Stay Over in St. Augustine FL

Nov 27 thru Nov 29

—Blogpost written by Bob

s/v Rainy Days will be in St. Augustine until December 7 (we decided to stay a couple more days) when we proceed with our trip south on the ICW.  I will be publishing blogposts every three or four days throughout this stay over period.  

Wednesday, November 27

I was up early this morning, actually before the sun was up.  I defrosted the fridge last night and started it back up this morning after pumping out the melted ice that was on the cold plate.  (I also adjusted the cold plate set point again--to 14 degrees F.)  The fridge was happier as a result of all the attention (or so I thought).

Just before sunrise on the south mooring field
at St. Augustine Municipal Marina.

I ran the engine for hot water and electrical charging this morning.  (With the limited daylight hours we are experiencing this time of year, we are not getting enough power from our solar panels.)  I washed yesterday's dishes in the sink and then started to make cranberry relish for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner.  Cranberry relish is one of the traditions I picked up along the way--it was not a tradition I brought from home.  Back home, our idea of cranberry for Thanksgiving was what came in a can.  Much later in my life I discovered good cranberry sauce/relish and it has stayed with me to this day.  (Thanks, Julie!)

Making cranberry relish on the ship's stove.
The recipe is so simple--it includes
only fresh cranberries, water,
and sugar or Splenda.  Boil
for 10-15 minutes and
then refrigerate.

I decided to visit the Sailor's Exchange this morning--it's one of the things that remain on my list of things to do here in St. Augustine.  So, after my nice hot shower at the marina, I rode my bike to the Sailor's Exchange which is all the way out King Street, about a mile from the marina.

I spent about 20-30 minutes at the Sailor's Exchange and I wasn't really motivated to buy anything.  There was a Shurflo-brand water pump for $50 (about 1/3 of the new price) that tempted me as an upgraded replacement for our deck wash pump but I decided to think about it more for some reason (I'm not sure why).

At Sailor's Exchange there is a lot of marine hardware
in bins, books and charts, rope, and
miscellaneous marine stuff.

On the way back to the boat, I stopped at Pizza Time and had a slice of pizza for lunch, my first since arriving in St. Augustine.  I'm sure that we'll be back for more pizza several times before leaving!

Pizza Time at a rare moment with
no one in line for pizza.

After lunch I returned to the marina office to get the proper address for an Amazon package delivery (and to get ice).  I had to order a replacement forward running light for our dinghy.  Our old one succumbed to leaking batteries.  I ordered a few other little things (solderless connectors for our AIS antenna connections, a belt-type inflatable life preserver, and unbleached biodegradable toilet paper) that we needed.  These items will be delivered to St. Augustine or Daytona Beach (our next stop), depending on delivery time.

Thursday, November 28 (Thanksgiving)

I really don't like spending holidays alone but with Lola (our young Maine Coon cat) we don't have a choice of both Maggie and I flying somewhere.  I wouldn't want to put Lola through the precautions for a flight or a cat sitter--so, we (Lola and I) are here in St. Augustine together.

-----------

This morning I noticed that our battery voltage was at 12.35 volts--this is lower than normal! So, I again adjusted the fridge cold plate temperature up to 14.5 degrees, an increase of 0.5 degrees.  The box temperature is still under 36 degrees.  Ideally, it should be between 36 and 40 degrees. So, I ran the engine this morning (again) to top off the batteries and to make hot water.  I have considered the possibility that our batteries have been damaged by overcharging from our 120-amp engine-driven alternator.  I was relying on the alternator's internal regulator but this may have been a mistake.  At the present, I'm not sure how I can tell but I will do some online research today.

-----------

I've tried to maintain a Thanksgiving tradition even though I'm stuck on the boat.  We previously purchased a frozen turkey breast for me to cook on Thanksgiving.  We also purchased some turkey gravy and stiffing mix--and I have the cranberry relish that I made yesterday.

Turkey breast prior to cooking onboard.

Shortly after starting to cook my Thanksgiving dinner, I ran out of propane in the currently used one of two tanks. Switching tanks requires that I remove the helm seat for access. In 10 minutes, the oven was back on. My dinner (turkey, gravy, stuffing, and cranberry relish) was ready to eat at 12:45–it was delicious!

I ended up making another adjustment to the fridge in the late afternoon, moving the cold plate set point up to 15 degrees.  When I went to bed, the box temperature was 37.5 degrees (the compressor wasn’t running) and the battery voltage was 12.70 volts.

Friday, November 29

When I awoke the this morning, the house voltage was at 12.38 volts (and the compressor was running at the time even though the box temperature was 36.7 degrees).  As soon as the compressor shut off, the house voltage increased to 12.50 volts. Of course by that time (7:30 AM) some solar power was trickling in too.  By 8:35 AM the solar input was at 2.16 amps and the house voltage was at 12.79 (without the compressor running).  An hour later, the house voltage was up to 13 volts (while the compressor was running) and 4.25 amps of solar power was being produced by our 340 watts of (Solbian-brand) flexible solar panels.

At 8:35 AM, the output from the solar panels was
2.16 amps and the house voltage was 12.79
without the compressor running.

Until recently I assumed that are fridge (as the highest load on the batteries) was running too frequently and that is why I was constantly adjusting the cold plate set point.  This may have been a part of the potential electrical problem.

There are three things I want to do today to address this possible electrical problem:

(1) check the connections in back of the main battery switch,

(2) check all battery connections for corrosion, and

(3) clean and polish the solar panels.

There is always the possibility of multiple problems--so, I want to check all three areas, even though I might find a problem with one area early.  My primary goal is to restore the early-AM house voltage to 12.50 volts (as I remember it was last year) without the need to run the engine for charging during the day.  I have to keep in mind that the daylight is shorter this time of year (actually the month of December) which may be influencing this possible problem.

After inspecting the connections on the back of the main battery switch, I found no looseness or corrosion at the terminals—therefore, a problem in this area was ruled out pretty quickly. Next up was the battery terminals—two terminals needed some tightening but there was no corrosion but I doubt that this was the problem.

As I was in the starboard cockpit locker to inspect the battery terminals on the starboard battery bank, I noticed that the 100-watt solar panel on the bimini was producing much less power than the others, judging by the idiot lights on the charge controllers. So, I focused my efforts on cleaning and polishing on this panel.

This image (taken in the bright sun) shows
the "cloudiness" in the middle
solar panel.

Before accessing this panel, approximately 5.5 amps of solar power was being produced (10:30 AM). It took me about 30 minutes to remove the middle solar panel, polish it with Novus #2, finish up cleaning with Novus #1, and reconnect the panel. After reconnecting the panel, the instruments showed that we were producing over 8 amps of solar power. So, clearly, the cloudiness of the flexible solar panel has a big influence on how much power can be produced.  

By 11:30 AM, the solar panels were producing nearly 

9 amps of electrical power, twice the output 

from yesterday afternoon.  By noon, 
we were generating 11 amps!

Our two 50-watt rear panels are just as cloudy in appearance as the middle panel was prior to cleaning and polishing--the completion of this job must wait until tomorrow since I have to get a propane refill this afternoon (using my bike).

Stay tuned as we head into the month of December here in St. Augustine...

Thanks for following our blog!