Project Log: Friday,
December 28, 2012
Researching various products to use in the boat, and
ordering same, always seems like wasted time somehow,
not really moving the project forward, but of course
that isn't really true and is an important part of the
overall process.
This was one of those days, and I spent most of the
allotted time looking into a few different things,
starting with the LED rope lighting I wanted for the
indirect lighting beneath the sidedecks on each side.
Before long, I found what I needed and ordered the
products required to complete the lighting in these
areas, including a switch and dimmer. |
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I also focused on the upcoming battery project,
including such trivialities as battery switch, overall
battery configuration, and possible inverter or
inverter/charger. Starting with the known factors
(separate starting battery bank, and a single house bank
consisting of four 6V batteries), I looked into various
options for charging scenarios. After spending a
fair amount of time on this question, I tentatively
settled on a simple setup using something like a Balmar
Digital Duo Charge to isolate and charge the starting
battery, along with an inverter or inverter/charger
system from Victron Energy. |
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Having an inverter for occasional use of AC appliances
on board was virtually a given, but whether or not to
incorporate a built-in battery charger was the larger
question. Since we had no plans to keep the boat
at a dock, or otherwise have shore power available, the
need for a charger was questionable, other than for
handiness during the off-season to keep the whole boat
powered and batteries charged. That said, this
seemed the time to incorporate whatever we might
possibly want, rather than having to reconfigure
sometime in the future if our needs changed.
I planned on having an AC shore power hookup, despite
what I saw as a very minimal opportunity for its use,
and liked the idea of having the inverter and charger
combined into a single unit. I still had to
contemplate the cost/benefit and physical size and
installation possibilities of these units before I could
make final decisions but at least I'd narrowed down the
possibilities to a single quality brand.
In real work, later, on the boat, I removed all the new
cushions for safekeeping during the remainder of the
project. Then, I measured the rough openings of
all the locker doors so I could mill the material
required and start building the doors in the near
future.
Finally, I masked off areas of the forward cabin as
required around the chainlocker bulkhead and cabin
trunk, then applied the first of several additional
coats of varnish to the paneling and trim. |
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Total Time Today: 5.5 hours
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