Read: Bahamas Shakedown or Refit or Caribbean or en Francais
Bilge Monitor
10/11/2006

Several times during the shakedowns, the bilge pump went off but, because of the heel, just ran, and ran, and ran... Eventually someone would probably hear it, but it seemed like we needed some sort of alarm to keep us from draining the battery and burning out the pump. There was also a bit of an issue the way the pump was originally wired. In the end I chose a Water Witch monitor/controller together with Water Witch sensors. Very nice components. It alarms if the pump runs continuously or if water get's up the the high water mark. When I'm gone a month, it is comforting to come back and see that the pump did not run (counter). Also frees up another breaker on the panel: precious space.

On that note, I also wanted a dry bilge (yeah right.) The first problem was the thru-hull for the speedo. It was backed with a rotten, stinkin', plywood block. To digress a bit further, the surveyor (Brian Stetler) caught this, and just about everything else that was to fail, during the prebuy: get one and listen. I removed the block and built up a fiberglass backing plate. No more leak. (Also used a trisensor for depth, speed, and temp.) Also replaced the stuffing box with a PYI dripless. Now we're down to diesel leaks. The engine itself leaks a bit, but most was coming from a electric pump installed to facilitate bleeding. Nixed the pump, replaced the filter assembly with one with a built-in bleed pump and moved it up next to the engine: no more diesel leak and no problem bleeding. I still get some water in from the mast (rain) and through the windlass and chain pipe on the bow - workin' on it.

Refit
Electronics
10/11/2006

In trying the alternative energy thing, it became quickly apparent that we need means of monitoring energy usage. Because we use a watermaker, fresh water becomes a form of energy. Thus, we found that we need to closely monitor energy in the form of electricity (Xantrex XBM batter monitor) and water (Raritan tank monitor). The XBM is an "always on" device and uses no energy to speak off. The tank monitor uses half an Amp or so, a lot for us, so we hooked it up to the fresh water pump circuit rather than leaving it always on.

We also added a Icom 802 SSB, mainly for receiving weather. Starting with the simpliest first, we are using debonded rails for an antipoise. Worked fine in the Bahamas, but I suspect the antipoise/ground plane may be a work in progress. We decided against added an email modem given that sat technology should overtake SSB shortly.

Last on this panel is the Jensen radio/CD/DVD player. Music is a big part of lives (voice, piano, etc.). As a family, one of our favorite things to do is watch movies together. We used to use a laptop and USB speakers, but now its all built-in. You can see the speakers and screen elsewhere. Not home theatre, but cool by us! (Popcorn pops pretty well in the pressure cooker...)

Refit
Windlass
10/11/2006

Cute little back saver isn't it? The Maxwell 800 is a low profile, relatively light weight (30 lbs.) windlass that seem very well built and fits the J/40 foredeck well with a low, clean profile. This goes with 100 feet of 5/16 high test spliced to 5/8 12 strand. Works extremely well and just the right size for the boat. Of course cutting that big hole in a cored deck was a bit nerve wracking...

This was the first of several thru-deck bolted projects. I used to drill an oversize hole, file the hole, and redrill. This time I used a different technique for hardware loaded in shear. From under the deck I used a 1" Forstner (sp?) bit to drill up to the upper skin, but not through the skin. I then epoxied in a prefabricated 1" fiberglass plug for each hole. Using a jig appropiate to the hardware (windlass, chain stopper, ...) I drilled the mount holes through the upper skin and the plug. My theory is that this method provides better protection for the core and a higher shear strength than the standard technique, though it is a bit more work.

The anchoring platform for the J/40 is , well, not quite what it should be: a bit light for the job. We added a solid bail, larger roller, etc. but to really have a first class platform you would need to build a custom stem fitting/platform. That's too much for us, so we just live with it.

In addition to the Spade, we also carry a stern anchor (Fortress FX-16) in the stern locker (built-in in the J/40), a FX-23 anchor for the bow, and an FX-37 storm anchor. We have two spare rodes, one of which is compatible with the windlass. The main rode is 100' of 5/16 high test spliced to 150' of 8 plait.

