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We got towed in from North Gable by Fineline up to the island then we used the washboard and rocked/sculled the boat into the marina. Didnt actually take that long. Got it up to 2 knots like that, Gotta love an easily driven boat!!

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We got towed in from North Gable by Fineline up to the island then we used the washboard and rocked/sculled the boat into the marina. Didnt actually take that long. Got it up to 2 knots like that, Gotta love an easily driven boat!!

 

Yeah I was on Fineline...we were just curious to what you used as a paddle! We thought you were gonna stick around and share the Rum that night...tiss tiss

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Yeah we had to get to the dock to repair the outboard sadly. Then once it was going we thought about coming out and anchoring up but figured the party would have ended!

 

Well I am sure the skipper :sailor: will be more than happy to get the payment off of ya anytime! :wink:

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We had our regular Sea Scout sailing this afternoon, bit of a disappointing turnout of kids today after they nearly all turned up on Thursday. We had a good sail anyway, out to Somes from Petone, with those who were there, and gave the new (old) Naiad we bought from the Cadets for a rescue boat a good testing.

 

It's nice to have a decent boat for that job, the previous one we had was decidedly sub-par.

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Bought and inserted some Sound insulation around the Genset and lowered it into it's frame in the engine room. Next week will be connecting it all up hopefully.

Yesterday I helped rescue a Lady in distress. She couldn't start her outboard and then tried rowing against the current and ended up in the Mud.

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No boating this weekend :thumbdown: Its amazing what you can get done around the house when your not out on the big blue wobbly thing.

 

Now the house stuff is out of the way we can neglect it for the rest of summer and go boating :thumbup:

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Just finished solar panel install. 400w with a 30amp mppt controller. Just trying to drain our batteries a bit to see what solar panels will put in. Currently its very very cloudy in wellington and still in float mode and pumping 6amps in which is good. So on the cloudest days we'll at least get 6amps. Thats enough to run our fridge and part of our freezer during the day :mrgreen:

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Just finished solar panel install. 400w with a 30amp mppt controller. Just trying to drain our batteries a bit to see what solar panels will put in. Currently its very very cloudy in wellington and still in float mode and pumping 6amps in which is good. So on the cloudest days we'll at least get 6amps. Thats enough to run our fridge and part of our freezer during the day :mrgreen:

 

G'day Mr 'fishy' green. Sounds like a great achievement. I am impressed. Sounds like a lot of usable power especially in 'welli'. I didn't know the sun shone way down there, ha.

More info please - like what is a 'mppt' controller? How big is the panel? Weight? Where did you mount it to keep shadows off it? All those useful things so I can copy your smart workmanship. Thanks, james, in sunny North Queensland @ 22* in mid morning.

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Got some culture at the Ballet, then had a low level ya hoo with 30 odd 16 thru 20yo contemporary and Jazz dancers yesterday in which I got conned into joining a run thru of one dance, much to the mirth of the assembled cast and crew. I must have done good as they said they would take me on :thumbup: ...................... to work the curtain :? Just glad they didn't try to pack me into one of the assorted Tards..... leotards being only one of many varieties....... sad as it is to know that now. About all I could get into is probably a ReTard. A huge pile of fun though and that Bruce Mason Nuclear Waste Facility has an incredible rocking sound system when you are allowed to crank it.... or more, before security comes in to tame your roll.

 

Continuing construction on the beach resort. Putting the floor down for the maintenance bure today. Off BBQ shopping later so I can try to do a leg of lamb Grinna style........ probably more Mrs Grinna but he was taking the credit :lol:

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400w with a 30amp mppt controller.

Holy Horse hocky Batman :shock:

 

That's a lot of sunbugs you are catching there :!: A quick calculation puts it over 30A @ 12V on a sunny day. You planning on subsidising your marina berth by selling the power back to the local power company :lol:

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400w with a 30amp mppt controller.

