Winter Update

We're now into our second season with the Espar diesel heater.  We have the parts needed to service it (glow plug and diffuser screen) but I'm letting it go to see how long she'll run.  Last year it ran 24/7 from mid-December until mid-March, something like 2100 hours, non-stop.  We didn't get any data on fuel consumption last season so I'm paying closer attention to it this year.  We've been having a milder Winter this time so we didn't start it up until January 5th but it's been running 24/7 since then.  We started with a full tank, hand carried 80 gallons with 5 jerry cans.  Ugh.  After fifteen days we topped off the tank again and found that we had used 35 gallons of fuel.  I was a little alarmed at this until I did the math.  15 days x 24 = 360 hours.  We're using 1/10 gallon per hour, exactly what the book says.  We paid $3.50/gal (grrr) so we're paying about $250/month for heat.  We keep it comfortable, 71 degrees during the day and turn it down to 68 at night.  Considering the situation, zero insulation in a fiberglass box immersed in 34 degree water, I think this is acceptable.

Forced hot air is a good way to heat your boat.  It keeps it dry inside, for the most part.  Places that don't get warmed up tend to sweat, inside some cabinets and the inner surface of the hull for instance.  The system is quiet and reliable.  Our exhaust is kinda noisy but that might be because of the configuration and a little time spent on it could bring it down to a better level.  Besides, the noise is mostly outside and at this time of year we don't have any neighbors to annoy.  We've used the heater while out sailing (full cockpit enclosure) and on the hook.  It has little drain on the batteries and extends the sailing season to year-round.  Let me tell you, sailing on the Chesapeake Bay with no other boats around is pretty sweet.

I've made some good progress on installing our new electronics.  I contracted with a local company, Atlantic Spars and Rigging, to modify the grab bar on our steering pedestal.  I got it back last week and it came out almost exactly as I had drawn it up.  They made the bracket for the display larger than I had planned but it turned out to be better the way they did it.  I had to modify the supports that it mounts to and once I got them cut down the whole thing went together perfectly.  It's super strong too so it'll still act as a good place to grab onto when you're moving around the cockpit.

Once the bracket was in place I mounted the multi-function display (MFD) to it and admired my handiwork.  In most cockpits the display faces the dude at the helm and if you want to take a look at it you have to go around behind the wheel to see it.  In a boat with an autopilot you won't be spending much time behind the wheel and will most likely be sitting up in the front of the cockpit for most of your watch.  I wanted the display set up so you could turn it around and see it from anywhere in the cockpit.  The mount I chose is a ball mount, like on a camera tripod, only bigger.

Once I got the display mounted I had to figure out the wiring.  Our system is pretty simple.  We have three gauges showing depth, boat speed and wind speed/direction.  These tie into the MFD using a data system called SeaTalk that uses a three conductor cable.  It's pretty much plug and play.  The gauges are powered through the DC breaker panel which was pre-wired from the factory with a 10 amp breaker and #14 two conductor wire.  By sheer coincidence this is exactly what's called for to power the new display.  I figured I could just tie into where these gauges are connected and it'd be a simple thing.  Uh huh.  Sure.

I found the cable supplying power to the gauges inside the steering pedestal.  It was a black SeaTalk three conductor cable.  I went to the breaker panel to see if maybe they had run it all the way up to the breaker but that had a blue two conductor wire.  I looked in the wiring diagram for the boat and sure enough, it called out wires 84 + 85, 14-2 wire.  I found a note from the factory that said this wire was run into the starboard side cockpit locker and coiled up, to be used for electronics.  OK, let's look in the starboard locker.

So next I emptied out the starboard locker.  This is no simple feat because the locker is big and deep.  You could sleep in there with three dogs and two sheep, if you were so inclined.  In the two years we've had this boat I've never had the guts to empty out this locker.  It's packed full.  I found two full sets of dock lines that I didn't know we had.  I also found a dinghy bridle, a two gallon tank of gas and an extra set of paddles for the dinghy.  There was a buncha other stuff that I won't even go into here.  Anyway, I finally got the locker emptied out.  Now I could get back to my project.

