Our Moody 40

I’m still puzzling about the batteries to use on Dulcinea – the more I search for information the more conflicting views I get!  There is a bit of a potential problem with Lithium batteries and the alternators fitted to new engines that produce a lot more power than the old ones.  One problem is that the alternators have a fairly low efficiency, meaning that they waste up to half of the power the engine puts in to them as waste heat. They have a built in fan that will keep the alternator cool at high engine revs, but if they are producing a lot of current at mid revs the fan is not very effective, and the alternator can overheat and destroy itself – this is particularly likely to happen with the Lithium batteries as they have a very low internal resistance and so can mop up lots of current.  The most common way to avoid this problem is to have a moderate sized lead acid battery as the engine start battery as they have very little work to do and tend to last for many years and charge this directly from the alternator, then use a crafty bit of electronics  (called a Battery to Battery charger – B2B, or a DC-DC charger ) to take spare power from the engine battery charging circuits and convert it into a suitable voltage to charge the  main domestic battery bank.  In this way it doesn’t really matter what the domestic batteries are, as the B2B can adjust its output voltage to suit whatever battery you choose.  You can also choose the B2B charger so that it won’t take more than maybe around half of the alternators maximum output,  and as the engine starting battery is almost always kept fully charged ( starting an engine takes almost no power, just a high current for a few seconds) you can in that way restrict the power the alternator puts out to safe levels.  We have a battery in the bows for the bow thruster ( to keep the wires short) Since the bow thruster is only used momentarily and very rarely that battery doesn’t require much charging current, but does need to be able to supply a heavy current – up to 500 Amps – for typically 10 0r 20 seconds – run it for over 2 minutes and there is a risk it will burn out.  The bow battery could be wired in parallel with the main battery as it is now, although that would put a big current through the rather small cables joining the domestic and bow battery – better would be a second small B2B also running off the engine battery.   The advantage of the B2B based system is that it then doesn’t really matter what type of batteries the domestic and bow use as long as its suitable for that function, so we can start with eg. lead AGM batteries and later change the domestic to Lithium.  From my perspective the big advantage of Lithium is that I can lift them into the boat, whereas lead batteries are just too heavy to manipulate.

Back from another trip to Gosport to sort out the latest issues!   Dulcinea is currently out of the water having the new engine fitted – seeing the exhaust elbow of the old engine removed showed that keeping the old engine wasn’t really an option!   Mark (Solent Repairs)  had a look at the keel bolts and wasn’t impressed – they are the original carbon steel bolts and have obviously sat in salt and fresh water for a large part of their lives.  To make matters worse, they were only ever single half nuts on the studs, and so are now almost rusted away.  We could have tried to extract the studs one by one and replaced them – but decided that it would be best to have the keel taken off  and rebedded with new studs in 316 stainless – thus hopefully putting the issue to bed for the next 25 years!   The problem with taking off the keel is that you have to take off the mast to maintain balance, so that does increase the scope of the job – but we can have everything inspected and checked and rebed the mast step at the same time, and maybe even install a deck light!   While the binnacle was out, the bearings for the ship’s wheel were inspected – they were pretty bad – the lip seal had gone and one of the bearings was almost completely destroyed – I’m not sure why it wasn’t evident when  using the wheel, but at least that is a simple and cheap job to fix – in so far as anything to do with boats is cheap! Another little isssue was the engine sea water strainer with inlets and outlets that were too small to give the specified water flow – another thing to replace – when the engine installation is complete it has to be inspected by Volvo Penta as meeting their standards in order for them to issue a 2 year guarentee, so happily all the work is externally ‘marked’.  The marine electrician was on the boat checking the wiring of the alternator and batteries to make sure it woukd pass VP inspection, so I explained what I was proposing in the way of batteries, including Lithium Iron Phosphate for the ‘domestic’ battery bank with some clever electronics as  Alternators and Lithium don’t get on well together – he suggested that it would be better to stick with Absorbed Gas Mat lead acid battteries throughout with a much simpler arrangement. since that doesn’t involve much new equipment and can always be upgraded later if it turns out to be inadequate!  I picked up another tip – the radar was connected from the mast inside with small lever clips as used in domestic wiring -Weco or something – and I thought this was a bit of a bodge, but he told me that modern production boats use them for all the hidden wiring and they were his go-to connector when he wasn’t using chocolate block – so I can give up looking for something more professional!

