Meet the new La Rea!

Formulaben

I know the outcome will be amazing, but that picture gives me heartburn just looking at it.

LaRea

Today I finished a 70-hour week (working on the boat and ignoring my day job).  Had to quit at 3:30 because I ran out of parts!  It'll be a short rest ... tonight I'll get deliveries of more speaker wire, breaker panels, cables and more.  

Also this week I installed valves on the air conditioner manifold, in case I need to winterize it.  They will also come in handy if I ever need to disconnect one AC.  Ignore the primitive 18-gauge lamp wire they used for speakers.  And ignore the crazy 4-piece hose adapter at the bottom -- cobbled together from what I found on the shelf at WM.  

TonyG13

Don't know whether to give this an "Awesome" or "LOL" - but great job! We've all cobbled stuff together at some point. Right now I've got a burst dishwasher hose and of course the shut-off valve isn't holding, so got to shut down the whole house and run to Ace to get some parts. (But of course checking this Forum while I wait to see if my temporary fix is holding.) :-)

LaRea

Now that I'm seeing the picture online, I'd give it a solid LOL.  At some point, I'll have to slow my roll and take some actual vacation time where I don't need ibuprofen in the morning, but tomorrow's not that day!

Liberty44140

Well things are looking good, you’ll be glad you knocked out so many things on the front end while you had the steam and time

LaRea

Things are really moving now.  All wiring runs are done except I need to run five power circuits from the main panel downstairs.  (The breakers are there, but not the wiring.)  The wiring runs under the helm are starting to take shape and I'm waiting for parts delayed in holiday shipping. 

What an awesome week this has been!  Folks who have known me for a while know how excited I get about this kind of stuff!

LaRea

Another set of wiring sins, rectified. 

Under the helm, the four air conditioners had these ridiculous field-installed 240-volt plugs.  There's no reason to have plugs; all they do is come loose when bumped.  The installer wrapped them in electrical tape, thinking it would waterproof them.  Predictably, it just turned them into a sticky mess.  

I cut them out and spliced the wires with heat-shrink connectors.  It's more better.  

Ian

Odd, these are regular 240v extension cord plug and sockets. Wonder why they used these and not simply hard wire to the controller.

LaRea

After a refreshing 3-day vacation to Delaware, I got back to work today.  Ran another 65 amps of DC power from the salon to power all the new stuff.  Also installed a third stereo amplifier (for the subwoofers in the bridge).  

I also proofed the drawings for the instrument panels from New Wire Marine.  This is going to look amazing!  Just a little teaser here ...



BTW, if you ever want a top-notch Airbnb in Rehoboth Beach, I highly recommend Mar Bella (www.marbellarb.com).  It is amazing.  Pool, hot tub, sauna, 10 awesome rooms, 12 minutes from the ocean.  We stayed in the Lighthouse room (at the top of this picture).  I know the owners - PM me if interested.  

Formulaben

LaRea said:

I also proofed the drawings for the instrument panels from New Wire Marine.  This is going to look amazing!

I just want to know where and how many cup holders!  Hydration is a safety issue!

LaRea

Haha - yes, always safety first!  I managed to squeeze in four cup holders.  

Today I ran CAT6 cable for two more video cameras.  I want the ability to monitor them from my phone, but I have not been impressed with Lorex and other packaged products.  Instead, maybe I'll run Milestone XProtect or Blue Iris on a fanless mini-computer (such as a NUC).  Anybody have experience with those products?

LaRea

As my final task of 2023, I did some maintenance on the anchor rode.  The boat came to me with 200' of 3/8" chain, but half of it had severe rust damage.  I cut off 100' of chain and replaced it with 200' of 3/4" triple-braid.  

Here's the first bad link, at right around 100 feet.  I don't want to test the "weakest link" theory!

aero3113

WoW, that can make for a bad day @LaRea

LaRea

Anybody want 100' of chain that includes a few bad apples?  It's probably going to the metal heap at the landfill. 

