- Mast rewire - Steaming light, foredeck light, anchor light, tricolor light, wind transducer, VHF antenna.
- Mast standing rigging - Replace rod rigging with wire and all associated hardware.
- Rebed all deck hardware - All of it, everything needs to be pulled, rebedded with appropriate sealant with new backing plates where needed.
- Windlass install - I may or may not get to this before I go back in the water, I have the windless (Maxell RC8), but the wiring to the bow will cost close to $1000.
- Autopilot - I still have to sort out the wiring and reinstall properly.
- House batteries - I haven't purchased the new batteries yet.
- Refrigeration - I pulled out the old Grunert engine driven refrigeration. It reportedly worked when the boat was pulled in 2013, but there are way too many moving parts and it takes up a lot of room in the engine compartment. I will be replacing with an air cooled Isotherm GE150. It's much smaller, reliable, and draws very little current. This is something that can wait until after splashing the boat because it's a pricey item and funds are getting low in the coffer.
- Starting battery - I'm relocating that to the engine room now that the engine driven refrigeration has been removed.
- Inverter - 2000w wired into AC circuit.
- External battery charger - I have it, but probably won't use it much because I'm rarely on shore power
- Engine reinstall - Last but not least....
Sunday, November 3, 2024
Fire in the Hole (and other project updates)
Thursday, October 17, 2024
A Fun End of Season Project
I don't have much time left before winter shuts down work on the boat, so I'm trying to make the most of it before it gets too cold. It may seem like I'm randomly picking projects to cross off the list, but I do actually have a plan (subject to change of course). I'm trying to work from the bottom up in most cases but have found that certain projects (like the wiring and plumbing) logically should be done before others.
Now that I have both the wiring and plumbing completed (mostly), my next step is to start prepping for the engine install. Originally, I was going to put the engine back in this fall, but I decided that keeping it in my heated shop until spring makes more sense. First of all, I won't have to winterize it and second, I can run it every few weeks or so during the winter to keep it happy.
With that decision made, there were a few things I'd like to take care of before winter and the one that made the most sense was to get a start on the engine install and get the fuel system fully ready to go. I had done a bit of work on it over the summer by running the fuel fill hose through the compartment where the water pump is now housed, but not much more.
Most of the prep work to install the new tank was done for me other than getting the bilge painted (I did this last fall). I basically had to plop it in place and bolt it down. The original tank was held in place by a single wood bracket that spanned across the tank and mounted on a plywood 'rib' that was glassed into the hull. I decided that was a little bit sketchy given the fact that 37 gallons (new tank size) of diesel weighs more that 250 pounds and even though the tank is wedged in pretty nicely, I don't think that wood bracket and the floorboards screwed down would hold it in place if something major happened (a knockdown or outright roll). So I purchased some 2x2" aluminum L channel, cut a 2 foot section to through bolt to the forward rib. Because the fuel fill and vent access the tank from the aft end, I cut 2 smaller pieces of L channel and through bolted them to the aft rib on either side of where the hoses run on top of the tank.
Next up, I spent a stupid amount of time fiddling with npt fittings to make sure they fit the fuel line and return (I ordered marine grade A1-15 fuel hose for both the fuel line and return). The previous owner had planned on installing a dedicated fuel polishing system that he could run on demand that routed to a separate fuel water separator and had 2 extra tank ports installed. It's good idea, but I'm going to hold off on that and do it once the boat has been in the water. In the meantime, I capped off those tank ports. The fuel feed line I added an aluminum shutoff valve (3/8" npt male to 3/8" barbed hose end) onto the 3/8" npt aluminum elbow. For the return line I installed a 3/8"npt male to 1/4" barbed brass elbow. I wanted to use aluminum (to avoid galvanic corrosion), but I couldn't find a fitting in aluminum that had the low profile clearance I need because the tank is within 2.5" of floorboards once installed. I'll keep an eye on that, but I should note that I used permatex fuel grade sealant on all the connections, so that should effectively separate the dissimilar metals.Finally, my son and I thought it would be fun to incorporate arduino devices on the boat, and the fuel gauge seemed like a perfect first project. The tank came with a resistive fuel sender that is essentially a float mounted to a potentiometer. When the tank fills up, the float rises with the fuel level and the resistance changes as the float moves toward the top. Knowing that arduino devices are very good at taking signal input I could use a python program and a OLED screen to convert the values to a 0-100% scale and print it out on the screen.
