Replacing the Opening Ports on our Catalina 34

Replacing our C34 Cabin Opening Ports

I'm pretty sure that the opening ports on Eximius are Original. Most of them are severely crazed and several have worn out hinges so when they are opened they do not stay open.

Time to replace them - while they are still available.

I purchased Six new Lenses from Catalina Direct and had them on the boat for a couple of months while other stuff got crossed off the high priority ToDo list.

The new lenses are the Opening Port Lens, Lewmar 7-1/2" x 14-7/16", Upgrade. The new Lenses are tinted a smokey shade and I'm really pleased with the finish. 

In all I purchased 6 lenses, 6 pairs of locking dogs and 12 Replacement Hinges.

Opening Port Spring Hinges

Opening Port Locking Dogs

The process of replacing the lenses is simple.

Attach the new Locking 'dogs' to the new lens, the recess around the large holes is on the Inside of the lens. Then remove the nut holding the old lens to the hinge and attach the new lens. I used the new Bolt, Washer and Acorn nut.

Before I attached the new Lens, I checked the condition of the hinges. They have a spring which extends a tab into the indents of the moving part. At least one of the, plastic, springs were broken. To replace that spring, the hinge pin has to be removed. This was not an issue on most of the hinges, but a couple of the frames were overtightened at some time and the hinge pins were now below the surface and could not be removed without removing the inner part of the frame. I'm not prepared to do that right now, so those hinges will have to wait till later.

It took about an hour to replace the three Opening on the port side of the cabin, most of the effort was due to my body being reluctant to enjoy the opportunity of a bit of extra Boat Yoga.

I'll probably replace the other three later this week.

As I did not have to replace all of the hinges, I have several pieces left over - never a bad thing, I'll just have to remember where I put them!

See you on the Water.

Moving to a new dock

 We moved Eximius to a new Dock

Back in August this year, our Dock-lord advised us they were selling the house that Eximius was docked at for the last many years. Once we overcame the 'Oh Heck, we have to find a new dock' syndrome, we started calling our sailing buddies to find out what was available but not listed on the many 'Docks For Rent' websites and apps.

We, OK, Peggy, would scroll through the many docks for rent listings online only  to confirm that we could not afford any of them, and those that were just within our budget were too shallow for Eximius.

Surprisingly it did not take many phone calls to the members of the Hillsboro Inlet Sailing Club ( HISC ) to actually find a dock that was within budget and suitable.

We made an agreement with the owner and both of us agreed it would be best if we waited till the end of Hurricane Season. Our current dock was a Hurricane hole, we've been through two Hurricanes, one with no damage the other had minor damage when a piece of 4"x2" 'flew' over the house and struck the top of our mast knocking the Wireless Wind transducer hard, destroying it in one blow ( pun intended ) 

The new dock is much closer to the Ocean but is West of the ICW and the canal has a bend in it which will mitigate East winds. Best feature, other than being a beautifully maintained dock, is that it's less than an Hour from the Ocean and only 3 bridges compared to our old dock which had 7 bridges including an FEC Railroad bridge which can be down for up to an hour, was tide bound and the bridges were on lock down for a couple of hours each workday morning and evening. It really limited our ability to get the boat out and completely ruled out any chance of a day sail.

So, on Monday this week, we moved the boat to the new dock. We spent a couple of hours cleaning up the old dock where some of our dock lines had been in place for nearly 9 years and, after thanking our hosts, we set off down the North Fork of the New River.

We timed it well and had 10 minutes to spare when we were within sight of the Los Olas Blvd Bridge.

After calling in to the bridge tender, we just dawdled North towards the bridge, past the, now empty, remains of the temporary Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show docks which occupy most of the East side of the ICW between the Los Olas bridge and the Bahia Mar marina.

During the Ten minutes of hovering just South of the Bridge, we heard several other boats call into the bridge tender requesting they be put on the list of boats waiting for the bridge opening.

The Los Olas Blvd Bridge opens on the Hour and Half Hour, didn't happen! Normally it takes a minute or so for the tender to stop the traffic, check for pedestrians and cyclists and lock the gates down before unlocking the bridge and starting the Opening process.   didn't happen.

