Electric sailboat

As most of you know, my lovely wife and I lost our boat in a shipwreck. That doesn't mean we won't be sailing. Once the ice is off the lake our Oday 19 will be back in the water. While it doesn't have the creature comforts the Ranger 23 had, we've made it work for us in the past.

Last year I did away with the gas engine and switched to a 55 pound thrust trolling motor. Since it's a sailing boat, the motor isn't needed all that much anyway. Mostly, we used it for leaving our anchorage. Once last year the wind totally died and we came back using the electric trolling motor. We traveled about 4.5 miles and there was still plenty of charge left in the battery.

It was nice to not have to deal with a heavy gas motor and gas cans. Because we used the motor so little, a small 30 watt solar panel was able to keep the battery charged.

That was great for the type of boating we did, but what if we use the boat for days or weeks at at a time? One thing I'd like to do is to convert the home made gas can box into a battery box. There's plenty of room for two heavy duty deep cycle batteries. That's great, but how to keep them charged up?

The little 30 watt solar panel would probably not be up to the job. Since we occasionally stay at marinas, it would make sense to be able to charge the batteries at the marina. About 6 years ago I converted a regular heavy duty outdoor extension cord into a 30 amp marine cord. I already had the extension cord it was easy to just purchase a 30 amp male plug and wire it myself.

That was great but this past winter I noticed a lot of marinas have done away with the 30 amp power poles and completely replaced them with 50 amp. In fact, plenty of boats were tied into two 50 amp power outlets at the same time. What the heck where they doing that they needed so much electricity? Arc welding?

Probably not. Live aboard power “needs” have increased to the point where 100 amps barely does the job. Air conditioning is a big power hog, but things like freezers, ice makers, and a whole host of appliances really increases the power draw.

The simple solution would be to buy a 50 to 30 amp adapter. The problem is that they run for over $100. Sure, I could buy one, but If I solved all my issues by throwing money at them, we'd never be able to afford to sail at all.

One good thing now about marinas is that for many of them electric power is not included. How is that good? That means a guy like me who uses very little power isn't paying the same price as a guy who's got the AC turned so high they could use their boat as a meat locker. Once the 100 watt solar panel was in operation we never connected to marina power. The sun provided all the energy we needed.

The solar panel was one of the few things salvaged from the wreck. If it was installed on the Oday it should be able to do a good job of charging the trolling motor batteries. I could even keep the 30 watt panel charging the ship battery that runs the lights.

The best part is that outside of the batteries themselves the project could be done with materials already on hand.

-Sixbears.

Test sail

When we purchased the boat we knew there was a problem with one of the scuppers. A scupper is just a drain, but it's important as it allows any water that gets into the cockpit a way to get out. The guy who sold it too us said he'd fix it. It took longer to fix the problem than expected, but that's not unexpected. However, it was resolved the same day so that's pretty good.

We even got a chance to sail. Winds were light, but we did get a chance to sort out how everything worked. One the downside, the outboard died on us. It was rough starting it in the marina, but I had gotten it going the other day. Today, when we tried it, it only ran for a short spurts. The previous owner pulled the spark plug and is in search of a new one.

I did straighten out my problem with the marina. They wanted to put a boat in my slip, but they can wait a couple weeks. In the mean time the boat can go in a different slip. The smart thing might be to do a series of day sails until we really get the hang of the boat.

At least we haven't been following the Republican debates. Instead, we listened to jazz while sipping on rum coffees. Life without TV can be wonderful.

There are a few people here with Christmas spirit.


-Sixbears

`No dinner jacket

My lovely wife and I woke up to a rainy day in Sarasota harbor. I would be lying if I did not say it dampened our mood. We debated half the morning on what to do. In the end we decided to keep heading south. With rain gear on, we motored into the wind.

We thought we'd wasted precious travel hours, but as luck would have it, that was not the case. Soon after departing we encountered our first bridge of the day. Their first opening was scheduled for 11 a. m.. We got there at 10:53.

As the day wore on, the rain stopped and it warmed up. The cloudy skies discouraged much of the normal weekend traffic. It was a good travel day.

Active Captain showed free day docks in Venice next to an anchorage, so that was our goal. After the budget busting stay in Sarasota, we needed an economy stop.

Venice has a long fixed wooden dock next to a boat ramp. It's main claim to fame is a decent little park next door with clean restrooms. Never discount the value of clean restrooms. Unfortunately, that's all that is there. We were hungry and there was nothing within walking distance -nothing.

We were right next door to the Venice Yacht Club. Their restaurant is reported to be very good. For some strange reason I neglected to bring my dinner jacket. Just as well as that would have probably failed our save money plan.

Instead I cooked up a big batch of beans and rice. It was delicious and filling. We topped it off with a fancy desert of canned peaches. Heaven.

The anchorage is small. Had our boat been much longer or of deeper draft, we'd have been out of luck. Our only option would have been some nice but pricey marinas.

One guy from the yacht club came over to say hi. He was very pleasant. Our little boat reminded him of his younger days. Now he has a huge boat, but only day sails. He misses sleeping on the little boat he had years ago. Maybe he just misses his youth.

After squeezing into the anchorage, we set a couple of anchors and went right to bed -at 6:30. After three hours sleep I finally felt up to writing this blog.

It looks like another day or two of motoring through narrow passages ahead of us.

-Sixbears

Box of gasoline

Back in February we ran out of gas on the way back to the dock. I suppose one can only expect so many miles from a 3 gallon fuel tank. I bought a 6 gallon tank to double our fuel capacity. Unfortunately the 6 gallon tank didn't fit in my boat's fuel locker.

This is the solution.





This box holds the 6 gallon tank and fits in the stern of the boat sorta like a poor man's lazarette. It's a better solution than just having the fuel tank loose in the cockpit. The box sits up off the floor to allow any water to drain out the scupper. There are vent holes to keep any vapors from building up. I'm painting the box a light color to help keep the gasoline cool. The top of the box could also be used to store other items.

We also still have the 3 gallon tank, so that's a good solid 9 gallons of gasoline. That's not much for you motorboat guys, but it's a lot for a small sailboat with a 6 hp outboard.

Can't wait to try it out in the Gulf.

-Sixbears