After I commissioned the new solar panels in early November I noticed signs that things were not quite right. One day I noticed erratic levels of amperage being delivered to the house bank though the sunshine was relatively steady. The wind charger was unsteady as usual, delivering 0-3 amps, which would not explain the behaviour. The next time I visited the boat the amperage input was steady and normal.
But I had not seen the panels delivering more than 5 amps and I would not be satisfied until I saw about 15 amps being delivered. The maximum of 5 amps that I had been seeing was normal given that the battery bank was always topped up with the regulator on "float". The only way to test the system would be to lower the battery voltage enough to force the regulator to go into the "boost" phase and see what the panels delivered in bright sunshine.
Last week just before the Bunbury Cruise Information Dinner I visited the boat, covered both panels with heavy wool blankets, turned on the refrigerator and chart plotter, then left the boat for the night.
At 10 AM the next day Stephen and I visited the boat to find the house bank down to 12.7v and the regulator on "boost". While Stephen watched the instruments below I uncovered the panels exposing them to full sunshine. Stephen reported a delivery of 7 amps. I joined him down below, confirmed his finding, and grumbled that 7 amps was disappointing, as though only one panel was working. Stephen suggested that we investigate this by covering one panel at a time.
We covered the port panel and the voltage dropped to 0v. We then moved the blanket to the other panel and the voltage resumed to 7v. OK, so the starboard panel was not producing. We then checked the voltages at the end of the connections that were part of the panels and confirmed that the port panel was at 7v and the starboard panel was at 0v. Note that none of my wiring was involved in this examination.
I contacted Battery World and we arranged a visited on Wednesday of this week. I met Brian at the gate and soon we were on the boat. After peeling back the Bimini cover Brian probed both panels and confirmed that the starboard panel was dead. We removed the 6 bolts holding the panel onto the frame and soon we had it loaded in his van. I asked him what to expect next. Brian would check the panel but unless he found a simple fix a replacement panel would probably have to wait until after Christmas.
Late on Thursday morning - the next day - I got message that the panel was faulty, which I had expected, but they had a brand new replacement panel in the shop ready for pickup, which was a very big and surprise. Brian told me that while discussing the problem with KT, he ask if they could send a replacement today. To their credit KT sent the replacement almost immediately.
No doubt KT will be most interested in determining the fault because according to what they told Brian, they have never had one of their panels fail.
I picked up the panel, went to be boat, where the first thing I did was check out the voltage under sunshine. I read 21.5v under partial shading, which was good enough for me. I then worked methodically without rushing, and two hours later had the new panel mounted, connected, cables tidied up, tools put away, and cockpit swept of aluminum shavings from the drilling. Because the house bank was full and the regulator was at "float" stage another test with the house bank low enough to put the regulator into "boost" phase would have to wait until my next visit.
But I am optimistic.
Battery World O'Connor's handling of the matter was exemplary, and I cannot speak highly enough of them and, for that matter, KT.
Pachuca
Pachuca in Port Angeles, WA USA
Thursday, December 21, 2017
Saturday, November 11, 2017
Ready for Sea
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| Ship's chronometer repaired |
Progress on boat projects has been by fits and starts over the past winter because the house renovation effort demanded first priority.
In June I had the new house batteries installed and in July with Stephen's help I mounted the new solar panels then managed to haul the boat out of the water for three days of hull maintenance. Soon after that I managed to find time to change the engine oil and filter. I also removed the canvas spray dodger and bimini to Debbie at Ocean Canvas for repairs of zippers and snap locks. And about a month ago I delivered the boat's chronometer to Jim, a clock repair man in Guildford.
The chronometer had been of particular concern to me. It had begun to stop intermittently and it appeared to me that the electric drive mechanism had to be replaced. I was wondering if a clock repairer would take on an electric drive replacement. Repair of the clock was important to me because the inscription on the brass surface described is a retirement gift from my colleagues at Murdoch Univeristy. Jim did a wonderful job. He even purchased new hands for the chronometer but decided that the original simpler ones looked better. I told him how much I appreciated his restoration because the chronometer meant a lot to me. "I know" he replied.
Work on installation of the new regulator for the solar panel took two visits. During the first visit I simplified the wiring by removing the switch by which I had been able to direct the solar power between the House and Starter banks and also direct the wind charger power to both banks simultaneously. All power from the sun and wind is now directed to the House bank because that is the one that requires replenishment while cruising and I know that I can always join the two battery banks if the Starter bank is too weak to start the engine.
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| Panels joined under starboard panel |
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| Victron Controller |
On my last visit I confirmed my doubt that I had gotten the polarity right in wiring up the solar panels because the output cables were not labeled + and -. Over a 5-day period the House bank voltage had dropped from 13.7V to 13.3v and no power was going into the bank. I reversed the polarity and soon everything was working well. (Yes I know, as Stephen pointed out I could have saved myself a lot of trouble by probing the cables with the volt meter.)
