Meet the new La Rea!

rasbury

Fun to read about your new adventures- who knows, I might win the PowerBall and I'll be taking about my 100 ft'er!

PickleRick

Not only would I want that gauge but I'd also want it to send an automated text message screen shot update after every flush.  A great way to send out a group text to everyone that is on the boat any given weekend.  

LaRea

Today's unexpected project, in the middle of a 10-day Chesapeake cruise: had to replace three battery switches.

The Admiral informed me that the toilets weren't working.  I found that the whole house bank was down, so I started poking around behind the panel.  Every time I turned the battery switch for the house bank, a little puff of smoke came out from the switch!  

You guys might have similar switches.  When the plastic case breaks, there's nothing pushing the contacts together.  It starts arcing and burning the contacts, which can become a fire hazard.  As I was started removing the switch, two other switches broke.  

LaRea

The marina loaned me a car for an emergency run to West Marine, and I got parts for a temporary fix.  The switches don't fit the original openings, so I'll need to replace them, but this repair will get us through our cruise.

Liberty44140

Wow, crazy that they all went at once. 

YYZRC

I always wondered what the guts looked like. Thanks for posting. 

LaRea

Actually, the genny switch broke before we got the boat.  But did the owner do the right thing and replace all five switches?  Nope.  He just connected the genny directly to the battery, with no shutoff switch.  (I figured that out today.)

@Liberty44140 all of those switches were ready to break.  I barely touched them and they crumbled. 

captkevin

Scary stuff. Amazing catch.

PickleRick

Your switch panel looks very familiar 

PickleRick

aero3113

Too bad the ones you bought don’t fit, they look very close to.

LaRea

I think the only problem is different spacing of the terminal lugs on the back.  If I remake the connecting bars that connect the switches to each other, I can probably get them to fit.  I've added it to my job jar ...

LaRea

Funny story.  We've had this boat for three months now, and done a fair bit of cruising.  It always bothered me that one of the heads has two built-in cabinets for storing toiletries, but the other just has mirrors attached to the walls with no storage:



So last weekend after we got back from a 10-day cruise, I decided to see how the mirrors are attached.  I'm thinking maybe I can build a custom medicine cabinet.  Look what what I found -- a big built-in cabinet behind the mirror!  We had no idea it was there!  

oscar1

Do you have A/C in the bathroom? Nice set up

aero3113

Was there anything in there @LaRea when you opened it!?

captkevin

Nice when things work out like that.

LaRea

The cabinet was empty when we found it, but now my wife has claimed it!  

Yes, there's AC in both heads!  Also exhaust fans that are WAY too loud.  I don't want a fan that is silent ... there are times when you want some "masking noise" in the head.  But the fan shouldn't wake up everybody on the boat, so those fans will get replaced.  They are wired to the light switches.  I'll install separate switches for the fans.  

Today I started replacing one of the toilets.  Wiring is done, just need a hose adapter.  

LaRea

Another thing I played with this weekend:  adding a backup camera.  In addition to not being able to hear anything from the helm, there's almost no view of the swim platform.  I already installed a 24" Roku TV in the bridge, so I added an IP camera that I can show on the TV.  

In daylight, it works great.  The field of view is wide enough to see what I need, and it's getting maybe 5-8 frames per second.  It's not a thermal camera, so it doesn't see much at night.  I'll add a couple flood lights to illuminate the swim platform for docking at night.  

Liberty44140

That’s a nice add. What camera did you buy? How does it connect to the tv? I’d like to do something like that in my engine room.

LaRea

It's just a generic IP camera from Amcrest.  
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RHQGS8V

I installed a Peplink MAX BR1 Pro 5G router for onboard wifi, and I absolutely love it.  All of the boat's devices (TVs, phones, laptops, Ring camera, etc.) are connected to the Peplink router.  When I'm in a marina, once I connect the Peplink to the marina's wifi, all devices automatically get wifi.  If I'm underway or anchored and there's no wifi, it seamlessly falls back to a Verizon SIM card with a monthly data plan. 

The IP camera is powered by a POE switch that is part of the local network.  Any device can see the camera, including the Roku TVs.  I'm going to add cameras in the engine room, both sides, and maybe an anchor camera.  

GMSLITHO

wow  no view from the fly bridge what about the down station 

LaRea

@GMSLITHO There's no lower helm.  If I walk to the back of the bridge area, I can see the corners of the swim platform, but of course I can't reach the throttles from there.  

Docking visibility is a disadvantage of the enclosed helm.  But man I sure do love having a helm station that is quiet, dry, air-conditioned and bug-free.  

captkevin

Be interesting to see what other kind of surprises you find while getting to know your new boat.

LaRea

This week's project: toilet replacement.  They were working, but acting up and I can't get replacement parts, so into the dumpster they go.



The Raritan Elegance is a drop-in replacement for the original Tecmar.  It's a full-size porcelain throne with a macerator built into the toilet.  It's slightly louder than a vacuflush, but it's a lot more reliable.  Only two moving parts: the inlet valve and the macerator.  



The macerator is at the bottom.  At the top center is the valve, but I'm reusing the existing valves and keeping the new ones as spares.  

Here's the old and new side-by-side.  

LaRea

A key feature we didn't have before:  a water saver flush.  Yes, the boat has a huge 80-gallon holding tank.  But with two people living aboard and drinking lots of coffee and beer, we were filling the tank in 4-5 days.  The new toilets seem to use around 2 quarts per flush, so we'll go a lot longer between pumpouts.

Oh, and they have soft-close lids.  Bonus!

captkevin

Soft close lids are a must.

rasbury

Is that not standard? Lol...very nice-

LaRea

One of today's projects:  replaced the windshield wipers.  

This was motivated by an early morning cruise with a ton of dew on the windshield.  The wipers were crumbling, and they were too small. I changed from 32" to 36" so they cover more area. 

It was a $200 project:  $100 for the wipers, and $100 for a safety harness so I can climb up there without fearing for my life.  I got a Werner roofing harness and it worked great.  We attached one end to the base of the captain's seat, and ran it out the sunroof.  (Had to blank out the Admiral in this photo.)

LaRea

The toilets came with this bit of troubleshooting advice -- proof that the engineers at Raritan have a sense of humor!  The solution is to remove the "marine life" from the rim.

LaRea

Had another "AHA" moment today.

For five months, I've been looking EVERYWHERE for a way to tap into the plumbing and connect water to the washer-dryer (never been hooked up, never been used).  It's frustrating because there's no way to reach the area under the washer-dryer. 

Well, today I was cleaning out a storage area under a bed, when I noticed -- totally by accident -- a set of water taps in a hidden compartment that leads over to the washer-dryer!  Score!

This is the storage compartment.  It has never been empty until today.



And here's where the taps are hidden!