Three Batteries

Big Duck has three batteries.
Start
House
Inverter
These are three different batteries. The start is a 24, the house is a 27 (both wet) and the inverter is a 31 AGM.

I charge all three from a single charging source via 2 VSR's from Yandina.
Yandina VSR
When the Yandinas are in the AUTO mode, any charging source will be distributed to all three batteries. This charging source can be:
Onboard charger
Inverter charger
Engine alternator
Experts will tell you that this is not a sound practice - only batteries of identical size and age should be charged by the same source. I'm violating that rule on several accounts for the sake of economy and simplicity.
My take on batteries

Most of the time I have all the batteries combined via the Yandina AUTO function and because I'm so lackadaisical about my charging methods, I needed a way to see if one of them is heading south.

My first thought was a single voltmeter with a triple throw switch that would show each battery one at a time. Then I stumbled on these little gems on ebay...three for under $25.

So then all I needed was a lead from each battery to a three pole switch (because voltmeters will draw a battery down) and then to these voltmeters. These switches are readily available.

 

So now, if I set the combiners to OFF, I can see the voltage of each battery and how it's holding up after a load is applied.

 In the Yandina combined position, of course all the meters will show the same voltage if a charging source is applied, but if the Yandinas are forced off and no charging source is present I can get a feel of how each battery is holding up.

Would the right thing to do be having all the batteries identical and of the same age? Well maybe, but until then, I'm covered.

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Here's a comment on this approach from another board:

So I read Jeffs article and disagree with his modus operandi. Firstly, deep cycle batteries charge differently than start ones, secondly, different types of batteries should not be charged on the same cycle and thirdly AGMs take charge at a higher voltage and in most cases should never be equalized unless okayed by the MFGr. The Yandina combiner is basically to keep a troll motor battery charge, not for continuous use. More importantly, an external regulator is of essence on a boat which keeps the batteries at an optimum charge from variable sources.  

And here is my response:

Your point is well taken and I'll be the first to admit my approach to batteries is not ideal. But...my boat is over 40 years old and for some of us ‘bottom feeders’ the ideal approach is not always the best - we always look for something that just ‘works’. We know what the books say and how the serious boaters do it, but we opt to take a more casual approach. Before I bought my trawler I wondered how I was ever going to keep up with the high tech advice I got from every board. It was absolutely overwhelming…must have this…must do it this way…can’t be without this…this is what the books say -- and none of that ‘encouragement’ was cheap! I bought the trawler anyway but it was so much responsibility that it wasn’t any fun (even though it didn’t cost me a cent because it paid for itself by being in charter service). I found I didn’t want to have to worry about all those expensive elaborate systems. 

Today we have all the comforts of the trawler with none of the worries. She sleeps 7, has 2 mechanical steering stations, double galley sink, 4 burner stove and large oven, air conditioning and heat via a remote start Honda generator on the upper deck, microwave, fridge, freezer on the aft deck, hot water shower, gravity toilet, reliable 350 Chevy power for 25+ mph -- all simple systems that work day in and day out whether on the water, on the road or on the trailer in the back yard as a guest house. I’m certainly not knocking the folks who want to do it right, but if it ‘works’ and will get me out on the water, that’s good enough for me…and maybe also good enough for lurker/dreamers who hesitate to get their feet wet because they can’t manage to go the ideal route. 

My purpose is to encourage other (maybe lurking) simple folks to take the plunge. If you want to cross oceans, then listen to the big guys. If you just want to have some fun on inland and coastal waters, well maybe some of that high tech stuff isn’t all that important?

False Spring Weather

Around here in South Carolina, winter never really takes hold. We winterize our boats because sometimes the temps do get down into the teens, but it's only for a short spell. Sometimes in the later part of  the winter season the thermometer will show us 60° a few days after we experience the teens. It's awful tempting to take the boat out on those 60° days, but the reality is that there's still the possibility of needing to re-winterize 'cause those 20's could again be just around the corner.

I'm a sucker for the warm weather and just have to get the boat wet, but I'm also a lazy sob and don't want to re-winterize her in case the weather lures me out again. So here's what I do:

I put an electric heater in the engine compartment.

The heater is just to the left of the engine with the red indicator light showing that it's active.

 I know, I know, it's dangerous because a small spark when the heater cycles could cause gasoline fumes to blow the boat up. But I'm thinking that because the drain plug is out, those heavier than air gasoline fumes will drain themselves out. And in the cold weather I wonder about how much the gasoline will fume or if there is any fumes at all? I'd appreciate thoughts on these assumptions...

To assist the heater in keeping the mill warm, I made some covers for the engine room vents - these just snap over the engine room ventilation louvers.

Covers for the engine room ventilation louvers.

Then there's the question of how effective my efforts really are. Is the heater keeping things warm enough to prevent my block and manifolds from freezing and cracking? I solve this mystery by putting the sender for a remote reading thermometer in the engine compartment. This way I can see the temperature in the engine compartment from the comfort of my house.

