Season II – Sailing w/Training Wheels

Ep69 The Missing Traveler and Sikaflex 291 Clutch Tackle

A last end of season project, reviewing the traveler missing components, still need some idea there.

Installed the main sheet clutch tackle.

Short and sweet, winding down September 2020.

Ep68 Victron Energy BMV-712 Installation and App Walkthrough

Finally! I can get my battery performance in live real time from my cockpit! Walking through the shunt comparison, some physical differences and the app first glance and feature review.

Somewhere in there I got off track with a Renogy explanation but there are some big differences between the Renogy 500A Battery Monitor and the Victron Energy BMV-712 battery monitors. The shunt on the Renogy is poorly designed in comparison to the VE product. The bolts are on the way and there is no firm-fixed way to mount it.

Sorry for the rant on the poor programming towards Renogy….

Ep67, UNBOXING the Victron Energy BMV-712 Battery Monitor w/ Bluetooth

First looks at the Victron Energy BMV-712 Battery Monitor and some reasons on why I’m replacing the Renogy model.

After running on the batteries now with the Golden Motor 10KW BLDC electric motor, there were some practical limitations to the existing Renogy 500A in place.

Time for a replacement and some feedback on my first experiences with the VE model.

Ep66, Nothing like life experiences to teach important lessons first hand, Battery Depletion rates

Finally I truly understand the meaning of 25A@440 – it took an engine failure and huge storm getting blown off anchor at 2AM to really drive that meaning home. Up front and personal learning!

Golden Motor Electric Motor Conversion Series

Part 1 Electric Motor Unboxing https://youtu.be/YlAA4-AhR7s

Part 2 Mount Alignment https://youtu.be/NzdQiVgHw7o

Part 3 Batteries and Pulleys https://youtu.be/BFak7BpmCto

Part 4 Wiring and Test Fire https://youtu.be/PFMDFpw-lv0

Part 5 Motor Mount Variations https://youtu.be/4AugYCfWtDs

Part 6 Lessons Learned and Live Tests https://youtu.be/QwBtqpwfQEQ

Part7 Nothing like real life experiences to teach hard lessons, batteries and depletion rates… https://youtu.be/QJdbTqVUP2s

Ep65, 38 Hour Sail, Journey Back to Hamilton

We travelled 38 hours back from Presqu’ile, overnight sail. Started with wind, had 8 hours of a lull and then booming 20 knots through Lake Ontario.

We had a dead downwind sail for almost 12 hours at the end of the journey across the lake and the waves had an immense amount of lake to grow.

By the time we reached the entrance to the channel at Hamilton Harbour, I could not see the dinghy at the bottom and top of the wave crests as it disappeared behind the waves…

Ep64 Visiting Sandbanks and some sail repairs

We spent a week touring the Presqu’ile Bay, Provincial Park, Brighton, Bellville and Trenton, and took a walk out across the dunes at Sandbanks Provincial Park. Our weather wasn’t the best as some storms had blown through so we decided to stay put an extra couple days for a better weather window heading back to Hamilton.

We didn’t luck out with the weather this trip, it was fairly chilly for August and rolling storms each day we were there which limited out outings. Here’s some clips from Sandbanks and Presqu’ile Provincial Parks.

Ep62 Lost a dinghy, midnight man overboard drills and a dead motor

Well we certainly learned a lot. Unfortunately we need to remember to grab the camera to get better footage. After departing Toronto, we left under a gentle breeze to sail along the US Cnada border in the middle of Lake Ontario. David took the 6 to 9pm shift and I slept before the night shift.

Overall it was amazing sailing at night for the 1st time but my camera has very poor night vision. We will have to get some better tools.

Ep61 Sailing from Toronto to Presqu’ile, Departing

We left Toronto at 6AM and sailed south keeping to the Canadian side of the border where we took a hard left to port and set our sites on Presqu’ile Province Park. It was a good day sailing.

We anticipated sailing overnight and arriving at Presqu’ile in the morning. Aside from some games, we did some chores, we had to change our sail selection a number of times to cope with the varying wind conditions.

Ep60 Catching Wind from Hamilton to Toronto

Finally getting our summer voyage under way. Everything was pretty delayed due to the china pandemoniac times but we are glad to get out for some of it. Sailed through the Hamilton Lift Bridge, encountered a stall in the wind as it shifted directions. Sailed through a Port Credit race and anchored at Hamlan’s Point Beach to rest up before an early depart to Presqu’ile Provincial Park.