I didn't want anything complicated that would require running more wire (I'm done with that) and decided to use battery power and a momentary switch to take the reading and then turn off. The amount of battery consumption is so small that it would take quite a long time to run out of juice. I bought an 'arduino nano every' board, a tiny OLED display, and a momentary switch for about $25 total and got to work. It will be mounted on top of the fuel tank below one of the removable floorboards on the centerline of the boat. In all the boats I've owned over the years my fuel gauge was always a grimy wooden stick and compared to that this will be quite the luxury.
We wired up the circuit on a breadboard and wrote a simple program to convert the incoming values into a 0-100 scale. My son added code for a small graph to show the level visually as well. Once we had it working, I designed and 3d printed a simple box to house the electronics and after a few tries (my son thinks I'm terrible at prototyping) we were able to fit everything in and got it installed. It certainly looks homemade, but it was a fun project and enjoyed working on it with my son.
Sunday, September 22, 2024
Water System - Check (almost)
It's been 1 year since I purchased the boat and had it hauled to its current home at Glines Farm and I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out the best location for the new water fresh water system. The original water pump was stuffed under the sink in the head compartment and must have been a bear to service and maintain. Additionally, the hot water side of the system was an on-demand propane system that was outdated and dangerous by today's standards (my understanding is that insurance is hard to come by with these types of systems). So that had to be replaced with a more modern hydronic system (heat exchanger powered by engine water hear or 110v AC).
Luckily for me, Velorum as I bought her was a clean slate; all the systems had been removed so I had the luxury of being able to imagine the best (IMHO) location for a new water system. The location of the tanks was the exception, the new 40 gallon tanks would be located under the port and starboard settees just as the original. For the rest of the system, my only criteria was that it be easily accessible and that I wouldn't have to contort into ridiculous positions if/when the system needed servicing.
There were a number of possible locations, but I ultimately chose to install the system underneath the port settee just forward of the navigation table and aft of one of the water tanks. This space is close to ideal because:
- Access is great. If I remove the settee cushion, there is a large panel that lifts off to give me full access to every component in the system. There is also a decent sized hatch below the settee cushion that would allow me to mount a valve to switch tanks.
- Proximity to the engine. With hydronic heating systems, hot water from the engine is circulated through a heat exchanger in the tank (I chose a 20 liter tank) to heat the fresh water. The closer to the engine you are the better the efficiency. This puts me within 6 feet of the engine. I could have located it aft of the engine in one of the lazarettes, but this would defeat the easy access rule I wanted.
For the installation, I began with the water tanks and worked my way downstream. It was a little tricky getting all the pex tubing in place and I had to drill a few holes in the bottom of the compartment for the pipe runs to exit.
I dry fit everything and made sure it would all be easy to access and maintain once fully installed. There were a few adjustments along the way when I realized that the 1.5" fuel fill hose had to run through the same compartment, but other than that everything fit nicely.
From there I moved onto the service lines that exited the compartment. Using blue for cold and red for hot should make troubleshooting in the future a bit easier. I kept the runs as straight as possible for each of the three service points (galley faucet, head faucet, and shower) and secured the pex tubing every 12" or so.Monday, August 5, 2024
Hot Boat Yoga
I suppose I could have picked a better time to do the electrical job, but because the full re-wire was not initially planned, I had to get it done when it was absolutely stifling inside the boat. Most of the work took place early in the morning before it got too hot, but this afternoon I decided I just wanted it done, so heat be damned.
I won't go into too much detail on running wire, but I decided to run dedicated duplex wiring to each appliance to make it easier to troubleshoot down the line and to provide additional chafe protection from the outer sheathing. All the cables were secured and bundles in runs with zip ties and split loom conduit where feasible.
