Pensacola FL Sailing Blog - sailingnightwatch

The last installation in the engine room was a new Lectar/san for the aft head. It was hooked up to a home-style electric head and wired to operate with the pushing the same button that flushes the head. One of those amenities that both the wife and I feel was well worth the money. I also added switches that operate the electric pumps independently to pump the head dry for rough weather and to add water when times are again calm.

The final major project was adding a substantial shelf and install a 18 gallon electric/engine heated water heater. The boat had a small water heater under the galley sink. It left with everything else that was stolen from the boat. We felt that a small 4-6 gallon unit would not meet our needs of living aboard and having real jobs. With the large tank, we never ran out of hot water even when we have had 5 guests on board, all getting showed and ready for an evening ashore. We were disappointed that the unit began to leak after about 4 years. It was probably the most expensive unit that you can get in that size. We replaced it with a 12 gallon unit and so far so good. It does burn out heating elements about every 2 years. They are ridiculously expensive, as compared to a large home electric water heater, but we are on a boat.

We started working in the engine room. The door to the engine room is in the aft head. The bowls of both heads had frozen and cracked and had to be replaced. Not having a head and removing the doors to the head and engine room made access much easier. I replaced the 2-D8 house batteries with 4-6 volt golf cart batteries. Also replaced the starting battery.Other major projects in the engine room included installation of the 16000 btu Cruisair compressor unit that feeds the air handlers in the main saloon and forward stateroom. As mentioned before, this was a priority because we came out of the yard the first week in December and we needed heat beyond 2 little electric space heaters I used when working on board. I am fearful to let running when no one is on board. This meant stopping any other work on the boat and installing the two air handlers forward with their associated equipment.The boat originally had a chiller and 4 automotive heater air handlers for air conditioning throughout the boat. The chiller was gone and only 2 of the air handlers were still on board. Had to do some disassembling of the interior to get those last 2 out. That is probably why they were still in place and not stolen with the rest of the equipment.The self contained 7000 btu unit for the aft stateroom was delivered at the same time. I had to convert one closet to house the unit. I built a shelf in the upper part of the closet and pointed the discharge from the fan up through the top of the space and into the cabinet that housed the old air handler turning the old cabinet into a plenum. The lower part of the closet we turned into a hamper. The refrigeration man was called, checked out the wiring and tubing, charged the large unit and checked both units for correct operations. It is early January and we have our first major system in operation. It was also very nice coming in and working in your shirt sleeves.

It is December and having heat in the boat is a concern.We did not receive the Cruisair units until about a week out of the yard. Then I had to install the units, their air handlers, control wiring, copper tubing and have the 1600 btu unit charged.After the A/C units were functional, I had to complete the wiring. I needed to replace 2 ac lights on the forward bulkhead of the saloon, 2 ac outlets in the saloon and 1 in the forward head. I also had to pull new wiring for the lights in the saloon, forward head and stateroom. These connected to a buss in the forward closet. Easy eye level wiring. Must have been a design mistake. No engineer would design something that easy to maintain.

The work schedule on the boat after the yard was as follows. Leave work at 4 pm, get to the boat and be working before 5 pm. Work till 10 pm, then clean the boat (30 minutes) which was usually done by vacuuming the interior. On Friday evenings, my wife would join me and we would spend the nights on the boat to extend work time. This went on for about 10 weeks until we moved aboard.The yard work was all done well and all systems work well. I did complete the plumbing and almost all DC wiring in the yard, but lacked about 25% of the AC wiring. I needed to replace 2 ac lights on the forward bulkhead of the saloon, 2 ac outlets in the saloon and 1 in the forward head. I also had to pull new wiring for the lights in the saloon, forward head and stateroom.

Refrigerator. We installed the ac/dc stand up Norcold model that had been original equipment on the boat. They are proud of their product. About $1000.00. Had a $400 repair after about 3 years and then the compressor died after 5 years. Researched and found that was not abnormal. Time to shop. (One thing that happened during this time, inverters got bigger, better and a lot cheaper.) Kenmore – think Sears, makes a small apartment frig that was ½ inch to high of my opening. Remove the roller/levelers and it fits. Running through the inverter it uses about the same amount of power. Costs $300. In comparison, I conceder that a through away. I only wish it came with black plastic front and side panels. It would better match the Force 10 Stove and the microwave. It is a white-white. Matches the fire extinguisher perfectly.Inverters. As time has gone on I went from a small inverter that might run a hand tool to a 1800 watt inverter that runs all I want including the frig, 2 TV’s and a home theater system. I know, the cheap inverters will destroy my electronics. We are out sailing, at most, a week at a time because of our work schedules. I am on my second home theater system only because a port was open and a wave was blown onto the CD part of the system. The salt water ate the physical changer. New one is 6 years old. The main TV is a 19” that was my son-in-laws that he bought used when he was a freshman in college. It is at least 15 years old, survived a hurricane on the boat, one in a FEMA trailer that blew over and the TV bounced from one end of the trailer to the other. I want a flat screen so bad, and this thing (It’s a Sanyo) refuses to die. It got hit by the same wave that did in the home theater system and all it did was wash 10 years of dust off the picture tube. It has had hundreds of hours on a square wave inverter and it loves the stuff. I have recharged our cell phones and the lap top with the inverter and no problems to date. I have read many articles that say with the cheap inverter’s sine wave, I will fry the electronics. OK, when? Am I just lucky? Is there something I do not know?

Always looking for others observations and experiences with the things we use. These are some observations we have had on some of these products. We used Cruisair reversible heat pump units for heat and air conditioning. The self contained unit, 7000btu died after 2-1/2 years. I was not happy and the dealer did his thing and I believe he installed the new one at his cost. The units run 24/7 and I was wondering about others experiences with Cruisair and other brands. The large unit is 10 years old and I know it will not last forever.Through hull valves. These were/are Marelon ball valves. They swell in salt water…, so I am told. I had 2 that were stuck and the plastic handles were broke off. I assume from trying to operate the valves. I replaced both with the same type. Have had the same proble with them sticking. Since that time, I have started replacing the valves with bronze ball valves. I have only had the sticking problem with my 1-1/4” and 1-1/2” size valves. Does anyone have thoughts?

All the wiring and plumbing runs along the starboard hull right below the top of the settee. Although some of the places were a tight fit, there is no place in which you can not touch every inch of wiring or piping. I have done this type work on the new boat in a boat designs and have cursed many a designer. This project was at times uncomfortable, but not difficult. I did have to drill new holes through 8 bulkheads for the air conditioning lines. Because of the heavy taping, it destroyed a spade bit per hole. Thank goodness I did not have to drill more holes than that. The boat had been rewired once before, but who ever did the job, pulled new wire and cut the old wire at its destination(on the dc side). They only disconnected the old wires at the source about 20% of the time and then only because there was no way to fit another connector over the old connector. The ac side had the connectors cut off at the source, but all the old wiring was left. I do not want to think about stray current.HOMELESSWhile I was removing the wiring in the yard, there was a homeless gentleman who lived on the property and would salvage anything in which he could turn a buck. Total wiring with insulation filled about 3-1/2, 55 gallon drums. The homeless man would take the wire from the drum right before the yard people would empty them at days end. He would drag the wire over to the corner of the yard and build a fire and burn the insulation off the wire. In the morning you would see him headed with his nights work for the metal recyclers adjacent to the yard. Life was good. He was a disappointed man when the last day the drum was not full and I had to tell him that there was no more wire.