Ep59 Testing the Victron Energy Pheonix 48/1200 Pure Sine Wave Inverter

Now that we have the Victron Energy Pheonix 48/1200 Pure Sine Wave Inverter installed, we do a quick test to make sure we can boil water and we measure the results. We also managed to get a dinghy ride and mast climb in there too.

Ep57 Installing a composting toilet and 12v fridge/freezer, gotta have cold milk for breakfast!

Getting through our project to-do list before we can launch for sandbanks! Who can have cheerios without cold milk!

Installed our nature’s head composting toilet and put together a slide-out soft closing drawer for a hide-away fridge/freezer.

Did some testing and the LG compressor uses about 1.5 amps at 48 volts through the 48v to 12v DC to DC converter. Turns out the solar power charging is enough to charge up by about 10am the next day with sun so we’re in the clear to have cold milk.

Ep56 windless sailing and summer projects

As we knock off these summer projects, we had the promise of 7 knot winds so we decided to go out for a sail.

Wind died and left us stranded out in the middle of the harbor. Still getting through some projects and good progress getting ready for our upcoming trip to Sandbanks Provincial Park.

Ep54 Galley Cupboards taking shape!

Finally getting some structure and storage back together in the galley.

How I’m rebuilding the galley cupboards, still getting some basics together for our summer trip, leaving for sandbanks in a week!

Ep53 Galley Project Thrown off track by Tornado in #HamOnt?

Continuing the preparations for the summer trip up to Sandbanks, I was rudely interrupted by a tornado that passed very close to the marina. I got rocked back and forth and all these new water leaks sprung up! You can only imagine the amount of rain coming down, if you look at the portlights you can see rivers of water coming down….

Ep52 Summer Sail Preparation Projects

Going over a number of projects here, this was our final preparation list of projects before we can take a summer sail across Lake Ontario from Hamilton to Sandbanks Provincial Park. Projects included repairing the Ritchie compass, installing the head, a Nature’s Composting Toilet, cleaning the sails and building the port side stern quarter berth… yes more fiberglassing!

Ep51 Why Do I Sail?

“A personal life journey, a reflection, an introduction. Only leave footprints behind.“

Ep.50 Tech Tips: 10KW 48V Electric Motor Lessoned Learned and Tests

This is a summary video, of some important lessons learned during my gasoline to electric motor conversion for my 1975 Hughes 35/1500 North Star sailboat. I learned a lot, there is something to be said of learning hands on. I have a very large appreciation for those people that paved the way here.

I still have so much more to learn. There are some test runs, and some data posted here in the video and my solo test runs and docking crib notes.

Ep49 Tech Tips: Victron Energy Solar MPPT 150/35 Solar Controller Unboxing and Installation

My thoughts on the Victron Energy Solar MPPT 150/35 Controller. I used to have a PWM Renogy solar controller, but after reading and learning about MPPT, I decided that the MPPT controller was the better way to go, and Victron Energy specializes in boat/marine products.

Once receiving, it was clear that the Victron 150/35 MPPT Solar Controller (website https://www.victronenergy.com/solar-charge-controllers ) was a much more rugged and appropriate device for my boat over the Renogy brand. I’m not knocking the Renogy product, but it’s a cheap made in China version, where the Victron is clearly better built.

The 150/35 stands for 150volts peak from the solar panels, and up to 35 amps. My panels will only draw 80 volts and I plan on doubling them up to get around 10,11 amps.

Ep48 Tech Tips: How many variations to get to the final motor mount?

This is a summary video of all the motor mount variations I went through until I got a final working mount that met all the requirements:

1. didn’t vibrate or move
2. allowed alignment in 3 axis
3. didn’t knock
4. aligned the motor parallel with the propeller shaft
5. didn’t break under the thrust pressure

This 10KW 48V motor has a tonne of torque https://www.goldenmotor.com/eCar/HPM48-10000.pdf at about 25 amps has about 1500 mN.m of torque.

Ep47 Finally in the water, launch success!