I stayed long enough to watch the smart new saildrive fitted – I think the engine is due in this afternnon but I didn’t stay.  Got to clear up my mess at home for Christmas…..

Interestingly I had a discussion with Ashley and Andy, the engineers fitting the engine about the engine revs I mostly used when using the engine – based on past experience in other boats I said around 2000 to 2300 rpm, but was firmly told I should run the engine harder for at least some of the time, and up to full revs ( 2900 to 3100) at least for a time each trip or it would carbon up!  I guess fuel economy isn’t the only consideration!

New Saildrive minus the Featherstream prop and Gori cutter.

I have a pile of jobs in hand – like the sailor’s trousers, I don’t know where to begin!

I’m going to the boat shortly to clean out the old soundproofing in the engine space while the engine is out, and put in a new lot, then when the engine is in, I hope during the next week, I will sort out the remaining bits of the engine room soundproofing, and fit new lighting and sort out some of the horrible web of wiring in there – some of which I’m sure is redundant, like much of the wiring in the boat, and some vital.  Then I will have to put back the doors on the engine space and the loo and cabin doors I had to take off so that the  lads could access the engine without having to open and shut doors all the time to move around.  I have to put the VHF radio back before we can move the boat or I’ll get into trouble from the Queen’s Harbour Master who controls the harbour very actively – not surprising really as big ferries come and go almost everr 5 minutes, and the Navy’s two new Aircraft(less) Carriers are docked a few hundred yards from our berth.  Other jobs on the current list are making a new emergency tiller ( necessary in case the wheel steering wires or mechanism breaks) and making lee cloths so the setees in the saloon can be used as underway berths for night passages etc.  Then there is the whole matter of a new battery system to go with the new higher power altrnator (see below) , and so on………………….

BATTERY WIRING AS 15-12-24

12 Dec 2024

After hanging about in Gosport for a day we got the boat lifted out on Wednesday – the boat had already had the engine drained and the shelves above it removed and the cockpit floor freed up as that is where the engine exits – which meant that we had no engine and no steering, so the yard had to wait till the wind dropped before they could tow her to the lift.

The tow was interesting – I did my powerboat course years ago and it covered towing from a rib alonside, but the yard towed with the rib positioned as shown on the port quarter- 1 line forward to the midships cleat and one across to the starboard aft cleat which meant that the engine was a few meters aft of the stern, and so had much greater effectiveness at controlling the yacht’s  direction because of the leverage about her keel.

The stern view is not a particularly clear photo, but the saildrive is visible just astern of the lifting strop.  The thing that surprised me whas how full the hull is aft of the saildrive – almost a bustle, or looking pregnant – I’ll remember that when I’m manouvering because the effect is probably to move the centre of lateral water resistance aft.  I haven’t done much manouvering yet, I’ve only taken her out of her berth two or three times, so haven’t found out how much the saildrive changes boats characteristics compared to a conventional shaft drive.  When we do get her back in the water – probably sometime next week – it will be interesting to see how the new feathering propeller works when going from ahead to astern or v.v.

The yard, engineers and the antifouling are all on track for a liftout on 10th December so maybe the boat will hopefully be back in the water by Christmas or shortly afterwards.  I’ll be going down tomorrow (9th Dec 24) to check over a few things and see the boat coming out – weather permitting.  Whhile I’m down there I can check if my fibreglass ‘bucket’ I’ve made to hold a spare gas cylinder in the anchor locker will actually fit past the windlass.  I made the bucket because getting gas around the Highlands is a bit hit and miss, but I guess we might go the way a lot of yachts are going at the moment and put in a decent sized inverter and use an electric kettle and an induction hob for some of the cooking.  The new engine will have a bigger alternator output – around 100 Amps – so we could charge a reasonably big Lithium Iron battery pack – say 300 AHrs that would give us enough power as long as we ran the engine for a few hours every other day.  For the most part we havent been going into marinas in the Hebrides and not all have shore power anyway so we really have to be self sufficient in energy.  The boat electric devices and battteries available now are so very different from those available when Dulcinea was built,  and she is currntly more 2000 than 2024 in her equipment!  While I’m down at the boat I’ll need to sort out temporary storage for the old engine as I have managed to sell it and the vast trove of spares to be rebuilt.  I’m sure it will be fine to rebuild – had it not been for the expense and difficulty of getting it out and putting it back in, the time taken and the difficulty of transporting and moving it around, I would have taken that route myself, as I’m sure there is nothing wrong with the engine that can’t be sorted once its out and stripped down.

