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.

Captain’s log
Dateline: 23.07.2022

Dinghy

I urgenty need a dinghy for my cat. There are many options for RIBs: Zodiac, West Marine, Mercury, Inmar, Neport Vessels, and many-many more. Truth being told, it’s going to be a temporary tender until I get unsinkable carbon ZeroJet OC300, OCTenders OC300, or Aeolos AP10. Those are all custom made to order and take forever to arrive. Ergo have to buy something I don’t really want to have, but rather have to have. Going to go with Zodiac just because I want to have a known brand in order to sell her faster later this year.

$1300 is the rough price for the smallest aluminum bottom zody. I hate soft bottoms. A bit later I’ll get a tiny electric outboard, but for now oars should do just fine — good workout!

Mast bees

It appears I have a bunch of wasp hives at the top of my mast. Sometimes wasps wander into my boat. The smart ones realize their mistake and promptly find their way out, the not so smart end up getting zapped and then go feed the fishes. Would explain the enthusiasm local woodpeckers have for pecking my mast.

I’m glad the wasps are living in there, I want them to have fun flying out to check the breeze and not being able to find their favorite tree when I sail to Tampa. Imagine the surprise when your favorite tree ends up sailing away from you. Hope that never happens to me — I don’t know how to fly. But that’s what harnesses are for.

More bees

Found a little hive underneath one of storage hatches in the bow area. At least they didn’t get inside the compartment itself — those hatch seals seem to be doing their job! One guy escaped right away while mom and dad stuck around to raise next generation of brats. Zapper, Dyson cordless vac — poof, whole family’s gone! Lone survivor.

Lone survivor

Could be another bee, or the one that have gotten away, but found it trying to master the art of sailing exploring rope clutch on my mast. Zap’n’vac! The zapper I have is only 3000V, and the larger the beast, the sooner it comes back to life. Hope they won’t hive inside of my vacuum cleaner’s chamber. I yet have to figure out how to kill them when they’re inside — just making them spin roughens them up a little, but doesn’t exactly kill. Flying insects are overall really tough dudes. Not to be fucked with, but can’t let them live rent-free on my boat, sorry nature.

It’s absolutely paramount for everything to be sealed. If an insect can get in, it will.

iPhone

On my way back from The Waterfront restaurant found an iPhone with cracked back panel laying in the grass next to the road. Picked it up, the front seemed to be fine. Good. Brought it home, put tape on cameras and fingerprint sensor, charged it up, it showed up home screen with a ton of missed calls. I called "Dad", a guy picked up the phone, I said I found this phone laying on the road and would like to return it. Will give it back to the family tomorrow. It’s their daughter’s, they must’ve lost it a day or two ago on the way from their houseboat. Maybe I’ll be able to rent their dock in case my current plan to anchor not far from here falls through.

The phone is not locked with any sort of passcode or fingerprint/face ID. I’ve way too much pride to go through their texts, photos, and browsing history, but somebody else would. And that somebody could be a real evil pedo, finding an iPhone of a 13 year old girl is many men’s wet dream. No joke.

Crashboxes

The storage compartment on the starboard side has inspection port missing, and I don’t like that a single bit. There’s basically a round 12cm hole that leads from that storage compartment into the crashbox. Thankfully the crashbox has no water inside, but it has to be closed ASAP. I’ll find something light yet waterproof and install them on both port and starboard sides.

The wall itself is honeycomb, about 35mm thick with all the paint and stuff. I’ll find something nice to make it a real inspection port. Will use silica bags to absorb all the moisture inside of those crashboxes. Hope to never ever need to touch those inspection ports again after that.

For the time being I’ve put white polyethylene barrier tape over that hole to make sure nothing crawls in and dies in there.

As for good news, the bow crossbeam seems to be made either out of carbon or aramid-carbon fiber — something black with traces of greenish yellow. What a nice surprise!

The chain

Pulled out my main anchor's chain. Appears to be 42' long, rusted through and through. Need to replace that treasure before I decide to drop the anchor somewhere. The rest of that rode seems to be dyneema or some other synthetic rope. It's old but doesn't appear to be damaged, no need to replace that one yet.

Chain links appear to be 5cm long, 3cm wide, and 1cm in diameter. I hope it's possible to get stainless chain today, this one isn't looking good at all, but then again there's no anchor washdown pump in place, so that might've contributed to its poor condition.

I do have a small bruce style anchor, but no idea how well that will hold me in place, especially during the hurricane season. Also, pulling those things out by hand is no fun.

