Lithium Battteries

Some may remember when I replaced my 400 Amp hour AGM battery bank with a single 130 Amp hour lithium battery.  The port hull came a 1/2" out the water with the removal of the weight.

I heard all kinds of criticisms. 

- that is way too small of a battery bank.  Answer:  With a lithium battery the voltage remains at 13.2 VDC until the battery is nearly depleted.  With a lead acid based battery, the voltage immediately starts to drop as charge is removed.  Once you exceed 50% loss, you are permanently damaging the batteries.  Not so with lithium. 

- Lithium batteries will start on fire and sink your boat.  Answer:  Marine batteries are a cross of lithium, phosphate and cobalt.  The Valence batteries have been tested, under full load, in a fire and shot with a 50 caliber bullet.  Still no explosion.   

- You need to change all of your charging equipment.  Answer:  Nope.  With the chemical makeup, listed above, the same charging parameters can be used.  Just need to change the acceptance and float voltage level.  On that note; it always amazes me the number of people who just replace their batteries, with similar type, and never check to see what the new batteries require for charging parameters.  When their batteries last 2-3 years, they don't question the cost to replace them again, but question me on the cost of lithium batteries.  

- Too expensive.  Answer:  My first battery, including the BMS (battery management system) and safety relay, cost me about $1500.  That may seem like a lot, but based on the 10,000 cycles (minimum), the battery will last longer than I will have the boat.  As noted above, no one seem to complain about spending $700-$1000 every 2-3 years.  I have had, my single battery, for 6 years.  Zero degradation in static voltage or capacity.  Three years were spent living aboard on a mooring ball with 60-100 amps drawn out every night (unless the wind was blowing).   

This past summer, my old starting batteries finally bit the dust.  Instead of replacing them with standard batteries, I rewired the boat to use my house bank to start the engines.  I then purchased an additional lithium battery (same model number), to double my house bank to 260 Amp hours.  Not really needed, but figured the extra capacity would ensure enough starting power after a night on the hook.  Found the battery, used (1year old), for $400.  Total battery weight is still under 50lbs. 

Since I was adding to the load of the BMS, I contacted Valence and they sent me the programming files to update the BMS.  I had to purchase $160 worth of stuff to do that.  When I had issues getting it to take, I called the engineer directly and he modified the program, on the fly, and we were successful.  That is customer service! 

Being an ABYC certified tech, I get first crack at their webinar's.  The latest Lithium batteries if what prompted me to write this blog.  I am sold on Lithium for boats, and have 6 years of use to prove their worth.  Don't just take my word for it.  

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21Ql6n7nndQ



We are still enjoying Marathon.  Opening the keys have doubled our COVID cases, but there are still less people to contend with.  We plan to stay through the end of July at this point. 

Christmas photo, but with the 4th coming up, we plan to hang up the American Flag again. 

   
   

Head Space

A favorite topic amongst boaters and RV owners.  Seems like every blog has one of these posts, so I figured I should ante up.

Yasmine Ann came with the standard 2 electric macerating heads and 15 gallons on holding tank on each side.  Our first year, we replaced both heads with our favorite from Raritan, the Marine Elegance.  It is a full size toilet, like in your home, and uses a programmable control to save water and holding tank space.

The following year, we switched to fresh water rinse and added a in-line deodorizer.  Yes, our toilets flush with blue water.  The main purpose is to lubricate the valves so they last longer, but the deodorizer is a plus. 

This past summer, my project was to make our holding tank capacity larger.  Everyone knows that is a major hurdle on a sailboat.  Most of us, sailors, have water makers and we burn hardly any fuel.  To base your cruising destinations on where you can get a pump out is "shitty" way to plan your cruise (come on I had to do it).

On our catamaran, the tanks are housed in the wall.  On the port side (guest) head, we were able to increase our tank size to 25 gallon from the 15.  On the starboard side (master) head, we were able to increase the tank size to 28 gallon from the 15.  All this with a just a few modifications to the existing enclosures, without encroaching on any other space.

Along with that we replaced the bronze thru-hulls and seacocks with an all new Marelon setup for the overboard discharge and the sink discharge.  All new hoses.  We added a remote controlled wash down that rinses the tank from the top down, while your getting a pump out.  We also added the new SCAD tank monitoring.  This uses foil strips on the outside of the tank to avoid fowling.

After taking my surveying classes, and seeing the effects of corrosion on boats, I went with Marelon thru-hulls and seacocks.  They are ABYC approved and eliminate metal underwater.  I plan to replace more bronze thru-hulls at every haul out.     

All part of making our vessel feel more like a home.  At the same time we are updating old hardware and systems.

The reason why all boaters worry about their black water and how long they can last until the next pump out. 

      

Still Loving It

It has been awhile since we redesigned the interior of Yasmine Ann.  We have been enjoying it everyday.  A few tweaks, but it basically remains as shown in the video. 

Since it is such a big part of the boat, figured I should bring up the link again. 

 https://youtu.be/1ZvvKhlHNw4

Helm Update

We updated the helm 3 years ago, but had stopped blogging by then.  The main reason, we did the upgrade, was due to the removal of the electronics during our interior update.  It was also time to update all of our electronics to the NMEA2000 standards. 