It’s a 1997 boat – although actually it sat for 3 years in Moody’s yard before it was commissioned and sold, so effectively 24 years old, and little used since 2020.  It is nevertheless a boat – and boats almost always come with a list of things that need doing – even sometimes new boats, and new owners have new ideas and always want to change things.  In the case of Dulcinea we decided that we wanted to get things in good order before we took her up to Kerrera  Marina opposite Oban next year, and to set her up so that with luck we don’t need to do anything major for a few years (of course realising that it won’t happen that way!).  So here is a list of the jobs that are done, ongoing or to be started:-

New engine and saildrive – the old engine was burning oil, leaking and appeared to lack power – so rather than spend on diagnosis and  repairs with no guarantee that it was going to last we went for  a complete replacement to get peace of mind, particularly since major repairs would have incurred the not insignificant cost of taking the engine out of the boat and putting it back in.  Burned in my mind is the trauma of battling head winds and tide to get back to Stornoway before the fish and chip shop closed,  in a very underpowered boat!  Next time it might actually matter…..

New anchor and chain – the old chain had rusted into clumps, and the old  CQR anchor is not as reliable at setting as newer designs.   Before replacing the chain we put a wooden ‘duck board’ in the base of the locker as the old chain had been sitting in a puddle much of the time.  We now have 60m of  solid galvanised grade 4 chain and a 15 Kg delta anchor that we intend to replace with something ‘better’ and at least 20Kg when we can discover what ‘better’ is!

Installing the diesel heater – the previous owner bought it years ago but never got round to completing the installation since the boat was mostly used in Brittany and didn’t need one.  Most of the necessary ducts were built into the boat by Moody so it wasn’t too much of a problem – the only downside being that Moodys didn’t insulate the ducts and now it would be almost impossible. I had to 3D print a few custom joining ducts in carbon reinforced nylon to complete the installation.

New Genoa from Kemp Sails .  The genoa was the original sail – we took it to Kemps for a wash and check up, and got a quote for laundering the sail and replacing the sacrificial strip that had pretty well perished – which is after all it’s function!  Being a bit surprised at  the quote, I got them to quote for a new sail, which turned out to be little more than twice the price of fixing the old one, due to a 20% Black Friday discount – so no brainer!

VHF radio – we wanted to fit the boat with AIS ‘B’ that lets other ships see your position and speed etc. as it is an important safety feature, so we fitted a new VHF radio with AIS B built in (B&G V60-B, the only VHF that has AIS B).  I fitted an antenna on the stern for its AIS so it can also be used for the VHF if the masthead VHF antenna is damaged. I’ll get an antenna sharing device to keep as an emergency measure.  The GPS output of the VHF will replace the old FURUNO GPS that gives position to the other instruments.  Funny how many instruments come with built in GPS  – VHF, chart plotter, tablet, ORCA, phones etc – I would guess there can be at least 12 GPS  working receivers on board at any time.

Upholstery – the saloon had two armchairs in place of a settee on the starboard side that had been added at some time.  We didn’t find them that comfortable as we both like to put our feet up in the evening, and also because it would be handy to be able to use the settee as an additional passage berth, so we are having it put back to the original layout and the saloon completely re-upholstered.  We’ll make lee cloths – mostly for the voyage to Scotland when we will have some night passages.

Windows – or portlights in boat speak – As is to be expected in boats of this age, almost all the portlights had small leaks, mostly due to what might be classed as a design fault.  I replaced the saloon and aft cabin fixed lights with 10 mm Perspex that allowed more light into the boat and were a lot cheaper than having the original frames reglazed (see another page).  The opening portlights we replaced with the newer design of the same – they are better designed and let in a bit more light too. See separate page link below photo at top of this page.

Instruments – the existing instruments work – except for the speed log, which almost never works on boats because the ‘works’ gets gummed up with fouling, – and there is even a working radar on the boat, but the chart plotter is down below in the cabin, and we usually navigate from the helm using a tablet computer running Navionics charts.  We are planning to add an ORCA core that will allow us to tie in all the boats electronic systems into the tablet display, possibly even the engine data, so we’ll have to put in a more up to date NMEA 2000 data network.