It's 58.4° in the engine compartment - the ambient temp is about 32.

No matter what, it's a gamble I'm willing to take - the freedom of being able to take her out on a moments notice without being a hostage of re-winterizing.

Adding A Circuit

Most new cars come with cigarette lighter sockets that are only hot when the key is on. Not so with my older vehicles, and I'd like to have a 'key off' circuit for my dash cam and GPS. It's not a big deal leaving them on, but if they're off they are less conspicuous when the vehicles are left in a parking lot.

Dash cam and GPS

Trying to find a place to wire in this new 'key off' circuit can be a daunting task. Sure, I can locate a fuse that's for the power windows which will get the job done, but how to get a wire to it? Do I pull out the fuse and jam a bare wire in the socket before jockeying the fuse back in? Actually I have done that on occasion but then there's the headache of fusing the new wire...

Blue wire stuffed under 40 amp fuse

Well there's a much better way and it's painless. Use a fuse tap in place of the selected fuse. This is a wire that has fuse prongs and a place for two fuses. One fuse position is for the original fuse and the other position is for the new circuit.

Fuse Tap - you can see the places for two fuses where the wire comes out of the block

This rig saves a lot of time/trouble and even has a fuse for the new circuit. Nice! But there is one caveat - the fuse tap has to be oriented correctly in the socket. Only one side of the socket is hot so the new lead has to be tied to that side...if your new circuit doesn't work, pull the fuse tap out and put it in the other way. Now we're cookin'

Fuse tap in place with both fuses installed.

The new wire is only rated for 10 amps so you're not going to be able to run an actual cigarette lighter, but it is fine for almost anything else.

My daughter wants one of there for her car, but for the opposite reason. She needs a circuit that's always hot so she can charge her cell phone when the key is off.

Floor Jack Helpers

I need a 3 ton jack to get 1/2 my boat/trailer off the ground. I used to have a couple smaller floor jacks where you pumped it up, then to let it down you removed the handle and slid it over a small valve peg and twisted it. Never again.

The 3 ton jacks normally let you twist the handle in place to lower the load, so that problem is taken care of. But no matter how hard you try to ease that handle twist to bleed the pressure slowly, it never works that way...it's grunt, grunt, grunt then all of a sudden wide open and the load slams to the ground.

There's a fix for this that not only offers precise lowering but also lets you drag the jack across the grass to where the truck is. Drill a couple holes near the top of the handle and slide a rod through them. I originally had a holder for this rod, but found I can just leave it in place with the help of a cable tie.

This handle makes it easy to lower the load slowly and also is handy for dragging the jack across uneven terrain.

I'll put the jack's metal cup directly under a rear axle, the pumpkin, or front suspension parts to get a truck wheel or two off the ground, but I hate to go metal to metal when lifting the boat trailer because there's such a small area of the jack cup pushing against the trailer frame. Can't you hear the sound of that 2 X 4 cracking as it gets squished between the jack and frame as you raise up the trailer?

So I bought a cap for the metal cup on the jack and I guess it's OK, but it's hard to tell when the jack is properly centered under the relatively narrow trailer frame.

Plastic cap used to distribute the load at the frame.

Here's my present joy for something between the jack cup and the trailer frame...

It's a Hockey Puck!

Harris Chain of Lakes Houseboat Cruise - Dec 2014

Unlike local boating groups where boaters are relatively near one another, houseboaters, especially classic trailerable houseboaters, are few and far between. We started planning in June for a Fall outing but it never came together. Some of us couldn't wait until Spring so I decided even if I had to go alone I'd get out late November or early December at Harris Chain of Lakes in Florida.

When I posted my intentions on:  Classic Trailerable Houseboat Group several folks expressed interest and a December 1 date was set. We would splash at Griffin State Park near Leesburg Florida.You never know who will actually show up, but we had 5 maybe 6 potential boats.

Big Duck (Land N Sea) - Jeff, Suz and Merlin
Mokeedugway (Parker) - Doug and Elaine 
Flobo (Hobo) - Gaetan 
Avitoon (Avion/Pontoon) - Bud, Michelle and Penney 
Meander (Yukon Delta) - Jim and Carol 
We encouraged Lee from NC to come, but he said his YD just wasn't ready yet.

The plan:
I would pull my boat down from SC. Gaetan would drive his Smart car down from Canada, rent a truck and bring his FL stored Hobo across to Leesburg from Marco Island. Doug and Elaine would tow from Chicago. We'd meet at the Walmart in Leesburg FL, stay overnight there (Wallydock) and buy provisions the next morning before heading to the ramp. Bud and Michelle would tow from GA to meet us at the ramp. Jim and Carol, who are local, would splash on nearby Lake Harris and find us out on the water.

