Continuing preparation of "Every Day" Part 16

We are taking our time plan and design the work that we want to do on the boat. This will give us the opportunity to schedule the work leading one project into the next. As we continue to do research and plan the final outfitting we have made a few key decisions.

Xantrex has a new truly marine inverter that has some really wonderful additional features. The inverter/battery charger (monitors the battery banks) and when the batteries need to be charged or if the 120VAC load is beyond the inverters capability the inverter will automatically start the generator. This can also protect the batteries and the boat in general when we are away from the boat by keeping the batteries from running down. Also data on the condition of the batteries can be retrieved through NEMA, and be sent remotely via internet.

We have been talking about how big a generator we should put in the boat. Ideally, you want a generator which will run between 75% and 90% of capacity all the time. This prevents the cylinders from building up carbon and keeps the generator efficiency up. Since we are installing 5 solar panels and a wind turbine, we expect these to produce the daily power consumption except air conditioning. The only question was if we should get a 5 kW or 6 kW generator. Similar price, similar size, similar efficiency but would either allow us to use all three air conditioners or only two at a time. Ultimately, when we are somewhere very warm we decided that having the ability to use all the air conditioning if we want. Thus 6 kW is for us. Northern Lights also had gotten on the communications bandwagon and their units will take the automatic start info and will send data via NEMA to your computer. I'm hoping that the generator data will allow us to then have the maintenance data system inform us it's time to change the oil or other maintenance required.

After many discussions with people who have made crossings and other long ocean voyages, it has become clear that we should have a hard dodger instead of a soft one. The can withstand more weather, leak less and provide a location to mount the solar panels.

We can't wait for a little warmer weather to do one of the really big remaining jobs is the toe rails and chain plates. We are going to pull the toe rails and chain plates, brighten the toe rails and replace any worn or suspect chain plates and then re-bed them. This will entail removing most of the interior paneling. That will take quite some work.

That's all for this month. Happy sailing everyone.