Wiring the mast up

My mast is pretty boring right now — nothing lights up, only the bees seem to be enjoying it.

By just looking at it, it seems to have the following electronics on it:

  • spreader lights
  • wind vane
  • running lights
  • antenna

Here’re the wires that go from it into my cabin along with the compression post, and then into the engine compartment:

  • 1 green
  • 1 yellow
  • 1 white(red stripe)
  • 1 white(black stripe)
  • 1 black coaxial
  • 1 black multi-prong

Tho coaxial is obviously for the antenna, the black multi-wire is definitely the Raytheon wind instrument (back in the 90s they didn’t have wireless wind vanes yet), and green/yellow and that other pair of white wires with stripes on them seem to be both for lights. One is for navigation lights, other is for two lamps on my lower spreader. Good that I can figure out which one is which by just plugging them in, even polarity doesn’t matter — no way they’re LED. Interesting how all those wires go into the engine compartment, and then end up in my starboard hull where the instruments and switches are, even though they run behind the compression post inside the cabin prior to that. Adventurous little wires. Now I’m gonna do my best tracing them to my circuit breaker panel.

The white(red stripe)/white(black stripe) pair seems to be for foredeck (spreader) lights. The green/yellow pair seems to be for running lights (navigation). Both of those pairs get the voltage just fine, the bulbs must be dead (lightning strike?).

Found switch for engine room lights - those were wrongly labeled as "ANCHOR WASHDOWN". There’s no washdown pump, hence must’ve been something else. Both navigation lights’ and engine room lights’ wires have yellow color and exact same gauge, both go from the engine room. Gotta love when everything’s intuitive and makes sense.

Here’s what I now know about wires coming out of the engine room:

  • yellow — (12V+) engine room lights, hooked up to "ANCHOR WASHDOWN", operational
  • green(white stripe) — (12V+) engine room blowers, goes to "ENGINE ROOM BLOWERS", operational
  • white(black stripe) — (GND) shared between engine room blowers and engine room lights
  • green — (GND) running lights
  • yellow — (12V+) running lights, goes to "RUNNING LIGHTS", non-operational

  • white(red stripe) — (12V+) spreader lights, goes to "FOREDECK LIGHTS", non-operational

  • white(black stripe) - (GND) spreader lights

So, it seems to be that somebody mistakenly wired spreader lights to two separate switches, rather than one to +12V and the other to GND. I’m gonna try to unfuck this terrible mistake. If I’m mistaken — it’s been nice knowing y’all.

Nope, nothing. Dead bulbs? Both bulbs dead? Could be, they’re really high up and hard to get to, and the boat’s over 20 years old, hence quite possible. The resistance is 35KOhm one way, 40MOhm the other... might be LEDs — color me impressed. Will rewire now and give it another try.

Nothing again. Time to put this shit to bed, it’s almost 23:00.

On a side note, the current state of wiring on that panel could be best described as dismal.

More energy

While tracing wires from my mast, found a giant gray battery tucked underneath my main battery array. Seems to be connected. Could be starter battery for the motor or some other kind of lead-acid treasure. Will find out later.

Captain’s log
Dateline: 25.07.2022

Davits

Used acetone to wipe old paint off the davit system. The process mostly felt like wiping dust — the UV has made the white paint disintegrate completely.

That whole contraption is aluminum — no idea what grade though. There's a pretty thick layer of zinc chromate underneath the paint that was used as anti-corrosion barrier, and I have to say it's done its job. I'd like to sand and repaint the whole thing a little bit later, but for now it no longer stains my skin and clothes on contact, and will serve as a good holder for my tender.

Radar pole

There’s a tall aluminum radar pole located on starboard side, it holds GPS antenna and Raytheon radar. Both are not in use and more than two decades old, besides I want to have my new B&G radar to be placed on the mast. Once the Raytheon radar is gone, I plan to use this pole for wind generator. From aluminum I’ll switch to carbon fiber. Then I want to take down the existing air generator pole from the port side and mirror the exact same base and carbon pole for my second wind turbine on that side, too, to make it symmetrical.

That pole has caused me a lot of trouble — mostly due to rain getting caught between the hull and the pole, and dripping into my aft compartment where autopilot and black water tank are. It was a design flaw, so I’ve solved it for now by wrapping that aluminum pole with white polyethylene barrier tape, that should prevent any moisture from accumulating at its base.