Great video, Madi. Loved the positive, negative, positive turn. I haven't got much time to watch other channels but I watch your videos in my lunchbreak in the Tesla. Keep it up.
Yayyyy so good to see kitty! Glad you made it safely, looks like it was one thing after another! I bet you'll be glad to get rid of the old diesel engine asap!
Dude... The controller is in hand, and the motor is on order. I so can not wait to start pulling that engine out! Gonna put some time into cleaning it up and making her pretty, but she'll be someone else's power plant soon enough.
@TheDigitalMermaid more than anything, im so happy to see that you're showing the world that us girls can do anything. Im a mechanic, fabrication engineer and boilermaker by trade, and also do quite a lot of electrical, and learning a lot about lithium and the bms side of things from @offgridgarageAustralia, I now have my home and my in laws completely off grid power. My girlfriend is also really tech savvy but more on the computer side of things, so im teaching her my skills and shes sharing hers with me too 💕
Respect. You've got so many different complex systems built into the boat. That's nice. But when tired and under stress knowing which is which is something else. And not blowing up something else haha. Great mcgiver work. Great video by the way. Can feel the tension. Keep it up.
A big part of why I wanted to fix/repower the boat is to learn my boat as well as I could. When things go sideways, knowing what is what is a huge benefit. This break down was a nice validation, being able to work the problem. :)
My gosh, what a relief! I’ve been waiting for the journey home, and I can only imagine how stressful it must have been! Really good video Madison! Be well, Paul.
putty tat purring like a diesel engine that's a shame the renaming footage is lost, but it sounds to me it was very personal, getting emotional over these goals is pretty much part of what you are about - its nice that things mean so much, i'm no sailor as i have said a few times, but its all part of the bigger adventure you will be having, the changes you are making to have a sustainable boat power wise - i think its pretty cool and have to say, i enjoy sharing your emotion, good to see all the baby steps are getting closer the first part is over, the boat is home, you are home, and the hard work for conversion can move swiftly ahead, mmm perhaps a few hurdles more to jump, but still part of the journey i'm really looking forward to this
I've got the motor on the way and the controller in hand... I can't wait to start building the new power plant! Should be a lot of fun videos, then install!! :D
Awesome watching the very last second of this video, the incredibly satisfying Mmmhf... that said it all. Great job. Nice work slugging through the challenges of Boat Life. "It's worth it"
It's absolutely worth it... The problems and finding solutions is part of the experience. Not always the best part, sure, but sailing wouldn't be the same if nothing went wrong. It's a chance to remind yourself that you can deal with whatever, and that's a pretty good feeling, ya know? :)
HOWdy T-D-M, ... I'm so GLAD you are back SAFELY HOME & that you had, essentially a "TROUBLE-FREE" Trip ... COOP the WiSeNhEiMeR from Richmond, INDIANA ...
Seems like pretty typical passage making drama to me. I mean, there's always something, no matter how hard we try or how careful we think we're being. Your ability to forge ahead and think through problems is delightful and inspirational. Thank you for sharing your journey
Thanks, Denise. I kept reminding myself that this really is a part of sailing. I said that in the video and I hope it didn't come off as sarcastic. This is how it goes; Work the problem and keep on going. :)
That was the most exciting thing I've seen in a long time. My English is not good enough to tell my feelings about it. Maddy, you showed up strength, focus, targeted to solve the problem, you are real, telling no stories. You show despair and confidence without creating barriers. And that awesome pictures when the boat sails, the sea and the sky - really romantic and breathtaking at the same time. Thank you for sharing this. Peter ❤
Great episode!! Its all part of learning the “personality” of your boat. Your trouble shooting will get better and faster. AGM deep ycle batteries should not be used for cranking or windlass operations unless you have a bank of them.
Thanks, Sl0rion! It was something I dreamed about for soooo long. The sunset the first night felt like honest magic. Even solving my first real proper problem felt good, in a weird way. :)
Way to go! I echo the other comments. It may hit you in the feels, and slow you down, but you're really great at breaking down problems, solving them, and forging ahead. And congrats! 💜
More of life's little interruptions effectively put in their place by our very own magical mermaid. You must by now be aware of how much faith we have in you and your resilience so just take it in your stride!!! (that's what usually happens!) Well done !!!! Tom :)
Propulsion whether that’s starter battery or electrical drive power has to be separate from all house loads, you always need to be able to move boat whatever. You must be running your house loads of your starter battery to get in this situation
So since you have a diesel engine, it was not drawing any power from bats while running (no sparkplugs), so all the battery drain was the electrical equipment on the boat. A 100w solar panel with 18v output hooked directly to the 2 starter type bats would probably keep them charged up during day. No need for mppt or even PWM controller with that little power and voltage going into 2 large bats. Even with PV, your nightime running would greatly discharge bats until morning sun. Expect you will have the maximum pv solar panels possible when you go electric. Take a look at Mads "Sail Life" for solar arch with "at anchor" extensions. Plus port and starboard 100w panels on aft qtr railings.