I also mounted the chronometer and finished installing the repaired canvas. For good measure I replaced the LED light strip in the head.
Unless there is a surprise in store Pachuca is ready for sea, with 1020 a/h of new AGM batteries in the House, a new 230 a/h AGM battery in Starter banks, solar panels that rate at more than double the output of the older ones (150W vs 65W), and a new Victron controller with MPPT technology.
I plan sea trials to see if the the new can support without battery drain normal cruising electrical requirements including running the power hungry refrigerator.
On a final bright note, during last weekend's "open house" Peter Austin asked me if I needed crew for the sail from Fremantle to Bunbury in the coming Bunbury Cruise. He beat beat me to it because I had been planning to ask him. After we agreed he asked if his son Tom could come too. Yup! Then he asked if Stuart a long time mutual sailing friend could join us too. Yup! So there could be four of us making the sail.
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
FSC COTY
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| October 2017 Edition |
I suppose that the selection committee was attracted to the narrative of a middle aged office worker teaching himself to sail, setting an ambitious goal of sailing around the world, then actually doing it. I think too that my voluntary activities with the club since my return from the circumnavigation also helped.
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| Article on Page 6 |
What I wasn't told at the time was that the nomination puts me in contention for Cruising Helmsmen magazine's COTY (gulp!).
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| Trophy evocative of a sail, FSC and Cruising Section emblems at top |
Last week I was presented with an imaginative and elegant trophy by Bill Burgess, Commodore of FSC which I will always display with great pride.
Friday, July 14, 2017
Hull Maintenance
Annual hull maintenance has seemed a waste because I kept finding the antifouling and anodes in reasonably good shape, so this time I decided to forego the springtime hull maintenance and see what an 18 month span would be like.
I decided to take the club's wintertime offer of the first 5 days at the hardstand for free and booked the boat for haulout on Monday with splashdown in Friday. This may appear to look like 5 days but it yields closer to 4 working days. It was going to be a tight schedule and given the vagaries of the wintertime rains it was likely that I would have to extend the hardstand time.
The hull was in remarkably good shape, given that the boat had been in the water for 19 months. I asked the yard worker who had pressure cleaned the hull if it had been a particularly difficult job and he said No, the marine growth had not been unusually bad. He also commented on how good the anodes looked. The propeller had also been in good condition. Two days earlier I had put the engine into forward and reverse in the pen to ensure that the propeller was not too fuzzed up with growth to provide drive and found it to be OK.
The schedule was tight.
On Monday afternoon I took the propeller and shaft back to bare metal using a wire brush attachment on my angle grinder then had a good look at the anodes. They looked remarkably good after 19 months. The yard man who had pressure washed the hull had commented on how good they looked and this was confirmed by a fellow sailor who commented on the generous number of anodes protecting the propeller and shaft. I removed the large circular anodes protecting the metal part of the skeg, wire brushed it, and found that they had plenty of weight and heft - at least 80% of the original material, by my reckoning. On that basis I decided to wire brush the other anodes and put the boat back into the water with the same anodes. This saved me about $140 and perhaps 2 precious hours of work, largely in drilling the center holes for the big skeg anodes. I finished the day by beginning the unpleasant and dirty job of scraping down the hull.
I spent most of Tuesday scraping down the hull. The water pressure cleaning does a marvelous job of removing most of the self-ablating antifouling, but there is no substitute for scraping down every square inch of the lower part of the hull to remove lose flakes of old antifouling and tiny surviving barnacles. I used a respirator and finished the day with blue hair and a blue face. I also managed to put the primer coat on the propeller and shaft. It was important that I do it on this day so that I could lay down the top coats on Wednesday and Thursday. And I masked out upper part of the hull using two types of tape. I had been lucky with the rain but I knew that showers were expected overnight and was concerned that the tape would deteriorate in the moisture. (Fortunately it didn't.)
On Wednesday I rolled on the first coat of antifouling using a 10 liter can that I had purchased at Yacht Grot for $450. That job took 6 hours because the hull has hungry, the antifouling was thick, and the rolling had to be done very slowly. I also put the first topcoat on the propeller and shaft.
(The metal primer and Velux Plus topcoat are by Marlin Yacht Products out of Trieste. It is very expensive but goes a long way, four years so far and enough for another two. I highly recommend it.)
On Thursday I rolled on the second coat of antifouling, with two new 4-liter cans at hand (at $200 per can). The second coat always requires less material and rolls faster, so I managed to finish that job in about 4 hours. I also put the second (and final) topcoat on the propeller and shaft.
