De-Nial is a river in Egypt.....

All boats, at some stage, will have water inside the hull either from leaks or condensation.  Obviously, the first thing you  is minimize these leaks or reduce the cause of the condensation.  The second thing you do is prevent this water from pooling and soaking woodwork, upholstery etc.

The forward Engine Room bulkhead on TIH has always had some water damage / wet rot.  I was happily ignoring it as I assumed that the whole bulkhead was compromised and it would be a major job.  I finally bit the bullet and happily found that only the bottom edge was affected. 

Some penetrating epoxy and fill the void with epoxied marine ply and it should be good to go.

Forward Battery bank.........

I have been undecided on the need for a forward battery bank for some time.  I will have a windlass (Lofrans Tigres) and possibly a 4HP Vetus bow-thruster installed.  I finally decided to bite the bullet and install two group 24 batteries (79AH each, installed in parallel)  in the port locker in the vee-berth.  I have connected the two banks (house and forward) with 1/0 cable via the Mastervolt DC Distribution 500. This cable is fused at both ends and has a switch at the forward battery end.  Most of the time this switch will be off.  The forward bank will be maintained by a Xantrex Echo Charger.  This will ensure that the forward bank is charged anytime a charging source is charging the House Bank.


My logic is as follows.

1.  The windlass needs a battery bank of a minimum of 100 AH - check.  Its max draw is 125 Amps.

2.  Under normal windlass operations I will switch the connecting switch ON.   This will allow the alternator/house bank to pass this amperage to the windlass should it be needed.  The 1/0 wire is far in excess of the minimum required for a 30 ft (round trip) of 125 Amps.  This setup will permit almost continuous use of the windlass.

http://circuitwizard.bluesea.com/

The bow-thruster is another ball of chalk;

1.  Interestingly it only needs a min battery bank of 108 AH.  It draws 350 Amps for a max of 4 mins.  In reality you use it far less that this or you are doing something wrong.  I would have to connect both banks using 3/0 wire to facilitate recharging from the house bank.  This was a non starter.

2.  Under normal bow-thruster operations I will have the connecting switch to OFF.  The bow-thruster will ONLY operate off the forward bank.  This is acceptable in my book.  Any current used will be recharged from the Echo Charge once a charging source (e.g. Alternator/solar/wind) is available.

All opinions welcome, speak now or forever hold your peace.

V-Berth Workshop

OK all you girlie men with your soft mattress, throw cushions and rugs up in that V-Berth that you have normally covered with fenders, Jerry jugs and folding bicycles.  This is what a real mans V-Berth looks like.

 

Mind you, I'm getting lots of push back from the management.  I'm not sure if I can keep it that way once we start using the boat.