Well, after a long tepid start, a lot of help along the way, Sailing Vessel Northern Comfort is finally launched for the 2020 season. The lockdowns from Covid delayed our season by 2 months, and when we were finally allowed into the yard, it was only for 4 hour shifts twice daily, if you booked in advance.

As you can imagine, it was shoddy at best to get any time in the yard.

After repairing the hairline crack in the bilge, and glassing in the 2nd variation of the motor mount, I moved NC to a different temp dock so I could face upwind. I planned on hoisting the furler, but of course the wind switched 180 degrees and I ended up hoisting the head sail with the wind on my stern.

Ep46 2nd Launch Failure, 10KW 48V Electric Motor Conversion Failure

Well, this video is trying to explain and document what went wrong on my launch.

I was glad to get the hole in my boat fixed, although it was a very small leak and my bilge would have coped fine, I just didn’t want to take any chances.

That repair included grinding down to bare fiberglass, laying out 4 layers over a ground out hairline crack, and then using interlux 2000E for a base protection, then antifoul MicronCSC.

Ep45 Finally Launch Day, but Failure! Is my boat sinking?

We were soooo close! All I can say is that even with all the careful inspection, you can’t see it all. When the hull was lifted from the cradle, and all the keel weight suspended in air, a very small hairline crack showed it’s ugly head.

If I put in, I would be constantly fighting a leaky hull, so I had to pull out and repair the keel right at the end of day, in the launch ramp. Will it be ready to go by the morning?

The guys at the marina were packing up but nice enough to come and pull me out of the water. I had to repair the crack in the slings and only had 3 hours but I could let it sit overnight.

Ep44 Too many projects, not enough time before launch

The family helping out, painting a last coat of anti-foul, hooking up the electrics, pulling wires, testing lights, installing instruments, getting the mast stepped. Wow this was a flurry of activity in the days before launch and extremely grateful that Julisa and David came down to help.

I couldn’t have gotten water ready without their help. The lockdown threw off track all the maintenance schedule and it was hard to get parts. We even had some help from my yard neighbour sailor, Stefen from Sunday Morning!

Little did we know about a major issue right at launch day….

Ep43 Part 2: Deck Painting Lockdown Maintenance

Trying to get the deck finished in time for April launch, only to have lockdowns come into effect. Once the easing of the lockdown started, we ere only allowed in 4 hour blocks in our boat yard, from 4pm to 8pm. It had to be scheduled.

Commuting to Hamilton from Ottawa to do 4 hours a day really sucked but I was glad to be able to assess the damage from the cover.

As I removed all the supporting beams in the cover so I could paint easily, only to get locked out, a following storm blew the cover down and the beams I left in snapped, and were dragged back and forth on the nice newly painted deck. It was very disheartening.

Ep.42 Part 1 Deck Painting Prepwork, Sanding Sucks!

This video I enlisted some help and worked on stripping the deck, removing all hardware to get ready for painting. It’s amazing how much work it was but the resulting finish I am really happy with.

I unfortunately got kicked out of the yard with lockdowns and had wind damage to the deck from my temporary structure collapsing, but that is in the next video as I had to repair the base prime coat from deep gouges from the wood being pilled back and forth on the deck.

Ep41 Real-Time Update, Surviving the Hamilton Tornado Aug 4th, 2020

Was that a tornado in #hamont? This is a real-time update as there was a tremendous #storm, and although there is no official word yet, this had to be as close to a real #tornado as you get without a confirmation.

The storm blew in fast, and ended just as fast.

Although the inside #sailboat scenes seem to be not too harsh, when I turned on the camera I was healed over about 20 degress in my slip, you can see by the other boat in the window in the slip next to me, how far it was and then the wind shifted directions. I was bracing myself and holding on OK.

Ep40 Instrument Housing, Raymarine E70153 System Pack i50/i60, P3 (final)

Don’t drop the mast! I was turning the mast and it slipped off the mast hanger and I’m glad it missed my leg! Thanks Rocco for giving me a hand getting it back up on some horses. I don’t know if I’m getting any better at these videos but I think I’m at least making some decent progress on the boat projects!

This is the last Raymarine installation video, and from the last video, I finished off the transducers in the hull. Using 3M 5200 marine sealant to secure them in place, you need to make sure that the 5200 has at least 7 days +10 celsius to ensure a proper hardening.

