18 September 2006: Well, I guess this isn't too
bad.
Julie and I have been living
on the
boat for the past week and a half, all
snug in our San Pedro slip. After a few bad days adjusting, she
is getting
to like it. I don't know what you have to do to get your wives on
your
boats. We had to have the inside of the house painted.
Julie has
compromised pulmonary function and the dust got to her. So we
camped out
on the boat which is on the upwind side of the LA harbor.
Now there
is a lot of distance between what you need for a day sail and what
you need to make a woman happy, especially one who is fussy and can't
breathe or walk well. I'm on the second iteration of boarding
steps, which seems to have
resolved most of those issues. Then the boat had no 120 volt
power or
functional battery charger. While a couple of extension cords
would have
worked for most people, I have modified the area under the port salon
settee to take
two pair of golf cart batteries with a 1500 watt Costco inverter close
by.
I put a trusty Newmar 30 amp ferroresonant charger below the alcohol
stove and
in back of some cabinets. Who wants a battery charger taking up
valuable
lazarette room? Anyway, we have lots of power to run a microwave
and a
blender. I appreciate the difference between a new three-stage
whiz-bang
charger and an old ferroresonant. For my application, my boat,
I'll take
the simplicity and robustness of a ferroresonant with a stainless
chassis.
I'm still trying to figure out whether complex charging algorithms buy
you
anything but slightly faster charging. The way I see it, any
way you get the electrolyte to 1.25+ is ok.
[January 2008: I
finally get why people abandon ferroresonant chargers.
A modern
multi-stage charger that recovers your batteries quickly yet does not
"gas" water out of the battery is a must. The trusty
ferroresonant charger is no longer aboard my boat. In it's place
is a
ProMariner 20 amp, three stage charger.]
I'm reading "Living
on 12 volts" and the other
Ample Power stuff
and find it quite sensible even now. I think I'm going to publish
a
commentary, however, to point out where the argument becomes
hocus-pocus
polemic, which it does often enough.
I started out fine-tuning
sails and
have made a timely switch in emphasis to
creature comforts. The head works well. There's a nice
solar vent
fan in the head compartment and fluorescent lights popping up all
over. I
used to dislike fluorescents because of the color. I have learned
to
forgive them because of their efficiency. Its a lot of light for
the
watt. LEDs just aren't practical for area lighting at this point,
besides
the incredible expense. Also in favor of the fluorescents, a
customer decided to replace all of his "old" fixtures with bright,
shiny
new ones. So these old ones were essentially free.