I thought I’d give a field report from Carpy. After a few months of seemingly endless work on the winter projects, we wrapped them up and took off for Florida on 2/8. We’ve just come back to Sanford Boat Works on the St Johns after almost two weeks on the water. We have had a delightful time on the St. Johns, it remains my favorite boating venues. We love all the small side rivers and channels; The Wekiva River, the Ocklawaha, etc. Every year we find new places to explore. The weather has been cool. The Floridians are in their parkas and we’re in shorts and a t shirt. We did have 2 nights of freezing temps. We had frost on the canopy one morning. But, it’s 60 in a couple of hours and that’s a delight for us Hoosiers.
Winter Projects:
Autopilot Repair:
The autopilot came back from Raymarine repaired and updated. I left the flux-gate compass where it was, and when I calibrated the compass it showed 0 degrees deviation! It works like a champ now and is a real pleasure to have.
Permatrims:
Love the Permatrims! Now when I trim the motors something happens.
Rewiring:
The rewiring is working well and the Victron 602S battery monitor is great. You can read the current flow to and from the batteries. What a useful tool. You know how the electrical system is working. My Engel fridge draws about 3 amp-hrs when running. The Wallas draws a lot on start up and less than 1 a/h afterwards. My puny 10 amp alternators put in 5+ amps while cruising and 1-2 when we are putting around at 3 mph. We’ve been running lights, the Engel, electronic stuff, and the Wallas in the evenings. It’s been cold here, dark at 6:30. On two freezing nights we ran the Wallas all night. The batteries have not dropped below 60% of full charge according to Victron. Three hours or so of running the motors brings it back to 100%. We are on shore power tonight and I noticed Vic said we were 100% charged about 6 hours ago But the 110 battery charger is still charging. Hummm.
I have two new Group 24, 65 amp hr. NAPA deep cycle batteries and a 1-2-Both switch. I run with both batteries on and alternate between 1 and 2 when anchored. Vic monitors Battery 1 and only reads voltage on Battery 2. I didn’t learn that until I had bought the thing, I had expected it to monitor both batteries. The wiring was pretty much a mystery to me, now I know how everything is connected and fused.
When we decided to run the Wallas all Night, I tested the CO detector. It gave a reassuring beep and we went to bed and as we expected, woke up in the morning. Glad of that. I took great interest in the CO thread. This detector came with the boat and could be over 10 years old! I picked up a new one today at a hardware store and it is temporarily taped over the old one. It’s at our head level as we lie in the berth. Thanks for the info, Dr Bob et al.
Windlass:
The Lewmar 700 works great! It is a timely install also. Joyce had been operating the “Armstrong Windlass” and generally enjoying it. It seems she strained an old injury waxing Carpy just before we left home and has been a fair amount of arm and shoulder pain. (Better now) One evening we anchored in a nasty cold rain and we just giggled as we merely pushed the button and dropped the anchor. What a treat!
Everything has been a success. The only glitch was I reversed polarity on the cigarette lighter. The inverter didn’t like that, but wasn’t damaged. I forgot to mention that. I got a little Xantrex 400 Watt digital power inverter. It’s tiny and is great for charging the computer, cameras, etc. We even brought the coffee grinder.
Life is good on Carpy, We’ll sleep with the hatch open tonight.
Bruce and Joyce
Winter Projects:
Autopilot Repair:
The autopilot came back from Raymarine repaired and updated. I left the flux-gate compass where it was, and when I calibrated the compass it showed 0 degrees deviation! It works like a champ now and is a real pleasure to have.
Permatrims:
Love the Permatrims! Now when I trim the motors something happens.
Rewiring:
The rewiring is working well and the Victron 602S battery monitor is great. You can read the current flow to and from the batteries. What a useful tool. You know how the electrical system is working. My Engel fridge draws about 3 amp-hrs when running. The Wallas draws a lot on start up and less than 1 a/h afterwards. My puny 10 amp alternators put in 5+ amps while cruising and 1-2 when we are putting around at 3 mph. We’ve been running lights, the Engel, electronic stuff, and the Wallas in the evenings. It’s been cold here, dark at 6:30. On two freezing nights we ran the Wallas all night. The batteries have not dropped below 60% of full charge according to Victron. Three hours or so of running the motors brings it back to 100%. We are on shore power tonight and I noticed Vic said we were 100% charged about 6 hours ago But the 110 battery charger is still charging. Hummm.
I have two new Group 24, 65 amp hr. NAPA deep cycle batteries and a 1-2-Both switch. I run with both batteries on and alternate between 1 and 2 when anchored. Vic monitors Battery 1 and only reads voltage on Battery 2. I didn’t learn that until I had bought the thing, I had expected it to monitor both batteries. The wiring was pretty much a mystery to me, now I know how everything is connected and fused.
When we decided to run the Wallas all Night, I tested the CO detector. It gave a reassuring beep and we went to bed and as we expected, woke up in the morning. Glad of that. I took great interest in the CO thread. This detector came with the boat and could be over 10 years old! I picked up a new one today at a hardware store and it is temporarily taped over the old one. It’s at our head level as we lie in the berth. Thanks for the info, Dr Bob et al.
Windlass:
The Lewmar 700 works great! It is a timely install also. Joyce had been operating the “Armstrong Windlass” and generally enjoying it. It seems she strained an old injury waxing Carpy just before we left home and has been a fair amount of arm and shoulder pain. (Better now) One evening we anchored in a nasty cold rain and we just giggled as we merely pushed the button and dropped the anchor. What a treat!
Everything has been a success. The only glitch was I reversed polarity on the cigarette lighter. The inverter didn’t like that, but wasn’t damaged. I forgot to mention that. I got a little Xantrex 400 Watt digital power inverter. It’s tiny and is great for charging the computer, cameras, etc. We even brought the coffee grinder.
Life is good on Carpy, We’ll sleep with the hatch open tonight.
Bruce and Joyce