Ep39 Mast, Thru-Hull Prep and Wind Transducer Install, Raymarine E70153 System Pack i50/i60, P2

Installation snippets from February through to March 2020 before the china coronavirus COVID19 kicked me out of the yard, I managed to get a few of the steps completed getting the instrument pack together.

I had non-functional lights, didn’t know the wiring in the mast, and no wind transducer so I took the time to pull up new cables using the old ones in the mast as a guide.

Ep38 Raymarine E70153 Sailing Instrument i50/i60 System Pack Unboxing, P1

Getting ready to replace my badly outdated and non-functional instruments, this video is my initial reaction and review unboxing the Raymarine’s E70153 Instrument i50/i60 System Pack.

This pack includes:

E70153 i50 & i60 Wind, Speed, Depth – 3 x Instrument & Transducer Pack E70058 i50 Speed

E26031 ST800-P120 ThruHull with Speed and Temperature Transducer

E70059 i50 Depth Instrument

M78713-PZ P319 LP TH Depth ThruHull Transducer Dual Frequency E70061 i60 Wind Instrument

Short Arm Version E22078 Forward STD Wind Transducer

Ep37 Test Fire, 10KW 48V Electric Motor Part 4

Finally! A test Run! Not a field trial, in the water yet but an in-air test run. This video has the last electric wiring hookups, installing the batteries and controller, and then the long awaited 1st trial run.

Right in the middle of this, March 17, bad news that affected all of us.

This threw my plans out the window for a few months and made future projects very difficult, but this test run was at least gratifying to know that the motor turns the prop and it sounds pretty slick.

Ep36 Batteries and Pulleys, 10KW 48V Electric Motor Part 3

Learning about different battery types, Flooded, AGM and Lithium with an overview in my own opinion and decision to go with flooded, 8 x 6 volt Magnacharge Deep Cell 450 Amp hour batteries, configured in series to achieve 48 volts output, DC.

Aiming to cruise around 50 amps draw, we will have to test these theories. As flooded can only run 50% drain, these have a useful life sticker of 220 minutes at 25 amps/hour so I should be able to get close to 2 hours, and if my solar panels can provide some charging at the same time I should be in good shape.

Ep35 Electric Engine Mount, 10KW 48V Electric Engine Part 2

Spent some time figuring out how to best align the 10KW #electric #motor where the old Atomic 4 used to connect to the propeller shaft. This took a few tries to get it to work.

This video is some commentary and DIY on the mount and some followup rambling on unfinished projects…

Ep34 Golden Motor 10KW 48V Electric Engine Unboxing

First impressions, unboxing a 48 Volt 10KW electric motor and controller from Golden Motor! This is a BLDC (Brushless) Motor from Golden Motor https://www.goldenmotor.ca/ and https://www.goldenmotor.com and accompanying VEC-500 Vector Controller.

These are going to replace the old Atomic 4 gasoline engine in boat! No more fumes, smells, and trying to go green!

A shout-out to Golden Motor Canada and Muj, who helped a lot to get this conversion working through my DIY issues. https://www.goldenmotor.bike/

Ep33 Getting ready to cook! Galley Framing

One of the things with the old layout was that the Galley was very small and almost impossible to get into the freezer.

As I like to cook, more counter space and accessibility to the fridge was the primary drivers behind the redesigned layout, and placed the Galley along the side of the main cabin instead of tucked into the back corner. The additional counter space will also double up as work space for projects instead of working on the main table.

Ep32 Sailboat Cabin Sole Glassing

#DIY Catch up project: at the point where I need to glass in the cabin sole for my sailboat, I removed out the settee extension and then epoxied both sides of the cabin sole layers. Taped the sides into the hull with with biaxial 17oz fiberglass strips using West System’s 105 and 205 Epoxy and Fast Hardener.

Who says you can’t do yoga on a boat! It seems like all my projects start by cleaning and moving stuff around, so that’s what I’m doing. This was my extension that I put in, for my settee. These are all brass screws, right now it’s on top of the cabin sole right were I want to work so I have to remove it first.

Ep31 Taping in the Closet Bulkheads

My goal was to finish fixing in the last piece of the door frame, and then be ready to lay fibreglass.

It got really cold, we got a pile of snow, I’ll show you later in the video; so unable to lay fibreglass.

Snowstorm.

