On Board with Mark Corke

Neat chart idea

 

This seems like a such sensible idea. On the engine hatch cover of a down east cruiser  a chart of the local cruising area is semi permanently affixed under a plexiglass cover which not only keeps the boat clean and dry but readily accessible to the helmsman's glance. Being plexiglass it can be written on with  a wax crayon to mark a position or to otherwise make a note and yet easily erased when the time comes.

As I write this the wind is blowing 40 knots outside the cabin and yet this chart on the adjacent boat is still in place without hesitation.

Correct battery wiring

I recently surveyed a well kept Halberg Rassy 42,  a boat which I have always a had a slight hankering to own myself.  Well thought out and put together these are true go anywhere boats which are robustly constructed with long distance cruising in mind. One of the main concerns for any cruiser is keeping the batteries fully charged which for the weekend warrior is often simply a matter of plugging the boat back into shore power at the end of the weekend's cruise. On a long distance trip where you will not have that option other methods need to be employed. Wind chargers and solar panels are very popular amongst long distance travelers and those who dislike having a generator aboard. My friend Charlie Doane whose aluminum cutter I recently surveyed has both attached to a very business like arch at the aft end of the cockpit. Charlie tells me that the two 75 watt panels and the wind generator keep the batteries topped up so well that he rarely if ever plugs the boat into shore power. Running th main engine also helps to charge the batteries but is very inefficient especially if you are under sail and don't need the engine for motive power at that time.  It is also very important that the cables to the batteries be of the correct size, for undersized cables will have too much resistance and can have a dramatic effect on the how your batteries perform. The set up shown in the picture is almost perfect. I say almost because the cables are connected to the batteries with wing nuts and these are frowned upon by ABYC for anything larger than 8AWG. But this is small point and the bank of four AGM are apart from that enjoying an almost bucolic existence. Obviously the lid has been removed from the top of the battery box but if you look carefully you will see that the batteries are restrained by a couple of hinged hold downs and in the to right and bottom left of the battery box are air vents to allow any hydrogen to safely vent away; a feature not often seen on production boats. What is interesting to me and indicates that whomever did this installation knew their stuff is that the positive and negative connection start at opposite ends of the battery bank thus evening out the power distribution amongst the four batteries. Often the connections will both connect to the same battery and the rest of the bank will parallel of this first battery which is not the ideal scenario. All batteries do a have a small but noticeable internal resistance and this will lead to the last battery in the chain not receiving a fair and equitable share of any charge voltage but by connecting the battery bank in the manner shown in the photo this is almost entirely eliminated and thus ensures a complete and full charge to the entire bank.