For the wire size, all the pumps and anything that draws over 5 amps I used 10 AWG marine tinned duplex Ancor wiring. For the smaller appliances such as navigation lights, shower fan, bilge blower, and the holding tank monitor, I used 16 AWG. The wiring running to the mast (and in the mast) is marine triplex 16AWG that shares a common ground. The reason I did this is because the 2 appliances on the mast are combination units (anchor/tricolor lights and steaming/foredeck lights). It also adds more protection because it has a very thick sheathing and is generally more convenient than running single wires.
All told it took me close to three weeks and close to 300 feet of wire working for a few hours before work each morning. A lot of time was spent trying to figure out the best run for a particular wire or bundle off wires. Even more time was spent trying to wiggle into corners and underneath the cockpit sole to run and secure the wiring. Once I found a suitable location to run the wiring, I would pull from the spool starting at the navigation station and loosely set it. Then I'd work my way back to the navigation station securing the run with zip ties and screwed to bulkheads.
Once all the wiring runs were done, it was time to start the real work: connecting everything to the terminal blocks and negative bus bar and ultimately to the new distribution panel. It was a pleasant change from the boat yoga exercises I had been doing and it involved mostly sitting at the nav station, stripping wire, crimping connectors and then heat shrinking tubing over them.Of course, all boat work takes longer than I think it will and making all the connections, securing the bundles, testing, labeling and documenting took about a week (mornings with a few longer sessions). All the wires are labeled and I created a back panel wiring schematic that I'll probably print and laminate to keep on the boat in case the shrink wrapped labels come off.
I still have work to do though. The navigation instrumentation isn't currently installed in the boat yet and that will be a while, so I've reserved most of the right terminal strip for those items and a few more for future needs. I also have to connect the new navigation lights, bilge blower, and shower fan to the newly installed wire before I'm fully done (as well as a few custom labels that I ordered for the distribution panel), but the bulk of this job is done.
Here are a few before and after photos:
FRONT PANEL BEFORE:
FRONT PANEL AFTER:
Monday, July 15, 2024
No Turning Back Now!
Time to switch away from structural items and move onto arguably the biggest job for this project: the electrical system. From my testing when I bought the boat, most of it is intact and mostly functional, but there's no doubt that it's a rats nest of madness that I can't rely on fully because I don't understand it. The Alberg 35 had an even older and sketchier electrical system but it was an entirely different animal. It literally had only 3 circuits; the engine, running lights, and cabin lights. Each circuit consisted of old, brittle wires that were always in danger of giving up the ghost, but it was dead simple and I could understand it just by taking a look behind the distribution panel.
Velorum is a much more complex beast and even though the electrical system seems mostly functional, the amount of wiring in this almost 40 year old boat is daunting. To tackle the problem, I started by tracing every single wire as best I could. I set my multimeter on the continuity buzzer setting and connected a 30 foot wire to each breaker and walked around the boat to see what went where. Digging around in the recesses of the boat quickly led me to the conclusion that there was quite a bit of dodgy wiring throughout. Probably quick and dirty additions that previous owners had done over the years that may have made sense to them, but didn't hold up in the long run.
After a few hours of testing, re-testing, and scratching my head, I realized that I needed to re-wire the entire boat with one exception: the cabin lights. Clearly these had been done at the factory before the deck and headliner were glued together because most of the wiring runs between the two and replacing it would be a terrible (maybe impossible job). Fortunately, all of the cabin lights work and are divided into port and starboard circuits, so that's something I can live with.
For the rest of the wiring, it was time to start ripping it out, but before I did, I made a map of all the circuits currently in the boat and how I would run new wire to replace it. I found a free electrical wiring diagramming tool and layed out the wiring paths to each 'appliance'. It should serve as a good reference for troubleshooting down the line.
