Sorry for the lack of updates. I really need to make sure I get into the habit of posting what we’re up to on Nautilus.
There has been a real change in the weather in Malta over the last 4 weeks. It’s now much cooler, wetter and windier, which has really limited the amount of time we can get out sailing. Instead, I’m now working through the long todo list I have. As most boat owners know, there is a never-ending list of maintenance tasks as well as a long list of upgrades. Here are some of the things I’ve been doing.
A new main halyard
For those who don’t know, the halyard is the name of the rope that pulls the sail up.
Annoyingly, ours had a problem where it section of it got worn and it meant the whole thing needed replacing. Not the end of the world as I wanted to put in a new one anyway so that we can change where we winch the sail up from (but more on that in another post).
However, on Nautilus, the halyard is tied to the top of the mast, so it meant a 20 meters trip up to the top to untie the old and attach the new.
I got winched up in the “Bowsons Chair” and aside from trying to keep my nerve, it was pretty straightforward to run in the new halyard.
I’m looking forward to getting out for our next sail to test it.
Electrical Upgrades (part 1)
The upgrade to Nautilus’s electronics is a big part of what I’m wanting to do and I’ve now completed part 1. I’ve connected up a Cerbo GX device with a touch screen display that now is the brains of our power management system and will let me move to the next phase of upgrading the solar and the batteries. I got a bit of custom plastic cut and made a new mounting in the saloon for the computers.
I'm really pleased with how this turned out and I'm now able to track all our power, water and fuel consumption from here.
Next on the list is upgrading the solar panels. It's pretty clear from the usage data that we're not producing enough electricity to keep up with our daily usage. To be fair to the solar panels, it is December, so there is limited daylight, but I still want to ensure we have excess capacity as we will encounter cloudy weeks when we're out sailing.
After a lot of shopping around, I've been able to source some additional solar panels to go on the coachroof. I'm waiting for them to show up and will will do a post when I come to install them, but as a preview, here is what it's going to look like.
Current Solar – 660 watts
New Solar – 1,240 watts
.....and then the never-ending list of maintenance tasks
Ok, I shouldn’t complain, I love doing this stuff myself and for me, it’s an integral part of owning a boat. There is everything from day-to-day cleaning and polishing to the big repairs that need to be made.
Top of the list at the moment is repairing one of the cleats (where you tie the ropes up to). It’s taken a bit of a pounding and started to crack. This is fairly common of fiberglass boats if there isn’t a lot of reinforcing place.
So the fix?? Put in a bucket load of additional reinforcing to spread the load and it’ll be better than new.
I also fitted a new washing machine. There was quite a bit of carpentry involved in this as I needed to cut-out the bottom of the cupboard and turn it into a draw with heavy duty runners on it so that the washing machine could slide out and we could load in the laundry. There where definitely a few “what am I doing” moments as I was cutting holes in the boat.
And with a boat, there are always going to be leaks that you need to keep on top of. I’ve found a few and been working through them to clean up the surfaces and reseal them. At the same time, it’s often a great opportunity to tidy things up too.
We have found a bit of time to get out sailing too
We met up with friends who also have the same brand of Nautitech catamaran as us (although theirs are bigger). We had a lovely afternoon out taking some photos.
The marina staff have started referring to us as “The Cat People” due to the hull rather than our pet preferences, which to clarify is definitely dogs…
So we are keeping busy and settling into boat life. I’m still trying to wear shorts and teeshirt as much a possible, but it’s certainly a little chiller in Malta now. I’ll keep you posted on boat projects and what we’re up to through December.
4 responses
Crikey- you look about as petrified as I feel for you up at the top of the mast! Well done!
hi caspar and tatum, I also did run an new halyard through our open40 mast. made it one mm thinner, so it does run more smoothly. Built a ‘bag’ next to the ewinch to avoid coiling the halyard – works like a charm now.
But some thing else: my wife really really dislikes the solarpanels on the back frame. And i do not like to have weight aft, since it does block the boat from planing. So: a couple of questions for you (if you no not mind): what kind of model and brand of panel did you choose ? where/how did run the cabling ? I guess it runs back to a victron mppt ? (last year i converted my five gel batt’s to victron).
We bought our 2015 open one year after the French family took an atlantic tour with it. see http://www.seaview.bzh for their blog. a bit old, but it is still in the air. We are now sailing in northern europe, and re-christened the boat to ‘Onyva’ Best regards Niek & Marjon Visscher
Morning Niek, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about what we want to get out of our Solar and i’m the process of putting together all the bits for the upgrade (I’ll be doing a blog post on it soon). However, to answer you questions….
The panel we have on the roof are Sunpower, but they’ve stopped making them now. It’s all quite complicated, but a new company called “Sol Go” has taken over. I’ve put together a new design that takes us from 660w of solar on the roof to 1.24Kw. This will be a mix of 110W Sunpower panels and 180W panels from Offgridtec. I’m hoping that is going to meet our current and future power needs. Like you, i’d also been considering putting a coach-roof extension on so I can add more fixed solar as they are much more efficient. However, the 40 is so sensitive to weight on the stern, i’ve stopped that for now.
For cabling, unfortunately you can’t take down the ceiling panels in the cockpit. However, there is a channel that runs around the outside. The cables run through an after-market gland in the roof into this channel, they run back to upright where the speakers are and then drop down. To get the wiring from the starboard to the port hull, you can remove that long bit ceiling trim behind the sliding doors in the saloon. again, i’ll be doing a blog post when I put in the next upgrades for ours.
re: mppts, then we have 2 x 100/30 Victrons, and i’ll need to add in a 3rd for the upgrade as i’m hoping we’ll be up to about 80A at max yield.
Hope that helps – please give me a shout if you need any more info.
Casp.
This was very interesting to read. That photo of you on top blew my mind. I am researching different people who sail because we are no starting to work with other sailing companies. so trying to get educated on the lingo as soon as possible. Thank you. I will check back in the future for sure! Happy Sailing.