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…
July 12, 2016
The plan had been to cruise down to Ensenada and jump right into installing the solar arch. A long lunch and a few cocktails with friends put an end to those ideas. But Alejandro was flexible and agreed to come the next morning. Which was a good thing, since it took a lot of effort to scrub the original 3M…
June 7, 2016
Let the fun times begin! Destruction must come before there will be progress. The first step in my power upgrade would be to increase the size of the solar arch. The arch was a good starting point, but sized to fit small 125W BP panels it just wasn’t going to cut it as is. Arch with BP panels The first…
May 28, 2016
It has been a chaotic process to purchase the lithium batteries from Thunder Sky (Winston). I decided to go with the Winston batteries based on the great success other cruisers have had with their (Winston) batteries and the high charge/discharge cycle life. Until a few years ago this was a simple process of placing an order with Balqon (out of…
May 9, 2016
I have been planning for awhile to make some significant upgrades to the power systems onboard. The batteries are original, after 8 years they are tired and past their expiration. Fellow Seawind 1160 owner Dave Straton (SV Nimrod) did an upgrade to Lithium batteries about four years ago and wrote a great write up on the conversion process. After exchanging…