After a couple of minutes some of the other boats called the bridge tender about the opening. It happens, sometimes life interrupts and things don't go to plan. Was there a problem with the traffic, perhaps an emergency vechicle had notified the bridge of their imminent arrival, in which case the bridge would remain down until they passed.  Wasn't that!

We tried calling the bridge tender by phone. That meant navigating close enough to the bridge in order to read the phone number on the plaque on the South East side of the bridge. No Answer.

With the bridge not opening, now nearly 20 minutes late, I asked Peggy to call 911 perhaps the tender had had a medical emergency and needed assistance.  Just as Peggy was about to dial 911 the Bridge Tender announced on the radio that the bridge was about to open.  PHEW

No big deal to be delayed by the late opening of the bridge, but it did mean we would have to wait a half hour for the Sunrise Bridge to open as it opens on the 45s and15s.   But again, not a big deal.

We dawdled the short distance from Los Olas Blvd Bridge to Sunrise Blvd Bridge and even then had to pull a few donuts as the current was pushing us towards the bridge.  Again, no big deal and now we were back on schedule.

Only two more bridges to go:- Oakland Park Blvd Bridge and Commercial Blvd Bridge, we smoothly passed by them and then had to figure out the canal which led to our new dock.  Of course, I had put a marker on our new Chartplotter indicating the 'Turn' so we had no issued recognizing the entrance.

We slowed to a crawl as this was new territory for us, we didn't know the depths and how wide or narrow the canal would be as we entered from the East.  Once we were in sight of the new dock, I figured the best option would be to motor past it and turn 180º so that we could tie up with our bot pointing to the East ready for our next trip out.

The home owner must have seen that we were approaching the dock and kindly came out to help us secure the boat. We ran lines to the dock poles and made a few adjustments. It's the King Tides time of year, so we needed to allow for the boat to rise and fall about 3 to 4 feet, we're used to doing that so again , no big deal.

We took our time wrapping up the boat, it was getting late and Sunset was approaching. With everything packed up, we arranged for an Uber to take us back to the old dock in order to pickup our Truck.

It took just over 10 mins for the Uber to arrive, not the best Uber experience, the car was almost a wreck and I really felt that the rear wheels were going to fall off each time the car breaks were applied. The young female driver was probably working full time as Uber or perhaps also going to school. We didn't get to interact very much with her, she was listening to a Spanish You tube channel and it kinda put a hold any conversation.  At the end of the journey, I gave her 5 ***** on the Uber app and a decent Tip, no comment.  

We picked up a rubber mat that we had left at the dock and, now in the dark, we set off home.

Pizza for a quick dinner, we were surprisingly exhausted but I think it was more due to the stress of the past few weeks.

Next morning I went down to the boat to check all was well and did a couple of hours work on the boat - that's another story.

We're back into feeling good about our boat and our dock. The Stress should ease up over the next few days, even though there is a late in the season Storm expected next week - we'll know by Saturday if we should take down the Canvas in preparation.

Boating - Gotta Love it!

We're nearer to the water - so See you there!

Chart Plotter failed

Chart Plotter failed - time to upgrade

Before the Failure :( 

Our 12 year old Garmin 741XS Chartplotter failed, at the dock, it would not turn on after we shut it down. This has happened three times now, once on the ICW, once when heading in from the Ocean and now at the dock while testing it.

Circuit Breaker - On √ 

Fuse √

Power at the connector to the Chartplotter √

It just will not boot up! Grrrrr.

Time to upgrade.

This is our 3rd Garmin Chartplotter, two on a previous sailboat and this one which came with the boat when we purchased it in 2015. 

We have a full NEMA 2000 system plus a Garmin HR 18 Radar. Our helm station is nicely setup with the Chartplotter, GMI instrument to show wind and pretty much any other data from the system, and our Raymarine Evo 100 Autopilot.  So ideally, the new Chartplotter will fit in the same footprint as the old one.

Down to West Marine with the old Chartplotter in hand we browse the available units.

