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The subject of battery power can be somewhat a religious discussion like anchoring. I can tell you what works for me but I may not use my boat the same way you will use yours so your needs may be different. I keep my boat on a mooring and almost never plug into shore power. I spend a lot of time on the boat during the summer and depend on my batteries to keep the boat livable. I have engine-driven refrigeration and my lighting is almost all LED. Most of my power use goes to running the TV and satellite dish. I watch a few hours of TV each night. The entertainment system consumes about 10A when on. There are other power consumers on the boat, my computer, wifi, radios, and lights. The engine must be run twice each day for a total of about 90 minutes to keep the refrigerator cold. This 90 minutes keeps up with my power consumption.
I have a set of solar panels mounted on the top of my davits. They are nice and help produce power but are not really intended to keep up with my power demands. I use about 100AH/day. Solar panels canât be depended on for that kind of power unless you have a huge solar array and huge batteries. My solar panels are responsible for topping-off my batteries when I leave the boat for a few days.
My 424 originally came with a pair of 6D deep-cycle batteries. This proved inadequate. If the house batteries ran down, I couldnât start the engine. I had to reserve one bank for starting and one for house use. I now use four 220AH 6V golf-cart batteries for a total bank size of 440AH. I get mine at Samâs club. There are better batteries out there but they can cost an arm and a leg. Mine last a half-dozen or more years. I replace them after about that much time, not because they go bad but because they are on a replacement schedule. If I do something bad to them and have to replace them earlier I donât lose a huge investment. For a starter battery, I have the biggest car starter battery that Samâs sells. The 4D battery you now have is rather small. The GC2 battery bank IMHO is a better choice if you can find a place to mount them. Mine are in the bilge under the main cabin sole.
I have two alternators on the engine. An industrial 160A alternator for the house bank and the stock 55A alternator for the starter battery. The advantage to having two battery banks is that even if I discharge the house bank, I know Iâll be able to start the engine. I see that you have two banks. For this to work, you must keep the banks separated. There are a number of ways to do this. I have two alternators. It could also be done with a battery combiner or a solenoid switch.
The solenoid switch method is the least expensive and most reliable way to do this. The alternator is connected to the house bank. And the starter battery is of course connected to the starter. You put an RV solenoid switch in your charging system so that when the switch is closed the starter battery gets connected to the house bank. A 6V relay is attached to the tach output of the alternator. When the engine starts, it energizes this relay coil and closes this small relay. This in-turn provides power to the solenoid switch which connects the starter battery to your charging circuit. The relay must be a 6V coil, not 12V because the tach output is half-wave; effectively 6V.
Putting a huge alternator on your engine may not be the best choice. Your batteries will only absorb enough current to drive the plate voltage up to the regulator set-point. When depleted, the batteries may absorb all the charging circuit will give, so for a few minutes the huge alternator will actually put out its rated capacity. After a few minutes the battery absorption rate will drop-off and may reduce to 50 A or less and eventually taper off to almost nothing. The initial load put on the belts however is the maximum rating of the alternator. A 160A alternator may need 4HP or more during startup. This puts a huge load on the belts. In my case, the refrigerator compressor also provides a load. I have dual-belts and still have maintenance issues with them. The rating for a good industrial alternator is measured hot, so if your alternator is cold and you start charging depleted batteries, your actual load might be considerably higher. I estimate my startup load at 6HP. If your alternator is a modified car alternator, it may not be robust enough to run at its full load rating for extended periods of time.
A smart-regulator can reduce charge time by extending the time that your batteries will accept a full charge. This can reduce the charge time of your batteries from several hours to one or two hours. A good smart regulator can limit the max output of your alternator to less than its rating. This improves belt life but extends charge time a bit. Reducing the alternator output also keeps it cooler and extends alternator life. A very large alternator with a smart regulator is considered the way to go, but you need to size the system, including the belts, correctly.
Hope this helps.
Rich
Dennis,
Dale Longtin said he wants it. First-come, first-serve.
I replaced mine three years ago and at that time offered my old main for sale to anyone in the group who was interested. Nobody responded.
The replacement is from Doyle, a local loft. It ran me $5000. A good chunk of that was the Tides Marine slide setup. This includes a new plastic low-friction track that slides into the existing mainsail track. Though plastic, the track is very robust. Itâs UHMW, a kind of polyethylene. The sail gets special stainless swivel slides. The batten pocket ends need to be specially cut to attach to the slide assembly. Itâs best to refit to the slide system when ordering a new sail since it involves a bit of work to refit.
https://www.tidesmarine.com/pdf/sailtrack/Sailtrack_Catalog.pdf
The track system makes raising and lowering the main easier. Itâs not a perfect solution. The full-battens in the previous sail twisted when raising and lowering the sail making it difficult to handle. The Tides Track has swivels built into the slides so the battens stay in line. The slides travel in a low-friction track so they donât bind when trimming sail tension. Battens add a lot of weight to the sail so itâs still a bit of work to raise. Lowering it is easier since it drops to the boom without having to pull it down.