Friday morning was a very busy time for me. The boat was scheduled to be hoisted on the slings at 12 noon and be held there for 30 minutes while the crew had lunch and I worked frantically to put 2 coats of antifouling on the parts of the hull that had been covered by the props holding the boat up. I arrived early and used what time remove the masking tape around the hull, replace the DOT boat registration sticker on the side of the hull (I had not displayed a current DOT license in about 3 years, risking a $500 fine.), polish the stainless steel bowplate, and remove the marks left on the upper part of the hull by the lifter straps when the boat had been hauled out. Cleaning those strap marks is not easy with an old paint job but in a timely visit by Kim from Mandalay, next to my pen, to see how I was doing, he introduced me to "Scuff Off", a liquid cleaner that its works like magic.
At about 11 AM when I knew that I was about ready I visited the office to confirm my splashdown. The yard manager had no idea that I was going back into the water. I told him that I had made the booking over a month earlier and that I my boat was supposed to be hung on the slings over lunch time. He did some creative scrambling and managed to get me into the water as planned.
I had not had time to visit my pen to make sure that the ropes were in correct position and telephoned Brenda who on short notice came to the boat to pick up a short boat hook in order to pick up ropes out of the water and when I arrived at the pen there she was ready to pass over the bow ropes, fended off the bow which was about to touch the jetty, the stood by while I attached the springers and stern lines that she had set up.
For the record, I used about 16 liters of antifouling.
I got home tired but very satisfied that everything had gone to schedule. I had been unbelievably fortunate with the rain, which seemed to happen at night then magically stay away during the day.
I decided to take the club's wintertime offer of the first 5 days at the hardstand for free and booked the boat for haulout on Monday with splashdown in Friday. This may appear to look like 5 days but it yields closer to 4 working days. It was going to be a tight schedule and given the vagaries of the wintertime rains it was likely that I would have to extend the hardstand time.
The hull was in remarkably good shape, given that the boat had been in the water for 19 months. I asked the yard worker who had pressure cleaned the hull if it had been a particularly difficult job and he said No, the marine growth had not been unusually bad. He also commented on how good the anodes looked. The propeller had also been in good condition. Two days earlier I had put the engine into forward and reverse in the pen to ensure that the propeller was not too fuzzed up with growth to provide drive and found it to be OK.
The schedule was tight.
On Monday afternoon I took the propeller and shaft back to bare metal using a wire brush attachment on my angle grinder then had a good look at the anodes. They looked remarkably good after 19 months. The yard man who had pressure washed the hull had commented on how good they looked and this was confirmed by a fellow sailor who commented on the generous number of anodes protecting the propeller and shaft. I removed the large circular anodes protecting the metal part of the skeg, wire brushed it, and found that they had plenty of weight and heft - at least 80% of the original material, by my reckoning. On that basis I decided to wire brush the other anodes and put the boat back into the water with the same anodes. This saved me about $140 and perhaps 2 precious hours of work, largely in drilling the center holes for the big skeg anodes. I finished the day by beginning the unpleasant and dirty job of scraping down the hull.
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| Large anodes being inspected |
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| All anodes retained (notice anode at rear of shaft) |
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| Primer on propeller and shaft. Dynaplate ground shoe for HF radio above |
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| Ready for splashdown |
I spent most of Tuesday scraping down the hull. The water pressure cleaning does a marvelous job of removing most of the self-ablating antifouling, but there is no substitute for scraping down every square inch of the lower part of the hull to remove lose flakes of old antifouling and tiny surviving barnacles. I used a respirator and finished the day with blue hair and a blue face. I also managed to put the primer coat on the propeller and shaft. It was important that I do it on this day so that I could lay down the top coats on Wednesday and Thursday. And I masked out upper part of the hull using two types of tape. I had been lucky with the rain but I knew that showers were expected overnight and was concerned that the tape would deteriorate in the moisture. (Fortunately it didn't.)
On Wednesday I rolled on the first coat of antifouling using a 10 liter can that I had purchased at Yacht Grot for $450. That job took 6 hours because the hull has hungry, the antifouling was thick, and the rolling had to be done very slowly. I also put the first topcoat on the propeller and shaft.
(The metal primer and Velux Plus topcoat are by Marlin Yacht Products out of Trieste. It is very expensive but goes a long way, four years so far and enough for another two. I highly recommend it.)
On Thursday I rolled on the second coat of antifouling, with two new 4-liter cans at hand (at $200 per can). The second coat always requires less material and rolls faster, so I managed to finish that job in about 4 hours. I also put the second (and final) topcoat on the propeller and shaft.
Friday morning was a very busy time for me. The boat was scheduled to be hoisted on the slings at 12 noon and be held there for 30 minutes while the crew had lunch and I worked frantically to put 2 coats of antifouling on the parts of the hull that had been covered by the props holding the boat up. I arrived early and used what time remove the masking tape around the hull, replace the DOT boat registration sticker on the side of the hull (I had not displayed a current DOT license in about 3 years, risking a $500 fine.), polish the stainless steel bowplate, and remove the marks left on the upper part of the hull by the lifter straps when the boat had been hauled out. Cleaning those strap marks is not easy with an old paint job but in a timely visit by Kim from Mandalay, next to my pen, to see how I was doing, he introduced me to "Scuff Off", a liquid cleaner that its works like magic.