Garmin GPSMap 943xsv

Multifunction Display with US and Canada Navionics+ Charts

Closest in size is the Garmin GPSMap 943 xsv. We spend a while discussing it with the WM rep and were able to confirm with Garmin Tech Support that our older Garmin HR 18 Radar would work with the new unit and that it would physically fit on our helm station. The power connection was also the same and the only other connection we were concerned about was the NEMA 2000 and that is standard.

Thirty minutes later we were walking out of the store with our new Chartplotter. WM confirmed that if it did not work on our boat we could take it back.

That night we both plowed through the install manual and the user manual. We also watched several YouTube videos on how to connect the GPSMap 943xsv to Active Captain and how to get the latest charts.

The new Chartplotter came with a 1 Year Navionics + subscription which means we can get the high res charts and the Auto Guidance feature - very cool!

After registering our new Chartplotter using Garmin Express on my laptop, we were able to log into Active Captain on my Tablet and download chunks of the Navionics + Charts for our area.

So far so good. Now time to install the new Chartplotter on the boat.

Step 1 - Physical mount it to the helm station. Our old Chartplotter mount is almost identical to the new, maybe a couple of millimeters narrower.  So 4 bolts removed, new mounting bolted down, ready to install.   --- 1st issue!

The mount has slots which hold the Chartplotter in place with a couple of large turn screws, but the diameter of the threaded part of those two turn screws are just a tiny bit too large, it's really difficult to get the screws into those slots.  Once I figured that out, it was not a big deal, but installing / removing the new Chartplotter is a pain. Doable but - maybe it will ease with use.   I did have to turn the mounting 180º so that the Chartplotter is mounted from the forward edge of the mounting rather than from the aft edge so that the turn screws would not be obstructed by the instruments on either side of the mounting.

Ok, That's done.

Step 2. - Make the Electrical Connections. This was a none issue! The power connector fit, so did the NEMA 2000 and finally so did the Radar RJ45 connector. Woohoo!

Ok, time for the 1st light test.

Peggy was at the helm and I was down in the cabin. Nav System Power √, the Auto pilot instrument woke up, so too did the GMI and the Echo Depth sounder.  Next was the GPS power - √

Now the GPSMap 943xsv woke up, it took a while for it to boot and first offered Demo Mode, we skipped that.

Next it offered the main setup options. We quickly went through that process, setting the boat dimensions and type.  Finally we got to the home screen.

We saw the new unit on display at the West Marine center so we had an idea of the screen layout.  But we got to see so much more with the unit on the boat where it was connected to our Radar, AIS, Compass, Depth Speed, Temperature, Wind data. There is so much to see!  Peggy asked if Garmin had an online Demo system? I cannot find one ( so if any of you know different let me know too 😊  ) 

Ok, let's keep going on the progress here.    We turned on AIS and that works as expected, probably a bit clearer than the 741xs. Next - Radar - We powered up the Radar then on the GPS Map home screen selected Radar and Single view which just shows the Radar view. On the left is a menu to complete the Radar Setup from the current 'Trxm Off', touch that and the Radar starts to spin up and in a few seconds we had full Radar Display.

Back to the home screen - Click on Vessel and then 'Wind' and wow! Much more info on the screen than on the 741, running data as well as clear current wind displays - shows more than on the GMI but all on a single screen

Sof ar we have Charts, Radar AIS and all of the other NEMA 2000 data. We did not test the Autopilot yet, but that's on the list.

And there's more! Active Captain! We had downloaded a couple of segments of the Charts from Navionics via the Active Captain app. Then with the Tablet set to use the same WiFi network as the 943xsv the system transferred the chart data to the Chartplotter.  Now we have the latest Hi Res chart data on the new Chartplotter. 

We did try the Auto Guidance and that is totally sweet! To try it out we setup a waypoint up the ICW and then hit the Auto Guidance, selected go to the waypoint, then selected Auto Guidance, the route down the North Fork of the New River, past all of the bridges, down to the ICW then North up past Los Olas Blvd Bridge, Sunrise Bridge, Oakland Park Bridge and Commercial Bridge and then to the Waypoint. Wow!   Now we'll have to see how that works with the Auto pilot although, there is no way that I'll leave the navigation to the system, it's challenging enough without the Auto Pilot let alone trust Auto Guidance to the job.  But it's really nice to see the route plotted out for us. Of course, I'm pretty sure that it does not consider the Wind for sailing a route, but having the route plotted out easily is a major plus.

