CarpeDiem

The day started with a plan to clean up some really minor corrosion on my heat exchanger, corrosion that wasn't causing any problems whatsoever and that my mechanic friend told me to "monitor" I found a suspect hx end cap - OK that's an easy fix... It has two o-rings in it. Might as well do both ends, 4 "gold-plated" o-rings from ovlov is all that's needed to fix that... Job will be over in a hour. Needed to drain the coolant, it's a year early but not a big deal might as well do it now. Performed some yoga moves getting to the petcocks. Trying to put tubes on them and twist th

I am a strong advocate of Li-ion over LA. The Regs are stopping progress and adoption because they can't keep up with the technology. Eg, Li-ion would be perfect as a starter battery. But the regs indirectly (or maybe directly) prevent it. There's absolutely no reason what so ever for low voltage disconnect on LTO batteries. One can take them 0v at and then recharge them to full capacity. A Japanese company produces LFP cells that are designed to deliver 1200a for 10 seconds and are able to peak inrush currents of 2400a - perfect to replace a marine starter battery of 700cca

That's an over generalization. Some AGMs made with lower grade materials may have that limit. A good marine grade AGM will be rated to accept unlimited alternator current. The current is limited by the internal characteristics of the battery. Eg, Optima Yellowtop AGMs state "no amperage limit" when charging from alternator. My 75Ah Optima D31 accepts ~65Amps when charging from empty. Many quality AGM batteries are rated at 0.5C or above by the manufacturer. But you pay for the privilege...

1C is generally the upper limit for what's on the lfp market. Most manufacturers will tell you 0.5C recommended with fast charge at 1C. That said there's a few starting to offer 3C... but these are generally cylindrical cells. My stock Volvo Penta alternator does 115A... continually... So my design requires me to either have a minimum of 230AH of Lithium-ion or limit my alternator... But then I have exactly the same problem with Lead CARBON - if I want to do it properly... I still have to limit the alternator OR have 345AH of weight!! If I want to stay in the manufacturers recommen

Thanks. I find it strange that 2008 is the only version referenced in the regulations. Section 3 of the Electrical Safety Regulations 2010, which is the legal instrument that gives authority to the as/nzs standard states that: the regulations do not apply to pleasure vessels unless they have connectable installations. connectable installation is one that is designed or intended for, or is capable of, connection to an external power supply that operates at a nominal voltage between 90 and 250 volts AC at standard low voltage. The above clauses in the regulations indicate

Hey IT, I have a couple of questions, which you may be able to answer regarding the standard AS/NZS 3004.2:2014. (which is where the audio and visual alarm requirement comes from) This standard does not appear to be legislated. The latest version of the standard that is legislated in the Electricity Act is 3004.2:2008 (ref: https://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2010/0036/latest/DLM2763782.html?search=sw_096be8ed81c5a64a_3004_25_se&p=1&sr=3) MBIE had a working document in mid 2021, one of the recommendation of which was to update the NZ electricity legislatio

Gutted. Was hoping to get to Port Fitzroy for our first time this summer. Edit: ) Port Fitzroy Permit Exempt Anchoring Zone: means the area contained within the marine waters of Port Fitzroy, east of a line between Kotuku Point and Mt. Overlook headland of Kaikōura Island /Selwyn Island, and east of a line between the Man of War Passage and Governor Pass. Where is that?

They are Lithium-ion. They have a Iron Phosphate cathode and a graphite anode - Li-ions move through the electrolyte from the cathode to the anode and vice versa. That's the definition of a Li-ion battery - there's a lot of misconception that LiFePO4 are not Li-ion batteries mainly cause people don't want the chemistry associated with the less safe variants. They are considerably safer than other Li-ion chemistries, but they are not the safest. This honor, (currently), goes to LTO (Lithium Titanate Oxide) - LTO isn't really suitable for boat retrofit setups because of the voltage rang

According to the spec sheet on those batteries you can get 1000 cycles by taking them to 100% dod. As a weekend warrior, assuming one is sailing every weekend, that would be 10 years... at 100% DOD... which is very impressive, on paper... However the spec sheet does not say what the impact on DOD has on capacity. Generally using a LA battery at 50% DoD will reduce the useable capacity, so your 50% becomes smaller and smaller over time and this happens much quicker than it does for a Li-ion battery. What I have read on these doesn't say, no sulphation, rather it says that sul

Nice setup - great to see the 2p configuration, awesome to see the insulation between the EVE cells, and great to see that you have compression! This is a smoking good DIY build! What BMS are you using? What isolator are you using? Separate charge and load busses?

Argofet is a Victron brand name - they use MOSFETs internally, all MOSFETs, like all electronics induce a voltage drop. These units suffer between 0.03v and 0.01v drop depending on the current and the units rated capacity. If you consider that something invented in 1959 makes it old-tech then I guess that they are old-tech - but you will find them in the power supply of pretty much every modern day piece of electronics...