At about 11 AM when I knew that I was about ready I visited the office to confirm my splashdown. The yard manager had no idea that I was going back into the water. I told him that I had made the booking over a month earlier and that I my boat was supposed to be hung on the slings over lunch time. He did some creative scrambling and managed to get me into the water as planned.
I had not had time to visit my pen to make sure that the ropes were in correct position and telephoned Brenda who on short notice came to the boat to pick up a short boat hook in order to pick up ropes out of the water and when I arrived at the pen there she was ready to pass over the bow ropes, fended off the bow which was about to touch the jetty, the stood by while I attached the springers and stern lines that she had set up.
For the record, I used about 16 liters of antifouling.
I got home tired but very satisfied that everything had gone to schedule. I had been unbelievably fortunate with the rain, which seemed to happen at night then magically stay away during the day.
HF Antenna Cable
Removing the solar panels presented an opportunity to tidy up the connection between the HF radio cable and the backstay, which acts as the boat's antenna.
The connection is a crude one, with bare wire held tightly to the backstay using universal clamps. Crude but effective, because I was speaking to South Africa twice a day until I reached Cape Leeuwin at Australia's southwest corner.
I removed the clamps, cut off the partially corroded bare wire, exposed fresh wire by cutting back the insulation, sanded the backstay, then clamped the wire to the backstay.
I then replaced some of the separators that maintain a gap between the HF cable and the non-antenna part of the backstay. This gap minimizes the leaching of the transmission energy from the antenna cable to the backstay, presumably through inductance. The spacers are sections of fuel hose and everything is held in place using thick plastic cable ties. Very effective.
The connection is a crude one, with bare wire held tightly to the backstay using universal clamps. Crude but effective, because I was speaking to South Africa twice a day until I reached Cape Leeuwin at Australia's southwest corner.
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| Connection above insulator |
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| Spacers in place |
I removed the clamps, cut off the partially corroded bare wire, exposed fresh wire by cutting back the insulation, sanded the backstay, then clamped the wire to the backstay.
I then replaced some of the separators that maintain a gap between the HF cable and the non-antenna part of the backstay. This gap minimizes the leaching of the transmission energy from the antenna cable to the backstay, presumably through inductance. The spacers are sections of fuel hose and everything is held in place using thick plastic cable ties. Very effective.
Holes Drilled
Late last week I drilled 6 holes to accommodate the new solar panels, which for me was a very big deal that had been worrying me for a while.
Each side of the cockpit frame has three straps running athwhartships upon which a solar panel rests. Each strap has a hole at each end through which a bolt passes through to the panel frame, giving a total of 6 bolts per panel.
The new panels are narrower and slightly longer than the old ones, meaning that the distance between the holes on each strap would have to be reduced slightly. The task that I dreaded was drilling through the thick and very hard stainless steel material which for me has as always been a challenge at the best of times, and more difficult now because I would be working aloft.
To minimize the drilling I decided to use three of the existing holes for each panel, thus there was the choice was between fixing the panels near the center line of the boat or spreading them out and leaving a bigger gap at the center. I decided that the result would look better with the panels spread out. That meant that I would use the existing holes on the outboard edges of the straps and drill new holes on the inboard side.
The first problem was to find a fast and fool proof method of marking the distance between the new holes. In the garage I found an aluminium strip of suitable size and at the boat cut it to span the panels. I then drilled a hole at one end of the strip, fitted it to the panel using a bolt, then with a pencil carefully traced out the other hole on the aluminium strip. Drilling aluminium is easy and I was able to drill the hole to within 2 mm of the required span. I now had a template and used the same procedure to trace out the hole locations on the cockpit frame.
Then Stephen and I visited a tool shop where I got good advice on the drilling technique (very slow speed, no lubrication) and the best drill brand. I suggested a second, smaller bit for a pilot hole and the salesman agreed. I would need to center punch the material to avoid my drill bit dancing around so I also purchased a new punch.
On the day when I had everything ready Stephen arrived at the boat with a heavy wooden block. His job was to use the block as backing while I center punched. This was necessary to avoid bending the straps or, worse, breaking the welds that held them to the frame. In order to raise myself to working level I set up a rickety system using the boat's boarding ladder with a small foldout ladder on top.
Once the hole centers were puched and I had partially drilled the first hole to make sure that the punches were deep enough I thanked Stephen for his help and proceeded to work on my own.
After 3 hours of patient work spread over two days I managed to drill the holes without breaking either of the bits.
