The Comforts of Home
The Hanging Locker Dilemma One challenge that every cruiser faces, is creating the comforts of home, especially on a small sailboat with limited storage space. Whether you’re planning a weekend getaway or an extended voyage, efficient organization is key to ensuring a clutter-free sailing adventure. We take a closer look at how to transform our […]
Protecting Your Alternator: The Importance of Installing an Alternator Protection Device (APD)
With the growing popularity of lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries equipped with internal battery management systems (BMS), it’s crucial to protect your alternator from voltage spikes that can lead to potential damage. We will explore the risks associated with load dumps, explain the role of the Alternator Protection Device (APD) in mitigating these risks, and […]
A Galley Transformation: Switching from Propane to Electric Appliances
In the pursuit of a more reliable and efficient cooking experience aboard our boat, we recently embarked on the journey of converting our propane galley to electric appliances. After years of struggling with a propane oven and cook top range that proved inconsistent and challenging to control, we decided it was time for a change. […]
Installing a Cockpit Shower & Deck Washdown
Cockpit Shower We’ve seen a lot of cruising boats that have a shower pump that can be used in the cockpit. We really liked that concept for a few reasons. Using the shower in the head is a bit of a chore. The curtain helps keep the water off the countertop and toilet, but there’s […]
Repairing our Isotemp Water Heater AGAIN
Having hot water on the boat is awesome. It’s hard to imagine not having a water heater. Unfortunately, we didn’t have to imagine it because our water heater broke (again) and we didn’t have hot water for about a week. And of course it happened in the middle of winter. Our Isotemp water heater is […]
Installing LED Locker Lights
LED technology has come a long way over the past decade. Even over the past 5 years! We upgraded all our lighting from amp-hungry incandescents to LED lights back in 2013. At that time, we contemplated putting lights in the hanging lockers but didn’t because of cost and hassle. We tried some battery-powered LEDs for […]
Installing a Balmar External Voltage Regulator
While I don’t recommend intentionally frying your alternator, frying ours last summer pushed this project to the top of our to-do list and I’m glad it did. We spent a lot of money on our Battle Born LiFePO4 batteries and with a new alternator and external voltage regulator I feel more at ease that the […]
Coming Clean – Installing our new shower
We live at a marina full-time. It just so happens to be a very nice marina with a very nice and new in 2015 facility that includes restrooms with showers, a laundry facility, a gym and clubhouse. Before the new building, the old restroom and showers were pretty lame. They were clean, but with only […]
Which Cabin Fans Work Best?
We’ve had three Caframo Bora fans installed in the boat for about 4 years now. On the plus side, they work. On the minus side they’re noisy (they rattle) and they’re hard to clean. And when they get dirty they get noisier. It’s a vicious cycle. We have one Hella brand oscillating fan over the […]
Power Management (Victron Multiplus)
Victron Multiplus We bought a new Victron Multiplus 3000 watt charger/inverter in November 2017 and finally finished installing it. Here’s a little video of what we did. CO Detectors Rich had a little time off work so he was able to finished up a few little projects as well. We have two carbon monoxide detectors […]