02/13/2010, DELTAVILLE, VA

Friday the 12th of February, 2010
Success in getting the inverter mounted in Liquid Therapy's bilge! It was difficult to lift and move the inverter. It weighs 80 lbs! Susan helped me lift into the CRV for transport to the marina. After I got there I slid it from the CRV into the dock cart. Rolled it to the boat and then pondered what to do next. It was high tide so the boat was up a bit. I untied the stern and pulled and tied the boat against the finger pier on the starboard side. And, behold with a shot of adrenaline of thinking I might drop the inverter into the drink, I lifted it above the gunnel and slid it onto the deck. GREAT! I decided to mount the inverter on the bulkhead that is the forward end of the bilge. I needed to move the existing hot and cold water lines the pump and accumulator tank too. Off to my favorite hardware store, HURDS, in Deltaville to get some 1/4" diameter screws. Hurds has great people and lots of marine stuff. Got 1 1/4" length and washers and back to the boat. After moving and re-attaching the water lines I was ready for the moment of truth. I had a 7 1/2" wooden box that I could set the inverter on to hold it high until I could get the mounting screws in. I slid the inverter from the salon deck into the bilge and gently set it down on the bilge deck. I then slid it over to the waiting wooden box. The trick now was to get it standing upright on the box in the cramped confines of the bilge. It took several attempts after adjusting my body to get enough leverage to stand it up. Finally it stood up and the mounting flange slid behind the box perfectly holding the inverter up against the bulkhead. I then screwed 5 screws into the top mounting flange. I slide the box out of the way and screwed 3 more screws into the bottom flange. It's mounted!!
BATTERIES. I moved the two 6 volt Trojan 605 batteries up to where they will be close to the inverter. Need to mount the battery boxes and wire everything next. I also will have to remount the fresh water system pump and add some length to the cold water supply hoses. They are old anyway. So, I will not complain about buying new cold water lines.
Last night, I ordered custom 4/0 cables and 300amp fuse for the 12V DC side and 10 gauge wire for the 120V connections. Can't wait to get all of that stuff connected....... And, it's snowing again.

General

Comments [0] | | More

Brooke Smith
02/10/2010

Snowman boating.

General

Comments [0] | | More

Brooke Smith
02/10/2010, MECHANICSVILLE, VA

Wednesday the 19th of February, 2010
Boating at home again in the snow. It's snowing again. Weirdest winter I can remember. It must be global warming. HA. Maybe we need to burn some bad coal or let some old freon out of some tanks to stop the snow.
This picture is of the 2500 inverter I bought from Craigslist. It is going to be a great addition to Liquid Therapy. I have dual 30amp power connections on the boat. One power cord is currently exclusively the heat pumps. The other is all other 120V power. I will be using this with the shore power cord feeding the normal 120v stuff on the boat. This inverter has a flawless transfer switch. I checked it out in my den. Yep couldn't wait to check the inverter out after FEDEX dropped it off. Rolled it straight from the front porch to the den and had batteries and wires strewn about the den floor in no time. I connected a cord simulating the shore power cord to the source connection. I connected a socket to the load side of the inverter to simulate the 120v boat wiring. And, then simulating a huge 8D battery I used a wimpy lawn and garden battery. Everything powered up fine. At first I used a lamp to simulate the boat load. I unplugged the source power and could not tell the inverter had take over. Plugged the fake shore power (simulated shore power) cord in and the power switched back with not a blink. So to increase the load I got my wife's hairdryer. It ran fine and when I unplugged the shore power cord the wimpy battery ran the inverter heavier load for a few minutes before the inverter shut down due to the battery getting too low. This thing is great. I intend to power the inverter with the two 6v golf cart batteries that I currently use for the 12v house battery circuits. I will have three 12v systems when I get everything configured.
(1) STARTING BATTERY 8D size.
(2) HOUSE 12V SYSTEMS 4D size (after the existing 2 paralleled group 24 batteries die)
(3) INVERTER two 6v Trojan Golf Cart Batteries connected in series.
The existing battery charger works out well as it can charge 3 independent battery banks. I'm contemplating moving the charger's 120v source to the power cord that feeds the heat pumps. That way when we go visiting marina's I can get by with just one 30amp cord for the heat pumps and the battery charger. The inverter battery will be charged by the charger and the inverter will supply all the 120v power normally provided by the 2nd shore power cord. It has always irked me that the transient marinas charge $3.00 or more for each shore power cord. The one that supply the heat pumps uses a fair amount of energy, but the other cord may run nothing greater than a microwave and the hairdryer a few minutes. The inverter will easily supply what the 2nd cord would.
 I am wondering what the 55amp alternator on the engine is going to think of all this battery load. Might need a larger alternator.
I am installing a BlueSea "add a battery" management switch
( http://bluesea.com/products/7650 ) for the starting and house batteries. The output of this switch sends current to the starter on the engine. I will leave this switch in the 8D position all the time. I can also select the house battery for emergency starting. What is really nice about this switch is that it has a relay that connects the starting battery and house battery together once the engine alternator starts charging. So, while the motor is running it charges the starting and house batteries. When you cut the motor off, the relay drops and isolates the starting and house batteries. That is so much better than trying to remember to switch a battery switch to the "both position" while running and then remembering to move back to 1 battery when you cut the motor off. Forgetting the manual switch and leaving it in the "both position" while anchored out leaves you discharging the house and starting batteries. Hopefully you remember to move the switch before BOTH batteries end up discharged and the motor is unable to start. YIKES!
 So, this leaves me with the inverter batteries out of the motor charging loop. I have another 2 position manual switch that I will use tie the inverter battery to the house battery in the both position. If I forget to switch this off when anchored, the worst thing that would happen is the house and inverter batteries would be pulled down together. I'd still be able to start the engine. 
So, that's my boating from home today with the snow outside. Had to get outside and Susan and I built a snowman. Had't done that in a long time.
Later

