Friday 10/3/2017 - Osprey Marina Layover
Since I have been at the marina (now almost 48 hours, I have
been , by choice, without shore power).
I hooked up all my solar yesterday morning and have been testing the
setup to make sure I'll have enough power for the Bahamas. The first night, the batteries got down to
12.55 - not a problem. But last night
they got down to 1.35. That is much
lower than I like but still above the minimum recommended of 12.2v. So, today, I've been playing around testing
the setup to see if I can get by. Of
course, I'm using very little power (fridge, a little lighting at night,
charging the laptop, etc.). I think I'm
doing better today than yesterday but time will tell. Some things I miss without shore power
include: running fans during the day, and a heater at night, my coffee
maker, hot water, plenty of lights at
night, keeping everything charged without going to the marina office, etc.
Running the engine every day or two will make it much easier since it has a
descent size alternator and produced it's own hot water.
I have had a few small boat problems since I left home and I
expect to take care of them while I'm waiting for Joan to arrive on 11/9.
1.
Stuffing
box leak - I think the packing that existed was near the end of it's adjustment
range - it needed to have some added. It
was leaking 10 or 15 drops per minute.
That was a rate that was easy for the auto electric bilge pump to keep up
with but I don’t ANY water in my bilge so this was a little upsetting. Fortunately, I was able to get exactly the
type of packing I wanted and added a ring while docked in Beaufort. It has worked great - problem solved.
2.
Raw water pump seal leak - Not sure when this
started but it is much smaller in size.
I have a spare seal so I expect to have that replaced in the next day or
two.
3.
Mainsail headboard to slug webbing - I noticed
the headboard had become detached from the slug about two weeks ago. I lashed the two together for a temporary
fix. I need to remove the lashing and
sew the webbing back in place.
4.
Crab trap float - I went for a swim yesterday
and was able to remove the float and the line that was jammed between the
leading edge of the rudder and the 12" vertical strut in front of it. I'd be lying if it didn't bother me to be in
the water knowing an alligator lives in the marina basin. In any event - problem solved.
If the allagator has been fed well in the past 24 hours... I am told you are fine with a swim.😏
ReplyDeleteJust routine stuff happening huh? Had the exact same issues happen to me this last summer while doing the Delmarva with my wife Hilda and friend Bruce H. Sewing on a couple new slugs and the stuffing box. The only irritant is that it takes time away from the cruise to do the minor and preventative maintenance.
Great info on the electric. Ive been wondering what size battery bank to add to my Pearson 30 for the run south.
Alligators don't like the cold water any more than you do!
ReplyDeleteAs for your batteries, I worried that you may be discharging them deeper than you think. The voltage vs state-of-charge guidelines are only valid when the battery has been allowed to rest without charge or load for about 24 hours. This is one of the reasons why many sailors like to keep two separate house battery banks, and only use or charge one at a time.
The more modern approach is to have one large house bank, and a small, dedicated starting battery. A single large house bank can be proven to get the maximum lifetime/charge-cycles out of the batteries. You would then use a battery monitor to track the actual number of amp-hours extracted from the house bank. Although you can go down quite low, say to 20% of full charge, this really decreases the lifetime you will get out of the batteries. As a general rule-of-thumb, you shouldn't go below 50% of full charge.
Battery monitors are pretty easy to install if you're at all handy with electrical wiring. The only downside is the cost.
Thanks Ed. These are all good thoughts. I've read what you wrote twice over and given it some thought. I also think often about that Honda generator - but I'm trying to avoid that. My house battery is two 110ah group 31s. They are 3 years old. I think they are in good shape. I do baby them. I normally don't let the voltage go below 12.5. And when I charge them, I usually give them a good full charge. I'm trying get the max discharge cycles and also trying to keep the sulfating to a minimum. Also, I do have a new 80ah lawn and garden battery (disconnected) that I have verified will start the engine (my insurance). When I was on solar alone for my first 3 days here, I was giving the batteries time to reach steady state. What surprised me is that:
Delete1. I would use around 20ah per day and the panels would put in around 30ah per day. Yet, the batteries would read the same in the morning - like I hadn't added anything.
2. I'm not sure the panels are putting out their rated amps. I've done a lot of measuring and I'm not sure my newest controller is putting out what it says it is. I'm thinking about getting a new MPPT controller or maybe another inexpensive Morningstar 10amp PWM controller. The Morningstar I have now seems to work fine.
One thing for sure - these short days don't help for solar ouput.
I'll do some more thinking and reading but I do appreciate any other thoughts you have this - or any other topic.