Next time we're at the boat we'll check out the Autopilot access - do we have to still control the Autopilot via the Raymarine Control Instrument or can we manage it from the Chartplotter.  Also, we'll setup the Garmin DST 810 Depth,Speed  & Temperature transducer ( we extract it each time we dock ) and see how that data is displayed.

Mainsail is still at the cleaners, so no sailing this week but next week is looking good.

See you on the water. 

Refinishing the Non-Skid deck - actually doing it.

Actually refinishing the Non-Skid decking

This is a project that I started in 2021 and have allowed life and other more important boat repairs to take precedence. The good news is that the materials that I purchased from Jamestown Distributors has not suffered on the shelves of my garage here in South Florida - ok, one Can did leak a little, probably because the cap was not seals ( shake the can after screwing down the lid ), that was the Awlgrip Awlcat #3 Topcoat Brush Converter ( 1 pint ), so I ordered another pint.

Ok onto the work, it was surprisingly easy!

• Clean the deck ( I'm just doing the Port Side Non-Skid for now )
• Sand the deck using 3M Scotch-Brite Ultra Fine Hand Pad 7448
• Mask off the Non-skid areas using 1" Blue Painters Masking tape
• Mask off the surrounding areas using 2" Blue Painters tape overlapping the 1"
• Clean the deck again using Awlgrip Awl-Prep Surface Cleaner
• Apply Primer with a 4" Roller & 2" Nylon brush
• Mix the Primer as follows:-
• 1 Part Awlgrip 545 Epoxy Primer Base
• 1 Part Awlgrip D3001 545 Epoxy Primer Converter
• 0.2 Parts Awlgrip Topcoat Brushing Reducer ( yep, same reducer as the topcoat )
• Allow 12-14 hours between coats. ( Apply a total of two coats)

This was pretty straight forward except for the 12-14 hours between coats! We keep the boat 35 minutes from our house, in South Florida, it's Rainy season ( isn't it always ? ).  So If I apply the 1st coat at 9am, then the second has to be applied by 9pm, that's not going to happen. So I applied the first coat a 8pm and the 2nd at 7am the next day - yep, a very light breakfast.  I did speak to a rep at Jamestown and they advised that if the first coat had been applied 24 hours then the surface would need to be sanded again. I still kept it to withing 14 hours.

Next, the TopCoat, again easy:-

• Blow the deck clear of the bio dropping from the Palm Trees that overhand the dock, dry off the water from the rain. All of this in socked feet.
• Mix the 1st topcoat as follows:-
• 1 Part Awlgrip Polyester Urethane Topcoat Base Paint
• 1 Part Awlgrip Awlcat #3 Topcoat Brush Converter
• 1 Part Awlgrip Additive Flattening Agent G3013
• 1 Part Awlgrip Topcoat Brushing Reducer ( my understanding from reading the datasheets is that this can be less than 1 part of Reducer, I used 0.5 parts )
• Apply the 1st coat of Topcoat and follow with a 2nd coat at least 16 hours after the first coat is applied. ( This is much easier to achieve, I simply put the 1st coat on a 6pm and the 2nd at 9am the next day. )

Mixing the paint

This was all done when the Humidity was around 74%, definitely not ideal, but as I was applying the paints with a Brush and Roller I figured the humidity was not such a big factor, whereas had I been spraying it, then that would not work out well.

Down the Cabin I had a paint mixing station, several cloths covered the galley countertop.

•  A large snap lock container corralled all of the paint cans.  
• Several 1 liter mixing cups
• Several Wooden stirrers
• Paint can opener
• Pair of Channel Lock pliers ( to open the cans that screwtop lids )
• Blue Masking tape ( to apply to the sides of the mixing cups )
• Red Felt Tip pen ( to mark the cups)

I put the Blue masking tape vertically onto the sides of the mixing cups so that I could mark them with each of the paint component levels. I found that putting the horizontal markings at:

• 120ml ( fill point for the Base Paint )
• 240ml ( fill for the Flattening agent - it's non reactive with the Base so I added this before the reducer.)
• 360ml ( fill for the Activator - start the clock ! )
• 450ml ( fill for the Reducer ) I varied this from 10% to 50% didn't seem to make much difference, they all rolled really well and it did not affect the color.