Fitting the panels should be easy. Each panel has 3 pre-drilled holes on each side. I'll bolt one of the center holes of the panel to the center inboard hole on the cockpit frame and when the panel is orientated correctly I'll drill the other 5 holes on the panel through the holes on the stainless steel strapping.
There is no substitute for good planning.
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| Hole template on rickety platform |
Each side of the cockpit frame has three straps running athwhartships upon which a solar panel rests. Each strap has a hole at each end through which a bolt passes through to the panel frame, giving a total of 6 bolts per panel.
The new panels are narrower and slightly longer than the old ones, meaning that the distance between the holes on each strap would have to be reduced slightly. The task that I dreaded was drilling through the thick and very hard stainless steel material which for me has as always been a challenge at the best of times, and more difficult now because I would be working aloft.
To minimize the drilling I decided to use three of the existing holes for each panel, thus there was the choice was between fixing the panels near the center line of the boat or spreading them out and leaving a bigger gap at the center. I decided that the result would look better with the panels spread out. That meant that I would use the existing holes on the outboard edges of the straps and drill new holes on the inboard side.
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| New holes on right side (inboard) side of straps |
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| New hole at left |
The first problem was to find a fast and fool proof method of marking the distance between the new holes. In the garage I found an aluminium strip of suitable size and at the boat cut it to span the panels. I then drilled a hole at one end of the strip, fitted it to the panel using a bolt, then with a pencil carefully traced out the other hole on the aluminium strip. Drilling aluminium is easy and I was able to drill the hole to within 2 mm of the required span. I now had a template and used the same procedure to trace out the hole locations on the cockpit frame.
Then Stephen and I visited a tool shop where I got good advice on the drilling technique (very slow speed, no lubrication) and the best drill brand. I suggested a second, smaller bit for a pilot hole and the salesman agreed. I would need to center punch the material to avoid my drill bit dancing around so I also purchased a new punch.
On the day when I had everything ready Stephen arrived at the boat with a heavy wooden block. His job was to use the block as backing while I center punched. This was necessary to avoid bending the straps or, worse, breaking the welds that held them to the frame. In order to raise myself to working level I set up a rickety system using the boat's boarding ladder with a small foldout ladder on top.
Once the hole centers were puched and I had partially drilled the first hole to make sure that the punches were deep enough I thanked Stephen for his help and proceeded to work on my own.
After 3 hours of patient work spread over two days I managed to drill the holes without breaking either of the bits.
Fitting the panels should be easy. Each panel has 3 pre-drilled holes on each side. I'll bolt one of the center holes of the panel to the center inboard hole on the cockpit frame and when the panel is orientated correctly I'll drill the other 5 holes on the panel through the holes on the stainless steel strapping.
There is no substitute for good planning.
Sunday, June 25, 2017
Solar Panels Removed
I spent two days at Fremantle with the modest goal of removing the 65 watt solar panels that had served me faithfully for 9 years. I achieved that and was able to begin exploiting opportunities that presented themselves.
On Friday afternoon I visited the boat and disconnected the solar panels, documenting the wiring and taking great care to avoid damaging them, because Stephen was looking forward to my gift of the panels and controller. I then used an 11 mm and a small adjustable spanner to loosen each of the 6 small bolts holding down each panel.
While doing that work I noted how much easier it would be to remove the rusting tail of the Rutland wind charger now that the panels and bimini were out of the way, allowing me to work from inside of the boat rather than hanging from the stern of the boat as I had been forced to do in Argentina. And ah, oh yes, I would now be able to clean the connection of the HF radio antenna cable above the frame, about two meters up the backstay. These would be what Arnold would term "piggy back" jobs which would provide great yield at the cost of a modest lengthening of the solar panel project.
Before leaving the boat I lashed down the panels with rope. The wind was gusty and I hoped that it would be calmer the next day because otherwise I would have to postpone the removal.
I arrived at the boat at about 9 AM on Saturday morning and by the time Stephen arrived at 10 AM there were only two partially loosened screws holding down each panel and they were ready for extraction. The gang plank was in place for easy movement between the boat and the side finger jetty. The wind had calmed down to a steady breeze.
The planning and preparation went well because the operation went like clockwork. We slide each panel forward off the frame then carried it to my X-Trail. Two hours later Stephen was on his way home in his car to await the arrival of the panels.
I returned that afternoon and spent several hours polishing the upper reaches of the cockpit stainless steel platform that were now easily accessible.
On Sunday morning I removed the tail of the Rutland wind charger. This proved to be more difficult than I had expected because the area where the mild steel tail interfaced with the stainless steel shaft of the wind charger had swelled with corrosion and I had to work hard using liberal amounts of WD-40 and a hammer to break the seals. Had I waited another year I would have been in big trouble with the removal.
Back home that afternoon I spent more than an hour using a wire brush on the angle grinder to remove the paint and rust from the mild steel tail then laid on a coat of Wattyl Killrust metal primer.
