Battery compartment refit
17 May 2017
• Oz, Slip 18
by Keith, sitting in the hallway at night listening to the kids go to sleep in Tucson
This is one of the major projects "we" are working on presently. One of the others is even more jazzy, but we will speak of that later. The battery compartment on this boat hasn't been refurbished since it was built, it seems, 30 years ago. Two of the four batteries, the two 8ds, need to be replaced because they are from 2010, seven years old, and are at risk of cracking and releasing acid into the bilge. There is some wood hardware securing some of the batteries that is going to need to be redone, then everything will get painted that white you see in the left of the photograph - we are slowly covering all of the inside of the boat with this stuff (the compartments - hull itself is actually insulated in large part with actual insulation that was way advanced for its time and keeps heat and cool in as appropriate). This super thick white paint covers the old smell and mustiness with clean, incredibly tough, white new looking and smelling layer. It's like the tough stuff you see painted on pangas. Manuel mentioned the battery compartment was particularly smelly. You can practically see that from the photo. There is a bunk over all that, if you can imagine, called the pilot's berth, because it has easy access to the main hatch and, for better or worse, the engine compartment. When completed there is an insulated wall with access port between the two. I've asked Manual to install extra insulation because I tend to motor a lot and I want the kids to be able to nap and play inside while the diesel engine is going. In this photograph you can see the 1000 watt inverter, once state of the art; it still works for smaller a/c loads when off of shore power. Across from that is the ubiquitous red battery selector, and below that the solar panels charge controller. Original owner had lots of stuff hanging and affixed to everywhere in this area, including a large cassette tape holder that I hesitated to get rid of. But our theme is minimize, make more space for kids and our stuff (like toys), improve, and make like new again as much as reasonably possible. We have almost got the entire boat refit... my list is dwindling. Pity, I enjoy this.
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