A good sign, kids! I’m starting to haul stuff back aboard. You know, the kind of stuff that makes a home comfortable and a boat seaworthy?

Varnishing in the pilothouse, hallway down below and galley is DONE, although I’m still working on the stateroom and a few finishing touches in the head.

A few pics to give you the idea:

The inside helm has a wheel again! 

Mundane essentials (especially in the Sunshine State!) include cleaning, repairing and hanging curtain rods. Curtains are cleaned and stand ready to be rehung.

Last time we had these babies dry-cleaned, the sting was in the neighborhood of two hundred bucks! Those damn pleats will get you every time!

We really enjoy listening to music, especially some of the jazz and classic soft rock stations on the satellite radio (part of the Garmin instrument suite).

I had previously installed cockpit speakers, from which we derive great enjoyment, but had none inside, so that was on the list.

First order of business – routing and connecting another pair of speaker wires…

Now THAT’s done…

Next, disassemble speakers and bolt to the bulkhead from inside.

No really good place for surface-mounted speakers in a boat, and I’m tired of cutting holes, the likes of which that would be required for surface-mount speakers, so bolt-ons it is!

Besides, these’ll be more easily removed and replaced as technology, tastes and financial priorities change…

And of course, what can beat the warm glow of all the essential bronze wall accoutrements (all now highly repolished, of course)!

The less glamorous side of the pic above – the countless hours of removing, polishing and reinstalling all the bits of hardware that contribute to the overall effect of a ship in Bristol condition.

One of my many polishing stations is our living room. For example, beside the screen door hinges near the top of this photo, the other stuff is hardware from the pilothouse sole (floor) used to lift the hinged hatches to the holy place (engine room) below.

Before polishing these silicone bronze (the best!) fittings, I had to take them to the wire wheel on my grinder in the garage to get the old badly-bruised lacquer coating and green patina off these babies before “Flitzing” (metal polish) them in front of the TV!

Also had a marine electrician aboard yesterday to analyze my charging systems and provide advice and counsel on upgrades. He’ll return in a week or so to install those upgrades.

For example, I had it in my mind that I wanted a dedicated starting battery, and a second alternator to charge that battery. This would have meant moving my high output alternator from the port side to the starboard side of the engine, mounted on a new $200 platform and requiring new wiring before adding a new smaller alternator to the starboard side for charging the new starting battery.

I also wanted to combine my two banks of deep cycle house batteries into a single bank.

Tommy from Gulf Coast Marine (also an authorized Northern Lights/Lugger generator service center! Finally! More on this later), prefers the “keep it simple and reliable” approach over excessive redundancy and automation.

I guess if I’m going to throw my lot in with a local expert, I might as well buy into his intuitively-appealing philosophy as well!

So Tommy says “Why not just wire the house banks to position ‘1′ on your existing (expensive) big battery selector switch, the (new) starting battery to position ‘2′, and let your existing very good alternator and shoreside charger charge all the batteries?

Then, the only time I’d switch this rewired configuration out of the ‘both’ position of this switch is when we’re at anchor and wish to isolate the starting battery so as to only draw down the deep cycle house banks for the ship’s operation (refrigerator, cabin and anchor lights, etc.).

Elegant in its simplicity, is it not?

Tommy said he could automate that switching out of the starting battery with a solenoid if I really wanted that “bell/whistle”, when only house banks are desired, “but that’s just one more thing to go wrong, Sir!”, so sayeth Tommy. OK, lets do it!

He’ll also wire one additional (big honkin’) switch in the engine room to cut all electrical power to the engine, only to be used when someone is down there working on the engine. This would still allow 12VDC power to the rest of the ship, but provide a measure of safety for the mechanic (or yours truly).

Since Tommy is also a generator guy, and specializes in our brand (Dale, you’ll find this interesting), I described the (relatively little-used) generator’s history, including work that Dale Holst had done for us in Minnesota, and there was a disturbing “back-fire” only on start-up, after which it ran smoothly.

He crawled down into the storage hold where the genset is located, so as to be up close and personal with “Little White” (as opposed to “Big Red” in the engine room ) while I fired it up.

