Captain’s log
Dateline: 20.07.2022

Not the same deal

When I moved my boat here almost four months ago, I had privacy and could enjoy peace and quiet most of the time, relax and work on my boat. I also rented the dock, not part of the dock. For almost two weeks now I’ve been having a neighbor who lives on his 30’ fishing boat docked in front of mine, which is pretty much feels like having a roommate. I’m still paying the same $44/day ($1/foot/day) as back when the whole dock was mine. You could even say I rented the whole lot including this dock, because there is still nothing on it besides a couple of cameras.

The first mistake I’ve made, is that it’s not a marina, and I offered price per foot to the original owner. This must’ve given the wrong impression that I rented only part of the dock, not the whole dock, and that it’s okay to stuff in as many boats as it fits here to just run a tiny marina and make boaters pay the mortgage. Smooth move, but at this point I honestly feel like I’m being taken advantage of, and it’s not fair at all, since here’s what’s new:

1. Lack of privacy
2. A ton of stuff (chairs, lamps, buckets with trash, grills, etc) located on the dock
3. Constantly-running pump from that boat’s A/C
4. Automatic bright light that shines in your face and blinds you when you enter the dock
5. Smell of weed, sometimes vape
6. Loud music, mostly Eminem but sometimes some kind of autotune hip-hop
7. Gasoline engine that gets run weekly in front of my boat
8. Smell of grilled food
9. A ton of cockroaches that constantly get into my boat, likely get attracted by food and trash located on that fishing boat
10. The guy likes to fish, which is fine, but dead bait floating in the water and him hitting my boat with his fishing rod is a really big WTF
11. Having a car parked in the way is also a bit selfish, it really doesn’t need to be in other people’s way

The bottom line is, it is my fault that I’ve overstayed in St. James City. I have my motors now, so nothing quite as large and heavy is going to be shipped to me. I’m still waiting for my nke electronics and autopilot, but that can be delivered anywhere for approximately the same price, and transported to my catamaran on a tender. I’m not mad at the new guy either, he’s just living his life, and I’m happy for him. There’s too much to even try to comment, and he’s not being deliberately disrespectful.

I bought my boat to not be affected by other people’s lifestyles. It also hurts to see people who you were kind to just assume you have low standards and try to put you in the corner while charging the same amount without asking if they could add more boats to the dock. It’s my fault, again, since I gave them the idea to be able to rent this dock out for boats, I just, once again, didn’t expect to still be here by now.

I need to make my solar setup work ASAP, fix nav lights, and get a dinghy. $308/week for this dock is over $1200/month, and for under $2000 I can get electric outboard motor, for $1300 I should be able to get a cheap RIB, about $150 to tow me to the nearest spot where I could anchor (unless I’m able to move properly on one prop myself). No more cockroaches, loud music, or paying somebody for parking. Later this year when I get myself a proper unsinkable dinghy, this one I should be able to sell for about $2000 with the motor, $800 without. I really need something almost throwaway, just to stop paying rent for the dock that was once great.

I could say something like "it’s me or this guy", "not the same deal as before, we need to re-negotiate the deal", or even fall to that cheeky level and play into the greediness proposing something like "since it’s by the foot and not the whole dock, I’m gonna move my boat to only occupy less than half of its length, pay you for how many feet that is, and that’ll let you put 3rd boat here". The truth is, the music is gonna be here, the cockroaches, weed, constantly running water from the pump — it’s all not going to go away. But I think I should just vote with my money, by simply getting the dinghy and departing ASAP. Every crisis is an opportunity, and I really shouldn’t be paying anybody for being anywhere — that was the whole idea behind my salt life. It’s time to go, and I’m thankful for the unpleasant situation I’m currently in for it’s a good kick in the butt to get back on the path of chasing my dreams.

