New Gadgets, hapiness and woe.

[Mike Holibar]

Hi all,
have managed to add/replace a few more gadgets to Fyne Spirit as we get her ready fro cruising. Installed a new set of exide lead acid deep cycle batteries which the exide folks tell me can be operated through 100% of their capacity. The old 85ah set of 3 with a working capacity of about 125ah has been replaced with 3x100ah which in theory gives me 300ah, though I think I'll stick with the 50% rule.
Replaced the manual winch with an electric Lewmar 45EST. What a joy! Single handing a definite possibilty now.
Last year, while the foremast was out, I replaced the windlass with a new 1500watt Anchorlift windlass. this unit has disappointed in two ways. Firstly the gypsy and other cast parts have rust stains. Secondly, FS sits on a swing mooring and the mooring line was laid over the capstan drum instead of the deck cleat, which resulted in a bent shaft. I know you are not supposed to use the capstan drum as a bollard but we all do it around here with no problems. Even the smaller Simpson Lawrence that it replaced was used in this way and didn't bend the shaft. I have this horrible feeling that the foremast will have to come out to repair the shaft. What the bending and the rust stains tell me is the Anchorlift is not the high quality unit I thought I was buying and inferior materials have definitely been used. I certainly won't be reccomending these to my buddies.

Best regards,

[sailmon]

Ouch - sorry to hear about the windlass. We're about 4 years off from retirement cruising - so deep into the upgrading process. Wondered what you are doing for battery charging? We've considered, solar, wind, both... but no decisions (or expenditures) yet. Will be cruising US east coast and Caribbean for several years before heading????

[Rick Simonds]

It's not a powered winch (Oooo!.... Ahhhhh!... maybe one day...) but a bit of happiness with a new gadget: I installed a "single point battery watering system" on my boat's house battery bank last weekend. It's a kit that contains replacment battery caps, a length of rubber tubing and a squeeze bulb pump attachment. You replace the existing battery caps with the new caps. They have a valve built into them that lets you pump water through them and into the battery, but they stop the flow automatically when the battery has what it needs, without over-filling the battery. The tubing connects one cap to the next, and also one battery to the next, so that the whole system fills from one single point. You connect the squeeze bulb pump onto the fill hose of the system, put the other end of the pump hose in a gallon jug of distilled water and squeeze away. When the squeeze bulb gets firm the batteries are full. Disconnect the pump hose and you're done.

I installed it all in about 40 minutes (even with figuring it all out and cutting and fitting the tubing, this is less time than it used to take to maintain the batteries even once the old way: un-cable everything and pull the batteries out of the impossibly small space, fill them, then put it all back together.) Just cut the tubing as needed and daisy-chain everything together. Connect the fill hose about in the middle of the chain. Push on some included rubber caps to close off any battery cap fittings you didn't use. Even though the instruction sheet didn't even come close matching what was actually in the kit, it was easy to figure out. Everything seems to be sturdy and well made.

The system I bought is called "Flow-Rite" but there are probably others. I found it at a local battery store while waiting to get my truck battery replaced. RV places sell them, too, and I bet it could be found cheaper with some internet surfing. It was pricey, almost $200 with the the pump and a enough caps for 6 golf cart batteries. I presently only have 4 batteries in my house bank but I may add 2 more one day, or maybe I'll add this system to my separate starting battery. I don't have any long-term experience with it yet, of course, but it seemed to have done what it said it would: I see that it filled the cells that I know were low, without overfilling them, and I didn't have to take the whole system apart to do it, nor will I ever have to again.

http://www.flow-rite.com/battery-wateri ... nnium-plus

A confession: I openly hate batteries and I've always tended to abuse my boat's batteries because, years ago, a friend and I got to ride in an ambulance after a battery exploded in our faces while jump-starting his car. I've absolutely detested being anywhere near a battery ever since. This system is great for general convienience but, for me, it eliminates a boat maintenance task I've always hated and deeply feared. It may not be worth it for everyone but, for me, in a tiny way, this thing makes the world a better place.

[Mike Holibar]

Sailmon,
I don't know if I would be running all the electrical gadget tha you guys would so my charging system is fairly simple at the moment. I have one 105 amp leese neville alternator on the manin engine running a factory regulator, a new airex400 wind generator, a small solar panel, and also a towed generator. The towed generator we have only used in the last season and it was great. It produced about 1 amp per knot of boat speed, so the 7 or so amps were sufficient to make ground on the system, while running a fridge, autopilot, nav lights, gps and radar intermittently. Also onboard is 1kw portable petrol generator and a 40 amp charger that can run off that. Improvements under consideration are two large solar panels, and a step charging regulator for the main engine alternator.
Rick, that battery maintenance system sounds great, I will have to look into that.

regards,
Mike

[Mike Holibar]

On the new Anchorlift windlass I went back to the agent through the sales outlet and got zero reponse. Nothing about warranty, nothing about parts prices, just nothing. I got tired of waiting so had a new shaft made or duplex stainless, much stronger than 316. All fitted and operational again. I really hope I don't need any more parts. From the point of view of back up, Anchorlift would have to be one of the worst purchase decisions I ever made.

Regards,