2023 07 29
Navigation lights given proper white lights for boats, wide forward and limited stern.

2023 07 30

Lower deck bed and decoration changes. Now both beds are in the first fuel room on opposite sides for semi privacy. Lower cabin given a dining table and 2 more seat.

Max Stormlink passengers now 19

2023 07 30

Spotted that a pipe was just short of the aftmost fuel tank and corrected that.

2023 07 30

Checking on the radar and updating wiring.

2023 07 30

Based on an operator concern for the earlier Columbia work done on overhead buttons.

Readjusting pilot's overhead button locations. Rework descriptions. A paint block with a how to use the main pump text added.

2023 07 31

Side fuel gauges set to current 4906 amount

Pistols with ammo added at each bed. As with other weapons DLC if you don't have the DLC these should just be empty spots with no critical impacts (e.g. no water leaking holes)

2023 08 05

Lower cabin given larger windows from 1x3 to 2x3, still double pane for safety. Player can now see out better when below though a tad spooky with water laping.

Lower cabin microwave now sits on top of an oven (graphical) to better complete the food service on the long voyages Thelon is capable of.

Forward fuel room with bunks adjusted so that each side has a 1x3 window, double pane. I don't normally use walls for storage items but this was needed as it is tight space in there.

Bow reworked for a bit more forward bouyancy.

Bow mag hall and bow central rope anchor vertical flip so the rope can be better reached while standing on the bow.

Also...

The bow rework is so the upper top edge is a smoother transition when using Thelon as a pusher tugboat.

2023 08 06

Heaters, seats and roof.

Testing on a northerly voyage. While 10 C is supposed to be or was the point at which cold damage started I noticed it was safer to set to 14 C. The onboard thermostats changed to a min of 14 C.

Cold warning indicator added to pilot cabin near port door currently set to 14 C as per above findings.

Heater added to bow toilet area controlled from lower cabin.

Upper engine/cargo area now linked to pilot cabin thermostat control.

Changes to seats using microcontrollers to represent padding. This applies to the 8 rescue seats in the pilot cabin and the 2 dining seats in the lower cabin.

Guard rails added on spotting deck near the inversion propellers to reduce or at least warn of hitting them. These also double as safety guards when moving around near the hatch or passing under the mast crossbeams.

Roof winches increased from 1 to 2 for some more options on 2 large objects or a bit of left-right tightening.

Cleaned up lower starboard side passage so you dont get head caught going to aft fuel room

2023 08 07

Desalination, main propellers

Added a desalination system that works compared to the only graphical system. Its flow rate is very slow, which is the case unless you use many costly desalination cylinders. The equipment is in the aft fuel room port side. A test tank there confirms it working.

If you have something to be pumped into remember you must include on the receive tank a way to get air out or the pressure will build up and block the flow.

Did some extreme weather testing. Thelon can get out of a lot though you may need to drop power. One thing seen in extreme weather was that the wide main propeller placement in extreme waves had times of only one prop in the water creating a torque on that wide arm. This also contributed to rolls. Improvement done by moving the main propellers toward the centerline. Tests showed no contact with rudder at hard over position.

2023 08 07 continued

The extreme weather tests found as it was when coming out inversion the roll controls were stuck hard over creating ongoing barrel rolls.

Rework PID for roll setting currently on a P only control. This avoids the high I rating accumulated when the inversion motors were kicked in. In high seas 80-100% winds in the south Thelon kept upright not even getting inverted.

Did manage to get an inversion in extreme winds by using bow quarter angle and moderated speed (so stabilizers have less impact). Once inverted the inversion system worked well. Some forward motion helps either by the motor or the electric drives (1 button).

Roll behaviour in calm seas will be affected but seems okay.

2023 08 07

Anchor

A kedging test to pull Thelon off a deliberate deep beaching found the single magall unable to pull. Changed anchor to have 3 magalls.

Winch dial corrected to 100 m of the newer larger winch.

2023 08 07

Heatsink engine cooling

While the electric 5x5 did perform quite well it was in my mind that for a vessel meant to go into the arctic those electric fans are exposed to freezing seas. In the real world they would ice up and jam. Chipping the ice off them would be a delicate task prone to damaging the fan blades. This isn't modelled in Stormworks.

To account for that changed the cooling to two heatsinks per engine. Tested with and without a pump in the loop. A safe stable temperature was reached without the pump. Went with the non-pump version.

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Ran tests in 100% winds. Able to hold position at no gears ~21% throttle. Would be a strategy to wait out the worst of the storm before resuming.

2023 07 08

Installed interior fire fighting hose connections:

= Lower cabin fed by main pump and sea water valve. Warning don't have the cabin bilge open at the same time.

= Aft fuel room starboard from a small pump.

= Stern deck starboard using same pump as aft fuel room.

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Bow thruster positions for less exposed and more streamlined. Required interior lower cabin adjustments.

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Fuses for electric precision drive locations adjusted

Windows for aft fuel room are back.

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Ran test with deliberate smashing into a beach. Boat went completely out of the water with all propellers over sand. Bow damaged as far back as front cockpit controls with minor pilot injury.

When repairing repair the throttle and stop engine buttons asap as without these the last signal means the engines will keep running.

2 welding torches used in repair. Plenty more than that onboard.

Anchor once upgraded to 3 magalls was strong enough to pull the boat back into the water.

There is now a portable weld pack using the mounted welder in a handheld assembly.

It starts off in the engine room parcel storage area. It has a battery allowing you to remove the cable to get to distant places.

There are various electrical connectors around the Thelon to hook it up. A good idea is to use the rear winch and spool out lots of length, up to 100m. However that is also used by the anchor power. On the connectors directly the game seems to keep things quite close.

It was easier in many cases to use it deattached on battery power.

Warning: it doesn't float!