The windlass control is a story in itself. I ordered a SoPac unit. (SoPac OEMs for West Marine BTW.) What a piece of junk. Copper conector and untinned wires. We were heading out, so I quickly installed it, but it barely made it through the week. I threw away the original plug and socket and went with a great product from DriPlug (British). Stainless, tough, and waterproof. I also used the two prong version to provide waterproof 12V outlets on the bow and under the main traveler (where you can't kick it in the dark). The spotlight and flourescent deck light have matching plugs. Its great to keep the spotlight plugged in while underway at night and also to be able to use it from the foredeck.

Refit
Alternative Power
10/11/2006

Now that you've seen the arch... We instrumented the boat with a battery monitor (described later) to get a handle on the enegery usage. Basically, we were a 160 AH boat and, through various modifications, are now a 120 AH boat. To go further will require installing a new fridge with better insulation: a job for the future. Going purely solar would require 3-4 120W panels. Given we will be in the trade belt, we went with 2 120W panels and a KISS wind generator. Emperically, we seem to break even with good Sun and 10 kts. or grey skies and 14 kts. We try to run the watermaker (about 2 AH per gallon and also described elsewhere) on high energy days when we have an excess. If all else fails, we start IT up...

The killers are the fridge and the fans, while at anchor. Underway the autopilot and chartplotter take their fair share.

Refit
Radar Arch
10/11/2006

The Tower of Power. We've tried hard to be weight and line conscience and this particular item is concurrently expensive, a shame, and a neccessity. The original pushpits provided an outboard storage mount and support for the radar mast: too much strain as evidenced by the cracking welds and bases. Towards our goal of adding solar and wind power we needed even more support. Our needs and a review of Griffin convinced us to, with great reluctance, add a radar arch. At 100+ lbs. its not what you want on the end of a boat (though it does balance the added chain on the bow) nor does it do anything for the lines, but we are cruising and do believe in alternative power so it is what it is. Here you see it stripped for hurricane season. Normally you would see the aft bimini, solar cells, and the blades on the wind generator. As a small consession, we now use a bimini cantelevered off the arch to get rid of all the strap and tube clutter around such crucial items as the rod holders and BBQ.

The radar arch was fabricated by Wells Marine: excellent work. It was installed by United Welding at the old Summerfield yard (now closed): terrible, aweful, shameful work. I'll reinstall it at some point.

In terms of windage, it turns out the arch itself is not much. The dinghy hanging from the davits certainly adds a bit, but it is the wind generator that really drags. Given that a running wind generator looks more-or-less like a flat plate disc, this comes as no surprise. We haven't been able to quantify the drag, but it could well take off a 1/4 kt. or so. The generator produces enough drag, and being offset and pivoting, that the boat sits quietly at anchor even without a riding sail. Before the generator, she sailed around the rode quite a lot. I did make a riding sail, but now we rarely use it. Note that the wind generator is mounted in an isolator (provided by SV Hotwire) to minimize vibration transmitted to the hull.

While we're here, see that binnacle? There's story there as well. The J/40 uses a special, and unfortunately steel, bracket as the backing plate/idler pulley mount to which the pedestal is bolted. It was corroded to the point of failure, so I ordered a new assembly and, what the heck, new chain, cables, breaings, ... as well. Things always seem worse once you get into them. The chain, which must have been original, wasn't looking so good. It had apparently had had a broken link which was replaced with a master type link. Well the other ones weren't far behind. The next link down had only one cheek left and the next one had crevice crack corrosion from pin to pin. Edson recommends replacing the chain/cable every five years or every year in hard service (charter). Good advice me thinks. Replaced the bearings, etc. while I had things opened up.

Refit
Welcome to the Refit
10/11/2006

This category shows off a subset of the refit activity as we prepare Norska as a temporary home of sorts for our Caribbean adventures. The theme is safe, comfortable cruising of the semi-costal variety. That we will always be within a couple of days of some reasonable port influenced the length of our spares list and some of the equipment that we've choosen to do without. What we have done is done to blue water standards, but we would do more if we were ranging farther out.

Most of the work we did ourselves. When it got really nasty, like grinding off bottom paint, we were pleased to let someone else suit up and deal with the mess. Some things, like heading rod and repairing the boom had to be done by folks with the right equipment, but for the most part its more effort and care than any special tool or skill.

Refit

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