General

Comments [0] | | More

Brooke Smith
02/08/2010, DELTAVILLE, VA

Monday the 8th of February, 2010
Drove down to the boat today with no particular project to do. I'm hold up in the aft cabin with the electric heater on as the heat pumps are winterized. Next on the To Do List is installing the 2500 watt inverter I bought on Craigslist. It's not here yet. It's in transit from Orlando. 96 lb shipping weight by FEDEX. Gonna be hard to handle at home in the snow. It's snow down here in Deltaville too and there is ice on Jackson Creek. Never seen that before. Been wearing glove-liners to move stuff around to keep my hands nimble.
Organized my spare parts and fixed the engine access door hinge in the aft stateroom. The holes for the screws were stripped and I did a toothpick job on them to make them tight again. Couldn't find the wood glue. So, I used some superglue that was thick from the cold. Never seen superglue that thick. It's always runny.
Liquid Therapy is still fun to come to in the winter. Guess I'll head back home and return next time with the inverter.

General

Comments [0] | | More

Brooke Smith
02/05/2010, DELTAVILLE, VA

Sunday the 3rd of January, 2010
Susan and I are sprinting to the boat again today to winterize. It's imperative as the temperature is in the low 20s and the wind howling.
We arrived a little after 10am 24° and the wind blowing 23-31 knots at Stingray Point Light. Our swim platform and some of the hull near the water line had ice clinging to it. Salt water ice! We opened the door to LIQUID THERAPY and found an icicle hanging out of our galley spigot. I turned on the Heat Pumps and water came out the through hull fittings so that was good that the pumps raw water wasn't frozen. But shortly after running one of the through hulls stopped spitting out water. I guess the heat pump was doing what it was supposed to do. By taking the heat out of almost frozen raw salt water flowing though the system the heat pump froze the salt water. So, I cut the heat pump off used Susan's hair dryer to thaw the heat pump.
The engine refused to start again. It had air in the fuel system again. Got it started, warmed up and started sucking the oil out of the dip stick. Slow even with the warm oil. Got the oil changed and moved on to the holding tank, heads and freshwater system. Susan pumped all the water (220 gallons) out and added the pink stuff antifreeze to both tanks. She like to froze to death outside while I was in the bilge draining the hot water tank. We could not get the water pump to prime with the pink antifreeze we had added in the tanks. So I took the intake hose off the pump and poured antifreeze into it as the pump ran and Susan turned on each faucet until she saw pink. Moved on to the the engine and could not get the seacock closed to the intake of the engine. I pulled the intake hose off the seacock; let the seawater run into the bilge and had Susan start the engine as I poured antifreeze into the intake hose winterizing the saltwater side of the cooling system. Cut the engine off and put the hose back on the seacock. Moved on to the heat pumps and got antifreeze through the saltwater side of them. Put an outdoor 50watt light securely in the engine area of the bilge for added measure and to drive moisture out of the area. Outdoor floodlights are great source of heat and will not break if condensation drips on them. So I don't feel bad using them in the bilge with a protected lamp fixture for good measure. So the boat is put to sleep for a few months until spring.
Meanwhile, I have purchased a 2500w used inverter; intend to change the exhaust hose and muffler; and install a battery switch when I can get back down there. It's been snowing here at out home in Virginia a lot more than the last 10 years. So, I have to wait for better driving conditions to go to the boat for those projects.

General

Comments [2] | | More

Brooke Smith
01/03/2010, DELTAVILLE, VA

Friday the 1st of January, 2010
Lets go to the boat and winterize as it's a cold forecast coming in the next few days.
After, working the New Years Eve gig with FLASHBACK band at the Cavalier Beach Club in Virginia Beach Susan & I were planning on going to the boat and winterizing. I had left LIQUID THERAPY in haste win a blinding snowstorm 12-18. So, our plans were to go to the boat after having breakfast at Mary's restaurant in Va. Beach. We ambled to Deltaville about noon. I tried to start the engine and nothing but spinning the motor. Also, there seemed to be diesel fuel in the bilge. It appeared that I didn't tighten up all bleed screws or the filters or something. For some reason there was air in the system like the filters had drained into the bilge. I tightened the filters and the inlet fittings to the lift pump. So I finally got the motor started and the only time we had left was enough to top off the coolant. Winterizing would have to wait another day. I decided to shut off the fuel valve at the primary fuel filter just in case the tanks decided to siphon into the bilge or something.

General

Comments [0] | | More