On Friday afternoon I visited the boat and disconnected the solar panels, documenting the wiring and taking great care to avoid damaging them, because Stephen was looking forward to my gift of the panels and controller. I then used an 11 mm and a small adjustable spanner to loosen each of the 6 small bolts holding down each panel.
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| Frame after removal of bimini and solar panels. Note rusty Rutland tail. |
Before leaving the boat I lashed down the panels with rope. The wind was gusty and I hoped that it would be calmer the next day because otherwise I would have to postpone the removal.
I arrived at the boat at about 9 AM on Saturday morning and by the time Stephen arrived at 10 AM there were only two partially loosened screws holding down each panel and they were ready for extraction. The gang plank was in place for easy movement between the boat and the side finger jetty. The wind had calmed down to a steady breeze.
The planning and preparation went well because the operation went like clockwork. We slide each panel forward off the frame then carried it to my X-Trail. Two hours later Stephen was on his way home in his car to await the arrival of the panels.
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| New Panel |
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| Specifications |
I returned that afternoon and spent several hours polishing the upper reaches of the cockpit stainless steel platform that were now easily accessible.
On Sunday morning I removed the tail of the Rutland wind charger. This proved to be more difficult than I had expected because the area where the mild steel tail interfaced with the stainless steel shaft of the wind charger had swelled with corrosion and I had to work hard using liberal amounts of WD-40 and a hammer to break the seals. Had I waited another year I would have been in big trouble with the removal.
Back home that afternoon I spent more than an hour using a wire brush on the angle grinder to remove the paint and rust from the mild steel tail then laid on a coat of Wattyl Killrust metal primer.
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| Rutland tail cleaned and primed |
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Different Solar Controller
I investigated on the net the Powertech MPPT solar controller that I had purchased and was disturbed by the adverse reviews. I then did more investigation and began to wonder if I really wanted the latest MPPT rather than the older PWM technology. The issue was reliability. It appeared to me that the MPPT techonogy involved a lot of clever technology that rendered, using my term, high-strung equipment that was more likely to fail than the staid old PWM equipment. MPY was fine for $700 equipment, but would be OK for $250 equipment?
This afternoon I visited Jaycar requesting a refund and I explained to Daniel the manager my reasons. referring to my simple Arrid controller that had supported me through my 5-year circumnavigation through many gales and storms and was still working well. I told him that far out at sea I valued reliability more than glitzy performance. He conceded that PWM controllers are more reliable because they rely more on hardware and less on electronics. After some discussions I agreed to have a look at the Powertech MP-3722 PWM controller and accepted it with a $40 refund. The controller has only a 1-year warranty but Daniel told me that he would make things good beyond 1 year.
One advantage is that the PWM version is smaller than the MPPT version and might slot in physically nicely in place of the Arrid.
Back at the house I googlesnooped Powertech the company and found it to be a serious Taiwanese company of world wide stature.
This afternoon I visited Jaycar requesting a refund and I explained to Daniel the manager my reasons. referring to my simple Arrid controller that had supported me through my 5-year circumnavigation through many gales and storms and was still working well. I told him that far out at sea I valued reliability more than glitzy performance. He conceded that PWM controllers are more reliable because they rely more on hardware and less on electronics. After some discussions I agreed to have a look at the Powertech MP-3722 PWM controller and accepted it with a $40 refund. The controller has only a 1-year warranty but Daniel told me that he would make things good beyond 1 year.
One advantage is that the PWM version is smaller than the MPPT version and might slot in physically nicely in place of the Arrid.
Back at the house I googlesnooped Powertech the company and found it to be a serious Taiwanese company of world wide stature.
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Strapping Down the New Batteries
The batteries amidships in below the seats are strapped down with strong webbing from my old lifelines and for good measure a board securely fastened using hinges. The batteries cannot slide around because they rest inside perimeters of wood.
Under the cockpit I was able to use the original strap down system but had to put rubber packing above the shorter Fullriver battery aft, under the autopilot linear arm.
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| Starboard Battery |
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| Port Battery |
Under the cockpit I was able to use the original strap down system but had to put rubber packing above the shorter Fullriver battery aft, under the autopilot linear arm.
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| Under Cockpit |
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| Closeup under cockpit with Fullriver battery aft under linear arm |
House Battery Bank Upgrade
During the Bunbury Cruise last February I was not happy with Pachuca's electrical power situation. I had left Fremantle with all batteries fully charged and two days later found myself short of battery power and forced to run the engine about 1 hour per day to maintain the voltage. I knew that the house bank's four 230 a/h gel batteries that had been installed in New Zealand in 2008 were getting long in the tooth and I would have to face the prospect of replacing them.
