Well, we have had them for a month now, but did not have a chance to write about it. The project was our biggest yet on the boat and we had lots of thinking and designing to do. I wanted to document it and thought at least some of you might enjoy it. We started with 4 – 6 volt Lifeline L16 AGM batteries producing 800 Amps for our main battery bank. They were 8 years old and would only give us about 3 hours of running the house. The plan was to remove these and replace them with 6 – 6 volt AGM’s, producing 1200 Amps. This SHOULD give us enough juice to run overnight with lots to spare. But, we’ll need real data to verify that. This seems like an easy project, remove 4 batteries, put in 6. Neigh, neigh.
As a side note first. There are lots of different batteries on the boat. Under the master stateroom bed in the bow are two 8D flooded batteries for the bow thruster. In the laserette, under the cockpit in the stern are two 8D AGM batteries that powers the stern thruster. As well as our new 8 house bank batteries in the engine room, there is a Group 31 AGM 12 volt battery to start the generator and lastly, an 8D AGM starter battery for the main engine. That is a lot of batteries in my book! We’ve already replaced the generator start battery (easy, take out what looks like a standard car battery and put in a new one after cleaning up the battery acid) The others all seem OK at least right now….
This is the old battery box for the main batteries. In the fore-ground is the raw water (read that sea water) pump for the 4 AC/reverse heat systems on the boat. Behind you will see a wall, that is the boat hull. One does not want to drill through that! All the black cables are various cables heading forward on the boat from the battery box. Oh, to be complete, the doohickey above is the engine room blower that evacuates the nasty gasses from the engine room before starting and while running the engine. Paper towels and self explanatory,
The old batteries lived in a battery box in the engine room, starboard side There are all sorts of specs on how much movement a battery can have. Think, a good sideways roll and the four 110 pound each batteries go flying, or rolling across the engine room. Not a pretty picture.
Try as Jim did, he could not find a 6 battery box in the right size and configuration. There is limited space in our engine room. Thus, we have to design a way to secure the batteries outside a box. As they are AGM batteries, they do not need service, and are not supposed to leak so a box is not required.
The old dead batteries being removed. There are a bunch of panels that can be removed from the floor of the salon to reach the engine room for “bigger tasks” like removing batteries, or God forbid an engine! We were happy to pay the lads from the yard to do the heavy lifting. We are past that sort of lifting. masks are somewhat optional, but generally they accommodate masking without a problem. And, they cam with them in this case.
We came up with many ideas and variations on a theme, although I always wanted them in a box. This would require having a box custom built. Takes time and we were trying to pre-plan away from the boat. So very hard as you can’t pop into the engine room and do a measurement so see if something will work. It was not going to work. We had to get to the boat, cogitate, plan and then cogitate some more.
The space sans batteries. Seems easy enough. Note, 4 littles risers that held the battery box in place. the back one is fiberglass and gets to stay. The other 3, one two which you can see, have to be removed. Screwed, glued, and painted in place. Oh, and not the fairly “clean wall” behind the batteries. Stay tuned….
We finally came up with a plan. Order materials, 2 day shipping from the go-to materials supplier that at least the yard we were at uses. They have everything, but bring your checkbook. Of course, it is a boat after all! From here, I’m going to narrate the rest through pictures. It provides a better “experience.”
Chipping, chiseling and grinding out those little supports from the old battery box.We’ve now gotten our supplies from McMaster-Carr, the go-to materials supplier. This is structural fiberglass. We are on the T-dock (see the water and the boat?) with our cheap sawhorses from True-Value and our battery powered circular saw, cutting this nasty material. Cut slow. Wear a mask; not for Covid, but from the nasty material. I am sorry to say how many of the little particles from cutting went into the bay and onto our boat. But, we tried to collect it with a vacuum and a drop cloth as best we could. Boating has a degree on non-environmental stuff to be addressed.The parts almost all cut. See our design specks in the foreground? Some folks leave the parts Christmas colors, but engine rooms are white. Christmas is not for engine rooms.We moved behind the covered boat houses into the parking lot for priming. The weather was nice here, but quite breezy and shady on the other side by our boat (and our boat).
We’ve move inside the boathouse (open to the air) as it is closer to the boat and less windy now, but cool. We are adding the white bilge coat paint recommended by West Marine. Two coats to get full courage. Will it ever dry? We are into day 3 and it is still tacky. Really? The yard has told us that the slower it dries, the better it lasts. But, how long???? I will divulge now that, a week after putting on this paint and installing, we still managed to get bits of wet-ish paint on us. Really?
