Nav station starts to look great

from left to right is the 12 volt outlet, then 120 outlet, and then the Sat radio with the speaker for the VHF above and to the side is the control panel for the inverter and then of course is the control for the VHF handset. Space under for a computer or charts to slide away and also air venting at the deck. Very neatly and compactly arranged and the face panel hinges down for access. Not a bit of space wasted.

Raymarine E series

is tucked nicely into the space above the hanging locker. Bill feels it can come down a bit and let it fit further back. Visibility from the cockpit and the nav station is excellent, the supporting bracket is simple and effective.

Shore power receptacle

placed in the cockpit well, we have an inverter on board as well. It is a small boat but with the advent of some of these sophisticated electronics it would have seemed a pity not to have the boat with 120 on board. Even if just to allow one to stay connected on the net. It does introduce all kinds of other factors like stray galvanic activity. This can be a major problem when in a marina. Dave put a galvanic isolator on board and hopefully this will assist. There is also provision made for a solar charger which can keep the batteries topped up even when one is away from the baot and still eliminate the need for shore power connection.

Everywhere I look

there are details and the stamp of a professional. Look at the boomkin, thru bolted and then plugged. As strong as a house.

Windlass

I found this baby at Traditional Marine in Annapolis Nova Scotia. John and Anna Edelmann run the company and what pleasant folks they are. The store is filled with all kinds of marine stuff, pity I didn't have more time to peruse but that is the way. Spent a while just chatting to them and of we had to have a cup of tea............ typical Maritime hospitality!

The gypsy for the windlass was slightly over size from the manufacturer, so we had a mismatch, anyway they gave me the whole thing to take to Bill in Camden to see what was to be done. No need to pay for it if it didn't work just send it back!

I explained the situation to Bill when I got to the boat shed and before I had finished breakfast the following day he had the problem fixed on the lathe. I keep on challenging him and he just sort of always fixes things with no fuss. I suspect there isn't anything he can't do but I will keep trying.............

I had actually decided against buying a bronze windlass as they were just too expensive and what with the Canadian dollar doing its nose dive. Well of course ABI is pretty well gone and even if I wanted one I couldn't get one now, so it was great to find this one at a price I could afford. I think it belongs on the foredeck of a BCC, especially mine.

Just Back

Just had a lightening trip down to Maine to see the boatbuilder and see what has been happening. Its always a bit of a pressure cooker getting time off work and loads of driving. The boat shed is of course an interesting place with many of the local characters "floating in" to see whats going on. Bills is obviously highly respected and his work is impeccable.. Always time for a chat, exchanging info and indeed one of the guys was installing a Cape Horn windvane exactly like mine. Great chat and great camaraderie.

The panel is fully wired and what a dandy job Dave has done, his work is so neat and he is really pleased with it and so am I. Recent additions are switches for two electric bilge pumps both of which are directly wired to the batteries. One comes from the head and the other from the aft bilge, this one has an alarm connected as an early warning system. Expensive these alarms so one should be enough which is of course at the deepest bilge point.

There are three switches just above the bilge pumps and these are the battery mains for house engine and then a connector which will allow both to come on stream in case of problems.

I think Dave has put a lot of thought into how it all goes together so that an electrical neophyte like me can interpret problems at a later date. Batteries are installed too, three AGMs as the house for about 320 Ah. They should accept a fast charge either from the shore charger source or from the high output alternator, coupled with the Ample Power V3 and all temp controlled at the battery.

The challenge is to get the system balanced, generally the batts will be charged to 85% (from the engine) and should not be discharged to more than about 50%. If the batts are constantly discharged below 50% then the cycle life of the batts is very poor.

The alt can charge realistically at about 100Ah so with a bit of luck it will take about 1 1/2 hours to charge maybe every second day (with luck) depending on usage, it will be interesting to see what happens in real life.

There is always stuff to consider, eg I bought a sat antennae to use for weather and also it can be coupled into the E series Raymarine and then fed out to the radio for sat radio. Sadly the down side is that the E series has to be on for the radio to be on. So much for reducing the power consumption. I ran into the same issues with other Raymarine add ons to the E series in that you would need a back up gen set running all the time just to keeps the electrons flowing to the toys. Ah well one lives and learns.

I think that the back of the boat will soon be looking like a Christmas tree with all the antennae.

Rope Rack

nice touch, keeps all the mooring lines organised a well placed piece of ss pipe.

The mushroom vents are...............

tucked in well behind the laz. They are low prolfile so I am hoping that they do not snag anything.

The panel is now wired

I have a lot of trouble making sense of all this, so Dave the sparks very kindly has labelled everything. Very neat as it should be, the supporting panel folds down so as everything is readily accessible.

The batteries are now installed too, and Bill is working on the bilge pumps.

I really liked the finish on the skylight, and the metal work just puts the icing on the cake.

In the distance you can see the new cowl vent installed next to the bowsprit. It is of course detachable and I have a metal cover plate to seal it up.