What's going on?

This blog has taken a back seat to my other projects for the past few months.  I've been busy!

Ever since buying Luckness I have wanted to outfit her for ocean going voyages.  She's a blue water cruiser - if properly outfitted.  In this usage, the word Properly is going to have as many different definitions as there are sailors who would undertake (in reality or in theory) the plan on how she should be outfit.  When I was looking around for my boat I saw many which had a more complete set of gear.  Part of my attraction to Luckness was that she was very simple - there was not a long list of gear that I would need to live with or justify replacing.  Buying a more complete boat can save a person many hours of work and lots of money.  Selling a sailboat with a long list of equipment returns a surprisingly small portion of the money used to buy and install those pieces of equipment.  However making all of the choices over what pieces of gear I put on the boat is one of the things I put in the Fun category.

For the past few weeks, Luckness has been back at YachtFitters where Terry, Justin and crew are working on many installations.  They bring much more to the table than simply installing equipment - they have been doing this for a long time and enjoy clean elegant solutions and bring many ideas to the table to achieve those results.  I expect the boat to be busy for several weeks yet.

Last summer after my 16 day 'testing single handing' trip, I came back and varnished for 8 weeks.  I really want this summer to be free of any large projects and so am taking this opportunity to add pretty much every piece of equipment I can think of.  If everything goes well, I should be able to avoid any more long projects and being out of commission for some time.  Losing 6 weeks of prime summer last year won't happen again, with any luck.

So, what's going on is:

• installation of two solar panels.  I've chosen Kyocera 135 panels.  The panels are large, but I wanted to have as much solar power as I could fit on.  Since Luckness is a double ender and doesn't have a stern arch right now, I've chosen to mount them on the rails.  This installation option is the cheapest and simplest.  If it proves inadequate I can revisit how they are mounted in the future
• Blue sky 2512iX solar charge controller with IPN remote.  This is a MPPT charge controller which supports three stage charging.  The remote also provides battery monitoring
• installation of an Air Breeze wind generator.  The breeze is a 200 watt (max) wind generator.  There were many factors in this choice - among them is that Practical Sailor reviewed it well.
• design and installation of a pole to hold new radar and wind generator.  I was torn between either installing an arch on the boat, or using two poles for the installation of the radar and wind generator.  I've seen many arches which look strange on canoe stern boats, and boats with two poles are also often very busy visually in their stern.  Terry suggested using a single pole which would both mount the radar and the wind generator.  This is the approach I'm taking.  The pole will also have a hoist for the dinghy engine and other accessories.  PYI is manufacturing the pole to a YachtFitter design.  The pole will be installed in a hole through the deck in the stern just to the port of the propane locker lid.  This should lead to a very strong installation
• installation of a single side band radio.  The backstay has now been cut and insulators have been installed so it can act as the antenna.  There is an Icom 802 and AT-140 antenna tuner in a box about to be installed.  Along with this there is a Pactor IIusb modem with a Pactor III license
• installation of monitor wind vane
• new instruments.  I'm replacing my older wind/speed/depth instruments with new ones.  I've chosen TackTick and have new wind/speed/depth/temp/heading ready to go.  TackTick instruments are wireless, so mounting is very flexible.  I also have a remote capable of displaying all the information in the system as well as showing the alarms (depth, wind, cross track error, etc).  The remote will be useful when I'm below, allowing me to keep track of the boat when I'm not on watch
• new radar.  This decision was made long ago, although I spent quite some time reevaluating it and justifying it recently.  I have liked the Simrad BR24 since it came out.  Its not a pulse radar, but instead is FMCW (frequency modulated continuous wave.)  Google those terms if you want to learn how it works.  It has a very low power draw, very good resolution close to the boat but trails pulse radar in range.  It only draws around 17watts when operating, which is very low
• new chart plotter/multi-function display.  As I wanted a BR24 I needed some way to display it.  I had an older pulse radar displayed on a CRT behind the nav station, but I wanted the radar at the helm where I steer the boat.  So looking at chart plotters that could work with the BR24 I saw a few options.  The Simrad NSE12 is toward the high end of simrad plotters and looked awesome.  A new one from B&G came out just recently based on the NSE12, the Zeus.  The Zeus has many sail specific features, which would be cool.  These units consumed quite a lot of power however, around 3 amps.  Simrad also offers the NX45 which is a 12" plotter which uses C-Map charts and draws a max of 750ma (350ma without the backlight.)  I picked the NX45.  (as an aside, check out the coverage of the MW18 C-map chip - one chip covers the entire west coast, Alaska to Panama and out to Hawaii.  Less than $300.)
• upgrade pedestal.  I'll replace my current Edson straight guard with a new offset guard so that I can mount the chart plotter there
• new forward looking sonar - an Interphase Escort.  This is a vertical forward looking sonar that scans from down to forward.  It will be displayed through a video connection to my multi function display.  It has alarms for depth and obstructions forward of the boat.  It draws 0.5 amps
• new sails.  Carol Hasse is going to build me a full suit of sails for Luckness.  I'm really looking forward to these.  I want to be able to pole out my Genoa, and the clew on my current genoa is too low for that to work.  So I need a new genoa.  My stays'l is smaller and not as strong as I wanted, so another new sails.  I didn't have a storm stays'l or trys'l, so two more.  I wanted a better spinnaker, so will add a cruising spinnaker.  Of my sails the main is the one I could use for a while.  However Carol's work is excellent and I have gone for the whole set.
• a pole.  I was going to buy a whisker pole but Carol has convinced me to get a fixed pole instead.  I'll work with the folks at Port Townsend Rigging on this as I saw and liked their setup at the boat show
• work on the boom.  My outhaul will not move once the mainsail is loaded up.  I'd like to fix this.  I also want a vang - either soft or hard
• Pacific Seacraft recommends an 18" prop for the 37.  It turns out that my prop is 15". I've been pretty unsatisfied with the performance while motoring into wind and seas (even the small seas we get in Puget Sound.)  Finding out that my prop is 15" is a big clue in the under performance.  The current prop is a max-prop, which I like.  I'll be installing a new 18" Max Prop.  Since I was buying a new prop, I tried to get one of the new Eco-Wind max props which looked good - they claim to save 30% on fuel which given my 40gal tank would be welcome.  However they don't fit in the aperture.  The Max Prop classic is the only max prop which fits
• new dodger.  My current dodger was one I was going to live with.  Its pretty weak, but in strong winds it could just be folded forward and out of the way - exposing the crew to the full brunt of the elements.  Oh well.  My biggest complaint about it was that while leaving the cockpit and going forward there was no side rail on the dodger so there was a short distance where there was no good hand hold (aside from the life lines which I prefer to avoid for something rigid.)  Iversons's dodgers are awesome and very sturdy.  They have strong side rails as an option which will make going forward safer.  After visiting with them as the Seattle boat show and speaking with many folks, I've chosen to get a new dodger, an iTop.  A few more bucks.  At this point, why stop now!?
• new canvas work.  I'll have lee cloths made, as well as weather cloths, a new sail cover, a new pedestal cover etc.

