New charger with Sterling Power

The old charger died a slow death and the need fore a new one occurred. The old where a Tystor black one. It started to overheat and smell of "burnt" electronics. The hunt was on fore a new one and after a big search through the market (Mastervolt, Ctec, Victron etc)  where the conclusion that it should be Sterling Pro Charge Ultra Battery Charger 12 volt / 30 Amp. It won a couple of big test (See the link) and it can  start charging from a shore power supply of only 105 volts. And a very good article on the choices in choosing a new charger here: ChargingIt: Not All Battery Chargers are Created Equal. Another very important feature is its super quiet compared to a Tystor and has no problem living in a cupboard.

The new charger Sterling Pro 12 volt/ 30 amp. Charger.

Still a small job to do with cleaning up the cable and strapping it down. Now a cable runs to every single battery 2 x 105 amp consumer  batt. and 1 x 60 amp starter batt. Enough to run the ship at anchor with instruments, lighting and fridge for 3 days 247. I sailed alone with all instruments on and sailling only by autopilot and the voltage did not run under 12 volt in 33 hours.

The old Tystor charger.

Raymarine Autopilot

Project of upgrading the boat with internally autopilot has proven a great success but it was hard work!!  There  is a lot of work is in tight spaces behind the cockpit. There is some hard work in modifying the rudder shaft to hold the tiller lever arm. The rudder has to come off, the rudder well has to be cut and the top rudder bering welded in place. A reflexion if I where to do it again i would chance the rudder bearings to new during this procces, All in all i used 30 hours off work time, with a lot of help from friends and about 10 to 20 different work prosses. Deffently the hardest work i have done on the boat to date.

The system where tested with great succes again during this summer'14 and the Silverrudder singlehand race. The system funktion best with a low response rate. I use 2 both in wind mode and compas mode. This system is the S1G with the Gyroplus II this gives a good and strong response to waves.

Illustration of placemnet of autopilot drive motor components. 

1) Ruddershaft with tiller lever from Jefa. The rudder wheel has to be cut in order to mount the arm on the shaft.

2) Shelf for mounting the rudder position sensor.

3) Shelf for mounting the drive unit - Raymarine type 1.

Princepel sketch of aligning the autopilot drive to the rudder shaft.

1) Placement on the rudder shaft is critical to correct function of the autopilot. But on a Bianca Lido there aren't enough room to fit The Raymarine type 1 drive according to the manual. You have to make adjustments: 1. Angle of attachment/ attack of  tiller lever. 2. Move the drive point of attachment in from 250 mm. to 200 mm (check Jefa site for details) 3. Place the drive according to that.  4. All of this has to be done due to fit the autopilot drive with the boats original rudder stops.

2) Drive must be placed at the end of the space behind the cockpit at an angle to fit the Raymarine drive type 1. MOST IMPORTANT!!!! keep the angle between the tiller lever and drive as close to 90 gr. ass possible otherwise the stroke radius wont work.

Illustration of Raymarine system install on a Bianca Lido.

1) Placement of Raymarine Flux Gate Compas. Just under the seat as far to the centerline of the boat. It works great under sail.

2) Placement for the Raymarine S1 Smartpilot and Raymarine Gyroplus II in the cupboard under the nav station. (se picture)

3) Connecting the Seatalk cable to the other Raymarine instruments wind etc.

4) The drive installation in the room behind the cockpit and cockpit locker.

5) Cables pathway in between drive and smartpilot; seatalk, power, clucth and rudder position sensor.

Raymarine Type 1 drive.

Princip in monting the drive on a shelf.

Cupboard with; Raymarine S1 Smartpilot and Gyroplus II.

Rout off Seatalk cable and power cable in between instruments.

Cables in between drive and Smartpilot etc.

Drive installation. 

Tiller lever ith two connection's; drive and sensor.
Mark the rudder well where cut 300 mm abowe the buttom bearing.

Cable connector for easy service and replacement of autopilot components. 

Navigation station upgrade

The old navstation was due an upgrade. The old one where full of old instruments that weren't working. The swichpanel where outdated. Insula needed new  propper electronics.

What did i do?

I cut out the space where the old instruments where and build a new cabinet door. The door should be so it will be possible to get in behind the instrumnts at all time. No skrews to undue first.

List off new instruments etc:

• SEATEC - Switch Panel, 3/6/9 Series, SEATEC - Switch Panel "SKV-9
• STANDARD HORIZON - VHF DSC Marine Radio GX1600
• Raymarine -  ST60+ Graphic Display
• Blaupunkt - FM radio
• Furono - GP32
• BLUE SEA - Dual USB Charger
• BLLU SEA - Cigarette Lighter Socket and Connector

The old navstation. Notice the old log and wind inst.

The hole panel has been taken out.

The new navstation. including: 9 swich - panel, FMradio, VHF radio, inst. display, GPS, 220v socket, lighter socket and new USB power socket.

Notice the "cut out" and all the inst. placed in the new cabinet door.

Tried to clean up as much cable as possoble.

 220v socket, lighter socket and new USB power socket.

Raymarine ST60+

Exchange project of bad NASA Clipper instruments for something more durable. The system will contain: Depth, Log, Wind and Data display. And it will contain a autopilot system. I will desribe this in a later post.

Upgrading the stereo

I just finished upgrading the stereo with these to great passive speakers from B&O BEOVOX CX 50. They sound great with the old trusty Blaupunkt car stereo. But the y would sound perfekt with a ekstra amplifer. But it will use ekstra power juice an therfore i must forget it for now. I bought the speakers throught danish ebay: www.dba.dk

Speakers before cleaning.

Cleaned and ready for new foam.

the middel/ woffer needed new foam around the cone. Bought them throuhgt a german site: audio-parts.de 

SB side ready.

BB side ready