Almost Finished

Ground Foil Run
To Tuner

Batteries Reinstalled

I arrived at the boat just before 8AM and after a leisurely cup of coffee sitting in the cockpit and enjoying the panoramic view of the bay I got to work on installing the platform for the upper two batteries.  As planned, Antonio arrived at 9AM and all was ready for the lifting of the two big gel batteries into position.  They did the job with remarkably little trouble and I am confident now that I can remove and reinstall those batteries myself were the need to arise.  The two young men then left me to it and I spent over an hour connecting up the batteries after the usual cleaning and sanding of the connectors, then fastening them down with the piece of timber provided for  the job.  I then used a small artist's brush to coat all terminals and connectors with a thin layer of lanolin grease.

Then I turned my attention to the lazarette, where there was still the task of connecting the copper grounding foil to the tuner.  I had used two packages foil thinking that they both contained 24 ft lengths, but one turned out to be a bit shorter than the other.  The upshot was that two of the four foils were about 18” short of the tuner.  I used the excess from the longer pair to create a generously overlapped join of the shorter pair.  I don't like these joins because they can introduce resistance, but I wasn't too concerned because two of the foils were full length and one piece.  I used screws with big washers to fasten the foils to the lazarette floor and to effect the join. 

Then there was the tricky job of bolting the foils on the tuner post.  I have read several complaints on the Net about the tiny post provided with these tuners, and I agree.  Nevertheless I managed to get the four foils from the Dynaplate and three foils connected to the Monitor self steering onto that post, on the theory that the more paths to the water the better. 

I ran the foil along the floor of the lazarette both to minimize the length of the run (which I estimate to be about 10 ft) and to avoid all sorts of awkward complications associated with running the foil up and along the ceiling of the lazarette.  I plan to protect the foil with some sort of cover, and I'll review the storage role of the lazarette.  The gas cylinders will remain, well restrained on the starboard side.  But I will no longer cram the lazarette with containers of spare diesel and gasoline.  Much as I dislike the idea of cluttering up the deck, my plan is to sail out of La Paz with diesel and water containers strapped along the rails.  They should serve me well to 20 or 30 degrees south of the equator.  After that if they get swept overboard in rough seas well, too bad, but they will have done their job because they will be empty.  I'm not going to lash them too securely because I don't want the rails to be bent over.

Antonio then dropped by just before lunch to show a colleague the new teak work and I asked him the status of the project.  He said that the only things to be done are to move the supports holding the boat up so that two layers of antifouling can be applied where the support pads currently are, and to apply antifouling to the bottom of the keel when the boat is lifted on the slings in the morning.  I noted later that also the line of masking tape at the waterline must be removed.  In summary, all jobs are essentially finished and we'll comfortably make the splashdown scheduled for noon tomorrow.

Now some technical notes for the record. 

The keel and waterline were primed with Interlux Primocon.  The antifouling is “Proline” by Sherwin Williams, described as “ablative”, which suits me fine.

The lower batteries are Delkor N120 calcium, rated 120 a/h (20 hr) and 230 a/h reserve.  Cold cranking at -18C is 800 (amps, I guess).  The interesting thing about these batteries is their age.  Their stamped date is Nov 2002, making them almost 9 years old.  However, since the electrical upgrade in New Zealand they have had a very easy life because now they are dedicated primarily to starting the engine.  (They can also be combined with the bigger house bank in an emergency.)  So they start the engine and the engine immediately charges them back up.  They are “maintenance free” batteries each with little window at the top.  A green window means that all is OK, an amber window means that the battery needs charging, a white window means that the battery should be replaced.  Both windows are green.   I recall  driving them hard a year ago when I ran the starter in many 20 and 30 second bursts in my eventually successful attempt to get the old Sabb engine running.  The batteries didn't show any sign of faltering.  If it ain't broke don't fix it so I'll stick with them for my return to Australia. 

Also for the reacord, I took the opportunity to grease the lower bearing of the steering mechanism.  I brought a grease gun for that one job and it was with great pleasure that I saw the grease being forced out through the lower seal.