Project progress :<\/p>\n

72V\/12V bypass switch<\/span><\/p>\n

The rational for this project is to allow us to make better use of the regeneration on the boat.\u00a0 We have a switch that engages the DC cross converters that allows us to flow charge from the drive banks to the house banks.\u00a0 This keeps us off the generator for days when at anchor and allows us to fill the house banks when sailing regeneratively.\u00a0 There is a ‘feature’ which cutrs off the cross converter when the drive bank charge drops below 80% and only reenables it when the charge gets above 86%.\u00a0 We can get around this at anchor but when sailing this can get very irritating.\u00a0 Given our typical tapping of the drive batteries at anchor and our usual sailing in the morning, we normally set sail with house batteries down at 50% and the drive batteries around 70%-80%.\u00a0 As soon as we’re in the wind we’re regenerating but as a result of the described ‘feature’ we can’t use any of the power we’re making for the house bank.<\/p>\n

The fix is to change the switch so that we can activate the cross over relay whenever we want.\u00a0 This I managed to do yesterday and am very pleased with the results.<\/p>\n

The project is not yet complete as the new configuration represents a risk of drive bank depletion should we forget and leave the switch on.\u00a0 The next step is to implement a red indicator light somewhere in the visible console to warn us when the relay is engaged.\u00a0 The light I wanted was in Island Water World’s other store so I can’t get it til Monday.<\/p>\n

Watermaker Reflush<\/span><\/p>\n

The water that comes from the watermaker has around 200 parts per million of impurities in it.\u00a0 This better than most tap water but not good enough for using in lead acid batteries.\u00a0 Good distilled water comes in at around 1 part per million but we’ve found it hard to find at times.\u00a0 I understand that anything under 20 parts per million is ok (please comment if I’m wrong on this).\u00a0 (NOTE:\u00a0 We bought some battery water in Rodney Bay, St Lucia that had over 40 parts per million).<\/p>\n

In theory, if we run product water back through the water maker the new product water should be close to adequate.\u00a0 If nothing else this could provide a promising backup supply of battery water.<\/p>\n

Yesterday I proved the concept.\u00a0 I independently powered the valve used to take fresh water to flush the system at the end of normal operation and used the system in normal mode.\u00a0 With Helen’s help we monitored the water quality as it came out and very soon we hard water at 10 parts per million.\u00a0 Because the pipe I was using to collect the water was missing a seal we were leaking water so we stopped the test there.<\/p>\n

Having proved the concept I set about wiring in an override switch for the fresh water valve.\u00a0 Turned out I had the wrong switch so all was able to do was run in all the necessary wires and fuse and leave it there.\u00a0 All the marine and hardware stores close at midday on Saturday.\u00a0 I tried to find an open store but the only one that was open didn’t have the switch I wanted.\u00a0 To be completed Monday.<\/p>\n

Topping Lift Shackle<\/span><\/p>\n

The way the topping lift is tied to our boom eventually chaffs the line so a smooth shackle is required.\u00a0 On attempting this improvement I discovered the shackle I bought was too small so I’ll replace it on Monday and have another go.<\/p>\n

Bow Locker Platforms<\/span><\/p>\n

The bow lockers are so deep that we rarely put anything in them.\u00a0 We intend to put in place platforms on the convenient ridge half way up.\u00a0 Yesterday we bought the wood and Helen cleaned out the lockers.\u00a0 Now the wood needs cutting.\u00a0 Once installed we’ll put rubbish\/trash up front out of the way of our noses.<\/p>\n

Lazy Bag Line Replacement<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the short lines at the rear of the lazy bag (which covers the mainsail) was badly chaffed from rubbing against one of the reefing lines.\u00a0 To protect both lines I put in place a longer one which should hang better.\u00a0 This project can’t be considered closed until we’ve had the sail up and I can see the chaffing has been addressed.<\/p>\n

House Battery Bank<\/span><\/p>\n

Batteries require topping up and full equalization.\u00a0 The former was completed but the latter awaits our docking at Clarks Court Bay Marina some time next week.<\/p>\n

Net result of days activities: Zero projects fully completed.<\/p>\n

In between all this we managed to refill the dinghy, did some food shopping and a walk around town.<\/p>\n

At 5pm Carol and John from Sweet Caroline came over for a couple of hours for refreshments.\u00a0 We closed the day with an episode of 24.<\/p>\n

We’re at a parts jam for moving ahead on projects.\u00a0 Jim has offered us the use of his electric saw which we can use to cut the bow locker platforms.\u00a0 If this is available we’ll get this task done this morning.\u00a0 We can also research some parts we need to build up our spares inventory as well as look for somewhere to get some of the more expensive items (such as a second windlass).\u00a0 Some time today we hope to move out of the lagoon into the fresher waters (and more importantly fresh air) outside.\u00a0 It’s a bit further to come into the shops on Monday but we’re becoming desperate for breeze.\u00a0 We can also fill our water tanks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Project progress :<\/p>\n

72V\/12V bypass switch<\/p>\n

The rational for this project is to allow us to make better use of the regeneration on the boat. We have a switch that engages the DC cross converters that allows us to flow charge from the drive banks to the house banks. This keeps us off the generator […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grenada","category-sweet-caroline","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboarddignity.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboarddignity.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboarddignity.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboarddignity.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboarddignity.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1451"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/aboarddignity.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1453,"href":"https:\/\/aboarddignity.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1451\/revisions\/1453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboarddignity.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboarddignity.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboarddignity.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}