Solar-Lithium-Electrical+ Refit (2024)

In February we hauled out in Boat Haven Marina (Port Townsend) for our long awaited electrical+ refit. We focused on a massive list of boat projects and were grateful for the skilled trades, Marina Cafe, Blue Moose, Sunrise Coffee, Pain D’Amore, Fountain Cafe, Silverwater Cafe and the occasional social visits by our friend Greg during the 3 month and 2 day refit!

Here’s a summary of the work performed…

Installed 2-3000w inverter chargers that charge 2 lithium banks: 12v 270ah running bank and 24v 540ah house bank. Batteries are chargeable by engine (new Wakespeed regulators and 24vdc 140A Lease Neville alternators), shore power, generator or solar: (1760w rigid panels mounted to arch (Sun Power/Maxion) and 1500w walkable panels (bougeRV) attached to the coach roof on corrugated polycarbonate with weld mounts). Upgraded our galvanic isolators to more robust dual isolation transformers to better protect the boat from marinas with bad/hot power setups. This also sets us up as “global power” as the incoming power can be 120/240v or 50/60hz… doesn’t matter, we just need the correct connectors/plug adapters for the country we’re in. Majority of the electrical was designed and installed by Revision Marine (Boat Haven Marina, Port Townsend).

Replaced our current HVAC units with Frigomar 24v AC 16k BTU HVAC that will run off the house battery bank. Installation by Mark McBride at Ice Sea Refrigeration (Seattle).

Had the hull windows and saloon skylight rebed by Gold Star Marine (Boat Haven Marina, Port Townsend).

The stainless solar arch and dive rack were designed, built and installed by Alan Phillips at Bristol Marine (Kingston).

And lastly… added a few outlets in more accessible locations, reconfigured existing outlets to better align to how they’re used, added blocks to run the lines to the helm for a downwind sail, upgraded anchor to 73lb Rochna, installed iNav4U and PredictWind DataHub, recertified the life raft and EPIBR, and tested/serviced all inflatable PFDs.