Previous owner of my willard

[Lostsailor13]

Went down to Rhode island yesterday to get the dingy and steadying sail for my Willard and had to make this post about an incredible old salt,at 83 years old he is a retired air line pilot,2 months ago he got the coronavirus,almost died at his age but pulled through his wife of same age was asymptomatic,yesterday down at safe harbor Portsmouth,he was down on his 48 ft steel hull trawler tinkering around like nothing happened,drinking beers back to his merry old self,I gave him a huge hug when I saw him,he made the trip from Rhode island to Gloucester aboard the willard to see his old baby off like any old salt would have,I extended the invite for him to help myself and my friend steam the boat and be didnt even hesitate,truly an amazing guy with an amazing story,but when I was down there we were on RUHEN was his second boat owning the Willard as well,he gave us the grand tour and what a beast this steel hull is,very refined interior 1200 gallon fuel capacity with another Detroit in it,another die hard Detroit guy,a little 471 in this girl,so this leads me to the point or question I was going to ask,seeing the 24v system and components on RUHEN the 24v windlass and refrigerator freezer got me thinking about the electric system on my willard I recently replaced one of the 2 D batteries with replacing the second in spring,but now instead of replacing second D with another 12v replacing it with 24v and adding a 24v alternator on my detroit or solar or wind generator and having one 12v and one 24v D battery,what's the thoughts on that

 

[PM]

Why?

pete

 

[Choices]

It is a matter of voltage and amps.

Figure 12vdc at 100a is equal to 24 at 50.
Matters on winches, bow thruster, maybe starter.

If you can do it with 12, don't change.

 

[Lostsailor13]

24v windlass and the 24v refrigerator freezer he has is such a set up,dont need 24v starter this 12v starts Detroit instantly even in dead of winter,plus I like tinkering and projects,dont mind the extra work or money if the end result is satisfactory,and being a full time liveaboard the freezer would be a huge factor

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

I remember Ruhen when it was in Shipyard qtrs Marina in Boston years ago. Shippy , elegant and well thought out.. Really nice boat

 

[STB]

The higher voltage will let one run with lower amperage which lets one with thinner, less expensive wire.

If everything works and you don't need to rewire or add a high draw device and leave it as is. 12V is way more common and many times 12v things are cheaper than 24v things and you may need to keep 12v around for some thing (in addition to start) anyway.

If you need to rewire, it might be worth pricing out, as it'll lower wire cost. If you find you need it for some things, such as thrusters, it might also be worth looking at, but those systems are often separate, anyway.

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

24v equipment and systems rock. Much more common now, virtually all Furuno equipment can be operated without any change. Much more common in the last few years.

 

[Benthic2]

Would you be giving up the option of jump starting yourself if your start battery failed or ran down ?

 

[mvweebles]

Batteries in a Willard 36 are almost always just forward of the engine, center of the length of the boat. Cable runs are manageable for 12v.

Note: on my W36, the windlass load was cabled to the breaker panel where it was switched by a 3x50A gang of circuit breakers. Adds a significant amount of cable length, cutters the wiring behind the panel, and is just a lousy design that probably doesn't protect very well. If your boat has a similar setup, replace with a direct battery to windlass run, interrupted by a Blue Sea circuit breaker and a continuous duty solenoid switched at the panel. Under $100 in parts and improves performance and safety.

Swapping 24v on this boat is a solution in search of a problem. I could possibly understand a 24v windlass and bow thruster, but that would require some sort of step-up transformer. Better would be leaving it 12v and locating a dedicated battery in the bow with some sort echo charge.

Or you could do what W36 owners have done for 60 years......nothing (except for re routing windlass load if cabled to the panel) .

Peter

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

Would you be giving up the option of jump starting yourself if your start battery failed or ran down ?

yes