But we’re in here, enjoying the heat from these little cabin heaters. It’s 43 degrees Fahrenheit, just above zero Celsius, but it’s ok I’ve got the heaters on so we’re able to work. Finishing up cutting the quarter berth cabin wall skins to get ready to fiberglass it all in. Sanded the corner edging. Ready for fibre glass.

Ep30 More Navigation Station Glassing

Carrying on with the navigation station build, documenting my progress upgrading our 1975 Hughes North Star 35/1500.

I am really starting to like the look and feel of the layout, Northern Comfort is starting to step out of the 70’s!

Ep29 Creating a Settee Chaise DIY

Now that the cabin sub-sole is in, I decided to create the ‘L’ shape to the settee and then decided that I would try rounding and bending the plywood to create some rounded corners.

Wow, did this take much longer than I thought, and I believe the -8 degrees celsius did my screws in with quite a few broken screws.

Luckily I was able to back most out with pliers. This cabin remodel sure is a big undertaking. It’s slow goin, but it’s goin.

Ep28 Laying Down a New Cabin Sole

Some snips from the new cabin sole project and glassed in the cabin captain table. While the temp is above 6 deg cel, I’m taking advantage of the warmer temperatures to make some headway on these interior cabin projects.

Winter is in it’s coldest months, January and February. In Ottawa winter temperatures can fall to -30 degrees celsius, but near Lake Ontario in Hamilton harbour most winters hover between -5 and +5 degrees celsius.

When temperatures are above +5 we can take advantage of the higher temperatures to get some projects done! Adding in a 1500 watt space heater, the interior cabin can get to 20 degrees.

Ep26 Finishing the Floors

This video, with the weather break above 6 degrees I decided to finish the reinforcement of the floors.

I added 4 additional floors fibreglassed to the hull as well, and finished glassing in with 3 layers of 6oz cloth and 3 layers of 17oz biaxial stitchcloth (biaxial/matt combined).

Also tackled the chainplate mount where the previous owner wedged in a speaker and notched out the hull near the chainplate attachment – what?!?

Ep25 Settee Rough-In and Holes in My Boat

Carrying on the remake of the internal cabin, also plugged up the galley sink thru-hull. Still have the old Atomic 4 thru-hulls to plug.

Moving the galley required closing up the old thru-hull for the galley sink exposing holes in my boat!

Ep24 Closet, Captain Table and Settee Rough-In; Sailboat Renovation

Initial stages of the cabin makeover includes aligning the new quarter berth wall framing, a new closet and captain’s table, and the start of the new settee. Near the end, a glance at the openness of the space with the forward bulkhead removed!

Ep23 Cabin Makeover, Quarter or Half-berth?

In the heart of the cabin remodelling, starting with the 1st wall is the first step to creating a new quarter berth. The wall construction is framed wood, epoxied in, and insulated with foam board. Walls covered with 3/8 plywood, and then glassed in with fiberglass.

This video is the start of framing and walls being formed. A long and cold winter of projects ahead.

Ep22 Engine Removal, Prepare for Electric Motor Conversion

1st step in converting to electric is to remove the old engine.

Never having worked on removing an engine out of a boat before, it was actually simpler than I thought. Loosening the collar on the propeller shaft and then the bolts on the gear-drive separated easily. This allowed the engine to detach from the propeller shaft; 4 anchor bolts on the body/mounts removed and the engine pulled free.

Ep21 Cabin Floors Repair, SV Northern Comfort

After removing the gas tank, I observed some rot on the cabin sole from saturated fuel, water and bilge goo.

I also checked the floors, and found some to sound hollow, so I decided to do a full gutting and remove the cabin sole to check the floors. I was pretty dissappointed with the mess and rotted out cabin sole and floors.

This video I discovered the root cause, and started the repair.

Ep20 Winter Rundown, Cabin Demolition and Covering Up, SV Northern Comfort

November 6 to 16, 2019, Boat was hauled out, and we put together a cover to protect against the winter cold, wind and rain while we do our winter projects. In our video, I gave a brief project overview which includes removing the Atomic 4 gasoline engine and putting in an electric 10KW motor. This conversion required an electrical overhaul and removal of the fuel take, lines pump and engine.

In doing so, some cabin sole rot was exposed which after further inspection revealed that the floors were water saturated.

After reflection, and a do-it-right DIY mentality, the demolition began.