There is more, but that's enough to give the impression that I'm not sitting on my butt idle.  What's going on?  Quite a lot really!

From one thing onto another

There is a flurry of activity happening on Luckness in regard to projects - or the flurry is about to happen, its ramping up.  There has been an actual flurry of research and my online searching of products and making decisions.  The installation flurry is about to ramp up.  More on this later.

I finished installing a new alternator today.  That was nice.  I cleaned the boat up afterwards, ran the engine in fwd for a little while monitoring the voltages making sure things were ok.  I put away all the electrical tools and supplies I had strewn about and for a moment the boat was pretty tidy.  I sat back and looked around, enjoying the moment of some more progress for the boat, getting better and better.

Then I pulled out a couple screwdrivers and started to take instruments out of my nav station.  My nav station currently has a VHF, a battery monitor, a bilge control and a panel for my instruments.  I'm going to be installing new TackTick instruments soon, so the instrument panel is no longer needed.  I also wanted to rearrange the panel, and make it easier to work on.

After pulling most of the instruments out of the panel, the VHF was being stubborn and refused to come out. I've had the folks at YachtFitters (Terry and Justin) help me with a lot of work and occasionally I'll come across something they've done for me in the past and I'll sit back and admire what they did.  As I do more work on my boat I can appreciate what they've done for me in the past more fully.  The VHF was installed in a good spot in my nav station, but getting it there must have been amazingly tricky as access was incredibly difficult.  Here's a picture of how the station looked at around 3pm today:

Getting at the VHF mounts required reaching in through the main electrical panel opening, around a hose from a deck scupper to its thru-hull, around to the radio at the edge of the space behind the panel. Then you have to unscrew and unbolt the fastener holding the radio on - with your finger tips.  I don't know how they got it into that location, I wouldn't have gotten it in there.

Anyway, it needed to come out.  I'm going to cut out most of the teak on the right side of the picture above, then cut a new piece of teak plywood to fit in the hole.  I'll mount the new plywood with teak tabs on all four sides - so I'll end up with a service panel which can easily be removed so I can access the area behind the instruments easily, as well as work on their wiring/etc as needed.  If in the future the instrument arrangement changes, I'll cut a new piece of teak plywood, cut holes in it to suite me and install it in place of what I'll have after this work.  It should be much more flexible.

The only way I could find of removing the VHF was with my Fein tool - I cut it out.  Here's the current picture, as of 6pm.

I no longer have a working VHF, other than my handhelds.  Finishing will likely take all week.  And I hesitate even giving that estimate, as in the past, I have needed to double or triple the estimates after seeing how long things really take...

