My new TC255

Y

YACD

New member
On Thursday I took delivery of F. Silvestris, my 2008 TC255. It was a rough day on the Chesapeake with 15-25 kt winds and plenty of 2 ft. of chop. The 20 mile trip up the bay to our slip at Cutter Marine was a great ride with lots of "surfing" and other excitements. The TC255 was fun to drive in these type of conditions which would have been seriously challenging (for me anyway) in my old CD22.

I had the factory make a few small changes from the standard TC255 configuration. There are two additional cleats on the forward port and stbd corners of the deck - these are nicely installed, properly sealed and backed up as far as I can tell. I also had no head installed, so no pump out valve. Instead, I had the dealer install an Airhead (thanks Daydream for all your extremely helpful info about Airheads). Not being a serious fisherman I also asked the factory to not install macerator pumps for the fish boxes since I'm hoping to use them for storage. (Thanks Alok, Dreamer, Thataway and others for their great posts on fish box problems and remedies). I also asked the factory not to install their battery charger and instead installed a "Dual Pro" (made in the USA) 2 x 15 amp charger discussed further below (and thanks again to Bob Austin for pointing out the factory's poor choice of charger).

The boat was delivered with only minor manufacturing problems, the most bizarre of which was two overlong screws used to secure the straps holding the port fuel tank. These had gone right through the hull and out the other side! The dealer found this and other very minor leaks and properly fixed them all. Those of you who, like me, were put off (or even scared) by bad manufacturing stories about C-Dory might be glad to hear that my boat seems to be in perfect order, well made and free of manufacturing defects. Having said that I must mention that as with every TC255 I've read about, on delivery of the boat the fish boxes were full of water. The dealer pretty much fixed this with improved gasketry.

I decided on a very simple electrical system, using just two 200 amp hr wet cell batteries, one each for the port and stbd engines [and a set of jumper cables :-) ]. These are totally separate systems each having its own ground on an engine (OK, so coupled through the water when the engines are immersed). Each side has a simple on/off switch. There are no 1-2-Both type switches, no ACR/battery combiners or fancy gizmos. I did install two Blue Sea digital switchable volt/ammeters to help me keep an eye on battery drain and state. These are not the expensive meters which tell you how many years of life are left in your battery, just simple digital multimeters. The electrical loads are appropriately distributed between the two systems. This battery arrangement is probably the simplest you can have, but I'm comfortable with it and I believe that I have a reasonable chance of diagnosing any problems that arise. Its drawback is that it requires the operator to keep an eye on what's going on but for techie me, that's one of the fun aspects of boating. The Dual Pro charger is really two separate smart chargers in one package, one for each battery. Each charger completely switches off once it decides its battery is charged. There is no trickle charge. These chargers are quite cheap and are apparently made to order in the USA, a pleasant surprise. They do not seem to require you to choose what type of battery they are charging and the (very brief) manual does not seem to discuss it. Either they handle wet cell only or they they are able to sense the battery type. Does anyone know anything about this?

Choosing the various boat systems was a long but fascinating job. I got an amazing amount of information, help and insight from this web site and its wonderful legion of posters. I owe a huge debt to Bob Austin for his top-of the-line boating education provided here to all of us to use (or not), to Joe Sea Wolf for his technical philosophy, ideas and jokes (but not all of them Joe), to Dreamer for ingenious modifications and improvements, to Warren Doryman for asking the right questions, to Dr John for freely sharing so much information on his TC255 and to so many others for their contributions to this web site.

Finally, I have mentioned the "dealer" a number of times. This is Sail Annapolis, the CDory dealer for my part of the Chesapeake. This is a superb outfit. One of those places where you get to work with the owner, a guy who really cares about his customers and knows boats, both power and sail, inside and out. My experience with Sail Annapolis and John Middleton far exceeded my expectations. Nothing was ever too much trouble, their technical expertise matches Bob's (now there's a compliment!) and I was often amazed at the attention given to the smallest details in prepping the boat for delivery. Beyond all that, their charges were perfectly reasonable and fair. One of the reasons I wasn't worried about factory defects is that I felt confident that Sail Annapolis could and would fix them -- peace of mind, how much is that worth? Later I'll post some photos of their work. For now, its time to go boating (if it would stop raining).

