What works and what is absolute shyte.
It has been nearly four years that we have owned ‘Favourite Child’, a Roger Hill 15.9m catamaran. When we purchased her she was in full survey, set up for 32 day passengers or 8 overnight passengers for up to 200nm offshore. Systems were well tested but not what I wanted for long distance live-aboard cruising. So, I broke my golden rule – which was ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it…’. And I started changing things.
I should give the following corollary. I am not sponsored, nor have I had any discounts etc from any of the firms I mention. I shopped around for the best deals but nobody gave me free stuff!
One of my first jobs on Favourite Child was to remove and toss away the defunct Whispergen generator. It did not work and was heavy. The company was gone and parts not available.
Next to be removed was the stainless steel framed material soft top which I replaced with a solid composite hardtop. I built this myself and was fairly labour intensive. Onto this went 1920kw of solar.
With the generator gone we had no way to make hot water as the system had not been plumbed to the motors. Rather than run plumbing and have the need to run an engine to get hot water, I installed an Eberspacher diesel heater and a calorifier. Added to this was a 240v and 12v element (which used excess solar to heat water). This system, three years old, is brilliant, reliable, quick (15min to heat 40l to above shower temperature) and uses minimal diesel.
The solar panels I installed were Sunman eArc 310w semi flexible. I did not want to stick them to the roof without some gap so I used 3mm very high bond double sided tape. The reason for this was I have had deck attached panels before and they delaminate fibreglass in the Tropics. I live in Cairns, Far North Queensland, and it is very much the tropics. To date there has been not sign of lifting, they remain able to be flushed underneath and the panels are still working to full capacity. My control systems are all Victron.
Out came the 2v Sungel 1400ah batteries. They were still working after six years of use but at 79kg a battery – nearly 500kg of battery weight – I was keen to go lithium. I replaced with 900ah of Lithium at under 100kg. The lithium system, all Victron, was purchased from different suppliers as each had different discounts and deals. I love the lithium system and the control panel information and app data is excellent. I can clearly see where we are at and how the input and output systems are working. Charging the lithium batteries is via solar and two 30amp dc-dc convertors off the lead acid starter batteries. We have lived aboard for many months now and have not had any concerns regarding power use.
The dacron charter sails came off and have gone into storage. I looked at multiple options for replacing the sails and eventually decided to go with the local sailmaker in Port Douglas – Mal Richardson at Port Douglas Sails. I always like the personal touch, Mal had a good reputation and put thought and effort into the material and design. I went with Dupont Dimension Polyant Carbon BX. This material is ideal for the in boom roller furling system. They also look damn fine as well. Three years on with main, jib and screecher, I have now added a top down spinnaker for deeper downwind sailing in light airs. Top boat speed has been 19 knots under main and screecher. The material shows no signs of age. The in-boom furler has a major advantage in the wet tropics – there is no sail bag or lazy jacks and the sail is fully cover and thus little or no change of getting mouldy – the bane of the wet season flaked sail.
The in boom furler is now 20 years old. It has been a learning curve. I am now able to raise, drop and reef consistently without leaving the cockpit. This has not been without some issues. The first year was super frustrating as the system just did not operate consistently. Then we discovered that the mandrel was detached from the turning drum (the pop rivets had sheared but the heads were still in place so when furling started it only turned at the front, not the entire drum). Once this was fixed, I developed a confidence in the system and have since sailed many thousands of miles, 1500nm single handed.
The 22 year old Yanmar 75hp engines and SD50 saildrives were still working well, but looked pretty shabby.
They were at the 3500 hr mark and still have value to I decided to replace them before we headed offshore for extensive cruising. I replaced them with the 4JH80C models and SD60 saildrives. Brenton at KG Engineering in Cairns did the installation. Two years on I have not had any glitches, they have been reliable and motor us at 10 knots at 2500rpm. The support service from KG Mechanical has been excellent. Common Rail Diesels love clean fuel. To provide this, I make sure I have clean fuel. The tanks were perfect when the engines were installed. To keep them that way I added (to each engine) a fuel polishing system using a Parker Racor P510M with a 10 micron filter and water trap. This system basically is a fuel pump, filter and trap that uses the engine fuel intake line and cycles the fuel back to the tank. I polish the fuel once a month in the off season – usually the wet season in the tropics when the condensation is maximum. I try and keep my fuel tanks full at this time of the year to reduce the condensation but I have two 750l tanks so it takes a small mortgage to manage this!
