Automated Battery Compartment Cooling with ESPHome and Home Assistant
We needed active ventilation in our battery compartment, not just passive airflow. This post covers what we built and how it works.…
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Starlink Changed the Roaming Rules. Here's How We're Handling It Aboard Sabado
If you cruise internationally and lean on Starlink to stay connected, the rules just changed underneath you. In this post, we discuss what changed, what we're doing about it, and what it's going to cost us.…
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Sailing from New Zealand to Fiji: Our 8-Day Offshore Passage
On day 8, we caught our first glimpse of land. Ray hoisted the Q flag, and we were relieved to see the current finally dissipate. We raised the sails for the final couple of hours of the passage and happily traded our sweatpants and socks for shorts and sunscreen.…
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One Last Week in NZ: We're Fiji Bound!
I have to admit, I felt a little nervous when I first saw them speeding toward us. Memories of being chased out of perfectly legal anchorages in French Polynesia came flooding back...…
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Electronic Logbooks & Digital Watchkeeping: Modernizing Maritime Reporting on Sabado
Paper logbooks have limits. You cannot search, graph, or automatically populate them with data from onboard instruments while on watch at 2AM. We built a digital system that complements paper records by pulling data from Home Assistant and Signal K into a verified, practical reporting workflow.…
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A Stormy Week on Anchor
The wind continued to build on Monday, hitting 40kn+. We could hear the wind whistling through the rigging, and felt the boat vibrate... (read more)…
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Back in Our Element: Life After the Refit
Right on schedule, the wind began to build Saturday night. I was restless, listening to it whistle through the rigging as gusts reached 30+ knots. We're still building trust in our new ground tackle and alarm system... (read more)…
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From Refit to Reality
After months of planning, installing, troubleshooting, and problem-solving, there’s something deeply satisfying about seeing all the pieces finally working together exactly as they were designed to. Below is our new YouTube video... (read more)…
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232 Days Later: Back to Boat Life
If we could go back in time, we would have started this refit with more realistic expectations. While there are plenty of specialty stores and highly skilled tradespeople here, that does not... (read more)…
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