Another little project (2)

Another in a long series of projects.  I wonder when I benefit from all this work and start to experience the advertisers picture of sailing: sitting back with a drink in hand as the boat heads off into the sunset?  More on this later...

I've just finished installing a new alternator.  The boat came with a Hitachi 80amp alternator, with an internal regulator.  For those of you not into the depths of DC charging, I'll try to keep this part brief.  Although discussing alternators in a non-DC nerd way is difficult.  You may want to skip ahead to the photo and then move on.

I never saw the old Hitachi charge at anything over 13.4 volts.  This is way too low for a decent charge.  Its perhaps ok for an automotive charger which only has to run the accessories and restore the charge the start of the engine took out of the battery.  In a sailboat which may run its batteries down a lot since the engine was last turned on, you want the engine alternator to produce the most amperage as possible to bring the battery bank back up to as fully charged as possible in the time you run the engine.  Its a sailboat, you don't want to run the engine more than necessary.

So anyway, since the old alternator wasn't charging the way I wanted, I looked around for alternatives.  Balmar is the big name in marine alternators.  That's what I have now.  I didn't want to change the belts on my engine, and the maximum alternator for a 1/2" belt is 110amps.  I now have a Balmar 7-series 110 amp alternator.   There was a choice of a couple regulators they offered, I have the ARS-5.  The ARS-5 is a good quality regulator which supports 3 stage charging - although that appears to be true of all the Balmar regulators.

As I ripped out all the old wiring I realized the old alternator was installed with 10 gauge wire.  (A brief moment while people who understand the implications of this express a gasp of shock.)  (Sorry, more DC current nerd talk.)  While the wire runs where short, 10 gauge wire is small.  If the 80amp alternator was trying to charge at its limit, this would result in over a 3% drop over 2 feet.  It may partly explain why I never saw much output from the old alternator.

The new installation has 1 awg cable on the current side, which is pretty beefy.  I approached the problem that if in doubt, over specify.  I initially used the wiring harness that came as part of a package with the alternator (for $54) but ended up mounting the regulator in the lazarette to get it out of the heat and vibration of the engine.  So the wiring runs got longer.  After my initial tests extending the harness with 14 gauge wire I noticed a voltage drop across the wire from the alternator to regulator I wasn't happy with, so I ripped all the wiring out (again) and replaced it all with 12 gauge (for field, battery pos, neg and ignition.)  The wiring harness I bought ended up being shredded and thrown away, but the final result is sweet.  I initially installed a temperature sensor at the alternator, changed its mounting location once and later also installed a battery temperature sensor which was a little involved as the wiring run was a little round about as tends to happen on a sailboat.

I initially thought this might be a weekend project.  Maybe two.  It ended up taking longer, but I'm pretty happy with the results.  All the wires are nicely sized and run, I have new beefy alternator belts (Dayco Top Cog) along with a new tool to tighten the belt (go to MSC industrial supply, search for BJ10 - thanks to the Balmar support person who passed that along.)

Here's a picture.  It doesn't really tell the story.  But the real story isn't about installing alternators....its what I do with all this work in the end.

Another little project

I knocked another little item off my project list last week - I installed an electrical sub-panel.

My main DC panel was full, and I need room to install some new circuits soon.  I need room for a water maker switch, as well a circuit for the SSB.  I also wanted easier access to the various lights from the cockpit.  I'm setting this boat up for single handing and every little thing I can do to make this easier will be welcome one day.

I decided on a 8 switch Blue Sea waterproof panel.  I wanted access to it from the cockpit as well as below in the cabin, so I installed it on the side of a cabinet I can reach from both places.  The installation went fairly smoothly.  I bought a new Fein tool which I used for the first time to cut the hole in the teak - the cut wasn't very clean (my fault, not the tool) but the panel overlaps the little ugly sections in the cut, so it ends up looking good.

The panel has switches for: tri-color, compass light, running lights, steaming light, spreader light, windlass remote panel light and the autopilot.  There is one spare circuit at the moment - I'll leave it for a while and decide on what I want - perhaps the deck wash circuit.

The main panel has three new spare circuits.  In the past many circuits controlled more than one thing - the compass light was controlled by the running lights for example.  I've split the GPS and instruments circuits out into their own, and there is a sub-panel circuit so the whole sub-panel can be turned on/off at once.

Lastly, I took the opportunity to clean up behind the main panel.  I cleaned up that area last year, so it was looking much better than when I first bought her, but this time I installed new grounding buses (there used to be three ground buses, now there are two with lots of empty terminals.)  There is also newly freed space where I removed a fuse panel controlling GPS, windlass light, 12 volt plug and nav instruments.  I will use the space to install something new (probably my NMEA network connections to clean up the terminal strip currently above my AC side, which I'll do after my new GPS goes in.)  The first picture is during the project, and the after picture follows:

There is lots more to do, but it feels good to be making progress again.