During our hiatus, Maerin underwent some maintenance, refit and some upgrades of some systems. The maintenance on a cruising vessel is never ending; as the old saw goes, cruising is repairing the boat in exotic places. Since we planned the time away from cruising, we wanted to take advantage of not living on the boat full-time. Projects that required extended down time or having parts of the boat dismantled for any length of time could be completed unhurried with less concern for maintaining organized living accommodations. Maerin spent last winter on the hard, so hull maintenance was planned as well. For those readers who may be interested, you’ll find a list of those things below with some links to corresponding photos in the gallery.
Hull – winter layup
- Remove anchor chain & the Rocna® anchor, transport to South Atlantic Galvanizing in Ashland, VA to be stripped and re-galvanized.
- Re-glass some minor cracks in rudder surface, fair & prime.
- Sand hull, apply 2 coats of bottom paint.
- Remove stabilizer fins, replace seals and bearings, re-assemble.
- Clean prop & apply PropSpeed® anti-fouling primer & coating.
- Replace thruster shaft seals.
- Clean keel cooler grid, replace zincs on thruster, keel cooler, transom.
- Rebuild hinges on boarding gates: epoxy new stainless backing plates, re-glass, fair, paint & re-install.
- Purchase “Flopper Stopper” Roll-X stabilizer, rig to mast & hull, fabricate storage brackets for “fish”. This device reduces roll at anchor by about 50% or more.
- Stripped and refinished running light/nameboards, applied new vinyl name decals, replaced light fixtures.
Engine/Electrical
- Replace timing gear cover gasket, replace front crank seal.
- Remove / rebuild leaking water lift muffler: grind off damaged fiberglass & complete re-laminate with high-temp epoxy, replace inlet pipe, overcoat with West System epoxy, re-install. Reconfigure high temp sensor & replace sending unit.
- Reconfigure engine room ventilation, improve heat removal while under way, added a ventilation system to the commissary where the inverters live to reduce some heat buildup.
- Add 2nd alternator, 250 amp Zena heavy duty with remote rectifier bridge. This is in addition to the existing 140 A Amptech alternator mounted in the OEM Cummins location. There is no “stock” mount for a 2nd unit, so one had to be created. The 2nd alternator brings the charging capacity to about 375 amps total, and more appropriate for the 1200 amp hour AGM battery bank than the single 140A unit that simply couldn’t keep up.
- Design custom engine mounting bracket & have fabricated, re-route serpentine belt, modify belt guard, install cabling & fusing for power leads to house bank.
- Install Balmar® dual “smart” regulator to control alternators.
- Relocate expansion tank & related coolant plumbing.
- The new setup will now charge the bank and still provide ample power for both 12VDC as well as inverter loads while underway. We’re making full use of that increased capacity running an electric heater in the pilothouse while under way to keep the December chill at bay!
Electronics
- Replace damaged navigation electronics with new Furuno NavNet chartplotters & radar.
- Replace old Raymarine Pathfinder radar dome with Furuno 3.5′ open array scanner.
- Design & fabricate custom radar mast mount, powder coat assembly and spreader bars.
- Redesign pilothouse helm, repair damage from break-in, fabricate custom dash and hinged mounting panel.
- Replace old nav computer with new mini-ITX 12VDC computer with solid state hard drive, new 19″ display.
- Re-wire of nav networking, added Furuno NavNet networking.
- Replace cellular antenna & amp with a Wilson multi-band antenna & Sleek 4G amplifier. Enables use of 4G modem in conjunction with our existing Cradlepoint WiFi/3G/4G wireless router, providing internet for all the WiFi devices on board.
Accommodations/Domestic systems
- Replace leaking water heater.
- Disable master head bathtub, install custom cabinetry to convert the space to storage. Kept the modifications reversible- non destructive – so a future owner can return the space to the OEM bathtub configuration if desired.
- Remove galley built-in freezer box, completely rebuild using vacuum insulated panels, improving insulation R-values by a factor of 4-5, while increasing useable volume of freezer box by about 25%. A major project that was completed working through the existing counter opening to preserve the countertops and existing hatch opening. Original insulation had become compromised, and had become saturated with condensate moisture. The Frigoboat keel cooled evaporator system was re-installed. Will reduce our at-anchor power consumption significantly.
- Converted about 80% of the G4 halogen interior lighting to LED’s. The LED’s are from MarineBeam, and incorporate a self-regulating voltage supply for exceptionally long life. The color match, a frequent complaint with LED conversions, is indistinguishable from adjacent halogen bulbs. Will reduce our at-anchor power consumption by a conservative estimate of 15-25%.
- New carpet & runners to replace worn material. Very homey!
- A special “hats-off” to Ray Book who completed the cabinetry in the head and at the helm in addition to helping with the panel fabrication for the freezer mods. Ray is the consummate craftsman, measure twice, cut once! It all just fits into place perfectly.
- New canvas- dinghy cover, flybridge helm cover, caprail covers, winch covers, new windshield sunscreens.