The refrigeration and freezer system on Favourite Child is 12v, saltwater cooled. Not my ideal. When is works it works well. But it needs constant management. The saltwater pump pre filter gets clogged if you forget it for more than a couple of weeks. The saltwater pumps – Frigoboat – have been reliable but occasionally noisy. I did try using Johnson aquapro pumps but these are not continuous duty rated and got hot and stopped due to internal thermal protection.
For a 15.9m Catamaran using 12v was probably not the right call. This was the initial system installed at build so I have kept it. The Fridge systems main issue was power supply – and increasing cable size and adding some relays for switching dramatically improved performance.
Our watermaker is a Northern Water 150l per hour CAT pump unit. The CAT pump is driven from the port engine with two fanbelts to an electric clutch. The main concern I have had over the three years was the salt water pump that provided the CAT pump. I now, hopefully, have perfected the system. I use a water trap, a 240v Scintex 30l/min magnetic drive pump, then a 25 micron woven filter, then a 5 micron pleated filter and finally into the CAT pump and the two 80lper hour membranes. Next to the screw down pressure guage is a flow meter and the initial water goes to the galley sink and where it is taste tested before switched to the tanks.
The issues I have had with the water maker have been mainly of my own making. The hose clamps were not tight enough and air was sucked in occasionally. I didn’t have an intake water trap and that played havoc with the pre CAT pump and filters. When these blocked the CAT pump was starved of water. Before I started using the 240v magnetic drive pump I trialled various 12v pumps. Basically none are rated for continuous use in the flow range of 20 plus litres per minute. I probably went through five pumps before I bit the bullet and installed the 240v one. It means I have to run the 3000w invertor – but in reality I never turn this off anyway!
The only part failure was a membrane canister end that cracked and leaked and I replaced this when I replaced the membranes. Overall I am pretty happy with this system. It is basic but works and has a high output.
Toilets are often the bane of the yacht maintenance person (ie me). We have two different systems on Favourite Child. The port hull has two toilets – a Dometic vacuflush system that uses fresh water and goes into a holding tank. The starboard hull has a traditional macerator system. The vacuflush system is the one that had required some work. If not used correctly a wad of waste and paper has blocked the piping about five times over the four years we have had the boat. It doesn’t sound like much but when you are the person that has to drain the bowl and unblock the pipe it isn’t fun. Advantages of a vacuum fresh water system are reduced smell, none of the calcification of piping and minimal maintenance. Disadvantage – number one would be the use of fresh water but as we have a great watermaker it’s not that big an issue. It is a lot quieter that a macerator system.
I replaced the dinghy. The one that came with the boat was old and didn’t hold air for long. I am a fan of the AB brand of dinghy. One came with Chaotic Harmony when I purchased it and I never had a glitch from it. After this experience I have had one on the last four catamaran’s. I always get a cover made and fitted for them and the dinghies have lasted the entire time I have kept each boat and been in great condition even after 5-6 years of use when we have moved onto another multihull.
I have usually been a Yamaha person but I was talked into going for a Suzuki outboard this time round. They had a reputation of reliability. Just not mine. I bought a new manual start 20hp four stroke and it has been terrible. In the first two years it switched into limp mode and both times needed to be taken into a Suzuki agent and they had to remove the head to flush out salt that had hardened and blocked the cooling system. I have spent over $1800 in repairs as the first time was just after the 12 month warranty ran out. I use the dinghy a lot, even in the off season. The first time it occurred was two months into a cruise where it had been used every day. When I leave the boat I do a fresh water flush with salt-away. After the first time the engine had the issue I started flushing it every time I left the boat for even a couple of days – I even installed an adaptor onto the boats back deck hose so that I could do it if I left the boat on a mooring. Yet if failed despite this. I am awaiting the third failure and then I plan to replace it with a Yamaha. There must be an issue with the head cooling system and it’s ability to flush properly for it to happen on a new engine twice in two years.
I am in love with my electric Anderson self-tailing winch. So much so that I bought the kit and added an electric motor to the one on the other side. Now with two electric winches handling a 52ft Cat single handed is a pleasure. I didn’t mind manually winching but the mainsail is hoisted up 20m and by the end of this effort I’m ready for a good lie down… Having two means I also have a backup should a failure occur.
My anchor winch is a Muir. What a great company. Back, spares and service. The prices are reasonable and they are available in most major cities. I have had Muir Winches on most of my Catamarans and cannot sing their praise enough.
I think that is enough for this missive. A bit of insight into what I have, what I like and what I don’t like. This information is from a trial of one and is just my opinion. Take from it what you like and I always appreciate feedback.