While the paint dries, we move inside to tidy up wires, replace many and add terminal blocks. Jim is picking the perfect spot for this wire saddle.These are big wires. 2/0, 3/0 and 4/0 wires. 4 ott (pronunciation) is the size of your thumb. We had many of the connectors and wires, but made daily trips to the hardwire store (the local True Value has lots of marine parts, unlike Albuquerque or Santa Fe), West Marine and the yard for parts. We do not have a car, so have to check out the yard car each time we leave the yard. Adds another level of complexity to a quick trip to the limited hardware store.Special crippers for the terminals, they are hard to crimp, then shrink tubing (with the batter powered heat gun) and a terminal is ready to go.The basic battery “box” in place. See all the added wires and connections on the wall? These used to go directly to the batteries. Neat and tidy.I have to admit, the wires don’t look so tidy from this angle. There are soooo many, in such a small space. Part of it is, we know what they are. The angle is 1 x 2 quarter inch stainless (this is a boat after all!), front and back, screwed with #10 stainless panhead screws into the fiberglass. This is the bottom support for the 6 new batteries.4 of the batteries on the way to the boat. They are anxious for a new home!We are happy to use the brawn on the yard boys (men) to get the batters onto the boat and into position in the engine room. Remember, 110 pounds a piece, lifting from the dock, over water into a small entry passage.Man-handle it gently past the raw-water strainer for the air conditioners, between the engine and the new battery position. With 3 1/2 foot overhead. Please keep bent over now.Yeah! The batteries are in place. But, they can still fly across the boat. More work needed,Now, to add battery hold downs, more structural fiberglass. I have to say, we did not paint this. But…. it looks Ok….Now, add the stainless steel 5/16 threaded rod, with plastic covers (not seen here), and all the 4/0 battery cables. We are close….Adjusting the u- channel batter hold downs. Carefully adjusted front to back. Isn’t is pretty? Wait… The plexi- cover to come.Now isn’t that pretty? If we had hired a yard to do this, they would have gone through the same process at $65 – $92 per hour. This took us about 2 weeks, they would not have done it much faster, but think of the bill! Thus, we HAD to do this ourselves.Our main breaker panel. The left is the DC panel, the right upper is the AC panel and the lower right is that for the inverter. All that on the left goes through the various batteries, mostly the main bank we just replaced. There are inverters and chargers that, well, charge various batteries and move current from DC to AC via inverters; quit a complex and confusing system. I understand it so much more now, but every time we have to deal with it, we have to stop and think.
And, I realize as with so may things, I take the pictures and am not “involved” as you don’t see me in any of the pictures. But, I WAS there, designing, helping to crimp, painting, and, basically being an integral part of the project.
Comments
We Have New Batteries! — 5 Comments
Omg! Wow! What an event for batteries! And to think there are batteries all over the place! Wow. And you’ve learned so much. Fantastic!!!!
About the wrench in the photo captioned “Now, add the stainless steel 5/16 threaded rod, with plastic covers (not seen here), and all the 4/0 battery cables. We are close…” it is an inch pound torque wrench. Sylvia is always bugging me about another torque wrench! Yes dear, another torque wrench!
So you now have another reason to purchase toys-house tools and boat tools! Do you actually take any tools back and forth or just have two over-lapping sets?
Having the correct tool for a job is important. You guys do great work, but I already knew that! Thanks for keeping us posted on your marine adventures.
Some tools go back and forth, but almost all are boat or land home specific. Just too hard otherwise.
Omg! Wow! What an event for batteries! And to think there are batteries all over the place! Wow. And you’ve learned so much. Fantastic!!!!
About the wrench in the photo captioned “Now, add the stainless steel 5/16 threaded rod, with plastic covers (not seen here), and all the 4/0 battery cables. We are close…” it is an inch pound torque wrench. Sylvia is always bugging me about another torque wrench! Yes dear, another torque wrench!
So you now have another reason to purchase toys-house tools and boat tools! Do you actually take any tools back and forth or just have two over-lapping sets?
Having the correct tool for a job is important. You guys do great work, but I already knew that! Thanks for keeping us posted on your marine adventures.
Some tools go back and forth, but almost all are boat or land home specific. Just too hard otherwise.