He had me shut it down and start it and run it repeatedly, after which Tommy declared, “this baby is perfect! What’s happening is that the rubber engine mounts are allowing the motor to bump into the rather tightly-fitting sound enclosure on start-up, and after that, smooth as silk!). THAT saved us what we thought might evolve into a a few thousand dollar repair!

Tommy definitively answered many other questions I had, including the following:

1. Are zincs on the outside of the hull that are not tied into the bonding system doing any good, as they don’t seem to wear down as fast as those that are bonded? Answer: yes, they’re providing protection, but only to that to which they are electrically connected. For example, the rudder zincs are only protecting the rudder. The others are all protecting the metal in and on the entire boat, which is why they all wear out faster.
2. Do I have a functioning zinc saver that provides galvanic isolation from a known hot shore-power problem in our marina? Answer: apparently not as it should be (a) installed right where the shorepower lines come into the boat, and (b), if I’m going through zincs every three months, more protection is required in any event, so a new galvanic isolator is on the to-do list.
3. Should we be considering a battery combiner? Answer: Tommy doesn’t like these, even though functionally, it automatically allows batteries that have been electronically “combined” until charge is complete, at which point, the combiner has solenoids that prevent one battery from drawing down others if possessing unequal charges. The best combiner is to use similar batteries (all lead acid) and the best isolator is a physical switch. So be it.
4.  Will I still be able to use the house banks to start the engine in the event that the starting battery is not able to do so? Answer: Yes. Just put the battery switch to position ‘2′ to put the house banks online and hit the start button on the engine. Simple, right?
5. While connected to shore power or running the generator, should I always have my house charger on? Answer: Yes. The batteries will only take what they need, and you still have the smartest charger on the market (Heart Freedom 20 with Link 2000R smart regulator option) even though it’s fifteen years old. This also ensures the batteries are always topped off. Then, when you’re cruising, if you’re only charging up to 80 or 85 percent, getting back to a dock (once every week or two) will be sufficient to keep your batteries “in the zone”.
6. Why do the lights on my Heart Interface remote panel flash erratically whenever I use the electric flush option on my toilet, which I installed in 2003? Answer: It would appear that I had installed the negative wire on the battery side of the shunt (which is the voltage/current sensing device associated with the Heart Interface. Move that black wire to the load side of the shunt, and that should do it. In any event, Tommy doubts seriously that this is doing any damage. Not knowing that, we ‘ve been manually flushing that darn toilet for four years, scared we’d fry our inverter/charger interface! Sheesh. Thanks, Tommy! We’ll see.
7. Why does the air conditioner sound funny when powered from the generator (different than when on shore power). Tommy’s response: “Do you know if the genset is putting out 60 Hertz and 120VAC? Does the air conditioner work? If so, run the damn thing, and stop worrying, Sir!”. Got it!
8. Why does battery bank 2  continue to float up on the interface to the tune of ~1 amp-hour every hour or two, but as soon as I put a load on it, right back down to zero (when fully charged)? Tommy says, “Don’t worry so much, Sir, it’s fine.” Again, got it.
9.  Do I need dual pulleys if I want to charge at the recommended maximum of 80% of my 130A alternator (104A)? Nope, just keep the belt good and tight. Try it. If you don’t like what you’re seeing or hearing, dial that sucker back to what you’re comfortable with. When you’re cruising, the only time you really need high output is if you’re only running your engine for brief periods and not running your generator for long periods of time. For your intended primary type of cruising (longer days under power (and possibly sail) followed by longer periods at anchorage where you’ll charge your house with your generator), you really are wasting your money with a(nother) higher output alternator, and at 100A, a single pulley is all that’s required. Watch your water pump. If it develops a leak (due to excessive side force), you can always consider dual pulleys/belts. If your banks are WAY down, and your belt starts to squeal, even though it’s tight (less than 1/2″ play in the longest run of the belt), you can always dial alternator output down using your Heart remote panel. Again, try it before writing out a bunch of big checks!

Best couple hundred bucks I ever spent! Once and for all, rid us of some old knawing questions that nobody else could answer definitively.

All the other stuff (zinc saver, battery (Deka 4D), wiring, install, test, etc., that Tommy recommends will be a couple thousand, but will yield far greater piece of mind!

Cool beans, huh kids!?

Lator, ‘gators.