This way I felt confident that I would get consistent color finishes for each segment of the deck.

I also taped down a plastic sheet on the cockpit storage locker so that I would not worry too much about getting paint onto the white of the cockpit. I also put some dry cloths ontop of that plastic so that I would not step out onto the deck to be painted with damp or dirty socks.

I used a 4" roller on the end of a 6' pole for the major areas of the deck and a 2" nylon brush to get close to the bases of the Stanchions, Deck Fills and the Chain Plates for the shrouds.

Oh! After painfully sanding the deck before getting to the actual painting, I figured out it would be better to wear Knee pads instead of using a Throwable Cushion to protect my knees ( really awkward and it didn't fit where the deck narrows aft of the cabin top.

Of course I wore Nytril Gloves, I'm on my 2nd box already. I applied Baby Powder inside them to make it easier to don the gloves AND I wore long sleeved shirt just to capture the sweat dripping from inside the gloves. I also had a dry rag in each of 4 pockets so that if I needed one to quickly mop up a painting booboo or to dry up the dripping sweat, I didn't have to stop everything and go back to the cockpit.

It took about an hour to clean and dry off the non-skid immediately before applying a coat of paint until I was ready to walk away from the boat. So the actual painting took 4 hours plus the cure times between coats.

Next task is the Stbd side of the non-skid deck, I expect it will be much quicker as I have the mixing down and also feel very practiced at applying the masking tape.  Oh, I did shimmy the Dink that is on the deck in front of the mast, over to the other side of the boat so that it was not in the way of working. It'll probably have to be moved onto the dock before I start to work on the cabin top non-skid decking.

So, progress is good, weather is really wet, I hope I can get the masking tape off easily but am prepared to have to peel it very carefully, perhaps with the aid of a razor knife, we'll see, I should be doing that in the morning.

I broke the deck into manageable areas.

I'll probably do the Port & Stbd Quarters at the same time as the Stbd Side Deck and the Companionway Hatch & Cabin top in one go too.

I had ordered Quart cans of each paint component but only a Pint of the Top Coat Converter, right now I'm confident that is sufficient to complete the project along with the 2nd pint of Top Coat Converter.

It took 450ml for each coat on the Port Side Deck, the Anchor locker lids and the Companionway Hatch Cover, I have about half of the materials left over. Pretty sure I'll get it all done. But .... Jamestown has been really good at shipping orders promptly.

Having completed the Port Side Deck, I'm really pleased with the result. It cleans up easy so the Lizard Poop rinses off really quickly and walking on the deck is at least as grippy as the pre-refinish deck surface.

We had a couple of bad weather spells, so there was a delay in continuing the project but today I finished doing the Stbd Side Deck, now we have to wait 72 hours for it to totally cure and we can walk on it again. Then we'll remove the blue masking tape and reinstall the shroud chain plate covers & bolts, finally re-tension the Rigging.

Here's a review of the progress so far - Blue is done!

Left to do:- 

• Coach Roof Non-skid
• Companionway Hatch Non-skid
• Cockpit Deck - Non-skid
• Port &Stbd Quarters - Non-skid

Next painting project - White Work ;-

• Toe rail 
• Coach Roof 
• Cockpit

Mystery Ding!

We did turn the boat at the dock this week and noticed a small chunk gouged out of the corner of the transom on the Port Side, very odd! It's too low to have occurred out our dock even during the recent King Tides and the last time we went to a foreign dock was several months ago in Fort Lauderdale. We have scrubbed the Transom down several times since then and never noticed it.

We are super careful when turning the boat at the dock and it absolutely did not happen when we turned the boat on Tuesday, could not as the damage is about 18" below dock level at high tide.  It's a mystery.

We'll go back to the boat in the morning, grind the area and apply some resin. Then add it to the list of touch up work we have to do. Our plan is to work on the 'white work' in November. ( Toe Rail, Coach Roof, Cockpit Combings etc. ) 

Meanwhile we're looking forward to taking the boat out next week for at least one overnight.

