Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I’m in the process of beefing up and adding to Silver Heels’ recharging systems. This being a (relatively) chilly, (very) rainy day here in NE Florida, I decided to sit by the heater and figure out what electricity is likely to cost me once I take off cruising full-time on Silver Heels. Here’s what I came up with. Would be interested to hear other opinions.
$ 200 Honda EU2000iA portable generator depreciation: $1,000 / 5 year lifespan
200 Generator gasoline: 1.5 cups/hr x 400 hrs/yr = 40 gal x $5/gal
100 Battery charger depreciation: $1,000 / 10 year lifespan
100 Alternator/regulator depreciation: $500 / 5 year lifespan
100 Wind generator depreciation: $1,000 / 10 year lifespan
100 Solar panels depreciation: $1,000 / 10 year lifespan
+ 200 Batteries depreciation: $1,000 / 5 year lifespan
$1,000 Total estimated annual cost of electricity
What do you think? Am I close? What did I forget?
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
Oy, I had to Google it.
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
Quent,
What kind of electric refrigeration are those 4 panels supporting? Have you increased the insulation in the box, or is it Pearson standard?
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
Bob,
What’s the web site for your Solar Cynergy panels?
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
Hey Bob,
I could use a wider panel if I were willing to let it extend aft beyond the davits, but I think that’d be an inevitable crunch just waiting to happen. Your idea of folding down over the transom is interesting. Will check back with you in a few years and see how it worked out.
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
Thanks, Aaron. I hadn’t thought of raising the cross bar, although I don’t see an advantage here the way my davits set. My dink hangs far enough beneath the davits level that I don’t think a panel will interfere. As for letting the panel overhang the boat, even raised up it would become a guaranteed head-banger for anyone using the stern boarding ladder. No doubt your arrangement back there is different than mine.
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
Pat,
Is there a way to resize the PDF files you posted, once I’ve downloaded them? I’d like to put then on my boat web site, but they are awfully big for that. I only have Acrobat Reader, not Pro.
Thanks,
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
You’re absolutely right about the angle and height needed, Alan. However, I carry lots of chain on my cruising boats and the pile invariably topples over in the locker while I’m retrieving the anchors, yet I’ve never had it become tangled as a result.
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
Linus,
There is a PVC coupling like what Patrick is describing. I used one to make a deck pipe for my stern anchor rode. Not sure what its real function was meant to be, but I believe it would work perfectly in your application. I won’t be back aboard my boat for another week, but can photograph it then if you’re still interested. With that fastened to the underside of the deck with screws or bolts, you could then glue the PVC tubing into the fitting with ordinary PVC glue and you’d have a strong, permanent fairlead for your rode.
BTW, you you can make West epoxy plenty thick enough to stay in place upside down using the slow-hardening resin, the normal amount of hardener, and enough of the adhesive thickener powder to achieve the consistency you want. I think the additive is the No. 404 stuff. It’ll take hours for the mix to set up, but will then be hard as cement. However, if you use the fitting and PVC glue I mentioned above, you won’t need epoxy.
I opted to cut out the center section of the original anchor locker base to open up the chain locker to its full potential size, then decked over the foredeck and mounted my windlass directly above the now-divided and very large locker. If that’s a bigger project than you want to take on, then why not just mount your windlass onto the bottom of the existing anchor locker, directly above the chain locker, and skip all the fancy PVC stuff? That’s how my boat was built by Pearson. I think I still have the original raised Pearson hatch cover to allow for that (photo attached), which I removed and to which you are welcome.
I believe the original foredeck thickness on my boat as Pearson built it is 1/2″, including the balsa core.
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
Lee,
My boat came with an Adler Barbour unit that is serving until I get around to upgrading that whole system, starting with the insulation (or lack thereof). The compressor is located to port of the engine, immediately aft of the aft cabin’s bunk’s aft bulkhead (i.e., in the foremost section of the port cockpit locker).
On my last boat I had a Grunert system powered by a 12v 1/2 HP motor. Because I had a big battery bank and good recharging systems, it served me very well during 6 years of full-time liveaboard cruising. I put an insulated divider panel into the original 9 cu. ft. (?) icebox with a pass-thru hole cut at it’s bottom. Then mounted a single large holding plate in the freezer compartment. That one plate kept foods in the freezer frozen hard indefinitely while the bleed-over chilled the refrigerator portion of the compartment perfectly. One plate, very satisfactory performance.
Here’s a neat cruising trick: When you’re stocking up from a butcher’s shop or fish plant in some civilized port, ask them to put your order in their deep freeze overnight. It’ll bring things down much colder than your boat’s unit could do. Then pick it up the next day, wrap it up in the best insulation stuff you can, and get it into your boat’s freezer as fast as you can. Your cold plate will then maintain it in that deep frozen state. I kept chicken, and on another occasion fish fillets, frozen this way for months.
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
Ah, for gleaning encoded information I have my Flash Gordon secret decoder ring. It only cost two cereal box tops and a quarter when I got it and it has never failed me. To this day I can always tell when the lights are off.
🙂
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
Forgive my old-fashioned simplicity, Bob, but why not just poke your head out of a hatch and look at the lights themselves. If a bulb is burned out you’ll know it because it won’t be lit even though the light is turned on.
Or am I missing something more profound (which would not be so unusual for me)?
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
I don’t remember the weight of my former chute, but it and the sock would not have fit under that seat. Anyway, that space (like most in my boat) is already spoken for. Are you living aboard, Adam?
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
Well, there’s no doubt a cruising spinnaker would be an asset. I’m just constantly surprised (and dismayed) by how easily I can fill a boat to the brim in preparation for cruising, regardless of size. And I haven’t even figured out yet where the mountain bikes are going to fit!
BTW, my last chute spent most of it’s time in and around the cockpit, doing duty as a very expensive beanbag chair.
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
That does look sharp, Rich, and the added speed off the wind is unquestionably a big plus. Are you normally living aboard and cruising your boat full time, or is she used more for daysails & weekends, plus occasional summer vacations? In the latter case, particularly in the Northeast, I can envision flying a spinnaker quite often, especially with a few crew aboard to lend a hand.
I guess I was asking whether people use the sail in practice while cruising, by which I mean one or two people who are living and traveling aboard the boat pretty much full time. You probably wouldn’t want to stow the sail on the foredeck for that kind of sailing, so the issue of storing such a large package belowdecks or in a locker then argues that the sail must really earn its keep. Perhaps – no, probably – I was just too laid back sailing my last cruising boat, single- and double-handing virtually the whole time as I was, but I think I flew that chute maybe 6 times in as many years. Wondered whether or not that’s common among other cruisers.
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
