Saturday, January 21, 2017

Second visit to boat after deposit

We went to see the boat again today in the yard and put down the remainder of the cash portion of the purchase price. I spent time on the boat, looking at the systems it ships with.

Electrical System

The boat has 1 service battery (for starting engine) and 4 house batteries for supplying 12VDC to the various systems on the boat. I think the batteries are AGM with 110aH so 440aH total meaning 220aH usable... The boat has a voltage isolator and a 60AMP charger. There is no invertor so none of the 110VAC devices will work unless we're on shore power. These devices currently include a microwave, two AC/heating units and the water heater. Nothing else needs 110VAC on the boat so far. Charging the batteries is done using the engine alternator or shore power. I'm not sure if the 60AMP charger I saw is just for shore power. The alternator may drive that also.

There is a small TV on a wall with it's own 400W invertor to power it.

I already own 2 Honda EU2000i generators. These can be used on the boat to charge batteries on the way. A 60AMP charger should pull around 900 watts (15V x 60) during peak charging. I'd prefer to run the generator closer to 1500 watts charging, it's more efficient.

It's not diesel so I'd need to store gasoline on the boat which I don't like. 5 gallons of gasoline though is a lot of power. One of my EU2000i's is converted for propane and uses about 1lb of propane for 1kwh of power.

Our batteries are 4 x 110aH or 440Ah or 12V x 440aH = 5.2kwh. We can draw about 2.6kwh for 50% depth of discharge. That's 2.6lbs of propane to replace that power. I estimate that will take about 3 hours to charge. I have a test where 5 hours charged 4.4kwh or 880wh per hour with a 55amp charger in my house.

Navigation Equipment.

It has B&G gear, a Zues 2 9 inch screen outside, two small MFDs, an autopilot control and a VHF radio (V50). There is also a chain link counter and electric cutlass.

Refitting plan.

I will be living part time on this boat and sailing most evenings and weekends when weather is good. Staying on the boat cuts my commute to the office time from an hour each way to about 15 minutes. This is an expensive purchase so being able to sail it as often as possible and the commute time savings (an apartment in the city close to the office basically) is a big deal to me.

First purchases:

  • AIS Transmitter (B&G V50 is receive only)
  • EPIRB (ACR V4)
  • Life Raft (Viking 8 man)
  • Dry gear for working on deck. Probably Dry suits for the family.
  • Inmersat Phone dock (external aerial) with Satellite Wifi or just buy an Iridium Hotspot for about the same money for weather and email. I already own an inmersat satphone 2 and a satphone pro.
  • Self inflating life vests.
  • Drogue for emergency steering and slowing boat down in swell/heavy weather.
  • Self activating fire system for engine room.
  • Emergency hole plugging system.
  • Some kind of gasoline/propane/diesel high capacity pump, ~6000 gph.

I'm holding off on the following:

  • Victron Multiplus 12V/3000W/60AMP invertor/charger. This would allow batteries to supplement shore power and split the system so all A/C power comes from invertor/batteries and shore power normally just charges batteries. I own a Xantrex ProSine 1800 which would work well as an invertor but with only 200AH of usable power from current batteries, running 110VAC is prohibitive. 600aH total would give me 500aH usable which is over double my current aH.
  • Victron Lithiums with BMS to replace current batteries. When they wear out then I'll consider it and hopefully they will be cheaper then. They have 12V/200aH ones which I'm not sure will fit in current battery buckets.
  • Solar panels (300W at least).
  • Wind generator.
  • Fiberglass propane tanks.
  • SSB Radio and Pactor modem (I have an extra class ham license and a KX3 radio right now).
The current plan to receive the boat is late April. We want to do some serious sailing lessons with a captain once we get it also.