- Joined
- May 11, 2019
- Messages
- 3,628
- Location
- United States
- Vessel Name
- Muirgen
- Vessel Make
- 50' Beebe Passagemaker
Nother update:
We got back from Alaska, 2,900 miles, 420 engine hours, 50 generator hours (mostly while the hyd coupling was out, and before we got the solar hooked up).
Fueled up in Seattle before we left, put on fuel again after we returned. Still had plenty of fuel left. I LOVE the large tanks, unless we're paying to fill them, that is . . .
After we returned, we've been spending time with family, and slowly doing more boat upgrades. They include:
Both the fresh water coolant pump, and the raw water pump use metal gears, no impellers to fail or regularly replace. The raw water pump has a "grease cup" that you take a quarter turn on periodically, and refill with 1/2 a tablespoon or so of grease every couple of hundred hours and all is well!
All in all, we really love living on the boat. We're just doing more "nesting" to make the boat our own, and upgrade more stuff for the type of cruising we plan on doing.
There's more, but I'll add to this later.
Thanks for following!
Fair Winds and Following Seas to all!
We got back from Alaska, 2,900 miles, 420 engine hours, 50 generator hours (mostly while the hyd coupling was out, and before we got the solar hooked up).
Fueled up in Seattle before we left, put on fuel again after we returned. Still had plenty of fuel left. I LOVE the large tanks, unless we're paying to fill them, that is . . .
- Traveled right on 2,900 miles
- Averaged 7.5 kts
- Boat weighed 87,000 lbs when full of fuel
- Burned just at 1,400 gallons at just under 3.0 gph, 2.5 nm/usg, not including genny run time.
- Hydraulic coupling in PTO for main hyd pump ate itself (I went over this earlier), replaced in Ketchikan.
- Replaced one cracked fitting in water maker in Ketchikan (overtightened during install)
- Cerbo GX died (#2) two weeks into trip, since rectified, problematic lot of Cerbo GX's, Victron owned up and was great!
- Discovered the two aft fuel tank sumps seeped when tanks were full (soon to be corrected)
- two macerator pumps failed as I forgot to turn them off in a timely manner when pumping out. They definitely AREN'T run dry pumps as advertised.
- We discovered we didn't have the chartplotter chip we though we had, so the chartplotter displayed the inside of an empty Holodeck North of Petersburg AK! A non-issue though as we were using tablets for Nav anyway.
- Sirius XM reception sucks. At least it did for us. Enough said . . .
- Fresh veggies are really REALLY expensive in Thorne Bay, AK >$11.00 for two really small heads of cabbage, for example. (first world problem)
After we returned, we've been spending time with family, and slowly doing more boat upgrades. They include:
- Finally replacing the two reverse cycle HVAC units. Great for at the dock, or when underway, or when generator running!
- Replacing fwd Raritan 12 gallon water heater when heat exchanger coil inside tank failed, bleeding into the hydronic water heating side of the loop, overflowing the expansion tank. The water heater was entitled, it's 26 years old. The aft water heater is only 20 years old so we'll replace that too, even though it works just fine for now. We replaced with Kuuma 11 gallon water heater.
- Adding two more solar panels on pilot house roof, for a total of 2,880 watts! It was absolutely AWESOME on the Alaska trip, and it will be even More AWESOMER (heh, it's my story, sue me!) in the Sea of Cortez this Winter!
- Replacing the manual flush, raw water Groco Model K toilet with a Raritan Marine Elegance toilet(on-going)
- Oil changes, filter changes, normal maintenance.
- Replaced paravane deployment lines.
- Repaired Espar Hydronic heater, it developed a crack in the heat exchanger, removed, welded, and replaced.
- Replaced the old anchor roller with a BR3 Mantus bow roller, designed for our 105 lb Mantus M-1 anchor (love the anchor by the way!)
- We're in the process of refinishing the railing around the aft deck.
- Replaced CCR video cameras with new system. New cameras fore and aft on the mast, one on aft deck, and one in engine room. Thinking of adding two more, for each side of boat.
- Replacing Victron Isolation Transformer on warranty. The circuit boat stopped providing power to the cooling fan, which led to the unit overheating when used at near capacity.
- Upgrading various wiring on the boat, as we come across issues, and to add greater versatility.
Both the fresh water coolant pump, and the raw water pump use metal gears, no impellers to fail or regularly replace. The raw water pump has a "grease cup" that you take a quarter turn on periodically, and refill with 1/2 a tablespoon or so of grease every couple of hundred hours and all is well!
All in all, we really love living on the boat. We're just doing more "nesting" to make the boat our own, and upgrade more stuff for the type of cruising we plan on doing.
There's more, but I'll add to this later.
Thanks for following!
Fair Winds and Following Seas to all!
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