October 28, 2017
Boats. Sometimes I just sit and shake my head at the amount of work it takes to keep a boat going. I owned an airplane earlier in life and let me tell you, airplanes are a cake walk. Boats just never stop asking for more. And then throw in a dumb-ass owner who loves new toys and it is a…
June 21, 2017
I became interested in finding out what other Seawind owners were using for anchors and it quickly morphed into adding other catamarans in the 38 to 42 foot range. It was interesting reading the emails, often the response was about how much they loved their anchor (I suppose you would ditch your anchor over the side permanently if you hated…
May 1, 2017
So I had a shitty experience one night in San Evaristo. Whether it was the Coromuel or the Elephante winds it does not really matter, the result was the same – a long night. Starting just after 9:00 the wind kicked up, just as it had a few nights earlier when my Mantus anchor held like a rock, I diligently…
January 24, 2017
Yet another substantial, multi-step process… Point of note, Seawind 1160s from the factory have 50 meters (165 feet) of 8mm short link galvanized chain. After the mock up that Baja Naval completed in Ensenada it was up to me to fabricate a new anchor roller bracket once back in the US. Before leaving the boat in La Paz I took…
December 14, 2016
I’m in the middle of upgrading the center steering bracket. The Seawind design had a single Ronstan Traveler Car to support the Steering Bracket. My understanding is the newer 1160 catamarans have relocated the Steering Bracket from a vertical mount to a horizontal mount to reduce stress on the ball bearings. This would be a significant change so instead I…
October 23, 2016
So what happened? Well I suppose the best term would be burn out. After working the month of July averaging 85 hours weeks, when I headed back to Minnesota, I was ready for a break from boat work. I did return for a few days in early September where I knocked off a couple of things and continued a frustrating…
August 1, 2016
It was an exhausting, at times overwhelming, grind, but from July 7th until August 1st I buckled down and cranked out a lot of work. The days were long often starting before 6:00am and not knocking off until after 8:00pm. I skipped a bunch of meals and made daily trips to the marine store, Home Depot, and Target (some times…
August 1, 2016
Well that didn’t last long. Dave (SV Nimrod) filled me in that the InterVolt Programmable Voltage Relay, that we both were using, are only low voltage relays and would not chop the connection in over-voltage conditions. Shit, that is no good. While the LiFePO4 don’t catch fire they can smoke and make a big mess, not to mention destroy the…
July 20, 2016
A ridiculous amount of time has been spent studying the electrical system on my boat. The lithium batteries brought a whole other level of research to ensure I didn’t create a safety hazard. I make no promises to the accuracy of this information but I am reasonable certain it is accurate. Seven days in, I typically don’t see the voltage…
July 18, 2016
In a cloudless day, with the sun directly overhead, my calculations (based on the “typical” stated outputs numbers and not the “ideal” laboratory numbers) show I have the potential to bring in around 60 amps (at 12V). It is hard to know the loss from the solar controller or the wire runs so I was excited to see what would…
July 17, 2016
UPDATE August 1, 2016!!! – I removed the InterVolt Programmable Voltage Relay, see the new post for more information: Update With the boat wiring mapped out I felt comfortable stripping out the old batteries and wires. Figuring out where to mount all of the new equipment was a game of Tetris. Ultimately I had to adjust the position of the…
July 17, 2016
Boat in San Diego, new stainless hardware acquired from Marine Exchange, MC4 crimp tool (and connectors) means I’m ready to go! Lug the panels to the top of the solar arch and slide them into position. Jump down to start threading the bolts, using the dingy as a ladder, and find that we have a problem…the outside holes don’t line…