I crawled down into the abyss and discovered that this is where they hid the two compressors for our fridge and freezer.  Actually, I had heard a rumour they were down there, just hadn't seen them face to face before.  I could see the bundle of wires coming from the steering pedestal but when I cut the wire ties I couldn't find the black SeaTalk cable.  I did see a blue 14-2 wire though.  Hey!

My next step was to climb out of the cockpit locker and go down below into the aft cabin.  At the back of the cabin is an access panel that opens up to the genset compartment under the cockpit.  Of course, you have to take everything off the bunk to get to it.  This cabin is what we call the garage.  Everything we don't have room for anywhere else on the boat eventually ends up back here.  Right now all the stuff for our new electronics package is taking up space back here.  This includes the radome (huge!), all the wiring I'll be using (also huge!) and the box full of stuff for the autopilot (medium huge).  Also back there are two tool boxes and a storage box full of electrical connectors, all of Cheri's quilting stuff, two sewing machines and a storage box with all our extra linens and towels.  Once all this was transferred out to the Main Salon I pulled up the bunk cushion and moved that out too.  Now the aft cabin was emptied out but the rest of the boat was trashed.  Life on a boat.

With access to the genset compartment I could see the wiring bundle coming through the floor from the steering pedestal.  I didn't see my blue 14-2 wire though.  I proceeded to cut off all 47 wire ties to expose the innards of the bundle.  There it was!  The 14-2 blue wire was connected directly to the black SeaTalk wire using butt connectors.  This is OK as long as you know it's there.  It would have been really helpful if someone had updated the drawing to show this.  Note to self:  Do unto others.....update those drawings.  I run into this all the time at work.  The equipment I work with was built back in the '50s and '60s.  Everything has been modified numerous times but no one has taken the time to update the drawings.  So much time is wasted just trying to figure out what someone changed 30 years ago.  Grrrrr.  No wonder I'm all grey and look like I'm 60 years old when I'm only.....uhm, never mind.

My solution for the wiring was to mount a terminal strip on the bulkhead and label it "Instruments".  The blue 14-2 wire leading in is labeled on the prints as wire #'s 84 and 85 so I marked that here too.  The wire leading to the MFD already has an in-line fuse but I needed to add a 7 amp fuse to the one going to the gauges.  With this done I headed back topside to try it out.  I flipped on the "Instruments" breaker and by the time I got to the cockpit the MFD was already powered up and progressing through it's initialization.  Cool!

After it got through the initialization it settled into a display of some harbor in Florida.  Uhm, that's not right.  I started punching buttons and found my way through the program to the part where you turn on the GPS.  It took about 30 seconds to figure out where it was and finally showed our position in Traceys Creek.  So far, so good.

So now we need to spend some time out on the Bay.  I'm pretty excited about having a chartplotter and look forward to seeing what all we can do with it.  It'd be especially nice to go places without running aground all the time, although I have gotten really good at that.  The manual for the MFD is on a disc and I'm slowly working my way through a PDF file with 114 pages of instructions.  I also ordered the upgraded charts (Navionics Platinum +) for the Chesapeake Bay that'll give us 3D display and satellite shots that overlay the charts.  Sweet!

Speaking of running aground......this past weekend (2/11/12) winter finally hit.  Around 1530 on Saturday the temperature dropped about 20 degrees in 15 minutes, the wind increased to 25 knots with 45 knot gusts and it started snowing, sideways.  The wind was blowing out of the NW and continued non-stop for two days.  By noon on Sunday the water depth at our slip was 3'8", which is pretty low.  Our boat draws 4'10".  Our deck was 32" below the dock which made getting on and off a bit of a challenge.  The boat next to us draws 6'6" and they were really sticking out of the water.  They haven't hauled their boat in over three years and the exposed crud quickly dried out in the wind.  They've got quite a garden under there.  The NW wind is pretty common here in the winter but in the two years we've been here this is the lowest we've seen the water at our slip so far.