Mildly electrified
Hello!
On Monday I turned 30 and after a chaotic weekend, spent a few disorienting days catching up on sleep and wondering what to do next. I'd reached one North Star, and luckily the next was obvious: I'm leaving the marina on June 11th for a week to paint the topside and install windows, and the boat feels inadequate for a river trip; my standards are rising:
- Ignition. I'd love to start the engine without hot-wiring the starter terminals with a screwdriver. I did order a replacement Lucas switch, but... then I had a better idea.
- Permanent electrics. In a similar vein, there's absolutely nothing safe about my temporary battery & inverter setup (I kinda melted one of the battery terminals already oops, extra ones en route), and I want to install them properly with isolators, a consumer unit with the right circuit breakers (MCBs) and Residual Current Devices (RCDs), fuses and grounding it all properly to the hull.
- Alternator. It needs a service (and hopefully that's all — it doesn't work), and then connecting to the 12V starter.
- Shower! It'll still be cold water, but I need a curtain and to finish sealing the bathroom corners.
Speaking of ignition, the instrument panel... Old Katona was simple: ignition key, engine temp, battery voltage and the bilge switch. New Katona... it's complicated. I also want oil pressure (standard), a tachometer, fuel gauge, and while I'm at it... a GPS speedometer. For a hot minute I was tempted by a depth sounder, but at that point I may as well get a yacht. On the Avon you can often see the bottom...
On the other face of the instrument box I'll put the water tank gauge, leisure battery level and an array of switches. I naively looked for some pre-built ones, but it didn't take much sleuthing to realise that of course I'm going to make the whole thing custom.
For the dials I looked for something absurd from McLaren (because orange), but theirs go far beyond 2,000 RPM, or 4 knots. And who would get custom faces.........? But I chose a selection from Wema, including a fuel tank sender, and instead of a typical 4- or 5-position diesel ignition I thought let's do a push-to-start button. I did consider the classic red safety toggle switch for missile launches, but a nice button press will be just right. And custom-made backlit ones, the perfect amount of LEDs, aesthetically-clean dials, laser-engraving... I'm going full goblin mode.
This week was mostly research and electronics shopping, and how I'll wire this all to make it work is crystallising nicely. I ordered 2 DC-DC converters, one for charging the 48V leisure battery when the alternator is running, and another for trickle charging the starter battery from leisure to keep it juiced up. I also joined the Cerbo GX cult and ordered one for connecting everything (and remote bilge pump status!). Full Victronite.
The only thing missing is solar panels, and I ordered four 160W panels with a charge controller, but last week my cousin Agata pressure washed the roof and noticed it flaking. Flaking! That fancy 2-pack I screwed around with, coming off after a year. The primer underneath looks fine, but somewhere I fucked up: maybe humidity, maybe rain, maybe cleaning. Either way I need to remove the flaky bits, sand it back and re-coat before I can attach those panels. That also ties into straightening out the hatch rail, and this is a post-dry dock job. I'll take a generator for power this time, but I'm looking forward to going completely off-grid; there's something delightfully satisfying about removing dependencies.
As for boat work this week, I had the perfect activity on Monday: drawer assembly. My IKEA RAST arrived, and it's the ideal size for my bedroom. I painted the drawer fronts to match the skirting boards, then Osmo-oiled the top and sides:
I also continued with some gunwale boards on the starboard side, almost ready for battery mounting underneath:
And then a bit of light re-wiring... previously I used 3-core 1.5mm² wire and had to double it up, because duh you need extra signal wires for 2 way switching! So I replaced it with 5-core 1mm² wire:
In other news, yesterday I went kitchen viewing at DIY Kitchens to resolve a few design questions, and this morning went to Crick Boat Show. It was glorious, and I met some lovely electricians, boat owners and one guy who gave me a tour of the narrowboat he'd custom-built for a client: solid oak and his handiwork has beautiful. And he was a professional — it still took him 8 months full time, so I felt a little vindicated.
I also talked with one guy from an electrical store, who was selling their latest 24V remote LED dimmers. They worked great although maxed out at 100W, and he seemed astonished that you'd need more power. But the LEDs were harsh and you could feel the blue light — he hadn't heard of Colour Rendering Index...
Next up, getting this mini electrical grid underway when everything arrives, which ties nicely into the next milestone: the Boat Safety Scheme (BSS). My certificate expires in July, and they would absolutely fail me right now.
Until next Sunday!
- Nick