Captain’s log
Dateline: 25.12.2022

Inverter and new electrical system

Currently I have no way to continiously power my Starlink RV directly from the boat’s electrical system. That’s mostly due to not having an inverter aboard, and partially because my battery bank is only 12V, Starlink needs 48.

Since I need to get an inverter for my boat anyway, Multi RS Solar seems like a good choice. At only 11 kgs of weight, it will act as: battery charger, inverter, solar charge controller. 3-in-1. I’ll be able to get rid of small 12V Victron MPPT charge controllers that I currently use, which will save space and reduce amount of wiring.

Once 5KW of 230VAC is here, it’ll power: Starlink, washer/dryer, things that can’t be charged from 12VDC, microwave, and many other cool devices. By wiring four lead-acid batteries in series, I’ll be able to provide enough juice for onboard climate control, water heater, and other fun gizmos.

I couldn’t care less about starting my diesel engine, all that will get gutted anyway the moment I replace hydraulics with 10KW IP67 electric motors. Powering those will require LiFePo4 batteries, at least $12K worth of. But the motors are 48VDC so the same battery bank should be able to power both my boat’t electronics and propulsion system. Having one battery bank to do it all is not ideal, but will do for the time being. I’ll likely get two banks later and might even get two Multi RS Solar to completely separate my hulls’ circuits.

Shore power

My current ProMariner shore-to-battery charger is 12V, will have to replace it with something new, but it’s not urgent as long as my solar array and wind turbines pull the weight. There’s Skylla-TG from Victron that could charge a 48V bank, but it’s like 10 kg of weight and requires 230VAC input, I might just get rid of shore input altogether — it only adds weight and creates additional fire and electrolysis hazard below water line.

12V

This change will require a 48-to-12 DC-DC converter to power my lights and other electronics. Victron’s Orion-Tr 48/12-30 looks great. 430W of continious output ought to be enough for anybody.

Solar

I’ll need at least two more 100W Sunpower flexible solar panels. As I add more and more panels, the setup will likely require additional charge controllers, but that’s a good problem to have.

How much it’s gonna cost

Syntax Price
Multi RS Solar $2,335.00
Orion-Tr 48/12-30 $222.70
12V jump box $172.46
2 x 100W SunPower solar panel $310.00
Deep cycle 12V marine battery $89.80
Total $(a lot).00

References

  • Datasheet-Multi-RS-Solar-EN-.pdf
  • Datasheet-Orion-Tr-DC-DC-converters-isolated-100-250-400W-EN.pdf

Captain’s log
Dateline: 02.02.2023

Florida fishing license

I think it's beyond stupid that people need to pay $54 every year to be able to fish in Florida, but here we are.

How to get it:

  1. Go to license.gooutdoorsflorida.com
  2. Click on a barely visible button that says "Create Account"
  3. Fill out the sign up form that looks exactly like the login form
  4. Click on "Yes, create account" button
  5. Fill out the full sign up form, that looks like a real sign up form (*)
  6. Click on "Create Customer"
  7. Purchase saltwater fishing license for 1 year ($47 + tax at the time of writing)

* - The SSN field was a total disaster. Tried to register as an intl customer, but the problem turned out to be in the field getting masked. Use "Inspect HTML" in your browser, and change the "value" attribute of that input to your SSN before submitting the form.

Captain’s log
Dateline: 07.02.2023

Reverse-engineering Lewmar winches

One of the goals I have is to restore the boat to be as close as possible to what she was when she left TEK-Composites’ factory in Stoney Creek (Canada) almost quarter of a century ago.

Some of the winches in the cockpit were moved after the soft-top aluminum bimini was installed here in Florida.

Dismounted two Lewmar 50 winches, inspected one 44 and one 40. Took measurements of stainless steel hardware (bolts, screws, nuts, washers) to know what to order when I’m rich again and can afford titanium.

Lewmar 50 self-tailing (I have 2 of those, cockpit)

  • 4 × M6 socket head cap bolts (50mm long: 25mm smooth, 25mm thread)
  • 6 × 5/6-18 socket cap Philips screws (1" total length, will need much longer to mount to the hull)
  • 6 × 5/6-18 locking nylon nuts

Lewmar 44 self-tailing (I have 3 of those, cockpit)

  • 3 × M5 pan head Philips screws (40mm: all thread)
  • 5 × 1/4-20 socket cap Philips screws (no idea how long, but likely will replace them with 5/6-18)
  • 5 × 1/4-20 nuts
  • 5 × 1/4-20 washers

Lewmar 40 self-tailing (I have 2 of those, mast)

  • 3 × M5 pan head Philips screws (35mm: all thread)

No idea what’s holding my 40s, they’re on my mast, and I’m not going to unscrew that (no idea if they’re mounted to the mast, or through the mast and held by nuts from the inside).

I’ll reach out to Lewmar to find out what kind of mounting screws they used to ship with these winches, and what socket cap screws I should look for, to match the slots perfectly.

On a side note, I might replace all or some of those with something electric, but would love to swap stainless with titanium before I do, to sell something good to somebody else.