During the cruise I mentioned my power situation while visiting friends aboard their modern 11.6m boat and was surprised to hear that they never worried about battery power: they left the marina with a full charge and that was it. From memory, they do not augment their voltage with solar panels or a wind charger. That sealed it for me: I would replace the house batteries during the coming winter.
I got a break in March Brenda's when son Brenda's Stephen purchased a battery analyzer, something that had seen only in the hands of professionals. We used it to check the house batteries and got the following results:
The batteries were basically dead and it was a wonder that I had gotten any life out of them at all. I had known that the 9 year old batteries needed replacing but it was good to confirm this before embarking on the replacement project.
I then did some research on lithium batteries and although their Total Cost of Ownership is lower than that of other battery types I was not too impressed with the high initial investment and did not want to deal possible charging issues, so AGM batteries it would be. The boat had been set up in New Zealand using great ingenuity for four large batteries and high (920 a/h) total capacity and I wanted to keep that configuration.
Two problems remained: (1) finding AGM batteries of a similar size that would fit in the boat, (2) finding someone to remove the old batteries and fit the new ones. The batteries weight in the order of 75 kg (165 lb) and I was not going to risk my back by moving the batteries myself.
Fortunately Battery World in O'Connor had just what I needed. I purchased 3 x Century C12-270DA deep cycle 270 a/h AGM batteries and 1 x Fullriver DC210-12 210 a/h AGM battery. The Fullriver battery was required because the Century batteries were slightly taller than the gel batteries they were replacing, and would not fit under the boat's autopilot linear drive ram (3 mm too high). And of great value to me was that their personnel would handle all of the installation at no extra charge. The Century batteries cost $715 each and the Fullriver battery cost $679 yielding a total price of $2824. I purchased the batteries on 1 May 2017 and they were installed three days later.
I later made two visits to the boat to strap down the batteries. This required some design work because three of the new batteries were taller than the old ones. Even though Pachuca never rolled or was even knocked down during the circumnavigation I felt that I should keep up the standard of the boat as fit for blue water cruising anywhere.
Pachuca now had 1020 a/h capacity in the house bank vs 920 a/h previously.
I was extremely pleased with the service provided by Noel Brennan and his team at Battery World, O'Connor. They were great to deal with in the planning, and performed a flawless installation. I also did a spot check on the Net of the prices of the batteries that I was purchasing and theirs were consistently the lowest.
During the cruise I mentioned my power situation while visiting friends aboard their modern 11.6m boat and was surprised to hear that they never worried about battery power: they left the marina with a full charge and that was it. From memory, they do not augment their voltage with solar panels or a wind charger. That sealed it for me: I would replace the house batteries during the coming winter.
I got a break in March Brenda's when son Brenda's Stephen purchased a battery analyzer, something that had seen only in the hands of professionals. We used it to check the house batteries and got the following results:
1. Forward stern battery
13.42V, charge 98% , ir=16.6 m/ohm, CCA 180 amps, Health 0%, REPLACE
2. Aft stern battery
13.34V, charge 98%, ir 3.7 m/ohm, CCA 800 amps, health 18%, REPLACE
3. Starboard cabin battery
13.46V, charge 98%, ir 4.0 m/ohm, CCA 735 amps, health 15%, REPLACE
4. Port cabin battery
13.26V, charge 98%, ir 6.4 m/ohm, CCA 455 amps, health 06%, REPLACEThe batteries were basically dead and it was a wonder that I had gotten any life out of them at all. I had known that the 9 year old batteries needed replacing but it was good to confirm this before embarking on the replacement project.
I then did some research on lithium batteries and although their Total Cost of Ownership is lower than that of other battery types I was not too impressed with the high initial investment and did not want to deal possible charging issues, so AGM batteries it would be. The boat had been set up in New Zealand using great ingenuity for four large batteries and high (920 a/h) total capacity and I wanted to keep that configuration.
Two problems remained: (1) finding AGM batteries of a similar size that would fit in the boat, (2) finding someone to remove the old batteries and fit the new ones. The batteries weight in the order of 75 kg (165 lb) and I was not going to risk my back by moving the batteries myself.
Fortunately Battery World in O'Connor had just what I needed. I purchased 3 x Century C12-270DA deep cycle 270 a/h AGM batteries and 1 x Fullriver DC210-12 210 a/h AGM battery. The Fullriver battery was required because the Century batteries were slightly taller than the gel batteries they were replacing, and would not fit under the boat's autopilot linear drive ram (3 mm too high). And of great value to me was that their personnel would handle all of the installation at no extra charge. The Century batteries cost $715 each and the Fullriver battery cost $679 yielding a total price of $2824. I purchased the batteries on 1 May 2017 and they were installed three days later.
