The World Cruise of Veleda IV

Battery troubles
Battery Troubles

On July 30, 1998, we returned to Veleda, having been away from the boat for five days when we originally planned for two or three. However, we got a lot done in Toronto. It is very difficult to wrap up life in a home and familiar city and to take off in a sailboat for an indefinite time with no requirement to ever return there to live. We dropped down to the THSC and posted a picture of us receiving the long distant award from the GLCC in Gore Bay. It was a busy time organizing our affairs and cleaning up a little bit of all the things we left at Judy's parents. We really appreciated their support even though we know they have reservations about our odyssey, particularly the planned ocean crossing in May of 1999. Our thanks and appreciation go out to them.

When we returned to Veleda, the batteries were almost flat, as we had left on the refrigeration, and there was no wind in that sheltered inlet to turn our wind generator. However, our start battery is on a separate circuit, and we were able to start the engine with no problem, and within two and a half hours, the four 6-volt golf cart batteries were up to almost full charge. We are quite happy with the electrical systems we installed. The wind generator does not make much noise and usually keeps the batteries charged up when under sail or at anchor. This year, for the first time, we leave our refrigeration on all the time - 24 hours a day - whereas before we would have to turn it off when under sail or at anchor. Now we can keep foods frozen, and even make ice cubes for a cold refreshing drink after a long day's sail.

We appreciated the assistance of Ocean Marine in Toronto in re-working our electrical system. We did the work, but they provided the equipment and advice. To summarize what we did, the major changes from our previous system included: 

- replacing the original household wiring with marine grade wiring

- increasing the number of DC circuits from 12 to 20 so as to have fewer demands on each circuit 

- replacing the household AC box with a marine grade AC Master panel with an AC master breaker, reversed polarity indicator and four breaker switches (two for AC outlets port and starboard, one for the battery charger and one for the hot water heater) 

- installing an Air Marine wind generator from Southwest Wind power Inc. of Flagstaff Arizona. This unit is very quiet, emitting only a soft hum in about 15 knots of wind. It starts charging at 6 to 7 knots of wind. At 10 knots it puts out about 20 watts, at 15 knots, it puts out 50 watts, at 20 knots it puts out 140 watts, and its rated power is 300 watts

 - replacing our two 12 volt "deep cycle" car-type batteries with four 6 volt golf cart batteries ( two pairs of 6 volts in series making 12 volts which were then hooked up in parallel ) To our knowledge these are very deep cycle batteries, but each 6 volt battery is small enough for Judy to pick up! We were also able to install them on a platform constructed below the main cabin sole on top of the keel bolts, so they are low and central. They are working very well. 

- using one of our old deep cycle 12 volt batteries as a start battery

- replacing our car battery charger with a 30 amp marine charger 

- replacing the standard alternator on our brand new engine with a 100 amp alternator ( the only thing we had Ocean Marine do for us as we did not trust our technical knowledge to hook it up). 

- installing an "echo charger" to charge both our start battery and our golf cart batteries, but keep them on separate circuits so our start battery will never be depleted by accident. 

- installing an "alpha regulator" to assist our "100 amp alternator" to achieve a three stage charging system with a longer high charge rate, a prolonged intermediate "acceptance" charge rate, and then a float charge rate to maintain it. This system enabled our engine to virtually fully charge our flat batteries in only two and a half hours of engine fast idle! 

- and my favourite toy, a Link 10 E meter that displays volts, amps, amp hours and Time of Operation Remaining. It actually works! I know exactly the state of my batteries.

These upgrades were not inexpensive, but we feel they were worth it as we have had no problems with our electrical system whatever. The wind generator works well, keeping us charged up, even though we have been at anchor for over a week at a time without shore power or engine power ( and refrigeration on all the time ). Incidentally, we blew in a lot of insulation around our refrigerator too. We hope this will pay off when we are in Caribbean waters. At the time of writing this (Oct. 3, 1998) we have been sailing for three months, and are very satisfied with our electrical system. Previously, on our two to six week holidays, we would find our system dimming down,  especially after some night sailing or more than one day of anchoring. We always had to turn off the refrigeration when not under power or hooked up to shore power. Now, we can leave everything running all the time, and use our lights and tape deck, as well as a small inverter to charge up our hand held VHF, operate a 110 volt light, charge up our lap top computer, and even charge up our electric tooth brush ( Judy being a dentist and all that ).

So, all is well with our systems so far, except for a broken bearing in our roller furling system, but more about that later.

Editor's Note:
There is a gap in the narrative at this point, as we jump from here to the entrance to the Chicago River. We hope to obtain the missing logs of the cruise through Lakes Superior and Michigan in due course.

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