Electrical Upgrade

                                                  Main  Electrical system.

As with many older boats, cars etc. owners are modifying and running over the years new cables for their own purpose but in some cases this becomes a hasty job, especially when the cables are not in sight and this can result in not proper guiding of the newly installed wires/cables.
I understand  that we are working with low voltage but still in case of failures blown fuses it is important that cable runs can be followed, especially with the battery cables which will have a high amperage in a short circuit.
With the above in mind you already understand that I did not found the boat up to my standards.
From below pictures it can be seen that loose wires although connected were hanging around in the engine room spaces and fuse cabinet. Additional, battery cables were not seized correctly.

First attempt was made in removing the wires which were in my opinion obsolete and could be removed without jeopardizing the original installation. This was done around the batteries and in the fuse cabinet, this took some time but the result was that all looked already better.

To be honest I have done this several times with the cables around the batteries, also due to changing the position of the batteries in the engine-room space.

Eventually the final version was installed.

For example the main switches for the battery system were placed under the small hatch aft of the steering cabin near the doors of the aft cabin in the engine room space, long cables runs especially since the batteries were placed ports side under the steering console.

Moved the switches forward under the floor but that was not ideal.

Therefore I made a small cabinet next to the steering console where these switches were placed in.

Short cables between the batteries and steering console.

The batteries were place in between the engines in line forward to aft and I invested in Optima batteries as starting batteries and an additional house battery.

What I noticed was that each engine it's alternator was connected to one battery with no regulating system to check which battery was empty or full.

I therefore invested in a regulator which is fed by both engine alternators and checks which battery is the lowest in amperage, first starting to load the starting batteries before the house battery, also this unit was placed in the new cabinet.

This unit can feed 4 batteries but for the moment  I have connected 3 batteries; two starting batteries and one house battery, of which one start battery can also be connected as house battery to the electrical system, while the other one is solely a start battery. This way I should always be able to start one engine.

Further with this unit it gives me the opportunity to sail low speed with one engine on line while at the same time charging all batteries.

Picture of cabinet with charger unit and main switches.

The above picture shows also a charger for solar panels although old solar panels they still do charge the house battery.

The main electrical system was not fitted with main fuses between the batteries and the ships electrical system, therefore main fuses were installed as close as possible near the batteries.

With the changes by installing the charging unit, fuses and main switches the amount of cables increased but by using silicone cables the cable runs were not that difficult. Although it looks from below pictures a lot of cables.

The fuse cabinet was cleaned up as well light added and the fuse covers were marked with the fuse position behind the covers this way when a fuse blows it can be quickly replaced.

Inside Lights

                                                                 Inside lights

During the last years of restoring the boat and when all was accessible the electrical wiring was inspected at the same time.
During these inspections I came to the conclusion that hardly any wiring needed to be exchanged, did not find any discolored copper wires in the cabling nor was the outside of the cabling damaged, therefore a minor amount of new cables needed to be pulled for the lights, in the most cases new to be installed lighting.
With regards to the cabling for the batteries and cables around the engines most of them were replaced.
One of the reason to replace them was to install main fuses which are not a part of the original design of the boat. Other reason was that I wanted to use silicone cables which are no as stiff as normal battery cables and which are easier to install.
With regard to the lights are were replaced except a few in good condition the round ceiling lights in the most forward and aft cabin.

                                                                 Aft Cabin
In the aft cabin new lights were installed as bed/reading lights.
These light fixtures were fitted with LED lamps to reduce the power consumption, as with most lights installed where possible the halogen lamps were replaced by LED lamps.

The storage shelf port and starboard looked a bit dark to me and since I was running several new wires I installed LED strips to make the shelf more visible and at the same time create some more light in the aft cabin.

The aft cabin storage cabinet was a kind of dark to my onion and since I had some LED strip left and switches a part of the LED strip was installed in the cabinet.

The LED strip is relatively cheap and when one looks on the internet one can buy rolls of 10 meter, 20 meter or even longer. The advantage of these led strips is that they can be cut to length and directly be connected to the 12 volt circuit no additional transformer or anything else is required.

                                                     

Original ceiling light as far as I know.

Main Cabin

What I noticed that with the original light the main cabin is rather dark therefore some additional light have been added. When I bough the boat the center round light was removed and replaced by some smaller lights which in my opinion did not looked that nice.

A new concept was made from Mahogany with 3 individual lights which now do give more than enough light around the dining table.

Other lights were on the walls when I bought the boat but in my opinion not positioned in such a way that they would be good reading lights.

Therefore some investment was made and two flexible spots were bough and positioned on the cabinets this way creating lights on the corners of the couch. 

The same was done here as in the aft cabin with placing LED strips above the shelf behind the couch cushions.

The space behind the cushions is divided in an aft larger space as per above picture and a smaller forward space behind the small back cushion.

Since we have these days all telephones etc. which need to be charged through an USB behind this smaller cushion I placed USB ports for charging, as well as a lighter outlet for any other connection and a volt meter showing the voltage of the house battery.

For the kitchen area a light was placed on the wall above the sink and the original light above the stove was left in place.

The kitchen cabinets looked a bit dark as well and with keeping in mind all what I found when taking the kitchen area apart I thought it was a good idea to place also LED strips in the storage cabinets.

The larger storage cabinet next to the couch was also outfitted with a small light which becomes very handy since this cabinet is rather deep.

The bathroom has only one light which I did not changed since it is a fluorescent light which gives enough light for a bathroom.

                                                     Forward cabin, bedroom.

The original round ceiling light was kept in place to keep the boat as original as possible.

new bed light were installed against the cabinets in the forward cabin.

Bit classic look to try to match it with the age of the boat.

These lights do give more then a enough light for reading and checking the cabin in the dark if required.