Roy
 
Roy,

Congratulations on your new boat and thanks for the kind words. This is an amazing group of friends. I see where you are coming from in regards to the simple electrical system. It will be easy to modify later if you decide to add an inverter, etc.

Thanks for the introductory post. I'm sure we all will enjoy some photos when you have time.

All the best,
 
Glad my endless questions helped at least one other Brat!

Is it my imagination (here comes another question) but has there been a veritable explosion in TC255 commissionings reported here lately? Seems like all of a sudden people have woken up to what the TC has to offer.

YACD, what were the major factors in your decision to get a TC? And what's the backstory on the boat name?

Warren
 
Doryman":u0mgv96s said:
Glad my endless questions helped at least one other Brat!

Is it my imagination (here comes another question) but has there been a veritable explosion in TC255 commissionings reported here lately? Seems like all of a sudden people have woken up to what the TC has to offer.

YACD, what were the major factors in your decision to get a TC? And what's the backstory on the boat name?

Warren
Click to expand...

Warren:

I used to find myself out on the bay with small craft advisories in effect. These are issued for 20+ kt winds (or maybe 25) which are often accompanied by 2 ft or higher chop. In those conditions my 22 footer became tiring to handle. The TC handles those conditions much better - the ride is more comfortable at the right speeds although I have to be on high alert the whole time. Somehow, though, in these conditions The TC is way less stressful to drive than the 22. I was also able to travel at maybe twice the average speed, say 15smph (but at more than twice the cost in gas). Another big factor is maneuverability. My experience is still limited but the dual engine configuration and the heavy weight of the boat combine to give stabler, more deliberate handling in close quarters. On top of that are the liveability issues, although I never really found them to be a serious issue on the 22. I wanted to preserve the small draft of the CD as far as possible. Please don't think that my main interest is boating in bad conditions. It's just that in fall and spring those conditions are quite common here and I like using my boat! Last and MOST important, this wonderful owners group and website kept me in the C-Dory fold! I think the wisdom collected here is priceless.

As for the boat name, Felis Sylvestris is the Latin name for "Wildcat". There's a very interesting discussion of this animal in Wikipedia. (Just do F.Silvestris in GGL). The wildcat gives birth in May so it seems an appropriate name on that score too.

Roy
 
Welcome Roy, another valued member! We're all looking forward to your travels and experiences, good and even maybe the less than good (trying to avoid the "b" word... :wink:
 
Thanks Roy for your detailed information on your new TC. We also have found this site to be a big factor in our decision to get a TC. We took delivery on our TC Friday and are still working through the complex electrical installation. Will post comments and pictures when we get organized.
 
Congratulations on the new boat! The screws thru the bottom of the hull are a bit frightening.

I will be interested in how the electrical system works out for you, and what your actual usage of systems is. You can always add more batteries, or a more complex system if you find that it is necessary.

Thanks for the kind words, and perhaps we will get up that way next summer.
 
Pat Anderson":3i1z0aco said:
Roy,

What's the part number on yor Blue Seas volt/ammeters?
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Pat:

My first reply got lost when I had to re-login so here goes again!

The short answer is that the Blue Sea p/n is 8248 and it consists of a meter and a "shunt" (a fancy resistor). Here are a few extra things that are useful to know about these and other meters (apologies for information overload)

1) Measuring voltage is easy: you just join wires to the + and - terminals of the battery (actually, to the shunt) and the meter reads the voltage.

2) Measuring current takes a bit more work since you have to wire the shunt into the circuit of interest. The Blue Sea meters require the shunt to be wired between the negative terminal of the battery and ground. The current is read from two auxiliary terminals on the shunt.

