Today we made progress on several fronts. First, after having removed some of the equipment we won’t need for the race, I decided to organize our space and stow things somewhat neatly. As a result, the forepeak and two bunks are available now. Once I finish the engine maintenance, I’ll be able to do some more cleanup.
Next, we went out to practice crew overboard recovery maneuvers. We first tried under engine and learned a few things. The MOB button on the NKE electronics does a few things for us: of course, it records the position of the MOB (when the button was pressed), it displays a page with directions to the MOB, and finally, it turns the boat in the wind. For the race, we have to record a video of the maneuver. We next tried under main sail alone. We decided that we would not allow the boat to go into the wind. I gave it a go using the classic figure 8; after making my way back to the fender that we had thrown overboard, we just couldn’t find it.
As we were concerned that it was stuck on the keel or maybe the sail drive, we made our way back to the fuel dock under sail, which was a bit nerve-wracking. The wind was at a good angle for the entrance to the channel, so we managed ok. Alex jumped overboard and couldn’t find a thing under the hull. By then the tide was so low that I could not make it into the slip. 90 minutes later and I powered into the slip in reverse.
While I was waiting for the tide to rise, I tried to sort out the battery charging situation. The shore charger seems to be connected to the starter battery and the house bank using different outputs (on the charger). So disconnecting the house bank from the shore charger would be as straightforward as removing that connection (I think). The alternator is wired to a battery isolator, which may be a solution to prevent damage from the BMS disconnection causing damaging load dumps (need to verify this).
I’m not much further ahead as the main problem remains unsolved: what to do when the BMS disconnects the house batteries. I had hoped that the Watt & Sea could possibly provide the necessary power to take over but it 100% requires a battery in the system. In fact, they are recommending a solution that requires the option to disconnect the generator from the converter.
