This shows a battery that is very low in voltage, about 11.5 vdc… barely enough to start the engine.

Alternator brings about 25 amps of current into the system (orange line) and the battery’s voltage starts to recover (blue line).

Here I turn off the engine, and the battery’s voltage falls right away. That is not supposed to happen. So, then I turned on the boat’s charger. This battery is no longer able to store any energy. ((Even though all its cells are flooded and test fine with a hydrometer.))

Underway, normal operations like using the bow thruster, were causing all the electronics to reboot or turn off due to the extreme voltage drop. (A 25A alternator is not enough to power a bow thruster. Its job is to charge a batter that CAN power the thruster.)

It got fixed today!

I used a 4x mechanical advantage block and tackle to get the 140 pound 8D starboard battery out of the engine room. Dockmate, Bobby helped me get it off the boat and into the car for return. A “bank” of medium sized G31 batteries will replace this one large one. They are much easier to work with and give increased capacity combined than the single large 8D.

140 pound 8D battery lifted out of engine room with block and tackle.

Nick came by to help us with a bunch. See new tank level monitor system.

We also got this weatherproof USB receptacle installed on the radar mast for cameras.

Below is some output from our new battery monitoring system:

I’m getting good at this!

Thanks to Steve Romano for a healthy 140′ length of 8-Plait anchor line! It is now spliced to our 50′ old 3/8″ chain which together will be rode for our #2 storm anchor. Excellent backup! It all fits nicely into this milk crate… ready if needed. (8-Plait takes up half the storage space of similarly sized 3-strand laid rope.)

Also, our mechanic has finished his list, so we no longer have to “stay out of his way”.

Things are going to start happening now! I plan to actually work from the boat today!

Dock mate Steve Romano inspects the dinghy davit actually holding up the dinghy for the first time.

Wyze CAM v3 cameras have CMOS Starlight sensors for remarkable color night vision, and they can be toggled to IR (infrared mode). They are also weatherproof.

An iPad at the helm will help me see traffic in back of us… likely overtaking us on one side or the other. At night these cameras see a lot more than we can! They record “events” differentiating PEOPLE as opposed to ALL motion types. Afterall, things are always moving on a boat; we only want to be notified if people come aboard.

a “dark” boat last night, as seen when we got back home!

Earlier last evening:

Dez, Shell, Chelsea, Nick, and I enjoy a meal captured by a new Wyze CAM v3.

When you visit Shellerina we can give you access to our own WiFi Access Point. What is the SSID?

Shellerina of course!

Pictured here are the guts: two MiMo vertical antennas and a Pepwave dual-modem CAT 12 router. Two SIM cards: VZW and T-Mobile.

The smaller ‘black box’ is the Pepwave router. The rabbit ears are WiFi paddle antennas for you to connect to, to gain access to the boat’s network. This wireless network has been operable at our home since Christmas when Santa delivered it. But it is now deployed on the boat where it was intended.

Also visible in the antenna pic is our new radar doppler scanner, Raymarine Quantum2.

The larger black box in the second pic is an Icom 7100 amateur radio and SSB Marine HF radio. (More on that later.)

Ray has never skippered a vessel with radar… always wanted to learn about it! Santa fit one down the chimney last December, and with Nick and Bobby’s help, we finally got it working today!

Lots of clutter / echos here at the marina; we will learn more about it underway!

Dez, Nick, (and Mr Miagi) are doing the “wax on – wax off” thing this weekend! Our mechanic, Gerry is also going at his long list for the generator and main engine… readying them for a big season.