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
For these particular installations, I'm using Whale IC pumps (IC stands for Intelligent Control) for both the low capacity bilge pump and the shower sump.  The pumps and sensors are identical, but the attachments are different.  They consist of a pump unit that can be located in a dry area out of the bilge connected with a long wire to a solid state sensor unit that detects when water is present. If found, it turns the pump on and it pulls water up and discharges via a diaphragm pump.  I think they are pretty nice pieces of technology and hope they are reliable, but time will tell. 


Anyway, I ended up choosing a compartment under the v-berth forward to house both pumps.  The arrangement should work well because it is located on the centerline and minimizes the need for a big loop before discharging to prevent backflow when on a heel (I will probably install one anyway just to be safe though).  It also is close to where both sensors (and corresponding hoses) will be located.  I plan on a side discharge just above the static waterline in the head compartment.  

Of course, nothing is easy on a boat (especially if you are 6'5") and even though the Niagara is comparatively spacious compared to the Alberg, I still found myself in some stupidly awkward positions.  The pumps themselves were easy to mount and access, but feeding the hose and wire to the sensor required some gymnastics.  Directly below the compartment where they are mounted is a space about 12" high that allowed me to run the wires and hoses to their respective locations. 

To access that area, I drilled 2 - 1" holes in the bottom of the compartment where the pumps were mounted.  from there I was able to snake the hose underneath the stringers to the sensor/pickup locations.  For the discharge, the hoses runs vertically up to the top of the compartment and then through a bulkhead (1" holes for each) and into the adjacent compartment where the sewage tank is located.  In that compartment the 2 hoses 'Y' together into a single discharge that runs to the head compartment where it will discharge overboard.

I considered teeing into the existing sink drain, but I read enough accounts where people who had done this would frequently have bilge or shower drain waste 'burping' up into the sink. I really don't want that so I came to terms with another hole in the boat.  I've already closed up a few holes, so I guess I'm still ahead of the game. 

For the wiring I used a terminal block for each pump (as I did with the other bilge pump). This will facilitate easy removal and troubleshooting if there are problems.  I'll save the wiring from the terminal blocks to the distribution panel for another post (or several, because there's a lot to unpack), but spoiler alert, all the wiring back to the panel is new and the photos below show the fully wired installation. Once the new distribution panel and wiring is completed, I'll be able to test these installations and hope they work.

One note on the shower sump installation: the pickup manifold is mounted and the hose and wiring is installed, but I'm still working on the connection to the shower drain.  Because the original drain was located between the 2 - 3" frames that support the mast, running the hose underneath the frames could potentially cause an airlock situation where air trapped in the hose running to the manifold could prevent the pump from turning on. To eliminate that possibility, I'm relocating the shower drain so that it flows over one of the beams to the manifold.  That work is currently in progress and will probably do a quick post on that once it is complete.  

Also note that the manifold is capable of handling multiple discharge sources and I plan to eventually run a drain from the anchor locker to one of the manifold ports, but for now I'm going to just use a single port and cap off the unused port.

The pumps fully installed in the compartment underneath the v-berth