Once completed, I took a deep breath and started dismantling the system. Some of the factory wiring was pretty decent and I could have probably saved it, but since I already purchased several hundred feet of marine grade tinned duplex wiring in 10, 14, and 16 awg, it was time to go. I pulled the old distribution panel (will be replacing with a Blue Sea 20 position panel #8379) and started yanking wire. There were at least 5 dead circuits that clearly hadn't been used in years and when I found them, I realized I had made a good choice by replacing everything. By the end of the first session, I had the cockpit pretty well filled up with old wire. It took me a few sessions to track down and remove everything, but it felt good to have it done.The navigation instruments introduced a bit more anxiety, but because I'm replacing those with new equipment (except maybe the windvane), I feel good about this choice as well. The mass of wiring from just the Raymarine chartplotter and old tiny NMEA 0183 wires connected to everything was so confusing. I'll be much happier with the Garmin system replacement (7607xsv chartplotter).
Now that I had a clean slate (except for cabin lighting), it was time to re-design the way the wires are distributed. Unlike systems of old, where the wiring goes directly to the distribution panel, I opted for the more modern approach where the wires from each appliance terminate on a series of terminal blocks (positive side) and a bus bar (negative side) located behind the main distribution panel. Installing these allows for much easier troubleshooting, and the individual breakers on distribution panel connect to each terminal block. If some wiring (nav lights, instrumentation) needs to share a breaker, a jumper can be added to the terminal block so the breaker can be shared.
I also added an unswitched fused circuit block to control appliances like bilge pumps that are essentially connected directly to the battery so they can't be turned off. I went through several layout iterations, but finally ended up using an epoxy coated piece of plywood glued to the hull and painted white. On it I mounted all the necessary components needed, and will be the foundation of the new electrical system. Next up, I'll start running new wire from this panel to all the appliances.
Thursday, July 11, 2024
Low Capacity Bilge Pump and Shower Sump
It has been ridiculously hot for Central NH this year and as a result, working on the boat in the afternoon (when I'd prefer) is just not an option. After 10AM, the temperature in the boat is absolutely stifling and I just can't work with sweat pouring off me. So I've switched up my schedule a bit and I'm doing work from 5:30 - 7:30AM most mornings. It's not a lot of time, but every minute helps to chip away at my list.
After a seemingly endless series of internal arguments with myself about where to locate the low capacity bilge pump and the shower sump pump, I decided it was time to make a decision and settled on a location. As with everything in a boat the reasons for my waffling had to do with trade offs such as
- Easy access
- Shortest hose run
- Discharge location
The pumps fully installed in the compartment underneath the v-berth |
Wednesday, June 19, 2024
Let the Installations Begin
I'm juggling about 10 different projects on the boat right now and all are in various stages of completion, so I thought I'd post each one as I finish them (or almost finish them) even though there are a lot more things going on in the boat at the same time. The one that will take the longest and tie them all together is the DC electrical system, but I found that once I got that underway, I needed to know what's going to be installed and where they are going, so I'm going to wait to discuss the electrical until I'm farther along.
Aside from the electrical, there are 4 main systems going in; the high capacity bilge pump and float switch, the low capacity bilge pump, the shower and anchor locker drain sump pump, and the pressure water system. Since the boat is a clean slate with no systems in it, I spent a lot of time deciding where these systems should go. I've been through several iterations based on a number of factors such as:
- Ease of serviceability and access
- Efficiency of plumbing runs
- Eliminate conflicts with other systems (ie. do hoses from the bilge pump conflict with water system)
Thursday, May 23, 2024
Shiny Blocks and Boat Holes
I was happy to receive a package from Xometry (online CNC machine shop) and find the new tie rod blocks I designed exactly as specified and after a test fit I was relieved that everything fit well. They will be replacing the old ones that are in varying states from good to terrible and the 7075 aluminum coupled with hard anodization should provide many years of service.
As you can see in the photo to the left, the old ones (the 2 in the center) are in less than perfect condition and one of them is literally crumbling apart. It was definitely time to replace them. I'm really pleased with how they turned out and I was even more impressed with how easy it is to turn a design into a finished product. All you need to do is load a CAD drawing to the Xometry site, pick materials, finishes, spec tolerances (there are a number of levels going from prototype to mil spec). You can also choose production location (some companies require U.S. made products). Although none of this is cheap (I paid $460 for 6 blocks), it was likely less than what I would have paid locally, and the only supplier that I know of (rigrite.com) has photos of the blocks but no price listed and based on the cost of other discontinued items they have for sale, it would have cost a fortune.