Batteries

As promised, I wanted to let everyone know about my new house battery.  Notice the singular?  We have removed nearly 300 lbs of 2 group D AGM batteries, totaling 850 amp hours and replaced them with a single Valence Lithium Phosphate battery, Group 27 size, 138 Amp hour and weighing only 41 lbs.  That is 250 pounds of weight out of the port hull and no battery in the engine compartment anymore.  That hull has lifted up nearly an inch out of the water.

We did this for two reasons.  One was the existing batteries were shot and needed to be replaced.  Second is the ever demanding need to reduce weight and keep Yasmine Ann sailing fast.  We have noticed a half a knot of reduced speed when our 100 gallon water tank is full.  It is located forward of the cabin house, so it digs the bows in.  We already removed 1 spare anchor from that location as well.

The Valence battery has been around for about 7 years now.  It is the only chemistry that can use the same charging systems as your lead acid based batteries and does not have the exploding problems of the other lithium configurations.  I researched them when I was looking at replacing the engine batteries in Yumsuch.  Back then, they were too expensive.  Now they are close to the cost of a large AGM bank, by someone good like Lifeline.  The difference is a 15-20 years life expectancy, versus 3-5 years.  So, if all works as stated, it will far outweigh the original cost.

After 1 month of running the battery, there are some very positive reports.

1.  The voltage has never dipped below 13.2V.  This is with up to 60 Amp hours down and loaded up to 10 amps.  This does a couple of things.  The refrigeration compressors run better and less time.  Both the refrigerator and freezer have never been colder.  Even the water pump and macerater toilets work better.  We are using less water to flush with the renewed power on the heads.  

2.  The battery recharges faster.  With a lead acid chemistry, the internal resistance increases as you get closer to your acceptance voltage.  This reduces the amount of current the battery can take.  That is why, when you are charging with solar and wind, it takes forever to get to float, if you make it at all.  With the Valence battery, it takes the full current right up to the acceptance voltage of 14.6V.  Then it drops to float.  One of the biggest problems with the AGM, and this is stated in the Lifeline datasheet, is that if you do not reach full charge at the end of each charging cycle you shorten the life of the battery and Lifeline will not warranty it.  With the battery management module, used with the Valence battery, you only have to reach full charge once per week for it to properly balance the cells within the battery.

I know I am going on too long.  Some of you like to hear these details.  But, I will quit for now.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.  I can get you in touch with my contact at Valence.

We just spent the last week anchored in Miami and are now back in Marathon.  We went for the boat show and learned a lot about new products and old ones we have been researching.

 The new green Valence battery in comparison to just one of the AGM batteries removed.

 Close-hauled at 50 degrees apparent on our way to Miami, all under code 0 and mainsail.

Sunset, downwind sailing at 160 degrees with code 0 only on the way back from Miami.  We sailed all code 0 to and from Miami.  Thank you Haarstick Sails!

    

Finally!!!!!!!! A post from Yasmine Ann!

It has been  a long time since I/we have blogged! 
We worked on Yasmine Ann from May until the end of October.  At  times I thought we never ever get her finished and cleaned up!  But we did and she looks incredible!

Here is a list of things we accomplished:

-Stripped/Varnished the inside except the master head(bathroom) and one cabin out of three. The third cabin may become our storage room.
-New cockpit cushion's
-New Turtle Floor
-New Turtle Table the goes down to cocktail table and up for a regular table.
-New Blowers for the engines
-New Code Zero
-New Helm Seat that also turns aft.
-New Sale Drives
-Bottom Paint
-New folding props
-Sail Drives serviced
-Superwind Wind Generator
-Remodeled master suite with a couch and extra storage

Things we have done since our last blog:



Rochelle & Kevin got married!

Roy is telling Kevin, you better take care of her or else, you deal with me!

Proud dad and step mom with the lovely bride!

  Myrtle Beach with the Grandkids!



Nate & I at Myrtle Beach!

Magic Kingdom with Jacob & Nate!

Our Little Silver Surfer Jacob!

Our one bedroom condo is finally done and ready for renters.

New kitchen

New Captain chairs looking at the ocean!

Ocean View!







Living Room



Bathroom

The New cockpit

Cockpit with our turtle floor





Teak table Roy build.

Rainbow leaving Vero Beach after Thanksgiving.



S/V FUI leaving Miami.  Yasmine Ann is leading today.



S/V Kismet  Wee met up with Jim & Laurie on Kismet in Miami and sailed with them and FUI to Rodriquez Key.