Hard lessons learned: - when renting dock from the owner, don’t ever rent it based on the length of your boat, rent the whole thing and clearly state your intention to do so - keep your yap shut about marinas being full, how expensive they are, and how there’s a demand for private docks

Captain’s log
Dateline: 22.07.2022

Erik Lerouge

Reached out to Erik Lerouge hoping he could know a thing or two about my boat, since he’s the guy who designed Manta for TEK-composites, the boatyard that manufactured my boat. Turns out he didn’t. They just took one of his designs, "Jeffcat", which he made for French boatyards. Quick internet search reveals that Jeffcat looks a lot like Manta... or more precisely, Manta is a rip-off of Jeffcat. If I understood everything correctly, TEK-composites took Erik’s design and manufactured those cats without involving him at all, never reimbursed or credited him, and then sold Manta molds to US investors. Just wow.

This explains why John Shuttleworth said he wasn’t inovlved in designing my boat. They took two of his designs and combined them into the one and only TEK-45, without involving him at all. At least John worked with them on TEK-35 and Tektron 50 boats prior... interesting approach, but I’m not the one to judge — I absolutely love this catamaran. I guess this makes my cat Shuttleworthy.

Solar panels

Done mounting four 170W 24V Sunpower flexible solar panels onto my bimini. Used these zip ties. They claim to be UV-resistant. Let’s see how long they last. Initially I used much smaller zip ties; those got broken by strong winds during one of the mini-storms two months ago — almost lost one of my $500 panels!

It was either too hard to make the aluminum skeleton of the bimini symmetrical, or my boat’s cockpit is asymmetrical... in any way, when I will have built a new carbon/epoxy hard top, it’ll be as OCD as they come. That roof should also help me lower the boom back to where it originally was before the current roof was installed. I’m gonna miss those round beams that I use for doing pull-ups, but it’s a small trade-off.

Things learned: - Flexible solar panels easily get dents from tiny things that fall off trees and get dropped by stupid birds - A lot of nasty stuff gets underneath flexible panels — they should ideally be glued onto the surface - Flexible solar panels can get permanently bent by skeleton of the bimini - Despite additional weight, it’s always worth going with rigid solar panels

I now have to figure out how to connect those panels to two Victron BlueSolar MPPT 100/30 charge controllers that I got from Sun Powered Yachts about three months ago. I’m planning to detach from the dock within two weeks, so need to be able to recharge my batteries while at anchor.

My plans related to battery setup have slightly changed, now it’s quite possible that I’ll switch my main battery bank from 12V to 48V. That would let me use more powerful inverter for my computers, kitchen equipment, washing machine, 3D printer, welder, etc. 12V would then come out of that inverter or some DC-DC converter. If and when I switch to 48V, these 100/30 charging controllers won’t be of much use anymore — but that’s okay, they were just $200 each and I should be able to sell them in no time. Two battery banks for my electric motors will have to be 48V each, no matter what. The final setup will most likely be done in a way where I’ll be able to switch zones of my PV setup to either charge/power my motors, direct everything towards my main battery bank, or charge and power everything at the same time. Ideally there should be a box full of MOSFETs and blinking lights that would let me reroute those things using some kind of fancy UI on a colorful touch panel, and not just some creepy mechanical tumbler. Maybe I’ll keep it at 12V, and do high-voltage output out of the same batteries that power my motors... we’ll see.

Alright, so my current plan is to wire those 4 panels in series of two — that would make it about 60V per array (340W each, 0.68KW in total). Then I’ll drop wires from those Victron charge controllers to my battery bank. Their manual recommends using 6 AWG for connecting controller to battery. I have 10 AWG wires that go from PV array to controllers, but I need them, and they’re way too thin to have enough ampacity, only good for up to 15 Amps. I might go with something like 4 AWG or thicker if 48V chargers require that — so that I won’t need to mess with wires again when it’s time for me to fiddle with 48V battery banks. Either way, now have to find good wires with lots of thin strands to complete my photovoltaic battery charging setup.

The kit came with 30A surge protectors, they have to be included in the circuit. There’s also Cerbo GX with LCD touchscreen, and a battery temperature sensor – no BMS, but who needs one for cheap AWG batteries, right? Right?

I’ll connect Cerbo GX later, no need to go crazy until the basic setup is working. No idea if I need to ground these charge controllers or not, will figure that out in the process.