The seas between Rome and Naples are busy, very busy. The Italians love their motorboats, July and August are probably the not the best times to enjoy remote anchorages. At between 90 and 160 euros per night, marinas are to be avoided too.
We have made the most of it though by slowly travelling South. Patty’s ankle is still not strong enough to do some serious hiking but we have done some longer walks ashore in the last two days. We hope when we reach Pompei in the next week that she will be strong enough to enjoy it. In the mean time, a strict physio regime is being followed..
I have been doing a bit of boat maintenance recently. Lady Cindy has two new solar panels so we no longer have to be careful over consumption. I have replaced the rear water tank bladder, serviced the dinghy outboard, I have also been working on a ships log app I hope to sell commercially.
I am still in Mayon waiting for the wind to be strong enough in the right direction to cross to Sardinia. I moved the boat to a marina for three nights mainly to pick up some spare parts for the dinghy engine and to get a passport exit stamp. Today I moved back to the anchorage.
The dinghy engine has been unreliable since I left the UK. It has suffered from various fuel problems. I have stripped and cleaned the carburettor numerous times and eventually decided a complete rebuild was needed. I did that yesterday with parts i got in Mahon and so far, 🤞 all looks good. She fires on the first pull and doesn’t hesitate on acceleration any more. Next door to the chandlery was a gin distillery so I have stocked up ready for a future tasting session.
The forecast is little to no wind Thursday and Friday but it starts to pick up on Saturday when I hope to start the 50 to 60 hour crossing.
I spent about a week in Motril, it’s a lovely place and a refreshing change from the other Costas towns. The people are friendly, the views of the mountains stunning and I got a lot of boat maintenance done.
First job when I arrived was to got to a local vets to get Dotty a European pet passport. Up till now she has been travelling on a UK issued animal health certificate which has expired. The pet passport allows lifetime travel throughout Europe and simplifies entry into a lot of non EU countries. Dotty is officially a European 🙂
Then boat maintenance started. The most important was to pay somebody to go up the mast to install a new light. It’s a combined navigation and anchor light and led. He was up there for nearly 4 hours, it should have taken 1 hour tops but it was uncomfortable up there so I am sure the problems he had were genuine. I rewired down below and it all works great.
Other jobs included a new stern navigation light, fixing the transom toe rail that broke a few weeks ago, new gearbox oil, new mast steaming light bulb plus a few other minor jobs.
I am now making my way West then North toward Valencia.
We reached A Caruna last week and have been carrying out various repairs, sightseeing, resting etc. We need to stay a few more days but the weather is not looking kind to continue around the corner to head south to Portugal and Gibralter.
While sailing here we had a problem with the main sail halyard and had to switch to a spare, the mast top tricolor navigation light stopped working a few weeks ago too so we have paid for somebody to go up the mast to put in a new halyard and to replace the bulb in the light. The light is still not working so I may need to get the mast wiring replaced or checked. In the mean time we will continue with the motoring nav lights on the bow. Lots of other minor jobs have also been done.
I have been at Chateaux Marina in Brest the last few days waiting for a new Windlass to arrive. DPD tracking says it should be with me today 🤞
Cleaned side name canvas
In the mean time I have been doing some cleaning and maintenance and had a look around the Town and the Naval History museum
I have had two very sad and personal things to deal with. I will decide either later today, or next week how it effects what I do next. I have a 3 day weather window from this afternoon to cross Biscay, if the parcel arrives I may take it. If not, I may move to an anchorage and spend some time reflecting.
The last few days have been tough on both me and the boat. I want to get on but the weather and strong currents around here mean slow progress.
The sail from Guernsey to the French coast went well. It started with good winds which dwindled to nothing and ended in strong winds gusting to 25 knots and passing showers. I found a safe anchorage in the Lee of a small island and have spent two rolly nights here. The strong currents here mean I can only move on the ebb tide, high tide is mid day so cannot move in the mornings at the moment.
I tried to move yesterday but the anchor windlass stopped halfway up. The anchor was not snagged, I could pull the chain. I spent the next couple of hours stripping down the windlass to investigate (missing my chance to move). I found this….
Windlass motor drive shaft sheared
I think the gearbox has jammed and that caused the motor to shear the drive shaft. The winch is old and given the gearbox and motor will need replacing its more economic to replace the whole thing. Especially as I wanted to move it further forward anyway. That will have to wait till I reach a marina, probably Brest. In the mean time my muscles will get a workout manually lifting the anchor.