Liberty44140

Man I was hoping you’d have a magic trick to get galvanized metal looking like new again!

Dream_Inn

I’m actually surprised he didn’t opt to replace it with 300 ft!  😉. JK, actually I am surprised you didn’t get 200 ft back in there, but I guess you’re thinking is you typically won’t need more than that.  I have 100 ft of chain on mine and I’d probably want more if I was doing more than the bay with it.  But I guess another 150’ of line on mine would just get dirty.

LaRea

@Dream_Inn  The theory goes like this:  If 100 feet of chain isn't enough, it means sea conditions are truly snotty, and I want the rode to have some stretch (from having rope in the rode).  Also, if I can't get the anchor loose, I can cut the rope and come back later with a diver.  Presumably, I'll test both of those conditions if I cruise long enough!

My winter project reached a big milestone today.  Power distribution and circuit protection is DONE!  Some circuits still have nothing attached to them, but I have volts at all the places that need volts.  

LaRea

Here's a "before" pic.  It only shows a small area, but it's typical of how the entire helm was wired.  Makes me shudder to look at it now.  

Dream_Inn

I’ve actually been typing a prusik knot on my chain and that absorbs and stretches for my needs in the bay.  I’d assume there will be places that will be 40-50 ft deep you’ll have to anchor.  But you’ll have plenty of total rhode and plenty of chain to get all muddy! (That is the one complaint I’ve had is washing all the chain each time)

Liberty44140

Looks a lot better LR! Cleaner. 

rasbury

It's not lost on me that a big super dollar boat had the same guy that wired mine wired yours? Just kidding a bit as I can only imagine the complexity of your ship! But, those a/c connections and some of the other pictures- your new panels look awesome and wish that was the industry standard.

LaRea

Latest mini-project: redesigning the LED display at the helm.

Here's the original display with LEDs showing operation of the bilge pumps, high-water alarms and nav/anchor lights.  (Nevermind that the picture shows the wrong model boat.)  It worked, but unfortunately, it was machined into the panel so there's no way I could reuse it. 



Here's what the replacement will look like.  It's the correct model boat with Maritimo logo, and the graphic will be backlit!




The LEDs used a hand-built network of diodes and resistors that somehow survived for the first 12 years in a marine environment.  





So I reverse-engineered the network and designed a more rugged interface box that I'll build next week.  It's simpler than it looks -- just two rows of screw terminals with some diodes and resistors soldered in.  

LaRea

With the electronics project on a 4-week pause waiting for parts, yesterday I tore out the vinyl plank flooring in the galley.

A flooring upgrade was in our master plan.  What we didn't plan was replacing the subfloor, but there's a 12"x12" section that is completely rotted.  I'll start cutting today and decide how much to replace.  

Liberty44140

Wow, guessing they left the door open a lot! No leaks?

davidbrooks

@Liberty44140 I was thinking the same thing...that and maybe time to reseal the threshold.  It reminded me of my sliding glass doors on my house.  Everyone was rotten underneath.

captkevin

Good thing you decided to upgrade.

LaRea

I think the door track needs drain holes on the outside.  I'll email my guy in Australia and find out.  The way it is, any water that gets into the track just sits there.  If it gets deep enough, it backflows into the galley subfloor.  

Today I worked up enough nerve to start cutting.  Kept going until I found solid wood.  By the time I finished, I went back 30" from the door on both sides of the engine room hatch.  I caught it in time ... the plywood ceiling of the engine room isn't rotted, and the joists were only rotted on top.  I chopped out the rotted bits, sistered the joists, and glued/screwed some new 1/2" plywood.  

oscar1

It is amazing how much money, we have to put into our boat to bring them to our standard. 

rasbury

Good thing you caught- by the time you would notice it from below it would be a mes!

captkevin

Good catch on the drainage issue. Hard to believe they don't have that built in.