Fortunately Anneline was helping (the brainy one in the family) and she suggested we first trace the hole on the back of the panel, which we did (thankfully!). We then traced the cut-out template on the back with a Sharpie, drilled each corner and started to jig-saw. The plastic dust made it impossible to see the trace so I ducktaped the outline for visibility. It was a very tight fit. Then we fastened everything and replaced the panel. Re-tested and everything miraculously still worked. I have also connected the VHF to the 3210 so we now have true DSC calling available and in the event of a distress, our position will be transmitted to the Coast Guard at the same time. The radio NEMA cables were nicely labelled and the Garmin installation guise was spot-on, so the connection was a breeze. Again, a very satisfying moment to see the position appear on the VHF screen!