Advice/Opinions on this boat please

[bargemast]

Congratulation with your accepted offer, if the survey works out good, you've got yourself a lovely boat.

 

Enjoy,

 

Peter.

[Athy]

Update!!!!!

 

Thanks for all you help/advice/comments/suggestions etc. etc.

 

This afternoon I made a lower than asking price offer............. and it was accepted

 

 

 

YUBBA DUBBA DOO!

See you on the water...

[cuthound]

Hope it all works out for you, it is a very good looking boat.

As to surveyors I can recommend Craig Allen, he did the survey when we bought our boat http://craig-allen-marine.co.uk/

Another vote for Craig Allen. He is very thorough and includes a new BSS inspection in his price.

 

Make sure you are there for the survey and Craig will show you how everything works as well as explaining his survey findings in detail.

[cuthound]

the alternator is 60A with 5 leisures 125Ah and engine starter 110Ah

 

there is and I quote a "victron 120A charger/invertor in multi-stage automatic operation when landline connected, engine & cabin batteries are separated by a relay to avoid flattenning the engine battery"

 

means nothing to a numpty such as I

Twin alternators are very common on newer boats. Indeed many marinised digger engines come with them as standard.

 

The Victron is a good piece of kit, probably the second best on the market after Master volt, although ex-member Loafer would disagree as somehow he managed to blow two of them up.

 

You have a massive domestic battery at 625Ah in total. A battery ofvthst size will need a large alternator to get it charged in a reasonable amount of time.

 

Study the forum for information on how to look after batteries.

 

Basically never discharge them below 50% of their capacity (around 12.2 volts off load for "wet" lead acids) and charge them to at least 80% (12.4 volts) if used every day and 100% weekly. The last 20% typically takes 6-12 hours to put back.

 

DO NOT BELIEVE THE % CHARGED METER. They lie. Always use off load battery voltage to determine state of charge.

 

If you cruise for 6 hours per day you should easily archive this. If the boat is kept in a marina on a land line then it will always reach 100% charge.

 

Edited to add advice about the % charge meter.

Edited October 4, 2016 by cuthound

[Ex-Member]

What do you call large from what alan-fincher say's my 60A is on the low side,,,,,,am I to assume once connected to a land line the vcitron charger will ensure a quicker charge, that so when we are out n about with no services would a generator be useful to power the victron/batteries rather than relaying on the engine to?

[john6767]

What do you call large from what alan-fincher say's my 60A is on the low side,,,,,,am I to assume once connected to a land line the vcitron charger will ensure a quicker charge, that so when we are out n about with no services would a generator be useful to power the victron/batteries rather than relaying on the engine to?

You only need to put back into the batteries what you take out (plus inefficiencies), so a lot will depend on the type of use that you put the boat to. For example sitting on one spot for a number of days and running the engine for battery charging (plus hot water), is different to leisure use where you are cruising 6 hours per day and the batteries naturally get charged up while you are cruising. I would say you need to see how you use the boat an how it works out before buying a generator.

[cuthound]

My boat has a Beta 43 fitred as standard with two alternators, a 70 amp one feeding the starter battery and a 175 amp one feeding the leisure batteries.

 

I have 660Ah of leisure battery capacity, so similar to yours.

 

The Victron will not necessarily ensure a quicker charge, but once connected to a landline will charge it efficiently over a period of time and then maintain it in a fully charged condition.

 

When a battery is substantially discharged, it will accept a very large current. 175 amps from the alternator, or 120 amps from my 3000kVA Victron Combi in my case. This is known as the "bulk phase" of the charging.

 

As the battery begins to charge, it cannot take such a large current, so draws less. On the Victron Combi the charge voltage is reduced a bit. This is known as the "absorption phase".

 

As it accepts more charge, the current further reduces and eventually is pretty much charged. The Victron Combi further reduces it's voltage to allow a small current to flow into the batteries, just enough to keep it fully charged. This is known as the "float phase".

 

Several parameters determine when the Victron Combi moves from one phase to another and are user adjustable. However until you get used to your Victron Combi and battery charging it is probably best to leave the setting alone. A forum search will provide suggested settings when you are more familiar with your set up.

 

A generator is only useful if when out and about you don't do enough cruising to fully charge your batteries. This will depend on your usage of the boat, so I would wait and see if you cruise enough to keep the batteries charged. If you don't, then either buy a generator, or run the engine whilst moored to charge the batteries. (But only between 08:00 and 20:00 in order to comply with the rules and avoid upsetting your neighbours).

[Ssscrudddy]

I recommend ian Jennings for a surveyor. Tel 07828100418.

I wasn't too impressed with Trevor Whitling, last time I said why my post was deleted.

[Lysander]

Another vote for Ian Jennings.

[Ssscrudddy]

& congratz on you're new boat

[Ex-Member]

Once again thank you one and all, it really has helped to have others to bounce off.

 

We are not gong to pick any more brains, for now anyways, we will find out sooner or later what she can do and hopefully if we do not expect too much from her it will be bon voyage.

 

If you see us out and about say hello, I think we will be based around the Crick/Nhants area for the first year.

 

Ian & Paul

[Sea Dog]

We are not gong to pick any more brains, for now anyways...

Hold on a minute there, Numpty! Your time for picking brains had just begun in earnest!