We’ve stopped sailing now and the boat is battened down for the winter with the sails folded and put away.
That said, we’re really looking forward to the 2023 season and it’s also going to be a big one of us. There’s a lot more of the med to explore, but the big thing going on in the background will be getting Nautilus ready for crossing the Atlantic at the end of the year. As such, we have a very long list of jobs to get completed.
This is going to be a big project. Nautilus came with a great compact unit. It’s a Ecosystems Splash 30L system. Nothing wrong with it as it small, quiet and efficent. But for us the issue is that it only put out 30 litres an hour. As full time live-aboard we need something larger.
So, i’ve decided to sell this unit and build my own water maker!!! How Hard Can It Be?!?
Lots to to plan as it involves quite a bit of plumbing, high pressure hoses and a good bit of wiring too. I’m really looking forward to getting started on this and i’m hoping i’ll find somebody to buy our old water maker too.
Watch this space for details of what i’m planning.
A bigger water maker means more power consumption. We found last year that the solar couldn’t quite keep up. I’ve worked out that I can fit another couple of panels onto the coach roof. Adding in 2 x 200W will get us up to a theoretical max yield of 1.6Kw (but in practice, with semi-rigid, i’m hoping for around 1Kw when the sun gods are shining on us). This also involved adding in a new charge controller, which has a knock-on effect of needing to change some of the wiring layout too. I’ve done all the designs for it and will make a start when we get the new panels from Malta. In the meantime, here is the latest schematic i’ve created for Nauts.
We have a electronic switch panel for Nautilus, which sounds like a great idea in principle. However, it does my head in!
There are two problems:
1) it consumes a lot of power as you need a computer on all the time to be able to control things
and
2) it’s not 100% reliable and will occasionally turn systems on or off without me telling it to do so.
On that basis, we have decided to remove it and put in a more traditional switch panel. I’m busy ordering the bits and this will be one of the first projects for when I get back
I want a new sail on Nautilus and am busy researching options.
The ideal is to have something called a code zero or code 65 which will allow us to sail better in light winds when the the wind is blowing on the side of the boat.
Lots to think about here as it’s a pretty big investment and we’re looking at various options.
One of the things that has really disappointed me is that amount of electricity the engines create when running. We don’t the cost, weight and complexity of having a generator on a 40ft catamaran, so when the engines are running we want them charging the batteries as quickly as possible. I’ve found some clever electronics that could help us and i’m planning an upgrade that should double our production.
It got hot this summer (and I mean really hot). So much so the deck was too hot to stand on and the external computer screens too hot to touch. We need to install some sort of cover over the helm positions to create a bit more shade
As the list gets longer, the amount of work is starting to put me off, so I think it’ll stop the it there.
It’s easily enough to keep me out of trouble for the next few months and there will be a whole heap of smaller jobs to go with them.
Ideally I want it all done by June / July time so that we’re letting things shake down before our crossing to try and avoid any unwanted suprises.