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| Gel batteries under cockpit ready for removal |
 |
| Lifting one of the gel batteries |
 |
| Gel battery being unloaded using the handy plank |
 |
| Bringing new Century AGM battery on board |
I later made two visits to the boat to strap down the batteries. This required some design work because three of the new batteries were taller than the old ones. Even though Pachuca never rolled or was even knocked down during the circumnavigation I felt that I should keep up the standard of the boat as fit for blue water cruising anywhere.
 |
| New starboard battery |
 |
| New port battery |
Pachuca now had 1020 a/h capacity in the house bank vs 920 a/h previously.
I was extremely pleased with the service provided by Noel Brennan and his team at Battery World, O'Connor. They were great to deal with in the planning, and performed a flawless installation. I also did a spot check on the Net of the prices of the batteries that I was purchasing and theirs were consistently the lowest.
 |
| Under cockpit: Century in front, Fullriver aft, under autopilot linear arm |
Friday, February 3, 2017
Water Pressure Pump Again
I visited the boat yesterday to find that the brand new water pressure pump was dead as a doornail. This put me through a round of testing and remedial work that spanned two days.
I confirmed that the pump was OK by supplying it with power from the nearby house battery. Then I tracked the problem to low voltage from the main battery. I changed a connector on the main feed wire and that brought up the voltage to more than 13.5V. However, the pump would still not work.
After spending more time testing out the connectors and still measuring the required voltage I conclude from intuition more than electrical knowledge that the voltage from the feed wire was only a "surface" effect that disappeared as soon as a load was put on the circuit. This suggested to me that it was time to bite the bullet and replace the 2-core wire from the main bard to the pressure pump. I needed to do this anyway because I had noticed to my intense annoyance that the feeder cable was of ordinary house wire rather than the tinned wire required for marine use. The individual wires at the ends of the cable were black from corrosion, and the corrosion had probably crept through much of the cable run
Swapping the wire was not an easy task, largely because the installation of the side batteries in New Zealand had required new flooring that covered up sections of the wiring paths.
I purchased 10 meters of proper tinned wire and got to work
I used the old cable as a pull-through to get the new cable from the main board past the nav table into the port bunk space, saving me hours of work. It was in the port bunk area that I found two sections of corrosion in the cable.
I soon gave up following the old path and routed the new wire along the upper part of the starboard side of the bilge, then to the pressure pump in the forward end of the bunk space
By 1 PM of the second day the job was completed and I spent an hour putting the cabin back together again. The seat bases had to be put back into position, then every seat cushion, then 5 sections of the cabin flooring.
This shoddy wiring had cost me plenty, not just the hours of work but more important, the replacement of a pressure pump that probably did not need replacement. Fortunately the old pump is intact on my workbench because I have not had time to do the planned post mortem on it. If it passes the workbench test I'll keep it as a spare.
 |
| Pressure Pump on left |
I confirmed that the pump was OK by supplying it with power from the nearby house battery. Then I tracked the problem to low voltage from the main battery. I changed a connector on the main feed wire and that brought up the voltage to more than 13.5V. However, the pump would still not work.
After spending more time testing out the connectors and still measuring the required voltage I conclude from intuition more than electrical knowledge that the voltage from the feed wire was only a "surface" effect that disappeared as soon as a load was put on the circuit. This suggested to me that it was time to bite the bullet and replace the 2-core wire from the main bard to the pressure pump. I needed to do this anyway because I had noticed to my intense annoyance that the feeder cable was of ordinary house wire rather than the tinned wire required for marine use. The individual wires at the ends of the cable were black from corrosion, and the corrosion had probably crept through much of the cable run
Swapping the wire was not an easy task, largely because the installation of the side batteries in New Zealand had required new flooring that covered up sections of the wiring paths.
 |
| Cable Breaks |
 |
| First Break |
 |
| Second Break |
I purchased 10 meters of proper tinned wire and got to work
I used the old cable as a pull-through to get the new cable from the main board past the nav table into the port bunk space, saving me hours of work. It was in the port bunk area that I found two sections of corrosion in the cable.
I soon gave up following the old path and routed the new wire along the upper part of the starboard side of the bilge, then to the pressure pump in the forward end of the bunk space
By 1 PM of the second day the job was completed and I spent an hour putting the cabin back together again. The seat bases had to be put back into position, then every seat cushion, then 5 sections of the cabin flooring.
This shoddy wiring had cost me plenty, not just the hours of work but more important, the replacement of a pressure pump that probably did not need replacement. Fortunately the old pump is intact on my workbench because I have not had time to do the planned post mortem on it. If it passes the workbench test I'll keep it as a spare.
Wiring Diagram
My brother Arnold, and EE out of Georgia Tech, sent me a professional version of the block diagram that I used earlier to described the windlass and its battery charging circuit.
My dream is to completely rewire the boat and with Arnold's help properly document the its wiring.
The next blog will provide an example of the need for a complete rewiring of the boat.
My dream is to completely rewire the boat and with Arnold's help properly document the its wiring.
The next blog will provide an example of the need for a complete rewiring of the boat.
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