Batteries – The new engine has an alternator that puts out over 100 Amps – twice what the old one did, so it might make sense to think about using this extra power by revisiting the existing battery arrangement of lead acid batteries – one for engine starting, one aft for domestic and one AGM battery forward for the bow thruster run in parallel with the domestic battery.  It’s tempting to change to lithium batteries as they last much longer and can be discharged much deeper than lead acid.  Also it is relatively easy to lift lithium batteries in and out of the boat, whereas lead acid battereries are a real pain to handle in boats at about twice the weight for a given capacity. The engine starting battery almost never gets discharged  significantly as starting the engine takes less than 1% of the starter battery power unless there is something wrong with the engine, so it is probably OK to stick with Lead Acid for that. (I always find it wierd when I do the calculations that to start a diesel engine you need  less power than contained in a standard ‘D’ cell – less than 1 AHr – so at say 20 amps charging, it will recharge in a couple of minutes! )

Binnacle – I need somewhere to put a tablet that can be used while at the wheel, but without blocking access to the stainless tube  hoop handhold.  I’ve designed a new and taller stainless tube to fit in place of the  original one so that I can put a plastic or fibreglass  stand to take the tables and also the VHF remote handset and still leave enough room to grab the hoop for stability.  Its being made a Foxs Marina.  I did the same on Sepiola and it worked well.

Myriad small jobs – e.g. Cabin joinery – the Navigator’s seat was too low for me to work comfortably on the chart table, so I made a 10 cm. box to put under the cushion that will contain ready use tools and bits and pieces kills two birds with one stone..  When the table leaves are folded down there is nothing to stop things falling off the bit of the table that’s left, so I made a couple of fiddles that can be put in place to stop things sliding off if one or both leaves of the table are f0lded down. The M40 has a very useful counter top on the fuel tank under the companionway steps, so we put a draining rack and a storeage tray there, and made a Perspex screen to stop water or dirt falling onto things as the steps down into the cabin have open treads.  Heads – so far I’ve changed the whole pump mechanism on the aft sea toilet, Still got the forward one to do.  I’ve put a new bilge pump in the saloon bilge and connected in its wiring and new plumbing – the Moody 40 is a real pain to insert wiring or plumbing as access to anywhere under the floors or behind the furniture is almost impossible. Another job on the list is a shelf in the stbd aft locker to take 4 x 10 ltr diesel cans for standby fuel supply – fuel is sometimes difficult to find in the Hebrides.

3D printing:  Having a 3D printer and CAD software to design parts its inevitable that the Dulcinea will have lots of plastic bits and pieces, although I have sworn off covering her with loads of unnecessary clips and hooks.  I designed big hooks that take a loop of rope to hold warps etc. and I’ve put up a row just inside the starboard aft locker so all the warps can be hung up where they can be  got at quickly. A row of similar hooks in the pilot berth cabin take 4 lifejackets on the engine side and keep them tidy and easily grabbed – each person can have their  own hook to avoid muddling them up.  I’ve also made a couple of clips for torches, so that one can be reached from the cockpit ( see on the 3D Prints page)  No doubt there will be other bits and pieces.  See other pages for more on 3D prints.

Lights – the lights in the boat still had old tungsten bulbs and use loads of electricity, so I’ve started replacing them with LED bulbs or complete fittings.  The boat was mostly used in Marinas so was geared around having shore power available, so there was no necessity to have LEDs.  We will need them as we will probably be anchoring most of the time.  Amazing how many lights there are :  I counted about 40 tungsten bulbs in the accommodation.  Fortunately  the 17 recessed ceiling lights can have an LED array put in place of the halogen bulb, the rest will likely need new fittings, some of which I have bought already.

Running rigging – the running rigging had been exposed on the boat for some time , and was stiff with dirt and mould/algae.  We took off  what we could and washed it in warm water, which got most of the muck off – the genoa sheets we replaced, and the rest went back on- we might change more later.  The halyards and topping lift are wire spliced to rope, as was common practice before Dyneema came along.  They probably need changing – the Genoa halyard definitely does –  I’d change them for rope halyards but I don’t know if the blocks at the masthead are suitable – we will get a rigger to inspect the standing rigging and the masthead before we go to Scotland.

Coppercoat  antifouling – This is on our wishlist, but its not a cold weather job and it was difficult to see how we could fit it in before Scotland, and there seemed to be enough things going on without that so its on the maybe list for later,  We’ll get a better look at the hull when she’s out for the engine change,  She is booked for a normal antifouling at that time.