Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Feels like I'm back in Seattle....

Nothing but rain on my days off here in the coastal bend of Texas.
Found that every portlight leaks, every hatch leaks, and water is coming in via the cockpit floor at the base of the
steering binnacle. Very wet footing on boad makes it hazardous to my health while working aboard.
This week finds me putting in the victron multi plus inverter charger. A wonderful piece of equipment  that is used to convert d/c power from the batteries to a/c for microwaves, blender,tools, blow driers (Julie has to have that..) and various other a/c powered things on board. In addition it also charges the batteries while a/c power is available either through shore power, or a generator. It can also do some really cool things like power share between a genset and the batteries, meaning that you can get by with a smaller generator for running things like air conditioning or heavy a/c loads.
Installing it requires some pretty heavy duty cables, plus alternating current which can be deadly. So, I have to be very sure of what I am doing. I take my time, plan well, buy the best parts, and test. Once the inverter is in I can start wiring the rest of the a/c system, and start charging the batteries, which need a good charge. They are new but batteries discharge while just sitting, and these have been sitting for a while.
Its all good fun, and exciting, except when the boat is all wet inside... then its time to sit it out till its dry again.
One day at a time.