Rich
My new main is loose-footed. The foot doesnât do anything to help sailing performance. It can collect water so when you raise the sail it dumps the water onto your deck and feet. It makes the sail a bit more difficult to bend on and off. It also makes the sail more expensive. I canât think of any use for it. If your main has a foot, I see no reason to have it removed though.
Rich
The ketch rig comes in two heights, 44â and 48â. Which do you have?
Are you looking for new or used? I replaced my main a couple of years ago. Nothing wrong with the old sail but I race my boat and decided to replace the sails. I could give you a deal on a used full-batten main if you are interested. I live in NH.
Two reefs seem to be enough but I suppose three wonât hurt. I told my rigger to go with a heavier than standard cloth because the 424 is a stiff boat and can handle higher winds before reefing. Offhand, I donât remember what weight they are.
Rich
-Hull #47
-Boat Name – BlackSheep
-Owner Name â Richard Carter
-email address â re.carter@comcast.net
-HIN (starts with PEA59) â Iâll have to look this up
-Rig – Sloop
-Current power plant â Yanmar 75hp 4JH3TE
-USCG # (if applicable) – 602619
-Home Port â Beverly MA
-Current Berth Location (or “Cruising”) â Beverly MA
-Year purchased -1986
-Website, Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, etc. (if applicable) – http://richardcarter.net
-Any “unusual” features (e.g. L galley, single companionway, two head, added inner forestay, etc.) â A lot of small customization projects over the years1 user thanked author for this post.
Drilling stainless can be a bitch. If you havenât done much of this, I suggest getting these. Use cutting oil when drilling.
http://www.harborfreight.com/115-pc-cobalt-drill-bit-set-61886.html
The chainplates are just plain stainless stock cut to length and drilled appropriately. If youâre willing to buy the stock, cut and drill, itâs an inexpensive job to replace the chainplates. Since drilling is such a bear, most folks opt to send the job out to a machine shop or get them from a rigging shop. Getting chain plates that are already drilled with the wrong hole pattern kind of defeats the purpose. You have to drill anyway. You might as well just start with virgin stock, no?
Rich
Ryan
Let us know if you get to Cape Cod some summer. There are a few of us who occasionally meet there.
Rich
Iâve never had a problem with this rudder bearing and was wondering why. I have an Autohelp autopilot with a separate quadrant that is mounted just above this bushing. This likely prevents the thing from slipping out. I wonder if folks couldnât just clamp something above the bushing to hold it in place; perhaps a hose-clam would do.
Rich
Iâm insured by Boat/US. I got a call last fall from them regarding a survey. The boat, being insured with them for 30 years was due for a survey. They paid for it. A surveyer showed up at my door a few days later and did a thorough survey. He noted one minor problem with the hull that will require a small bit of glass work, a small crack in the hull next to the mast step. Other than that, he said the boat looked fine. I havenât heard from him or the insurance carrier since.
I donât know if this is part of the bouat/us insurance business being taken over by geico or if it was solely based on the age of the boat.
Rich
Most owners have tossed the old W60 many years ago. The old engines were gobbled up for spare parts by the few who still have them. Someone must still have an old W60 fresh water pump.
If that fails, a good auto service shop should be able to rebuild an old pump. I used Ideal Transmissions in Salem MA many years ago.
Rich
Odd, I donât get this. My tanks fill until water overflows from the vent tube into the bilge. I try to listen to the sound of water filling and shut it off just before water starts running back up the fill pipe.
Rich
Charlie,
Do you mean W60? I donât know what an M60 is.
The elbow on a W60 and probably most Westerbeke engines is a standard water injection elbow available at most marine retailers such as Defender. Getting the damn thing off can be a challenge however. Try a long pipe-wrench with an extension on it and remove the whole black-pipe. Discard and replace the pipe. The injection elbows only last about 15 years or so and can restrict water flow when they rust causing the engine to overheat.
Rich
Nice work.
For those who have an air-bubble in their compass, the oil in there is isopar, a common solvent used in the printing industry. You can also buy it from West Marine, sold as compass oil.
Getting rid of that bubble is a bit of a pain, but with patience and an eye-dropper you can fill the thing and get rid of that pesky bubble.
Rich
