Sail Life - Battery compartment, solar arch and toe rail - DIY sailboat projects
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- Опубліковано 8 тра 2021
- This week I got started on the head, finished the battery compartment, and did a test fit of Athena's solar arch.
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I'm wtaching your entire playlist - it's incredibly useful to know that you've already thought about and problem solved on issues, so in most cases I can either build on or repurpose your solutions - love it. :D
I see so much work left to do. I give him so much credit for staying calm.
I fitted my Wifi antenna on the centre of one of my mast spreaders, it was advised to help with range. Also its out of the way of the sails and solar panels. I cant wait to Athena finished.
Spare fuel hose for a future emergency repair! love it.
You are what I call a "commercial perfectionist". Some one who strives for perfection even when they are not at work..
You make great videos, no piss farting around with senseless details, just straight to the point.
Still the best boat refit channel on UA-cam.
After three years of watching Mads (doing his thing with great passion for detail) I'm happy the project is becoming so nice! On the other side i'm a bit anxious how to fill the Sunday evening without him or Athena! Anyway as always thanks for the great content!!
I'd assume he's going to transition to cruising rather than restoring. After all for most UA-camrs it's how they pay the bills while not working traditional job.
I think even after they set sail, there will be a minimum of 1.5-2 years of work still to be done on the boat. There just will be some cruising videos in between those projects (kind of like RAN sailing, as they break in their new boat while sailing all over Sweden).
Oh, and a suggestion on the Arch, make sure to include your stern light, it should be on the absolute furthest aft point of the boat so it doesn't splash back light and mess with your night vision.
You've only been sailing for a couple years, and inland waters at that. It's amazing how noobs (like you) are so eager to tell everybody how to do something that they themselves have only just figured out.
The thing that amazes me most about this channel is the planning. I can’t begin to think how Mads keeps track of all the mini projects and designs things so far ahead of their actual installation. The same can be said for the planning that goes into the construction of the videos to.
So nice to see someone actually building their battery instead of a manufactured one. Looking forward to the long term results for sure.
Agree
I'm sure thinking about doing it ...but with lead acid battery's only being less than 100 hard to justify
I'm thinking of doing the same for my 4x4 overland beast. Any good links, reads, ideas?
I think your toerail design looks slick.
JC! Imagine all the sailing experience you could be getting instead of sanding. See Erik Aanderaa for pointers. There's a reason they say, "Go small, [go less than perfect], go now."
It's really starting to shape up into something Mads, all the hard work is now paying off. After all this time there's only three months remaining to finally begin sailing, keep up the good work it's looking great.
You, out of all the youtube I watch, are my favorite youtuber. I haven't quite figured out why, but I think it has something to do with how comforting it is to see somebody who knows what they are doing, do what they are good at, kinda like watching Bob Ross paint.
Sprint to the finish!
The bulwarks/toe-rail system is even more amazing than I had envisioned. The arch integration is super extra spiffy. I cant wait to see how the davits fit in and how the dinghy hangs. Hopefully you will have good rearward visibility from the cockpit.
Athena will truly be a Dahlke 38 and no longer a Warrior except for the shape of the hull on the outside.
Good work. Keep the videos coming. Carry on, and get 'er done!
I've been following you since you first bought Athena. My goodness...that is the luckiest boat on earth! She's going to be absolutely stunning. Your toe rail design is just incredible and very aesthetically pleasing! I wish I could help you polish some sections of the stainless parts. But on that topic, if you have some foam matting you can wrap some around the electric tools you're using to polish it and your fingers and hands won't go numb quite as fast the not at all depending on the quality of the foam matting..or even small bubble..bubble wrap. Your boat in terms of electronics is a technical wonder, and now with the rear arch, the toe rails, the paint job, etc it's aesthetically absolutely gorgeous! You're building the most beautiful and technically advanced sailboat I've ever ever seen or heard of! Keep up the awesome work!
Nothing beats glorious sanding.
Mount the wifi antenna on the lower spreader. Higher up to improve reception.
Beyond impressed that the arch and toe rails all fit nicely without “adjustment”. Wow!