So, we'll see you on the water! 

Upgrading Deck Fill Caps

Upgrading the Deck Fill Caps on our Catalina 34

The Plastic Deck Fill / Waste pump out caps on Eximius were replaced years ago 2015 - yes, we can say 'years ago' now that have owned the boat for 9 years - where did the time go?  Well it was 2018. We replaced the Fuel Fill Cap and Neck when repairing our Fuel tank in 2018, the Plastic fill cap was replaced by a Stainless cap and is still as good as new.

So, time to replace the Plastic caps again but this time we'll go for the Stainless Steel type - should last longer than we'll own the boat.

Step 1 was to search the internet and it was not easy to find replacements that would fit and those that might fit, were outrageously expensive.

Finally I tried Catalina Direct, they normally have pretty well everything for our boat but, understandably, they are a bit more expensive.

Well, that's not the case for the Fill Caps.

I purchased 3 caps, 1 of Waste Water Pump Out Cap and 2 of Water Fill Caps.

CD's site does point out that the Water Fill caps may not fit our Fill points with the security chain installed but they do state that others have found that simply removing the security chain allows them to fit without issue.

The Three Caps came to $142.05 @$43.70 each plus shipping etc.

The Waste Pump Out Cap does not have a security chain, that is simply because the Cap has to be fully removed in order to screw in the Pump Out Adaptor into the fitting.

So replacement of these caps should simply be remove the old cracked plastic caps and screw in the replacement Stainless Steel Caps.

I have just finished refinishing the Non-Skid decking on the Port Side Deck, I only have to remove the Blue Masking tape to finish that job, then I can install the new Port Side Waste Water Pump out cap. It should look real pretty.

I'll be curious to find out if I have to use a winch handle to unscrew the new Stainless Cap rather than the current method of simply putting my foot on top of the plastic cap and doing a twirl. 

Installed the new Caps today.

The Waste Pumpout Deck Cap fit without any issues. 

It's so nice to have a decent bit of Boat Bling on the deck. Feels well made and fits perfectly.

Note. The 'Waste' cap does not have a Chain retainer secured to the undersdie, simply because the Pumpout adapter would not fit unless the cap is completely removed.

Excuse the bit of blue tape that have not yet been removed after refinishing the Port Side Non-Skid Deck.  There's a few bits left over and it just takes time to scrape them off. They were in place for over a week and it rained nearly every day.

The Catalina website advises that some boats have a 'neck' for the water fill points that will not fit the Deck Fill Caps. 

The issue is that the retainer chain is secured to a stud on the underside of the cap and that cap touches the inside of the water fill neck before the deck fill cap is fully down.

The solution is easy. Remove the stud from the underside.

I used my Dremel with a cut off wheel to completely remove the stud.

After removing the stud, I cleaned up the underside of the cap just to remove any burrs.

Now the caps screw down to seal the water fill neck with the rubber O ring on the underside of the cap.

I timed it from when I took the caps out of the package on the boat thru to when all three caps were in place, including grinding off the chain retainer studs. It only took 15 minutes.

Refinishing the deck is coming along. Today I cleaned up the deck around the chain plates on the Stbd side. Next dry day is expected on Tuesday next week. I'll go down on Monday if there is a break in the weather and start the deck sanding on the stbd side and turn the boat so that it's Port Side to the Dock - I don't want to get any paint spits on the dock!

For now, the Deck Fill Cap project is complete.  I'll have to be careful anytime we're filling the water tanks or Pumping out the waste tanks as the new caps definitely will not float!

See you on the water.

Time to find a new Dock for Eximius

Looking for a new Dock for Eximius

Our Dock-lord is selling their home, so we need to find a new dock for our boat.

We live in Margate Florida and hoping to find a dock closer to the Ocean than our current 1.5 hour motor from the dock to the Ocean along with 5 bridges including one Brightline Railroad Crossing  bridge on the New River of Fort Lauderdale.

SV Eximius is a 1987 Catalina 34.

34' LOA very well maintained with all of the latest Electronics and Safety Equipment - Our Insurance is with Boat US = Geico

11'7" Beam

5'8" Draft

52' Air Draft

We have owned Eximius since May of 2015 and have kept her at the dock in Fort Lauderdale since that date. The Owner is selling his property, hence our need to find a new dock.