Sailing to Marathon.

S/V FUI leading the way.

                                            Code Zero


                                    Christmas Week!

Poppy got us!  Oh No!

Help!

Nate gets Poppy!

Jacob & Nate dunking Poppy!


Jacob loves Christmas!

Christmas with Jacob!



New Found Harbor Sunset!

Dolphin Research Center with Kent, Roy, Jane, Bonnie, Sid, Pat, Walt, and Anna.



Hi!   Come see us!



We do tricks for you!

  Sunday February 2nd we went for a sail with Rich & Anna from Snow Goose and Dave from Jolly Mon. 



Rich

Roy & Anna at the Helm!

Dave





For all of you interested in how the improvements have effected Yasmine Ann, this is my section (Roy).

You could probably tell, by previous posts, that I was not happy with the sailing characteristics of the Lagoon.  Loved the room, but it was more of a trawler.  Now, I repeat to everyone that we actually own a sailboat.  We sail into harbors and up to anchorages.  Just like the good old days.  The whole reason is the folding props.  With the two bladed fixed props, we could barely get 5 knots of of the boat.  Unless we were on a beam reach, with 25 knots blowing, it would not get out of its own way.  The slow speed also added excessive leeway when going to weather.  Now, we barely ever see speeds under 7 knots.  We regularly sail right around the 7.5-8 knot range.  Being only 12K lbs dry, it just can't handle the drag of fixed blades.  I'll never forget leaving St. Augustine, with our new props, unfurling the headsail, and seeing Yammy's face light up.  Before, this would only add 0.2 knots.  Now we had 2 knots.  The folding props have added around 2.5 knots of overall speed in all wind conditions.

Now, for light air, the Haarstick Code 0 is a blessing.  We have sailed twice now with true wind speeds around 5 knots.  In flat seas, building apparent wind to 9.4 knots, we were able to hit 5.1 knots.  There was not another sailboat out there that day actually sailing.  With the code 0 we also hit our fastest speed.  Beam reaching in 13 knots true, we hit 9.4 knots.        

I don't write this to brag.  I write it out of astonishment.  Everyone we bring sailing is amazed at how two little props can make such a difference.  Drag and weight are a catamaran's nemesis.  In the next blog I'll tell you how I shed 200 pounds of battery weight.      

In Myrtle Beach

We are home, but missing home.  Since we left Marathon, we have had so much rain and cold, we want to go back.  But, on the way here, we have made a plan to finish our 1 bedroom oceanfront unit and rent that out now.  We mentioned before, that we decided to go with a bigger boat to live aboard 12 months out of the year.  Instead of having a condo sit waiting for us to use a few weeks out of the year, we are going to now rent it out. We figure a couple of months of work and we can head back out on Yasmine Ann again.

Due to big wind and seas, we have been doing all ICW running except from Hilton Head to Charleston.  Don't know if we left Florida too early, or this is normal, but the winds keep coming out of the north and bringing rain and cold weather.  Our big boat cruises under power at 7.5 knots, so we are near trawler speed.  When motor sailing, we run just one engine and both without the sail.  The mainsail provides the extra 2 knots that the second engine does.  Each engine burns about 0.8 gallons per hour.

We have a couple of big events coming up.  Tommy and Ashley with a Doctorate of Pharmacy in May.  And Rochelle is marrying Kevin in June.    

We plan on many projects with the boat as well and will keep our blog updated with pictures of everything.  Once the condo is done, we will head north for an end of summer adventure and then we are heading to the Bahamas for the first time.  We plan to spend November and December in the Abacos.

 Cool looking military boats near Savannah.

First overnight sail

We decided to stay an extra day in Palm Beach due to multiple thunderstorms predicted for most of the day.  We are so glad we did.  A couple who left on their Leopard Catamaran went out 6 miles, decided the weather was to iffy, turned around back to the anchorage.  They anchored next to us, a huge lighting and thunderstorm approaches and Roy is looking out around us. Then he sees lightening hit their mast with black smoke for a minute. Everyone aboard was ok but they lost all their instruments.  They're plans to head to the Bahamas is now delayed.
We arrived in St. Augustine on Wednesday evening after at 35 hr sail.  The winds were perfect the first 18 hrs and then slowly started hitting us on the nose.  So we ended up motor sailing for the second half of our journey.  We will leave St. Augustine on Sunday.  With a N/NE wind and big seas, it looks like it might be an ICW day! 


A turtle loves to follow us!



Sunset!



Flying Fish. I finally got a picture!