Schooner

Schooner

Saturday, July 26, 2014

DC upgrades

   We are in the process of beefing up our DC system. I am doing an entire rebuild of the system, and when we are done, we will have between 600AH and 1000AH. Union Pacific had 400AH in the original design. However the boat also has a 4D starting battery. This is overkill. I will be switching this out for a deep cycle battery in its place, giving another easy 200AH. I am debating adding two more to the lazerette.

   The alternator was rated at 50-60 amps. Ratings are a funny thing, and once the alternator warms up, it puts out even less. I have purchased a 105-110amp balmar. The biggest issue was installing this huge beast in the spot of the old tiny one.




So the bracket that came with the unit did not work. I ordered the one from balmar, that did not work either.
It was down to me and my brain to make it work.


I set off and made a cardboard template for what would work. After asking around, I found a marine welding shop, just across the river from me, so off I went, cardboard in hand.

After a week I went back, and alas, I had it in hand.
It did not fit. What a bummer.

Before I left New York I had to decide what to bring, and what to throw away. One item I did bring was a battery angle grinder. So I set off to grinding. It took me 4 batteries to get it to the point that it would fit. I must have made 10 trips in and out of the yacht to test fit it.



Installed, very cool. The old red one is to the left, still hooked to the tach.
While I was in there I had an enemy. right above the water pump is a 24 year old hose. It was old and very frail. Replacement is a bugger. Unless you take off the pump, you have to work it in, without tearing the new hose. Well it took me about 30 min, but problem solved for another 30 years. The cost of this little hose from NAPA was $14 a foot. This is the highest quality hose they had, so I went for it. 1', with some left over.

I hooked up the balmar 612 regulator. Nothing, no charging. A bit of trouble shooting told me a fuse holder was corroded. I cleaned it off, reassembled, moved the wire a bit for a good connection, and wala!
She charges.

There are still items to be done. The regulator needs mounting, the tach needs to be hooked up, we need a few new hoses, including raw water hoses from the pump to the engine. I also will install a new fuse holder, I don't need to be messing with that at sea. I will be keeping the well working alternator, in a vacuum sealed bag, in a bin. It will be an at-sea replacement, and is internally regulated, so that covers a balmar failure as well.
I also converted the cooling system to water only, for now. I will be adding some safe anti-freeze soon, once I flush the system a few more times.

Next up on the project list is cleaning the bilge again, yuck, and painting the bilge in this area. I will also be installing more bilge pumps. Right now we have a 360GPH @ 6' head pump, and a 150GPH @6 head pump forward. I will be adding a 600GPH to the engine room, a 5000GPH to the engine room, a 5000GPH to the forward bilge, and a spare 8000GPH pump, with hose, and cable, stored in its own box, for big emergencies. One year into our upgrades, I am very happy with the progress.







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