I have also struggled mentally with a lot of setbacks. I am naturally a positive optimist but the last few days have drained a lot of that. I need something to enjoy for a few days. I may stop at Brest a while and live a little 🙂.
Lady Cindy has spent the last two weeks out of the water to have her bottom cleaned; we all need one of those.
No issues were found with the hull, so we rubbed her down and applied new anti foul. The blue section got polish and a touch-up wherever the gel coat was damaged. All the through-hulls were checked and serviced.
The next time she is lifted, I want to rub down, fair, and repaint the blue as well as re align the white boot line because its a little high at the bow and low at the stern.
Ffion and I have had a great time when not working; we have been taking the dogs to training (Dotty watched), had days out with friends, and generally enjoyed life.
What’s next?
We have a very busy week ahead with plans ashore as well as preparing to leave Aberystwyth Marina next week. We hope to sail down to New Quay to anchor for a short while before heading south to Southampton.
Note that the title is managing, not preventing! Dampness is an inevitable fact of living above a large body of water out in the open so water can come in from any direction. Add to that the moisture in the air from evaporation of bilge water and from your breath, there are many sources of water and not all can be prevented.
This article lists many of the water sources but focuses on the most difficult to manage, air borne moisture.
Stopping water from above
Rain water and sea spray can enter from deck fittings, window and hatch seals, the anchor hauser pipe, the mast, shroud chain plates, cockpit drains, etc. Almost all of these are preventable with a bit of sealant and maintenance.
Stopping water from below
Sources include the prop shaft, through hulls, transducers, osmosis, and cracks or holes in the hull. All can be sealed/repaired, but these usually require the boat to be out of the water.
Managing air borne moisture
Unless you stop breathing, completely seal your bilges, and only sail off the sahara coast, this one can not be prevented; it has to be controlled and directed.
Warm damp air rises; it is less dense than dry air. When this air hits a cold surface, the moisture condenses on that surface, forming drops of water. We have some control over which surfaces are coldest and can often direct that water down to the bilge. An efficient automatic bilge pump can remove nearly all of that water.
Managing which surfaces are cold, and therefore where the water forms needs a combination of ventilation and insulation to prevent moisture condensing where you dont want it and have cold surfaces in places where you can direct the water drops into the bilge; its important to think about how the air will flow in the space to ensure the damp air passes over the cold surface. If you can get this right, you can create a dehumidifier using the hull or cabin top as a condenser.
On Lady Cindy, I have four spaces: the forward V berth, the heads, the saloon, and the engine compartment. Of these, I am only concerned about managing airborne moisture in the V berth and the saloon.
The V berth was the priority as I had made it my sleeping cabin, and it had no insulation apart from a couple of side panels; the roof was plain fibreglass so got cold, especially at night. My breath overnight resulted in a dripping cabin roof and wet hull surface in the morning, soaking my bedding.
After lowering the bed by six inches to gain headroom and widen the bed, the old side panels no longer fitted. New ones were made from ply, and the fronts covered with foam backed headlining and backs with foil covered bubble wrap. The hull behind the panel was covered with the same foil covered bubblewrap. The insulation is designed and marketed to insulate garage doors. There is now an air gap between the hull and the panel where any water vapour can condense and run down to the bilge, very little does as although not sealed, little air can flow into the space.
The bubble wrap insulation has also been placed against the hull at the back of all lockers in the V berth, heads and saloon to prevent moisture condensing there, each space still has a cold uninsulated locker where most of the moisture can condense and drain to the bilge. This has been partially successful. I am having to double the insulation on some lockers to improve things.
The roof was more complex; I covered it with the same foam backed headlining, but I had to ensure damp air did not gather here but instead flowed forward to the chain and sail locker at the bow to condense on its cold surfaces or through to the saloon and managed there. Which direction the air goes depends on wind direction outside as this determines the direction of air flow through the cabin. There are four external air vents on the boat: Anchor hawse pipe, V berth roof, heads roof, saloon roof, and cockpit door. There is a gap above a panel separating the V berth from the bow anchor locker for air to flow between those areas. I also installed a small 12v fan so air can be moved even if there is no wind outside.
What about windows?
As I am not prepared to replace all of these with double glazed units, I have to accept water drops will form here and drip down. I wipe them daily and ensure there is nothing below them that could suffer water damage. Keeping the boat warm and ventilated is the only solution, but I do have a small 12v dehumidifier which helps a little.
Is my boat now dry?