I didn't watch the video. The principle is relatively straight forward but requires an understanding of charge discharge profiles... 1. Lead acid rests at ~12.8v and floats at ~13.2v 2. LFP rests at 13.32v (there is no float for lfp) So when in parallel, without any load, the LFP is float charging the LA. As the load comes on the LFP will provide the power to the load. Once the lfp goes below the LA float voltage, power will be taken from the LA, but the amount of energy between 12.8v and 13.2v is insignificant and just surface charge. So the lfp will still provide

There's nothing unsafe with doing this (unless your BMS karks it). There's a few gotchas: You need a programable BMS that will switch off the Lithium-ion battery or it will overcharge... Usually one would program it for 3.55v/cell but you could be more conservative. This means that you won't get full capacity. Because you are switching off at 3.55v, never getting into the CV phase of the charge cycle and not immediately putting load on the battery, you will create a memory effect in the Li and the addional capacity will eventually be locked out. Once you start taking

Polyester LPUs cure with a separation. A very thin layer sets up at the top with the clear solids protecting the pigment underneath. It's like a built-in clearcoat. If you need to touch it up you have to take the whole panel back. It's impossible to just do a section. If you want to buff a section, you'll just rip off the top gloss layer. Carpe Diem is painted with a metallic fleck 2k polyester lpu used on cars. It's absolutely the worst paint ever for a boat. A fender rubs through the top coat it's screwed, a dinghy comes up along side, screwed again. Coastguard comes alo

Pin 7 on ConnC of the mdi is not an ignition signal. You can pick up an ignition signal from the miltilink conn which the tachometer connects to. Pin 7 of ConnC is a dual purpose pin: 1. The mdi momentarily applies battery voltage to this pin to excite the alternator just after the engine starts; 2. The mdi then uses this pin to periodically sense the alternator output voltage and trigger a warning on the canbus if the voltage is outside a threshold (13.1v - 14.9v iirc). The stock alternators have a secondary small rectifier on the D+ for the purpose of isolating the B+ a

We're out this year. Too many crew (including myself) have had sea survival expire. I don't understand why squadron can do a race to three kings @ cat 2 with no sea survival requirement. Mhyc can do cc around the not insignificant Cape Brett rounding, where many a boat has come unstuck, without the need for a liferaft or dinghy at cat 3-, and rayc needs a cat 3+, which is pretty much the same as a cat 1 without the out-of-water inspection, for going around corromandle... There is much inconsistency from YNZ. I cannot help but feel if that if the requirements were aligned there woul

It will disolve it. Anything that doesn't disolve, will appear as a powdery substance in the acid. It won't be chunky unless someone has flushed large objects down the toilet? Eg coins or fishing sinkers... Where does the pipe go to? I would expect the acid to end up there... You could then neutralize it with quantious amounts of sodium hydroxide.. You really want the acid soaking the inside of the pipe so the pipe is submerged. Can you get to each end? Another option would be to connect a pump and cycle the cleaning mixture round and round then you can go with a m

I recently bought a couple of these Harken Quattro winches. The plan was to replace our runner winches with these. We use the leeward runner winch for trimming the kite sheet, so the idea was we could use the speed ring and have a better trimming experience. Has anyone had experience with these types of winches? Is it possible to easily move from the speed ring to the top drum? If you're on the speed ring can you use the self tailer? Can you lock it off or do you have to hang onto the line or have a deck jammer? Can't find any info on the net for these. T

HCl is also great for cleaning rust off tools. This is after 3 minutes soaking. Using baking soda to neutralize the acid. Then I spray it down with wd40 and rinse and repeat next time it's rusty...

I will modify this to say it is damn good at cleaning up corroded/blocked exhaust mixers - but take the exhaust mixer off and drop it in a bucket at ~20% - 25% concentration. Don't run/flush the HCl through your salt water cooling system.

Sulphuric Acid with some detergent mixed in. It's water content disolves the salt. It's such a low concentration it won't damage your outboard. You could flush your loo with it and leave it sitting in the pipes the sulphuric acid will help break down any minerals.

HCl (Hydrochloric Acid). Easily obtained from any swimming pool shop about $45 for a 33% solution. Mix it with water to get a 10% concentration (NB add the acid to the water) or just go hard out and pour in @33% - stand back, wear a mask, eye protection, gloves - be well ventilated. HCl is the active ingredient in Rydelime. The active ingredient in barnacle buster is phosphoric acid. HCl will eat up metal parts such as aluminum, galvanized steel, nickel or other active metals - don't use it on your engine. Phosphoric Acid is more mild acting on scale and mineral deposits

Perfect, thank you!

I have seen some boats with finger holes in the floorboards that when you stick your finger in it there's a clasp/lever that releases the floorboard, allowing the board to be lifted. Can anyone please link me to the mechanism that's under the floorboard? Thanks

Westlake Boys’ High School teacher killed during Coastal Classic yacht race He taught all of my 4 children. I am lost for words. Such a tragedy.