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Originally posted by hlprmnky

I ended up not getting my boat in the water at all last season, but now she is in her slip with the following items from my 2021 list completed:
- Halyard sheaves and halyards replaced (also reefing line, Genoa sheets, and furling drum line)
- Original DC service panel replaced with new one from CD to add some more accessory switches
- Electric bilge pump installed
- Tiller pilot installed (this past Sunday)
- Knotmeter/log paddlewheel replaced
- Interior and exterior (barring the nooks and crannies in the back of the dumpster/transom area) deep cleaned

In addition, I’ve realized I don’t require a vented loop on the tank side of the head, since the tank has no outlet other than a deck pump out fitting (she’s a Great Lakes boat), the tablet mount is actually the right size and just needed different little tabs that I got off Amazon for $8 last winter, and all the additional deck hardware to add more control lines to the cockpit is unneeded at least for now, since I can set my reefing line up to work as a single-line system and then I just have the main halyard, so my two blocks/two-line organizer/two clutches is sufficient.

I do still have a couple small projects I want to tackle during the season, adding some LED strip lighting in the cabin and installing the Origo alcohol cooker in the spot where the old pressurized one used to be, but right now the Puffin III is in excellent shape for the season.

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Originally posted by hlprmnky

I got the Lunasea LLB-453M-01-K5 full kit, that comes with a 15’ RGB LED strip, an IR remote, a controller/IR receiver, and a bit of three-strand 12V wire (why three-strand? No idea). It was slightly discounted at my local chandlery and seemed like a good way to go from zero to Party Boat.
As for how easy to install, that remains to be seen! The strip itself is quite sturdy and heavyweight; I bought some fancy double-sided tape from Amazon on the theory that support along the entire strip would be good but it’s only really working on straight runs, so I will probably return the tape and get a grip of 3M Command strips to secure the LED strip at various points.
The biggest challenge is that the IR receiver/controller has a 12V barrel plug but there’s no matching end to attach to the wires. I’m going to contact the manufacturer tomorrow and see what the deal is there; I am entirely prepared to believe that my local chandlery got the unit returned and restocked it without knowing that there was a critical bit missing, but maybe I’m supposed to source my own barrel plug of unknown diameter and polarity (nothing like that is documented on the “install instructions”), which would make me feel much less good about spending almost a hundred bucks for Party Boat status.
Finally, 15’ of LED strip is not _quite_ enough to reach all the way from the galley, around the front of the saloon, back to the quarter berth. I got a second reel of just the LED lights and each one has a connector on either end. I plan to run that back the rest of the way down the starboard side to at least the quarter berth. The receiver says that it’s not recommended to drive more than 5m of LED but I don’t mind trying it out just to see what happens.
Once I have the install completed (or abandoned!) I will report back and present some photos. I really can’t recommend such an expensive toy until I’m sure it works well.

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