Everything in the new dash is new, except the hour meters.  We added inductive sensors into the diesel fuel tanks, so we finally have fuel gauges that work.  New Stereo, GPS, Autopilot w/Electric Drive, Wind, Depth and VHF.  Everything is connected through the NMEA backbone.  We also sent the wheel out to be dipped in a vinyl covering. 

The other purpose of the design was to get the instruments up from behind the wheel.  The original design required you to reach through or over the wheel to instruments.  Now everything is right at the level needed to for quick viewing and access. 

For the new design, the dash was built out of Nida-Core and then Hydro-Dipped.  This is the color and design you see.  We dipped the throttle assembly to match.  It is clear coated, like a car, so now it just gets waxed once a year.

To make the upgrade properly, all of the old wiring was removed before new wiring went in.  Wouldn't want to be one of those boaters who leaves the old mess and just adds to it.

  The chartplotter is a 9" display, but I left room for a larger one if desired.

Been Awhile

Hello to anyone who is still registered to our blog.  With Yammy using Facebook, we dropped from the blogging world.

We are back because we are looking to sell S/V Yasmine Ann.  Being so successful with Yumsuch, we thought we would first start posting here. 

If anyone is still watching, we will be posting some selling information, upgrades, pictures and videos as time goes by.

Feel free to contact us if you are interested.

Stay safe and virus free!

 

                                                              Our Marathon Home

 

Miami Boat Show

In the last blog, I promised to share with you our pick of the boat show lineup. 

We are winding down here in Marathon.  Plan to haul the boat on the 29th to do the bottom.  That will be up in Cape Canaveral, so we'll start heading that way the end of next week. 

Because of our remodel, our taste keep changing in what we would want in a boat.  Yammy was actually mad at me when I was looking at other boats.  She said I finally gave her what she wants, so why are we even looking.  I guess if we win the lottery, we need to keep abreast of what's on the market. 

Yammy's pick:  Privilege 5 Series.  It is a 50' with a large salon and master suite.  I didn't like the 5'2" draft, but everything else they said they could modify to my liking.  Just have to fork over $1.6M.

My pick of new catamarans was the Balance 526.  This was the company that designed boats based on what cruising couple said they needed in a catamaran.  The 45 was a disaster, but this larger platform gave them the room they needed to create a masterpiece.  No changes needed for me at the $1.2M price tag.

 
Our broker friend, Peter (Catamaran Company), has been wanting me to see a used catamaran that has been on the market for awhile.  It is a 55' Dix Harvey hybrid boat.  Built like a gunboat and extremely roomy.  It was there at the show and we had a chance to board it.  I liked it, but Yammy did not.  $1M takes it away.

 

 



    A dollar and a dream.

Strange Weather Everywhere

Still here in Marathon.  The winter to remember as we started by setting record high temperatures, now we ware setting records in consecutive low temperature days and record rainfalls for December, January and February. 

I just got back from traveling to PA, NJ and NH.  The first day saw 60F, then it dropped to the 30's and snowed.  At my office in PA, it is back up to the 60's, but a snowstorm is expected by the end of the week.

We did get to sail to Miami for the boat show this year.  It was challenging sailing with cold temps and high winds.  In Biscayne Bay we saw 35 knot wind gusts with sustained winds of 25-28 knots.  First time reefing the main, we were able to point to 35 degrees in that blow and only have 8 degree leeway.  During the wind gusts, we were actually breaking 9 knots.  A fellow Lagoon 410 owner could not point high enough and had to motor the 25 miles up the bay.  Thank you again Haarstick Sailmakers!

Learned more about the boat on the way back.  The winds were expected to be high again and out of the SE.  That would make the Hawk Channel rough for anchoring overnight, so we took the inside route for the first time.  We actually enjoyed it.  It reminded us of sailing on the Indian River, but with a few narrower channels.

On the second day, the wind was blowing a steady 30-32knots with gusts up to 42 knots.  We sailed with just a single reefed main from 60 degrees to 120 degrees and making in the 7 knot area.  With all of the lobster and crab traps, we had to hand steer most the day.  Usually there is no feel to the helm and impossible to keep a steady track, but with the weather helm (which I didn't know cats could get), from the unbalanced sail plan, we effectively steered all day. 

The other thing was that sterns squatted every time the wind gusted up.  It felt like the equivalent of pushing the throttles forward and having the bows rise from the prop thrust.  What this created was a standing wake that was big enough to actually touch the bottom of the dinghy.  Because of this phenomenon, no matter how high the wind gusted to, we could not get above 7.5 knots.  We sailed the same speeds whether the wind was blowing 30 or 40 knots.  This is below 90 degrees.  Something new to ponder.    

I'll talk about our boat picks, from the show, in the next post.  



   

 Sailing through one of the narrow cuts on our first day on the inside (Jewfish Creek).  Freaked out many of the fishermen anchored along each side.  They were staying in here to hide from the high winds.     

 All to common site in Florida.  Someone's dream just rotting away on a shoal.

 Never saw a flock of cormorants before.  They were all sitting in a long line on the water before I stirred them up.  

Sunset at Tarpon Basin in Key Largo.