Evening everybody, with the old rig sold and the new kit cut i'm soon to get started on a new Rippy build, 6.5 point of sheets to transom plate hard top cuddy. Starting to lock down as much detail for the budget as I can and therefore looking for some feedback on peoples first hand experience with a couple of things.
1. Wiper's
Originally I had wipers in my numbers basis experience in my old mans stabi which has a set (and work well). In looking about it seems like there a heap of full screen boats without them with people just doing the rainex thing. whats people experience with no wipers and going hard on rainex?
2. Batteries & solar
Boat will have all the regular electrics but also a 50 litre fridge and a drum winch. Currently i'm working on having 2 batteries in isolated/crossable separate start and house format. Was going to have some solar capacity on the roof. Anchor winch will be on the start side.
- Can I get way with just the twin batteries for say 2 nights on the water? Have never owned a car fridge, on paper I think I would, keen to hear.
- Is it ok for me to run a typical start battery and specialised deep cycle type for the house side given they will be connected by the VSR closeing when start side is fully charged? Keen to hear a bit on peoples setups on this one.
- Whats the go for solar, glue on blanket type or more typical framed separate panels, how much is useful?
Any advice from those in the know welcome.
Scott
Gday Scott, I bet your looking forward to the build. All I will comment on is the windscreen wipers. I don’t have them and I certainly wish I did. I also have a Riptide and when it is ugly and running full trim it is a very wet ride. I use rainex and it is gone in no time and the water does take a while to clear once the rainex is washed off.
Sent from my iPhone using Ausfish forums
The wait is finally over.........was worth every minute..........let the RIPTIDE rip..........hell yehhhh
G'day Scott, the solar and power banks may be worth looking into for running of fridge etc to take some pressure off your house battery.
www.goalzero.com.au
Cheers
Jim
Haines Signature "FinaLeigh" 580F 135 Optimax
CH 81 & 72 VHF
My opinion (for what it's worth), if you have wipers, you need fresh water and a washer to get it on the screen as well. Eventually spray will see salt dried on your screen at some stage. With a wiper the temptation will be to turn it on - eventually damaging the glass. Without a wiper - no such temptation. The hard top I used to run didn't have wipers but I did used to apply Rainex before every trip. At times though coming in late in the afternoon the glare combined with the light salt covering was painful and it would have been good to have a wiper / washer set up.
You will need to run the numbers on the fridge set up (every model has different current draws) but personally I would be looking at a separate fridge battery (possibly removable for day trips), a house battery for electronics and lighting and a start battery. Charging via a VSR with a manual over ride switch for emergency starting (or VSR failure). It will depend on how accessory heavy your rig is and how you run it (engines running all day trolling, pull up and anchor all day, short drifts etc) as to whether the engine will put enough power in to keep everything going on it's own or if you will need decent solar input. From what I have seen of the blankets etc, they offer good storage solutions but are less robust and less efficient than good quality traditional panels.
FWIW, I have two built in fridges running danfoss bd50 compressors. I power this with a seperate deep cycle battery bank, 2 x 120a/h. These are charged from 2 x 130 watt solar panels and a dc/dc 20 amp charger.
For your set up I would think a seperate deep cycle battery charged via a dc charger would be a wise decision. You can then hook up a solar panel should you decide on longer trips. I use a Ctek dc250s dual as my dc charger.
I am am not a fan of the VSRs as I had one fail, and I believe a good quality dc charger will do a better job of charging your battery.
Regards
dave
ps, I don’t have wipers but wish I did.
I'm with Dave. I think you will need a dedicated fridge battery or house battery so 3 in total. In my experience with a 110 Evakool fridge freezer (50 litres frozen bait and 60 litres of drinks and sandwiches) I get a day and half out of an N70 size battery with an 80W solar panel on a dedicated little system if I can't get to shore power. I plug into a battery charger every night. If my shore power trips, the second day it is flat. You could set up a VSR system off your crank batteries and in my case I could cigarette lighter across to my dash when running but day to day I don't need to and don't overnight. Like Dave I've had a good quality Blue Seas VSR corrode out.
As for windscreen wipers, save your money. Just do the Rainex thing on glass. I went through maybe 3 motors on the Stabi in 3-4 years. That plus having to Sika the crap out of them to stop water intrusion. The trick with Rainex is not to wash it with detergent. If you do a suds wash when you go home to clean the boat, you have buggered your Rainex. Just fresh water only. Maybe the only other way to go would be to have a freshwater pump and coiled up hose long enough to hang out one of the side windows and get a heap of freshwater onto the front window then use the wiper. I don't think a small washer system like on a car would do a good enough job. You'd really need to douse it to lift the salt every few minutes coming home on like a summer arvo in a NEer looking into the sun.