Once again, the cementboat guys :-) Great that they can help. Athena is realy looking nice.
Just to the cellular antennas. Normally they do not work effectively inside a metal structure. They like to be in free space. The metal will influence the radiation pattern.
This is always my favorite part of my week. Thanks!
The pace is bordering on frenetic but productivity is impressive. Love the toe rails and integration with the arch.👍😀⛵️
if you polish the sterne plates now you'll save yourself a frigging headache later because right now you can easily flip them hold them and get to the lips without any issue
What they said
@@MobileCabinWorks I think Robda might mean prior to welding, I was going to suggest that before he had them tacked in to the arch (much easier to polish the small area around the arch feet after welding than to do the whole lot after welding)
Ava, I think he’s stressing, let him know it’ll all work out. We’ll be here and you will be happy to be together, even if there sanding to be done. 😍
Looking good Mads.
Nice bracket for the batteries I have them on my boat, but leave some room for the batteries to expand a bit, if they are too tight and they swell they will blow the pressure relief valve, I suggest a 3mill rubber strip between each cell.
The toe rail is going to look awesome once completed and installed.
I enjoy watching you do the work on your sailboat. I learn so many things. I really love the foot rail. The Chrome and wood is going to look great. I also like the arch set up.. I also hope someone comes up with the idea to help with the antenna... ✌🏻💗😊❣️
wow - the end clearly is within reach! Awesome!
IMO antennas should be mounted up on the mast on a small yardarm to space it away from anything metallic. Metal around antennas are a ground plane which affects incoming/outgoing signals. The stainless toe rail setup is very nice & will really show beautifully against the white hull.. Battery install super clean. Putting tape over the terminals until cable installation prevents "welding" accidents. 😜 Your attention to detail really shows...that separates the "really nice" from the "nice" boats.
All spiffy on a Sunday and great work as always
Love the toe rail
Good thinking, great choice
Best of luck
Looking forward to the day you go sailing with Eva
Since antennas always do better the higher they are up, why not add the extended range Wi-Fi antenna at the top of the mast, and the cellular ones on the spreaders?
I agrre
My thought exactly - if there isnt enough room inside the mast for another cable, perhaps you could rig/weld some sort of bracket to front of the mast by the spreaders? High enough up to boost the signal but easy enough to get to?
I had this same thought, he's even got a fish string already there. The only problem is if I remember the mast video he was having trouble getting the wire down the pvc inside the mast because of the pop rivet bases. Wifi works best line of sight, so being higher up will be better than at the arch level.
Need to take in to consideration loss of signal from the cable run.
@@SailingMomentum you won’t get that anywhere on that boat. Also if you think about the run from the Nav station to the solar arch vs Up the mast I bet the run is less than 10’ shorter.
Boat is looking pretty spiffy!!!
Your toe-rail design looks magnificent!
As always, Oh Glorious Sanding was somehow tossed into the mix leaving tradition so well fit. Cheers buddy
If you would need to built a roof for the solar paneles, you coud use it in addition as a rainwater collector. On longer rainy passages you can afford an extra sweet water shower.
Very good suggerstion.
I've spent more time than I care to remember polishing stainless and aluminum on hot rods. There is no pretty way to do it, no way to stay clean. But when it is done the sun reflecting off of it knowing you made that happen is worth it. Just avoid getting as OCD as I did. On one hot rod I decided to polish the transmission case. I wound up getting into the tight spaces with a Dremel tool and the little barrel polishing wheels. Took a full week. I had a broken foot at the time, and looked like and idiot wandering out to my shop on crutches with my right leg in a black trash bag to keep the cast clean.
Insane, I was.
But it looked awesome...
Mads, I'd be very wary of using the flexible solar panels. Every forum I've viewed (boats, campers, caravans) has nothing but bad things to say about them. They seem to die after about 18 months to a year, usually for no particular reason. Couple that with the difficulty in mounting them and to my mind the decision is easy.
That arch is gonna be the bee's knees!