Holy Horse hocky Batman :shock:

 

That's a lot of sunbugs you are catching there :!: A quick calculation puts it over 30A @ 12V on a sunny day. You planning on subsidising your marina berth by selling the power back to the local power company :lol:

Over 40A 12V when it's cranking. Shite that's huge.

 

Don't forget the panels numbers are worked to the world standard way of measuring them which is on an average of 1000 sunbugs per sq mt hitting them. In NZ we get dumped on by an average of 1250 sunbugs per sq mt hence a 400W panel runs at 500W in NZ. The mppt controller should have a over cooking limiter in it, most I've seen do, so you should be good to go.

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whoa! i've had to unplug from shore power today and let the solar panels do their thing. They are now in desulfating mode - short bursts into the batteries to break down the sulfated layers.

 

Its not quite 400w, 380 to be precise. One thing they did was give me a to small fuse wire and fuse (only 15amps) (must have been for 24v) cause although I havnt broken 15amps yet its come close and those wires are very warm!

 

Mounted on top of my dodger, both panels take up a combined 1.6m2. They sit above our rain catcher with nice airflow underneath. I mounted them so there is only chance of one being shaded at anyone time (via back stays or radar or wind genny) and in parallel because if one gets shaded(high chance) the other is not affected.

 

thats good about the mppt controller tripping out, was a little worried there knot me.

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You best upgrade your wiring before you cause a fire. Plus that is why you are only getting 380W. The rest is going into the wire.

Instead of a fuse, get a Circuit breaker. A fuse is a waste of power also.

It is very unlikely you are desulphating, even though they say it does, but keeping the batteries fully charged certainly stops sulphation.

Equalisation charging is the most important thing you can do for your batteries, next to keeping them fully charged, and the solar reg may not have that feature. When in the Marina, you need to do that once a month if you can.

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Well what a weekend... And one hell of a dusty mess i spent this arvo cleaning up.

Saturday i started "Re-Structuring" the Mercenary. This involved Acro-Props downstairs to take the load off the main bulkhead and cabin top so i could strengthen it up all in the name of getting a stiffer structure to take the ever increasing rig loads.

 

Next i glued in the Carbon and Foam Knee's i had pre-made the week before. A few layers of carbon Uni's and Carbon DB and some foam - Light and seriously strong. These got glued in where the window mullions used to be to try to stop the cabin top bending and twisting. And to stop the windows popping when the fatties jumped on the cabin top. - Job done and they are seriously grunty and strong. PERFECT :-)

 

Then i decided to turn the two piece main bulkhead that was split from floor to ceiling into a single piece bulkhead to transfer the loads from the Rig better without bending the boat. Sounds like an easy job but it turned into a bit more of a major. I Scarfed in a piece of plywood in the middle and then laminated a new Ring frame right from Cabin Side to cabin side.

This is now all glued in and carboned into the boat and i await testing it on tuesday night racing before fairing and painting it after the white island race next weekend.

 

- Oh thats right in amongst all this i managed to go for a sail on the new Equilibrium - Very very cool boat and i quite like pushing buttons and going sailing for 2 hours in 25+ knots without pulling a winch handle out once :-P And i mowed the lawns and all the usual guff too. Now im sitting down and relaxing with a cold Mount Gay and coke to relax!

Acro Prop (Medium).JPG

CarbonElbow (Medium).JPG

Messy (Medium).JPG

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Well I have just ticked off Weekend number 4 of what I was thinking would be a one weekend project of installing my genset. Hopefully next weekend I will have it finished, but i have been saying that for the last three now.

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Just finished solar panel install. 400w with a 30amp mppt controller. Just trying to drain our batteries a bit to see what solar panels will put in. Currently its very very cloudy in wellington and still in float mode and pumping 6amps in which is good. So on the cloudest days we'll at least get 6amps. Thats enough to run our fridge and part of our freezer during the day :mrgreen:

More worried about you being able to run the 52" tv and clothes dryer, sounds like you have that covered now!!! :wave: :wave:

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