No, that would be impossible, but my bedding is dry, stuff in my lockers no longer feel damp, and black mould is no longer an issue in my living areas. I would call that a success.
Last year I installed Lithium batteries from Sterling Power onto Lady Cindy. This is how I did it and a summary of how the system is working out in real usage.
The problem with lead
Lead acid batteries traditionally used in boats suffer from a major problem over time… sulphation. This reduces their life span and their capacity. They can also degrade if they are discharged below 50% capacity, they drop voltage as they discharge which means you should only use about half the power stored in them, and they take a long time to charge from 80% to full capacity.
Advantages of Lithium
Lithium batteries can be discharged to near zero and maintain a steady voltage throughout the discharge cycle. Most come with built-in battery management systems that optimise the charging and monitor cell performance. Often, they provide remote monitoring via Bluetooth. Lithium is far lighter than lead, so although they are similarly sized, they are easier to manipulate and can be installed on their side, which gives more install location options.
Lithium is expensive
There are issues with lithium, too; they are very expensive and can not be used in the same bank as lead batteries as they have different charge and discharge characteristics. The established view is that you cannot mix lithium and lead and must throw away perfectly good lead leisure batteries to install Lithium… BUT THIS IS WRONG. I have done it with minimal rewiring, but a special charger is needed.
How to mix lead and lithium batteries
The secret is to have separate battery banks, and the lithium is added as a new bank isolated from the existing lead bank by a battery to battery charger. I chose UK based Sterling Power for both my batteries and my charger after speaking to their technical team to confirm their product could do what I needed. That was to charge the lithium side when the lead side was over 12v (charging or charged) and isolated the lithium when the lead side was less than 12v (discharged below 50%).
All house loads such as lights, fridge, instruments, etc. were moved from the lead leisure battery to the lithium bank. Charging sources (wind, solar, alternator, mains) remain on the lead side, so they are unchanged. The separate lead starter battery and its charging sources are also unchanged.
How the charger works
When there is an active charging source on the lead side, not only are the lead batteries charged, the Sterling charger takes some of this power, regulates the voltage and controls the current to charge the lithium bank.
When the charging sources disappear, the lead battery provides power to charge the lithium until the lead side drops below 12v (50% discharged). When this happens, the Sterling charger isolates the lithium bank, which continues to provide power to the house loads.
Has it worked?
Yes, and better than I hoped. I used to have 2 x 120ah lead leisure batteries that I could use half of (120ah usable power). Adding 2 x 110ah Lithium batteries could have given a total of 340ah of power. In practice, I decided to reduce weight at the aft end (where the lead leisure batteries are located) by removing one of these batteries. So, currently, I have 280ah usable power, and that power is always at a stable voltage. The only negative is that there is a cooling fan on the charger that is noticeable but not loud when it kicks in, so think more carefully than I did as to where to locate this.
I am very happy with the power I have now. I live aboard Lady Cindy and have never run out of power. I charge when I am in a marina, when there is daylight or wind, or when I run the engine. I have a 240v inverter aboard to run various electronic device chargers, and an xbox and have run that for 4 hours before getting to 25% charge and turned it off, so I had power for lights in the evening. The next day was sunny, and I was back to nearly 100 % charge on everything at the end of the day.
How I installed on Lady Cindy
Lady Cindy’s starter battery was installed under the starboard side saloon berth/seat. The two leisure batteries midship under the floor in the galley area. When I rewired the boat, chargers, loads, inverter, and isolation switches were all moved to a locker under the port side map table. This was my start position for the installation.
The lithium batteries and their charger were installed under the port side saloon seat/berth. And charger wired through to the leisure batteries. As all loads were on a single terminal under the map table, it was a simple job to switch the terminal input from the lead leisure battery bank to the new lithium bank. You may have a more untidy setup with lots of loads directly onto your leisure batteries. In this case, put a new terminal near these batteries, move all loads to the new terminal, and then a heavy gauge wire from there to the new lithium battery bank.
Negative terminals of all loads should go to the negative post of the lithium bank. The negative side of all banks and all charging sources should be connected together by a heavy gauge wire.
Future upgrades
Although the original design idea was to be able to install Lithium alongside lead and the battery to battery charger allows that, there is another plus from that charger in that it protects the lithium from any excessive voltages that a charge source such as an alternator may generate. This is a useful function even when the lead battery reaches the end of its life and is removed. Any new batteries in the future will be lithium and added to the existing lithium bank.