Getting closer and closer !! You can do it Mads !!!!
now that you are full time DIY can we get. let's say 90 min videos weekly to help satisfy or need for all things sail life? would love to see more details on all of the projects. can't wait to see your answer to the waterproof technical compartment door. keep it up
Mads, with antennas, distance vertical is your friend. One the long distance wifi, finding a place on the mast that you can mount it would add to the effective distance that it can reach and also the easier line of sight to other antennas that might be in a marina. Good Luck with the build.
My word the toe rails look amazing
The two VHF antennas should not be trapped in the solar panels structure, as this will block the signal and can create stationary waves.
You are rocking it Mads! Looks awesome🤟🏻
Loving the toe-rail.. seriously impressive!
Mads, don't know if it was suggested yet, but forward buttress pieces to inside the toe rail on each side of the arch will allow for dingy support and extra Bimini attach points/forward increase of solar panel area (not absolute, but possible).
Best wishes all.
How are you not at 100k subscriptions yet? Every UA-cam channel I follow mentions you during any refit videos. The best sailing vlog on UA-cam that has nothing to do with sailing, yet.
Why is it I can’t seem to get through Sunday afternoon without hearing Mads say seee youu
You can shine the stainless even more using foam backed sand paper pads (from Klingspor). With some spirits (no water) on the part, and a very light but firm pass, you can shine them even more. The foam backed sand paper (fine) burnishes the stainless steel and closes the pores. After i sharpen knives i always do this, it works so well that the water and food doesn't even stick to the metal anymore. I can just put the knife under a jet of water and it rinses it clean.
what grit do you use?
Great video, you might want to think about some form of cooling for the solar panels most come with a solid underside however if there is air circulation under the panel you get better electricity production. Might not make a lot of difference in Denmark or in Europe but in some areas of America it does get rather warm.
Hi, suggest that you put some isolation tape on the batteri terminals while you work to protect your self.
Mads; getting more and more exciting as it all comes to fruition!
Getting closer and closer!
The new toe rail is going to look fantastic. So much better than the original. It is amazing how far you have come since starting Athena.
Mads, I was wondering if I was missing a video today. You are doing such an amazing job on Athena!
If you decide to take that shine a step further, Zephyr aluminum wheel polish kit (pads and paste for a regular angle grinder) might do the trick. It's how you make 18 wheeler wheels shiny after 2 million km.
Thanks for the video!
Loving the wall of chocolate!! toerail looks spiffing, good job Mads
Excellent toe rail design with the arch. Will definitely look sharp when finished. Keep up the good work!
Love the bulwarks, classy looking
You obviously know what you are doing. A tip for others: when working with cells, you can just put masking tape on top of them to minimize the chance of accidental shorts. Electrical tape works, too. Almost any tape will prevent a short. I am an electrical engineer and I often have to work with battery packs that are partially disassembled or otherwise not totally safe for handling.
Hi Mads! I'd suggest to add a 5 GHz Wifi antenna to your array. Plus a 5 GHz-radio (perhaps ubiquity bullet ac) plus a second Wlan router. Marina Wifi on 2,4 GHz can be pretty crammed. Plus two more mounts to the rear end of the arch, for a backup VHF antenna and an Iridium antenna. Yes, I absolutely share the idea of completely avoiding any shading. The Iridium antenna needs to be just overlooking the panels, so the shading occurs only at low elevation of the sun, when the solar output is very low anyway. Then I would do a test with a thin steel VHF antenna to see if the shading effect is negligable, or just mount this backup antenna only when needed (failure of masthead antenna or AIS splitter). Cheers from Curaçao, U.
Beautiful toe rail design
The end is near :)
Mads, you may want to mount the cellular antennas with standoff mounts to provide clearance from the arch frame, the frame will affect the signal and possibly give you some reflection (PIM) back into the antenna causing noise in your signal. PIM (Passive Intermodulation) is found with metal too close to the antenna propagation field, but if you mount each one of the antennas off the back pipe a good 12" - 16" out from the pipe it will help a great deal. My two cents having worked in the wireless world for 35 years.
It may be of interest to others and of course myself, to understand your passage planning. Don't leave it to late
It’s really coming together nicely. Great job Mads 👍
Always fun to watch the temp rising as the NH goes deeper into Spring - currently 17c on Mads gauges - remember when it was 13-14c.
