Goings-on

[Eddie Offermann]

Boat Show
Went to the LA boat show in Marina Del Rey a couple weekends ago to check out current doodads and gewgaws on recent boats. Love the newer pushbutton locker latches that pop out and become handles when unlocked. So Nice is getting some of those!

Also pleased to see that some of my 'original' ideas for handling airflow in storage lockers and such have been embraced on a few the boats we saw.

Was amused at how crappy the build quality seems on even very nice Beneteaus... Pretty to look at - do not want to sail them. They don't seem like they'll look as good as So Nice does when they're 50 years old.

Was inspired to provide for an intercom system. Probably actually accomplishing this by adding more units to the couple digital motorola walkies I have. We already use a pair to communicate fore-and-aft while navigating the marina (I have someone take a walkie and stand watch on the foredeck to warn me of hard to see traffic like kayakers and paddleboarders or oncoming smaller vessels from side channels) - and whether it's due to engine noise or wind, it's typically impossible for someone in the cockpit to talk to someone down below right now. Even just in the doghouse can be a challenge if the aft window is closed. Adding a charging station near the galley would help keep one down below that could be left on while underway.

Electrical
I've pretty much decided to abandon propane altogether except for outdoor grilling. This year's major electrical upgrade will probably include an all electric range - ceramic top and convection oven. Working out the electrical budget with my battery bank (currently at 2 8D batteries plus an independent starter bank, may be going to three 8Ds for house power) and charging capacity it seems like a very solid tradeoff. We're putting massive amounts of solar on board, as well as supplemental wind generation, and it makes sense to say "goodbye" to propane except for a small backup supply for grilling. I'd rather run diesel to top off if necessary.

After trying out RGB LED strip lighting last year, we're big fans. It's gorgeous - being able to change the color of your lighting and turn it on/off with a remote is fantastic. Doing this throughout the interior - Going with sealed strips intended for underwater installation as the unsealed didn't like the marine environment even inside the boat. Stuff gets damp! Condensation, leaks from porthole windows not tightly shut, etc., are unavoidable. These will get added underneath the grabrails over the storage bins in the lower cabin, in the galley, and underneath the overhang from the doghouse in the cockpit with a piece of moulding added so that they light the aft wall of the doghouse and the cockpit floor but are blocked from direct view at the helm.

Central to the electrical redesign concept is that I'm running very heavy duty supply feeds forward along both sides of the boat - capable of delivering far more power than will likely be needed - and providing breakout boxes along the way with their own breakers. It's never made sense to me that the breakers for the galley are underneath a bench in the doghouse on my boat. Troubleshooting power problems is made much easier if it's easy to determine exactly where the problem is and there aren't a dozen connections running forward independently. At the same time, I'm running wire bundles of lower diameter color-coded 'signal' wire while I run power. I want independent bilge alarms, fire detection, etc. eventually and running wire for them now will make that a lot easier later.

Remodel
The cockpit remodel is a go. Hopefully early summer. Connecting the side storage benches to the Cleopatra, deepening them, and moving hatches to the top instead of fronts (and making them all nice, watertight-sealed hatches). Intending to add a sink and possibly a small fridge or icemaker to the cockpit.

And yep! I'm still around! Haven't been updating much here - been super busy with work and weather has been too poor to do much work on the boat - but we're getting back to it!