bazzathemammoth

Yea. Don't forget that "electrician" is brainy talk for "cable monkey". About all most of us are good for is putting wires in holes.

That's awesome man. I hope you have fair winds and healthy kids!

Get a job man. You might find some self respect while you are at it. You have so much to offer the world so be a giver and make the world better instead of looking for a handout. Do you honestly feel good about yourself scabbing off other people when you are perfectly capable of providing for yourself?

The 18v battery Milwaukee one is pretty good. Damn expensive though, especially if you don't already have the batteries and charger.

Thanks for that wheels. How many of those power supplies have a transformer in them do you reckon similar to what you posted? In your second diagram with the auto transformer, the secondary is still linked to the primary N, so will it still have stray current issues potentially causing corrosion?

I know that u know your stuff wheels, so can u explain to me how a switch mode power supply can isolate its output from earth? As for charger regulation, my house battery bank is 2x 6v 220 ah. I have a 2 amp charger that turns off when it senses enough voltage, but even if it didn't I'm pretty sure I could run it all day every day and my batteries would scarcely be effected. A bit like trying to sink a frigate with a garden hose... If we got too much drama about the ewof I would have just gone solar for battery charging... Dehumidification isn't worth hole(s) through the hull and lots

Bang on Beccara. That's why I use an el cheapo charger with a transformer inside of it instead of a fancy 20 million stage battery regenerator charger that has a switch mode power supply.

It seems that you are someone who knows a fair bit about electricity, but not as much about NZ electrical regs. To be fair, I haven't read the boat regs, but after talking to the inspector, seeing what is at the marina, and reading what has already been posted here I think I know what they are asking for. The big assumption that I am making here is that boats are required to have a MEN distribution board. IT could confirm/deny this as I am not going to buy a copy just for the sake of this thread. 1. Not sure how your fault loop impedance theory works. It would be so little difference that

3 reasons. Firstly it helps slightly with the fault loop impedance of the circuit. This ensures that the breaker will trip in a live to neutral short. Also in the unlikely event that you have a broken live conductor touching an unearthed bit of metal on your boat then it can shock you briefly before the rcd trips. Even worse is if u are touching another exposed metal bit that has a frayed neutral conductor touching it. That will likely kill u. Earthing all exposed metal will prevent this. I can't remember what is called, but the last reason is to reduce the likelihood of ground potent

Thanks for that. Since I'm using a charger that has a transformer power supply inside of it instead of a switch mode power supply (eg ctek chargers) the 230v system is isolated from the 12v system. This means that there is no risk of electrolytic corrosion through stray currents on the 12v ground back to the marina earth. I dive on the boat regularly for cleaning and there is minimal corrosion on the zinc anode.

I'm an electrician and trust me most houses built in the last 20 years don't meet the regs in one way or another. Common sense has to prevail. In a basic system like I have described what is the advantage to earthing the boat?

So with much fear and trepidation we had booked pork chop in for an ewof inspection. I had a yak to the inspector Tony Murray who was very reasonable. All that we have is a hard wired lead going into a breaker box (with rcd) that feeds a power point. No crazy earthing arrangements and no 12v inspection. It was all ok. To avoid any issues with electrolytic corrosion we use a cheap warehouse battery charger that isolates the 12v from 230. Turns out most of the flash chargers don't do that.

Bugger all probably. We just had the liferaft serviced, which turned out to be eye wateringly expensive but apparently normal. Probably just a flare pack and the inspection. We wanted to try the short race for our first ssanz one anyway. We would've like to do the auckland tauranga race but with all the work that we put into repainting the deck and doing a few other mods we just couldn't be bothered with the extra bits to get cat3.

What pressure range do u want? I'm pretty sure I could find something for the switch 4 u.

That's no good. Dunno about the 2 handed racing down here, we are pretty committed to the fully crewed series and I would probably find myself suddenly single if I was out racing every weekend. I'll certainly come out when I can.

Dunno, maybe little barrier to port, poor knights to starboard, red mercury to starboard, korapuki to starboard, finish at abercrombie? Call me soft if you like but I'd be much more keen on a 250 mi race than a 350. We are planning on being cat 3 next year so will be able to enter the longhaul division.

This was our first 2 handed race and ill have to say that it was a blast. The weather meant that it was a bit of a slog bringing the boat to and from Auckland but I think it was worth it. I found 2 handing really enjoyable and the race was really fun. Thanks heaps to everyone who made it happen, chains ropes and anchors for the fantastic prizes and all the other yachties who made us feel welcome. The prizegiving was a bit of a surprise, one look at the box of rum and I knew we were in for a good night This event is on our calendar for next year and I will be trying to encourage as man

If u get booted out and need somewhere to go then pm me. I'm just down the road and have a few cold ones at the ready

Far out! Where in Tauranga are you? We haven't had a visit yet thankfully

That's one of my favourite sailing books. I haven't found any other that deals so comprehensively with single handing. I reckon the kindle version is much easier to read though and worth buying.

I put down what my share is worth, and my share of running costs relative to income. As a 1 income family 8% represents a large chunk of our disposable income. I think that net worth is a valuable measure because how much a person is worth is directly related to how much of a rich prick they are imo. The whole issue is really difficult to wade thru. I make more than most, but my wife is a stay at home mum so our household income is in the bottom 1/3. However we own a house in tauranga so I feel richer than some of my friends who make more than us but are renting, especially since we

I own 1/3 of a boat, maybe put in a option for partial ownership? Also maybe a net worth indication? Great idea for a thread btw.

Lots of things, although I suppose that a good under deck autopilot would negate most of them when using a wheel. Simplicity - one less complicated system to have onboard The ability to shove it between your legs and do things easily with both hands (eat, trim, etc) I've heard that it is easier to rig self steering with a tiller if the AP fails (eg bungy steering) With a tiller extension you can easily wander all over the cockpit to get comfortable, out of the sun, see around blind spots and so on. You can easily fold it out of the way when at anchor to give more usable room in the cockp

I reckon once you have tried single handing with a wheel you will wish you had a tiller, but maybe thats just me.

I have been advised to seal the deck with epoxy barrier undercoat after sanding it back and filling any cracks/ fixing any damage. http://www.burnsco.co.nz/shop/boating/paint-maintenance/primer-undercoat/altex-epoxy-barrier-undercoat