If I had a solar panel on the boat, that would probably of worked. I had to make do with what I had on hand at the time. As for solar post-conversion, ya, I'm aiming for at least 1kw, ideally closer to 1.5. Mads did a fanstastic job with his solar arch, though I worry in my case how much weight it would add astern. I've not yet given a lot of though to the arch, but when the time comes, I certainly will. :)
Solar Perhaps a pre-made bimini using alum tubes for lower weight and lower cost, modified with fore and aft support posts. Use solar panels for the top rather than fabric material, a la Parlay Revival and maybe center strip of poly material from a 4x8 sheet (Home Depot) where you can walk/crawl if you need to do something with boom. Idea for getting to 1820 w- four 455w Solar Ever panels 82" x41" at $255 each at Santan Solar plus 2 HQST 60a mppt running around $200 each- so for $1420 US plus shipping you get the guts of an 1820w solar system. Figure 2 going longways fore and after with center poly strip near the front of bimini and 2 laid side to side sideways near aft end. They weigh 52 lbs each so about 200 lbs total. You could go with the blue 70A Mppts but they run around $600 each. Assume you will be running a 48v electric motor. If you go higher most standard mppts are not suitable.
I think I need full custom... I want to run rivers/canals somewhat often, so I want to build a support into the bimini / solar arch that can hold the mast. I also need to replace the davits at the back, and I'd like that integrated also. Given these three things, and the size of the panels I want to mount, I have to assume that full custom will be the best option in the end. The panels may well be the top, which would make bifacial more feasible, also. Lots to decide, but it's far enough down the ToDo list that it won't get proper attention for a bit yet. I don't plan to buy the panels until I'm ready to build the arch, because the tech is constantly improving. If I was to buy today, I'd be looking for a bifacial TOPCon panel where each panel has an open circuit voltage over 60vDC, so that I can run a dedicate Victron 100|20 per panel.
Sounds like a plan. I like bifacials especially on a boat where there is a lot of reflected light, if the bottom of the panels can receive the reflected light and the structure can hold the weight. The Topcon design does provide a few % higher eff vs Pert. Given your DIY on the battery bank, I thought your budget might be a bit tight and that your cruising timeframe might be starting this Nov.@@TheDigitalMermaid
@@douglasrobbie9998 The budget is tight, that's true. I won't be cruising until next year though... The goal is to get the electric motor in this winter/spring, and get in the water to start sea trials. I will need to rewire the boat, deal with rigging, etc but that can be done while I'm floating. The cruising proper is likely to start the spring of '24.
Last note and no need to reply. You probably have already seen but just in case - Sailing Spoondrifter Ytube has some interesting episodes. 161 having bimini frame made, 170 make bimini top from PVC sheets from HDepot (he loves it but needs antislip strips in some places) and 215 when they put 1800 W of PV panels on@@TheDigitalMermaid
Aye, it would have. I really wanted to do an overnight passage though, to see how I handled it. I didn't expect such a failure so early into the trip though... Alas.
well Madi, if all went smoth, your life would be boring :-) looking forward to you puting in all new electronic, and stop fighting whit old "junk" motors.
so the alternator still isn't working? I don't now that much about them, but my basic understanding is that they are WAY more simple then all the other gear and equipment you have sorted out. I am curious why you haven't gotten it up and running. Is it broken ? did I miss that somewhere?
I'm guessing it's the Heart Interface alternator regulator that was the source of the problem. It has to send a signal to the alternator telling it to provide power. I'm sure I could have figured it out had I the time to do so, but I wouldn't have the time until after I got home. By then, well, I wouldn't need it anymore. :)
I have no memory whatever of what I did after eating a disappointing lunch at the worst pizza place in New Jersey. I must have passed out in the saloon, having stood night watch the night before.
No idea what the prices are over there for a universal alternator. If I had that issue I would have swapped alternator and gotten one with inbuilt regulator for the trip home. Here we can get them for less than 100 usd. They require excite/pilot power from the ignition switch, and a cable to pos and neg(neg is chassis on alternator) on batteries and problem solved. I love the victron gear you have but for the trips sake I’d kept it simple just to make sure I’d have enough juice. That regulator you had there that’s external just sounds way over complicated. Wonder why it was done that way in the first place.
Had I known before the trip that it wasn't working, getting a "dumb" alternator would have been an option. I even mused about it a couple times in past videos, but I wrongly thought I had this one working. When I realized it wasn't working, well, I wasn't really in a position to replace it. I found a solution that, cludgingly, worked. :)
@@TheDigitalMermaid it did work and that is indeed the most important. Glad you got underway safely. I am sorry if you felt it as criticism what I wrote. It was me in hindsight saying what I think I would have done in your situation, just in case someone watching this would end up in an similar spot. Simple and cheap peace of mind. :) thank you for making the videos.
There's insurance, liability in this case for the other boater. We exchanged insurance information, but I decided the damage was too small to be worth the hassle, so I let it go.
@@TheDigitalMermaid as long as it is the only crack there. In composites it gets tricky, as the Titan sub passengers found out the hard way. Maybe get the hull checked by an expert if its not prohibitively costly?
That's ... one of the hardest questions, and I don't know the answer yet. I WANT the kitties to join me, but will they be happy and safe on the boat? I won't know until I can take them out for a test or three. I really really hope so.
