Not quite going green but heading that way.
PASSEPARTOUT
Christopher & Nirit Slaney
Sun 19 Dec 2010 18:37
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Most cruising yachts undertaking a voyage like ours rely
either on solar panels or a wind generator to keep their batteries charged.
Whether in the trade wind zones or at island anchorages one can generally
count on having either sunny days or a breeze to provide the amps which keep the
systems running. Not so on Passepartout. The original owner preferred
to center his power requirements around a diesel generator and we
haven't had reason to make any changes. We burn diesel to make 220 volts which
keeps our freezer cold, out batteries fully charged and the the desalination
unit pumping out fresh water. I had estimated we would run the generator for two
and a half hours daily in order to do all the above.
But things have improved. In Gran Canaria I had a chance
meeting with the owner of one of Passepartout's 'sister ships'. Robert
Krinner from Vienna has owned "s/y Puravida" from new and spends most
of his time in the Canaries. We immediately fell into conversation and arranged
to visit on board each other's yacht. Having never been given a proper technical
briefing on the yacht and its systems I had hundred of questions. As we
compared experiences of the rigging, upholstery repair and complimented the
builders on their choice of anchor, Robert suddenly asked me, "So, did you
change the your autohelm relay yet?"
I had no idea what he was referring to but he explained
that these yachts came equipped with one of the best hydraulic steering
systems on the market, made by the French company Lecomble- Schmitt. It
seems that some years after these units were fitted, Lecomble-Schmitt developed
a much improved electrical relay that sits between the 'brain' of the
autopilot and the hydraulic pump which reacts to the control signals.
Instead of this relay being always 'on', the new version can switch itself
off - even for a split second - in between receiving and processing
commands. All these split seconds of down time add up over the course
of a few hours to significant power savings.
At night on the Passepartout, the auto pilot and
associated navigation instruments consume a significant portion of whatever
we have stored in the batteries by running the generator. I knew from experience
that there were never enough amp hours to keep everything
going throughout the hours of darkness, so I planned to instruct everyone
to steer by hand for at least one hour each every night. (Running the generator
at night is bothersome for the off-watch as they try to sleep.) Lecomble-Schmitt
claim their never relay reduces power consumption by the hydraulic system by up
to sixty percent, I had to get one before starting the crossing, but
how?
I tracked down the Lecomble-Schmitt sales
office and exchanged emails with a lady called Agnes. I noticed the company
would have a stand at the Salon Nautique boat show in Paris where our son
Tomer would be visiting that weekend. Agnes agreed to send the part I
wanted with one of her colleagues to the Paris event, Tomer bought it, arranged
for a friend to carry it to Israel the following day where our fourth crew
member Shmulik Horowitz picked it up and brought it to Cape
Verde.
The hardest part of the installation was crawling
into a space under the steering gear to make the switch. My face
was too close to the electrical panel for my eyes to focus. I made the
replacement, shouted to Gabriella to activate the auto pilot and everything
seemed to work fine. Last night we ran with the auto pilot for ten hours
in a light breeze and Lecomble-Schmitt's device performs just like they
said it would. The difference to the battery consumption was immediately
noticeable.
We might not be as ecologically sound as those yachts
with their solar panels or windmills but better use of battery power
means less diesel burned. Nice.
Tel +870 773 156 537 Follow us at http://blog.mailasail.com/psp2 |
