420/44 DB Owners Club

Holly crap.....5 batteries just on the port side? Are you planning to anchor for a week without running the genny........LOL?

I added 1 extra (total of 3 on the port side) and never had a problem in the last 7-9 years.....and I "live" on the hook.


I added one more battery and I did not get much improvement. I run the generator in the morning and the 300W ( yeah, right...a lot less output than that) solar panels. Still do not have full enough charge. I still have to run the generator in the evening.

There are 3 fridges...the main fridge, a deep freezer and the beverage fridge in the cockpit. We are careful with our usage and have LED on all the lights.

I will keep working on it till we get it right!
 
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Mine's a bit older boat but it doesn't exist on mine. Looks like someone added it. Can you decipher the writing beside it? Might just have to trace the wiring to figure it out.
Afraid the writing is ineligible. But I suspect your right, it’s an after market addition. It appears to tie one of the thruster battery’s to the generator.
 
Holly crap.....5 batteries just on the port side? Are you planning to anchor for a week without running the genny........LOL?

I added 1 extra (total of 3 on the port side) and never had a problem in the last 7-9 years.....and I "live" on the hook.


I added one more battery and I did not get much improvement. I run the generator in the morning and the 300W ( yeah, right...a lot less output than that) solar panels. Still do not have full enough charge. I still have to run the generator in the evening.

There are 3 fridges...the main fridge, a deep freezer and the beverage fridge in the cockpit. We are careful with our usage and have LED on all the lights.

I will keep working on it till we get it right!
We have 350W of solar and had a similar issue last season. The batteries are the heart of the system and ours (3 on the house side) just weren't up to the job. Changed to 3 Rolls AGM batteries this season and have seen a significant improvement on how they hold up overnight. We just have the cockpit and galley fridge and don't drop below 12.6v overnight, the solar gets just about back to fully charged (0Ahrs used) by late afternoon. We've gone 3 days at anchor without needing to start the generator ... could have been longer.

When I was researching batteries, the number of cycles (to 50% or 80% discharge) is significantly different between manufacturers. The Rolls aren't cheap but I get more cycles (like around 700) to 80% discharge than most other batteries provide to 50% discharge, which gives me comfort if we are heavily reliant on them.

All that to say, you might need a battery upgrade to see the difference with your solar.
 
Afraid the writing is ineligible. But I suspect your right, it’s an after market addition. It appears to tie one of the thruster battery’s to the generator.
Well, that's an interesting approach for separating off the generator from the house side.
 
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Well, that's an interesting approach for separating off the generator from the house side.

It’s a great get out of jail card for a bad day.
 
Since I've been taking a closer look at the over board discharge for the bilges, I can see that some will need some recaulking. While I'm at it I will swap out for the stainless option. Does anyone know the size of fittings needed?
 
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@AEO @Irie308 can either of you post a link to what check valves you bought?

apologies for the late reply. I fitted one of these.

F71C646C-83A4-4059-B996-73D0DBEA7EC2.jpeg
 
...I added one more battery and I did not get much improvement. I run the generator in the morning and the 300W ( yeah, right...a lot less output than that) solar panels. Still do not have full enough charge. I still have to run the generator in the evening.

There are 3 fridges...the main fridge, a deep freezer and the beverage fridge in the cockpit. We are careful with our usage and have LED on all the lights.

I will keep working on it till we get it right!

Everyone have different style of using their equipment, but it's important to understand that your expectations are in line what it can deliver. I've never considered solar, as it delivers very little juice and you need quite a bit of time to get any decent charging power out of it.

My approach is simple. On a regular NE summer day I run my genny couple hours in the morning while showering, having breakfast, etc. Then 3-4 hrs in the evening, while cooking (if we have dinner aboard) or just entertaining, including TVs and/or audio system. This is a natural flow of our usage of the "house". I only have two fridges (the main in the galley and the cockpit), but I had original lights, which drew good 15-20amps, for many years. With 2 batteries, this failed only after 4-5 days on the hook. After adding 1 extra battery to the house bank, the problem never resurfaced in the last 7-8 years, maybe longer. After converting all the lights to LEDs, couple of years ago, I don't even think about the load.

I recommend taking a log of your charging time and the load during the usage time. Something doesn't seem to add up. You should not need 5 batteries on the house bank, unless you have excessive load.
 
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I've experienced cutlass bearing waring down on one side, but there was no wining noise. I recommend you have closer look to make sure it's not coming from trainy.

In any event, if your cutlass bearings are original, don't push your luck, replace them, they're overdue.
I have a whine on my port main did you find a reason why?
 
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In my quest to reduce the amount of paper being flushed into my vacuflush system, I was thinking of installing two of these TOTO Washlets. Does anyone have any views on the positives and/or negatives, or if they can be installed at all..


B1380C81-8EED-47FD-A4D8-551BDD394ECE.jpeg 01814D69-7D5F-4236-B83A-29BCC71DAD72.jpeg CCA1E9BE-5D58-4976-A8EE-7E7ABF1C2F55.jpeg
 
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Have one at home...and always will after a trip to Japan in 2008. Superior in every way for finishing your business.

We have a remote on ours so it takes less space. It does run on 110V for heating the wash water and the seat. I don't know if the sprayer will deploy without voltage. I will have to unplug when we get home and report back.

I just looked on Amazon and Brondell makes a non-electric seat for $89.
 
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Have one at home...and always will after a trip to Japan in 2008. Superior in every way for finishing your business.

We have a remote on ours so it takes less space. It does run on 110V for heating the wash water and the seat. I don't know if the sprayer will deploy without voltage. I will have to unplug when we get home and report back.

I just looked on Amazon and Brondell makes a non-electric seat for $89.
The seat in the picture is one we bought for home. It won’t quite fit in the boat so will need the remote control model. Quite a big price difference between the two ..
 
Hey everybody! I haven’t been on here in a while but I had an issue crossing to Bimini this past weekend and I’m having difficulty finding the window trim around the port state room window. If anyone knows where I might be able to find this I would be truly grateful. See pictures attached.
 

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Hey everybody! I haven’t been on here in a while but I had an issue crossing to Bimini this past weekend and I’m having difficulty finding the window trim around the port state room window. If anyone knows where I might be able to find this I would be truly grateful. See pictures attached.
I have one missing also; they snap over the plastic frame. Been looking for a couple of years - no luck.
 
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Do most of you keep and use the oil jugs on the Starboard side? I found out the previous owner never used them and had no idea how old the oil was.

I would like to use the space for the watermaker motor and pump.

How much oil do you typically carry on board?
 
Do most of you keep and use the oil jugs on the Starboard side? I found out the previous owner never used them and had no idea how old the oil was.

I would like to use the space for the watermaker motor and pump.

How much oil do you typically carry on board?
I carry a 2 gallon jug of oil in that spot along with a gallon of AF. That being said that would be a great spot for your water maker. Your oil can be stored else where.
 
I carry a 2 gallon jug of oil in that spot along with a gallon of AF. That being said that would be a great spot for your water maker. Your oil can be stored else where.

I put my water maker in that exact spot. A perfect fit
 

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