Thanks men, useful info, kind of reflects where I though I might end up if budget meant only do one of them, go the battery and try living without the wipers. Make sure we build the overhead cabinet big enough to accommodate wiper motors if i feel the need later on, I know what you mean about the stabi wiper thing smithy, i replaced a motor for the old man in his stabi and its a dodgy arrangement, no flat surfaces to work with a general cock up, should be able to engineer a few of these problems out in the rippy via going overhead motors and build in good flat mounting points.
Thanks all, Scott
Modern outboards have pretty good charging capacity. I would just go two batteries, one high cap n70 decent crank battery and then a single AGM house to run fridge and all house electrics. Single a lot cheaper and more longevity than two in parallel. ( With two you get the shortest life of the two) Work out yr load but even a 200 amp would be ok and a VSR.
I wouldn't even bother with solar, just invest in batt cap.
An Engel 45L flat out on freeze will consume 2.7 amps per hour bigger engel 4.5 amps. A Danfoss bd50 (every other fridge 5 amps per hour) on freezer that's running flat out. If putting hot stuff in it or on freeze will run a lot, if just keeping food and beers cold Engel approx 40 mins every hour Danfoss maybe 30 (more cooling cap). But even on freeze not that bad.
Nowadays with led lights you don't have that much load. And the AGM will absorb the charge as u move very quickly. When you look at the charge your outboard can drive into a large AGM vs the limited output of a salt encrusted solar panel for five or six hours a day it's not really with the expense. Don't limit your charge with DC to DC charger go VSR imho.
IMHO and lack of technical knowledge I have no idea what the best solution is but one item mentioned was your anchor winch, they draw a huge amount of power in a short amount of time especially in not so gentle seas and if you do a lot of anchoring you would have to run your outboards continuously. I have a Stressfree MIDI 1400 and it recommends using 2 batteries when in use and in my case I've certainly found that is the case it works better, yes i do slowly motor forward to take the strain off it.
I would think a third battery to run the fridge freezer is a good option regardless of other electronic VSR/DC chargers you will install, I'm now looking at that option. Gizmos have a habit of breeding on a boat, fridge freezers, electric reels, pie ovens (absolutely necessary once you've had one for overnighters)etc so the drain/stress on your house battery is generally a lot higher than anticipated even with LEDS and other modern electronics.
Is my system wired up correctly, No but like you I am looking for a solution and installing a 3rd battery is awkward and a compromise in my case and I know little about solar and with a soft top awkward to install. I have been on a variety of other people's boats and day trips are fine, extended trips always seem to cause a bit of juggling. I hope you end up with a great boat and with and you get to enjoy all your hard work.
Depends on the engine brand. I'm guessing you're looking around 200HP. A suzi or merc with produce good amps (50+) well down in the rpm range. The yamaha maxes out at 43A and because its a rectifier, current is reasonably proportional to RPM so you'll only get decent current when going flat out.Originally Posted by myusernam
For all the guys here that don't have wipers here, me included.
Nanotech is your best friend. It is similar to RainX, 10 folds.
If you use the stuff, get the good stuff, make sure you prep your screen properly or get someone who knows how to do it, everything just hose out with fresh water.
I have nanotech my entire bare alloy boat and washing down is with a hose only, no scrub, no detergent, all 5 mins of it!!!!
Just have to solve the motor flushing thing now.
Humility is not a weather condition.
Thanks all, Chris 225 big block yammy, 70 amps of output, probably should consider saving the money on the solar and put it in to a third battery and let the motor do the work. Scott
Etc G2 is 70amps available (plus another 50 for engine) 14amps at idle. A 200w panel with mppt reg will only give 6ish Amps and only for max 5.5 - 6 hours per day falling away family quickly after that.
Fridge 5 amps even if on flat out. LEDs the whole boat even underwater lights say four amps if left on continuously (reality a lot less). Sounder and GPS if really big screen maybe 3 amps. Err on the bigger side for longevity. Go good Chinese (ce/iso certified manifacturer)
Sorry just saw yammie reply. 70 amps good. Sounds like a nice rig. If just going chest camping style fridge check out the plastic Engels. Cheap, Less to rust and only 2.7a draw.
Numbers are a bit out - 100 watt solar is about 6 amps at peak output, lights - depends on how many and what type - my under gunwales draw near on an amp each on their own (but are really bright) and I've seen big trailer boats that had to add batteries just to run electronics packages (all depends on the level of fit out). Every rig is different and thus the numbers need to be done taking into account typical use. There are some pretty intricate solar calculators about - this one is pretty basic though if you are wanting to run some numbers
https://www.camping-warehouse.com.au...alculator.aspx
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote