Captain’s log
Dateline: 22.08.2022

You need us, you give us a call!

A TowBoatUS RIB came by my boat today. I was hoping it was that captain Ryan who refused to tow me with trees and boats in the way when I needed their help, so now I really wanted to see the look on his face and hear what he has to say about me being neatly docked past that point.

It was some other guy. He waved. Here’s our conversation:

  • Him: That’s a badass boat!
  • Me: Thanks!
  • Him: Yours?
  • Me: Yep.
  • Him: That’s awesome.
  • Him: You need us, you give us a call!

I nodded and chuckled a little when he said that, but wasn’t laughing at him, and he’s got no idea what the other captain told me and how useless TowBoatUS has been for me overall.

And, yes, it is a badass boat.

Fat cat

Inspired by shallow areas that I witnessed yesterday, I’ll try my best to make the boat lighter.

The current weight loss program consists of getting rid of extra fresh water outside of my main tank, no solar showers, nothing that adds lots of weight and isn’t part of the long-term plan for the boat. Will try to fix and sell the 60 lbs gasoline outboard that I have sitting in my cockpit before I depart, and then things like old microwave, gas oven and stovetop — also need to go, either CraigsList or trash.

Every inch of draft counts, it can make a difference between getting stuck somewhere and not. I can always get more fresh water when I dock somewhere in Charleston or Tampa.

And those extra 20 gallons of diesel aren’t helping either. But have to have it, my fuel tank is only 30 gallons.

Feeling powerless

Down to 10 volts. It should be at least 12 for things to properly work around here.

The fresh water pump sounds very sad right now, VHF doesn’t even work at all. But who needs fresh water or comms when your laptop can still be charged!

Titanium! Part Deux

Spoke with Troy from Bob & Annie’s Boatyard today. He said that original stainless steel that you can find on 1970s boats rarely gets any corrosion, while almost all 304 or even 316 stainless steel you can buy today gets rusty almost right away. Most likely it’s chinesium/thaitanium but stamped as 316, made not up to the spec. Sad.

Found a very sweet little article regarding use of titanium in sailboats, or rather, lack of thereof.

I’ve pretty much set my mind on switching to titanium when it comes to not just standing rigging, but also things like bolts on battcars, eye straps, locks, cleats, lifelines, and all thru-hull fittings. Basically, the rule of thumb is if it can’t be carbon fiber or aluminum, then it will be titanium.

So far here’s the list of companies I’ve found to source titanium parts from:

  • Allied Titanium — the titanium juggernaut, almost everything is Grade 5, but seems like their products are manufactured in China. Could still be good, not trying to say anything, but there’s an option for making custom orders, US- or EU-made for extra money.
  • Gemlux — another company that produces things like thru-hull fittings, hinges, cleats, etc. No idea what grade of titanium they use, but emailed them, hope they tell. Update: they promptly replied next morning; Grade 2, made in Thailand.
  • Titan Marine Hardware — these guys have titanium hose clamps (not constant tension though), thru-hulls, and many other goodies. Don’t seem to be as shiny, but that’s probably just sandblast finish. It’s fine, being too flashy can spoil trouble.
  • Titanium Precision Parts — not a wide selection, they only have like ten marine-specific products, but the whole catalog isn’t miniscule.
  • Spectore — very evil name, something from James Bond movies. No idea why their fasteners are Grade 2 but everything else seems to be Grade 5. They even sell something called Black Titanium — told you they were creepy.

Various RC hobby stores, drone shops, dirtbike and bicycle stores, Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba often sell interesting parts like drilled bolts and nuts. Unlikely better or cheaper than what I can get from companies listed above, and those cutouts will only make it harder to clean the hardware.

Captain’s log
Dateline: 23.08.2022

Finally using my solar panels

Haven’t mounted Victron BlueSolar MPPT controllers yet, but couldn’t use fresh water pump anymore so had to connect things together quick and dirty just to see how well everything works. And also really want to take a shower and have my fridge working again — drinking warm bottled water in Florida summer isn’t exactly refreshing.

The voltage level showed below 9V last night, wasn’t enough to even properly power my LED lighting, surprised they turned on at all.

4 AWG cables I bought for my PV setup turned out to be a bit too thick for those controllers’ openings, had to remove a couple of strands. Black (negative) cables seem to have way more smaller strands than red (positive). Only had to remove a couple from the red cable, while the black one had to lose like 15–20% of its thickness, weird.

Terminals are crimped on them. I assumed people who made those cables knew what they were doing. I was wrong. It’s not too hard to remove terminals from those cables if you pull real hard, and the spot where they stripped the cable has some of the copper strands damaged, so that’s 3.9 AWG right there. If one of those strands falls off and into my charge controller, then I’ll likely need to buy a new controller. Will DIY cables from this point forward, can’t trust anyone. And no crimping on my boat, only solder.

The voltage has gone up to 11 volts within about thirty minutes, that’s a good sign. I have half of my 0.68KW photovoltaic system hooked up right now, only one out of two MPPT controllers used. My multimeter shows something like 63V from those two panels, pretty good. I’m also only hooked up right now to one battery, and I really should charge across the battery bank. Lyall from Sun Powered Yacht said that, "You are better to charge across the battery bank like you say so eg pos bat 1 and neg bat 3. It’s no way near as efficient to put them both on battery 1 and it ’waterfalls’ down through the bank". I’ll get there, just first need to properly mount these babies and craft cables of correct gauge and with nice soldered terminals.

Captain’s log
Dateline: 25.08.2022

Relay from West Germany

Ken and Julie stopped by their resort today, Ken had a bit of time to help me sort out wiring for my diesel engine, really cool guy who loves machines. Using the panel at the helm to start the boat’s engine instead of reaching into the engine compartment is much more preferable. Safer, faster, less embarrassing.

The wiring is a mess, all covered in oil and whatever else. The most interesting part was a Volvo 841177 relay that has “W-Germany” written on it. That means it’s more than 32 years old, older than me. Tektron/TEK-composites likely bought a box of them in the 80s or the early 90s and ended up sticking them into their boats and planes that they produced in the late 90s and the early 00s. It obviously refuses to work today, produced no clicking sound when we wanted it to. When I tried wipind its contacts, the transparent rubbery insulation on the bottom just started crumbling like a freshly baked cookie.

841177 relay made in West Germany

Ordered a replacement from Bob & Annie’s boatyard, it should be here Monday.

The relay socket might need to get replaced as well, but first I need to get the relay to work, I rather not have to solder four old copper wires.