We are active members of the Hillsboro Inlet Sailing Club, I am a Past Commodore and am currently the Staff Commodore.

We have lived in Margate since I arrived in the USA after serving 25 years in the Royal Navy, retiring in 1989 with the rank of Chief Petty Officer. Retiring again in 2016 as owner of an Internet Software Developer for Retail Businesses and Orgnaizations.

My wife, Peggy, a retired Cardiac Care Nurse, originally from Ohio has lived here, in Margate, for the past 40 years.

So if anyone knows of an available dock for rent, we are not liveaboards! And we do not leave the Shore power or Dock Water, attached to the boat, then please reach out to us. If you leave a comment with a phone number or call me at Nine Five Four, Seven Three Six, Seven One One Four.

Thanks.

Paul

Tweaking our Solar Power

Changing our Solar Setup from Parallel to Serial Panels

After I updated our Solar Panels in 2020, In July 2023 I found one of the older panels was damaged and the other two were not putting out the expected power. So I decided to update the system.

I built a new Solar Panel Mounting Frame on top of the Bimini and replaced the old panels with 3 new 200W panels. They were connected in Parallel. I also changed out the MPPT Controller with a Victron MPPT 100| 50 Smart Solar Charger. 

The system has been running fine for the past year and they charge my 3 x 100Ah Chins LiFePo4 batteries by noon most days, but then I rarely took them down below 80%.

I'm working on a couple of other projects, one of them being to replace our Propane Cooking equipment with an Induction Cooktop and a Combo Air Fryer / Toaster Oven. From the tests I have done so far the Electrical System will be able to handle that, but it does mean that the SOC will probably drop below 50% more often.

Another project on the drawing board ( ok, Google Drawings ) is adding Davits to the Stern and that means I'll have room for another 200W panel.

With the existing Panels in Parallel the panels combined Voltage is the same as a single panel ( them all being the same size.) but a higher current.  The higher current means a higher voltage drop at the Controller and that's a loss of power.

Ok, where am I going with this?

Should I change the Panel connection to Series?

My conclusion is 'Yes' and here's why.

In Series the panels Voltages are combined but the Current ( ampage ) is not. So the Voltage drop is much less.

If I change to a Series layout, then I could add panels without exceeding the current capacity of the Mppt Controller.

Now, this is an easy process. I simply Turn off the Solar Power inlet to the MPPT Controller, Shade the panels so that they are not producing any power, disconnect the Panels from the Parallel connectors. Re connect them in Series and then turn the power back on.  That took me all of 15 minutes.

No changes needed on the MPPT Controller and, as shown by the graph below the system is fully functional.

The Graph shows the MPPT Controller Input Voltage and Current for the month of August ( 2024) to date ( 18th ) 

It clearly shows that the voltage peaked around 20v and the current at 57amps prior to the system change and then the Voltage peaked to 49v and the current peaked to around 25amps.

Note. On the 16th of August, I ran the Air Conditioning on battery power from around 10am until 11:40am and the Battery SOC dropped to 66.5% and a some of that was with Solar Disconnected.

Back to the Why do this?

• We're going to replace the Propane System with an Induction Cooker & Air Fryer.
• We have learned that we can run our AC on Batteries for about 4 hours, more if we're prepared to expend a Battery Cycle and take them down to 20 or 30%

If we do add Davits and can add another panel, then we'll have 800Watts of and that should improve our Battery Charging time.

Oh, we have a 100Amp Alternator on the Engine but have it detuned to only 75Amps. If we needed to, then we could retune it and run the Engine at high RPM at Anchor ( or on the Move ) to charge the batteries in times of poor solar production.

I'll monitor the system over the next few weeks. We're making progress on refinishing the non-skid areas of the deck and so we'll have the chance to drop the battery SOC when we keep the cabin cooler while we do the work.  Should get some good date.  I'm hoping to see the Solar Production ramp, up in good weather, to over 400 Watts.

Stay tuned.

Want to see the current data? It's shown on Victron World just click here to view Eximius