Everything went as planned except Doug and Elaine decided to spend the night at the motel across the street and there was a sign at the Walmart that said, No Overnight Parking. The next morning Doug and Elaine joined us and we went shopping.

Gaetan and I ignored the sign and spent the night in the Walmart lot without incident.

 

Bud stopped by Walmart that morning...he had taken a camping spot at the park the evening before but needed supplies. Then off to the ramp.

Big Duck went in first.

Then Mokeedugway

Then the Avitoon

And finally Flobo

We then headed out the channel to Lake Griffin. It was nice to finally be out on the water.

Eventually we met up with Jim and Carol and snaked our way up the Oklawaha River.

Jim and Carol's Yukon Delta - Meander

We decided to stop up the river for the night. Mokeedugway and Big Duck always raft for meals and overnight. Flobo decided to join us.

The next morning, Meander was up and down the river trying to get the motor right. Avitoon decided to join the raft while we waited for Jim to finish tinkering with the motor. Jim's motor continued to give him trouble so Big Duck dropped the trolling motor and pulled the raft of 4 boats to Jim's aid.

The trolling motor on Big Duck allowed us to precisely raft the four of us with Meander, albeit slowly.

Jim's motor couldn't be made to run right so Meander pulled out at a nearby marina that morning.

Jim and Bud working on Meander's motor

Without our local guides, we thought we'd be lost, but Mokeedugway stepped in and did a fine job of leading the gaggle of boats on the rest of the cruise.

After coming back down the river, we went from Lake Griffin through the lock to Lake Eustis.

From Lake Eustis we went through the Dora Canal to Lake Dora. No one told me about bridge clearance on the canal. Big Duck needs 9'8.5" -- some of the bridges had 10'!

Pucker.

Dora Canal is like a Jungle Cruise

 Once through the canal, Avitoon, Mokeedugway and Flobo stopped in at the marina at Lake Dora while Big Duck relaxed on the hook. It's a very nice facility and ramp -- even a seaplane ramp/base.

We overnighted on Dora in a little cove south of the marina.

From Dora we ran a little channel into Lake Beauclair for a look around. There's a nice ramp/facility there too called Trimble Park.

From Beauclair we went back to Dora, then back through the Dora Canal to Eustes. Going back through the Dora Canal wasn't as bad as the first run through because we knew we would fit, but maneuvering an I/O in those tight quarters is no picnic.

The flybridge steering wheel was Big Duck's high point

Low hanging branches were also a challenge

We then went through Dead River to Lake Harris and spent the night on the hook in a little keyhole just off Dead River.

The next day we got off to a very late start and headed to what I call the C&C Hospitality Dock. Cecil and Connie are relatives of the Avitoon folks and welcomed us with open arms. We each found a spot on their dock for a visit. Their hospitality was second to none so we stayed the night on their dock and were welcomed to a most scrumptious breakfast the next morning.

View of the house from the dock

Jim, Cecil, Elaine and Doug

It was a days run back from The C&C Hospitality Dock thru Harris, then the Dead River to Eustis and then the lock to Lake Griffin. Cecil said he would gladly drive us all back to Griffin Park to get our rigs so we could use the ramp about a mile from his house. We then settled in for more fruit, bacon, sausage, pancakes, eggs and coffee.

Jim and Carol stopped by the house with their '49 Hudson and Scamp to say good-by on their way to a Tin Can Rally -- and even joined us at the ramp when we all pulled out.

Jim and Carol's '49 Hudson and camper

Except for the mosquitoes

it was a great trip with great people and great weather. The 40 year old Duck performed admirably with no system failures, although I was a little concerned about the mileage. We have approached 3 mpg at our houseboat speeds (under 6 mph) and were getting about 1.5 on this trip? We used 50 gallons of gas and logged about 80 water miles.

 

We left the ramp late afternoon did the 500+ mile drive home in one shot arriving at 2am. We left Big Duck in the front yard and lapsed into a coma.

The next morning while backing the boat into the boatport in the back yard, I clipped a tree and knocked off the foil on the outdrive. The foil took off both sides of the anti-ventilation plate with it, but a little epoxy and glass will get it back together.

Ouch!

So while I was waiting for the epoxy to set up on the outdrive, I replaced the module in my EST distributor which I suspected was contributing to the poor mileage. I checked the timing with the old one before I took it out. At idle she was running zero degrees and revved up she'd jump to about 14°BTDC. The new module showed 7° BTDC at 600 RPM and a steady climb with revs just like the book says. I think we'll see better MPG now.

Can't wait to get Big Duck out again!

And here's some random shots from various times/places.

Avitoon with awning up

Penney - the boating lap dog.

Working on Meander's motor

Our French chef Gaetan, preparing breakfast

Merlin is a great boat dog.

 

Mokee putting Big Duck's galley to the test

 

 

Elaine, Penney and Michelle on Big Duck

Merlin and Penney