In the port side larger cabinet was also a LED strip placed, in the small starboard side cabinet this was not done since it is so small that the light would not have any effect.

Further also here two USB ports were installed for charging.

Original ceiling light as far as I know, next to the ceiling light a small fan which works on solar power which I hope will create some circulation while the boat remains in the water during the winter months.

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Steering Cabin.

In the steering cabin one larger light is positioned between the window wipers this way when one is docked or at anchor giving enough light in this area to move around without tripping.

Also here on the right hand of the console an outlet has been made for 12 volt, this allows for plugging in for example a navigation computer.

What I noticed was that the cabinet which holds all fuses was a kind of dark and especially when one needs to replace a fuse, which always can be done with a flash light in the dark but it is nice to have two hands free when changing a fuse.

Also here a LED strip was placed with a switch which activates the light when the doors are opened.

Sometimes I do get the question why keeping the old fuse system in place and not replace it with a more modern system.

One of the reason is that I wanted to restore and not rebuild the boat to as much as possible original condition the other one is that changing the amount of fuses to a new system would require more space and would become a kind of expensive.

The good part of the present system with this large amount of fuses is that the electrical system is set up in such a way that when a fuse blow that non of the cabins will be totally in the dark, which I think due to my work on board on ships is a major advantage.

For example there is one fuse for the port side aft bed light and starboard forward bed light, so if his fuse fails there will be still light in both areas.

Into the water

It took some time after before the boat went into the water , I had the impression that most of the planks were closed and minimum gaps were left in the boat by June.
The hot summer after June did not help as planks below and above the water line were opening again.

Another issue was to find a suitable name for the boat, since the boat originates from Sweden we came up with the name Lycka, which means luck and still sounds like a ladies name for us Dutch.







































Eventually I waited till the end of August till the boat was put into the water.
The height of the tent which served me over the last few years of restoration was just high enough that the boat could be moved out with a boat lift without taking the whole construction down.

It is always a kind of scary moment when the boat hits the water after being so long on land and have been totally dried out.

But the good news was that it floated directly with a minimum of water ingress between some planks.
This was the first day.

The first 24 hours about 7 liters of water entered the boat and actually I would have more expected if I did not seal some of the hairline openings between some of the planks, where water was coming through, on places where one would not expect this.
Did a test run with the boat the next day to make sure that there were no issues with the engines steering etc. before the boat would be sailed over from the wharf to the Marina and the good news was that boat sailed as expected and no extra water did enter.

Few days later the boat was sailed from the wharf to the Marina where the boat will be for the summer and winter season.
The Marina is at the big lake in the middle of Holland and the wharf is at one of the canals so we needed to go through locks with a height difference of about 18 feet.

From there over the lake to the marina.

After sailing over all did look good with minimum extra leaking of water into the boat, but I think that due to the sailing and movement some settlement of the boat structure took place and the next day we had far more water in the boat even up to almost 30 liters in one day.
Most of this water came through the blocks, Port and starboard, where the propeller shafts supports are mounted onto.
These gaps were closed with the Ettan grease and this stopped the large ingress of the water.
After about two weeks the water ingress is decreased to around 2 liters per 24 hours , which shows that it takes longer then one hopes that a wooden boat will get water tight, all gaps between planks 100% closed.

Below some pictures of the boat at the Marina.

Since the sea trial was done without major issues we decided to make it official and the boat was christened with some champagne which was pored over the bow for good luck. The rest of course consumed by us, my neighbors and my wife and myself.

In a later stage I will follow up with additional blogs with regards to work performed on the boat as well as with pictures of the finished inside.
Not only the inside was restored but also new beds new sitting cushions as well as a new tent was made.
The tent and cushion where made by my neighbor Jan who can do miracles with a sawing machine.

Getting Wet

                                                       Getting Wet

The goal for 2018 is to get the boat in the water.
This might always looks simpler then it actually is, lots of loose ends to be completed which normally always takes longer then one expect.
All wood needs to be sanded from the deck housing and treated again with Owatrol D-2 and in some placed D-1 and D-2.
Deck needs to be washed and checked for any spots which ended-onto the deck by completing other tasks as well as the caulking needs to be checked for agian.
But the biggest challenge is of course when the boat get's wet.
The complete hull has been cleaned inside and protected again with linseed oil and the bilge has been painted.
The planks have dried out over the years and there are big gaps between them, enough to get concerned when the boat get's into the water and how do I keep it afloat.
When the boat does get in this condition in the water it will fill up rather quickly with water resulting that a reasonable pump is required to prevent the boat from sinking.
The risk is that there will be a power outage, pump failure and resulting that the boat still might sink .
Not a pleasant though after all these years of getting it ready.
Thinking outside the box, I decided to fill up the boat with water before I will put it into the water, this way I was hoping that the planks would close again.
Well I was partly successful lots of water poured into the boat which ran out overnight again.
Did this a few times but the gaps would hardly close.
I was then informed about a product called Ettan Grease used by wooden boat builders, it claims that it sticks to anything, indeed it did, difficult to remove from your hands, product is water resistant.

It is  a greasy product which smells like tar , old wooden boat smell, not unpleasant.

The good thing of this product that it can be rather easy pushed between the planks, if the weather is not to cold .
Well after putting this Ettan Grease  between the planks I filled up the boat again, and to my pleasant surprise only some drips of water came out which could be easily closed with some additional Ettan Grease.
Over the time a week to several weeks I could see that the gaps between the planks were closing.

The Ettan grease was pushed out between the planks and could be scraped off the bottom.
It total took around 4 months till all gaps were closed and no water came out of the bottom anymore.
It took the longest time for the hull shaft penetrations to close which can be expected due to the way this penetration is build up from different types of wood in different layers.