Hi Mads, You'd benefit a lot by adding spacers between your LFP cells for atmospheric heat sinking and cooling purposes. My aluminium shelled CALB cells with spacers gain 10°C per hour at 1C and take an hour to lose 2°C afterwards with passive cooling. I'm very much looking forward to your CIGs solar test. You can get felt flappy discs to take the polishing a step further.
This is such a fantastic project! Looking absolutely wonderful!
Put the wi-fi antenna on the mast ( I'd suggest the spreader ), you might want to watch a 'how to' video while sitting on the beach.
Cheers!!
Wow, the pace has really picked up. Full time work is speeding up progress. Really enjoy your channel!
Do most of the polishing now. Once you have pieces welded to them it's gonna be much more work than right now. After welding it's just a little bit of touch up.
Maybe look at mounting the WiFi antenna on the spreader - BUT make sure you get the right coax (it will be thick!) the loss at UHF is huge which will remove all advantage.
I will be using a remote modem up the mizzen on mine - that way the long run is digital. Might be worth looking into you can still use the aerial.
It's fun seeing mad get darker and darker every next take during the polishing of the toerails section.
Thank you! Great idea with the rods and fuel hose!
Loving the lithium install! I contacted the company (winston) for the same battery cells and 😱 buy once cry once?! They are priced at about $.52 per watt hour, not too bad! For anyone interested The 280 ah EVE cells are about $.20 per watt hour, but you have to find a safe supplier.
Very spiffy toe rail and smart design!
Amazing as always Mads
I’m traveling to copenhagen for a month next week. It’s going to be hard to wait all day on sundays for the uploads
Our long range antenna seemed to work better when we took it off our arch and placed it on the spreaders.
Again the Fastest 18 minutes ever.
Until next Sunday morning 🌄 Aloha from the Big Island 🏝of Hawaii. (P.s) I wish the videos were longer. But thank you so much for the videos.
Can’t wait to see the finished job.
Couldend you make the antenna hoistable, like e burgee hallyard, along the standing part of the arch. You could even make all the antenna’s retractable. And don’t forget to work in some plumbing for the solar pannel cooling, hot water making doodad you will want later on ;)
On the arch you need it to look like a ladder with more support on each side.
Due to Fresnel zone higher is better for any long-range radio communication, so near the top of the mast seems to be the perfect place for your wifi antenna. Add one of MikroTik's Metal 52 ac radios and all you need is a run of regular external gel-filled cat 5e lan cable inside the mast, PoE takes care of powering the unit.
Great episode
love your toe rail / solar arch idea Mads as usual top notch video ....keep em coming Bro!
Your a gentleman, fair play to you
First :-) waiting all day for a video :-) so great to watch your journey of this "somewhat" extensive refurbishing ;-)
Me too , lol
Nice work and nice haircut like your project
Great video and I agree with the funny comments make your videos truly a joy! Why not use the rigid panel on the arch and the flexible ones can go on dodger or on thin plastic panels you can rig to the coach roof or the stanchions for extra power when you need it?
Coming along great man! I live on my 1925 hoffar 44' cabin cruiser. I also have a Coronado c27. Been living on a boat for 33 of my 35 year life so far. Really like your way of working. It's good to see things being done right and with wise thought put in for long term cruising. Hats off to you. If you ever make it to Campbell River BC Canada I'll make sure you have all the crab you can eat. Love these videos 👍 watched them all. Keep em coming 🤞
If you want to know the best place for your antennas, buy an antenna analyser, they're cheap and you'll learn dark magic. :)
Also your battery bus bars should be tin plated.
You could mount the WiFi antenna either inverted where you demonstrated as it would still have vertical polarization and avoid shadowing on the solar or put it on a stainless pipe that can rotate 90 or 180 degrees and latch like a simple sliding door lock
Thanks for sharing Mads! Still waiting to hear Ava can get into Denmark. I miss traveling.
I would either mount the wifi antenna in front of the mast on a bracket, or up the backstay on a floating bracket
Hi , nice work Mads all that glitters is stainless , having sold all the family silver ,to build the boat .