3) So far there are 4 wires going to the meter, 2 voltage and 2 current. There is a fifth wire which carries power to run the meter itself. The meter needs power for the microprocessor and for the display. According to the instruction sheet (which is clearly written but short on detail) even if the display is 'asleep' the meter consumes .5 amp. This seems high to me, but if true the meter would consume way too much power if you anchored out for say 24 hrs. For that reason I installed an on/off switch in the power line.

4) 8248 is not all that cheap ($180) and it is tempting to switch one to measure the drain on different batteries. The problem is you are then into heavy duty switching since the entire battery current is routed through the shunt. It could perhaps be done with a relay but it's simpler to buy another meter and that's one reason why I have two of them (the other is isolation).

5) (Even more esoteric) One day soon I'm going to call Blue Sea with two questions a) Is the sleeping current drain really .5 amps b) Why doesn't the battery charger (when it's on) fool the meter into thinking it is wired into the positive side of the circuit - Blue Sea say that wiring into the positive side can blow the meter but I haven't had any issues with it. The full charging voltage is registered and the charging current is shown although with the wrong sign (might be a different wiring issue). The alternator current is shown with the correct sign.

Roy
 
thataway":90l6jall said:
The screws thru the bottom of the hull are a bit frightening.
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Hi Bob:

Yes, I was stunned by the absurdity of it. The holes are (were!) below the waterline and it's amazing to think what could have happened with a careless dealer and first time buyer.

Roy
 
Congratulations on your new boat(s), Roy and Tom.

I had thought about the Airhead unit also, but the factory at that time charged the customer for the normal head, tank and macerator whether or not it is installed, so I went ahead with the factory unit. Biggest problem with that is the small 9 gal. holding tank, but reduced flush water has helped that.


I am wondering what your dealer did to improve the hatch sealing on the cockpit fish boxes. To my thoughts, there is some capillary action sucking water into those boxes and I think a drain of the recessed channel around the hatch edge may be in order.

How do you get the water out of the boxes without the macerator pumps?

What did your dealer do to better seal the hatches?


John
 
John:

The first remedy is simply to tighten up the hatch lock :D. That worked on one of my boxes, but when you open the hatch the water from the gutter overflows into the box. Not a lot but it's still wet.

The other box didn't respond sufficiently to tightening so the dealer installed stick-on weatherstripping outside the existing gasket. This made a substantial difference (tested by hosing) but I'm not near the boat right now so I can't check the effect of the most recent heavy rains.

So far I've only had to remove a small amount of water - I used a cheap manual bilge pump which left behind just 1/2'' in the recess in the bottom of the box.

Why is flooding so persistent? Poorly fitting hatch covers? Suction? Condensation? Wrong size gaskets? Why doesn't the factory fix it?

Canvas may be best.

Roy
 
I only put in the Blue Seas volt meter on the TC 255 and used a 6 pole switch. With voltage only, there is minimal power going thru the meter. I suspect that with the shunt, to measure amperage, that the full current is not going thru the meter, and any switching, if you put in two shunts.

For the CD 25 I found a out dated Link 20 on sale, and used it only to measure current and voltage--as I recolllect I paid about $60--one has to look for the "bargins" but they are out there, and one can utalize the meters, without controlling the charger.

In power management it is nice to have amperage, but it is not essential. A two decimal place volt meter can give a very good idea of the state of the batteries.

The screw brings up an entirely different problem--and this is that the factory does not seal off the screws they put in the bottom of the hull. There is potential for bilge water to get into the core. The best way to put the tank in place is to use NO fasteners--put plastic strips under the tank--adhered to the tank with 5200 and then the strips and tank to the hull with 5200--and no scews. This also will keep the tank off the bottom of the hull--and avoid the biggest problem with aluminum tanks which are mounted directly to the hull bottom. Unfortunately these tanks will have to be replace sooner, especially if there is salt water in contact with the tanks....not much to do--and my boat has this same problem--as do all of the Tom Cats...
 
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