This is the list of things I wish I had known before I bought a new sailboat and moved it to Lake Winnipeg.
Nothing so far has been a super deal breaker, but it would have saved me time and money had I known. It definitely would have made me do some things differently.
1. When moving a boat over a long distance, it’s best to buy a trailer to move the boat rather than pay to have it moved.
This is because once you get the boat to where it’s going, you are probably going to need to take it out of the water. A cradle can be handy if you have a mobile boat lift, but you can save considerable money using a standing crane or even possibly launching from the trailer (even larger boats can do it with a tractor and the right ramp) over hiring a crane.
The trailer also allows you to easier later.
2. Read Nigel Calders book before you buy the boat.
3. Get a surveyor to survey the boat, but look for certain things before you even get the surveyor.
4. Check the batteries with a volt meter. Make sure can be fully charged (12.8V or more) . If they aren’t fully charged when you see them they are likely damaged, count on having to replace them.
5. In total, you will want to have at least 200aH per day of battery power, ideally AGM or Gel batteries. (Actually ideally firefly Carbon Foam or Lithium ION). Older batteries have less life, so check the date on the batteries. The more power the better. You should only count on using 30% of your available power, AGM and Gel might let you slide that to 50%. If you aren’t topping up your batteries to 100% then you will be getting less, and if you are leaving it below 100% for even a few days regularily your 100% batteries are probably maxed out at 80 or 85% leaving you with 15%-35%. (Firefly and Lithium ION will let you go down to 20%-25%, but Lithium ION in particular needs special chargers and regulators).
5. Does the boat have Solar Power? If so how many watts? You are counting on Solar Power to charge your batteries you will want at least 100W. 100W will give you ~28aH per day under very good conditions. If you are running solar then get a MPPT Charge Controller, it will maximize your charging time over PWM and “other” charge controllers. Don’t trust any company though, I found that out the hard way. Someone selling MPPT Charge controllers that turned out to be PWM. (If anyone wants to buy two $30 “MPPT” charge controllers that aren’t message me). I would recommend VictronEnergy Blue Solar, and Smart Solar charge controllers (The Smart Solar have builtin bluetooth, the Blue solar needs an add-on). I would also recommend a battery monitor, again I went with Victron because I’m tried of being ripped off.
6. How is the boat wired for electricity? You probably want an electrical panel. My recommendation would be a Blue Sea 360 Panel (or 3, one for DC, one or 1 or 2 for AC).
The AC panel can take a feed from your shore power, and feed certain things that you only want powered from AC, like your inverter and your charger, possibly also hot water heater and others. That feed should then feed your inverter which possibly has a built in Automatic Transfer Switch built in. That Inverter can then feed the second AC Main which runs your other AC Loads.
The DC is fairly straight forward, you want a MAIN fuse fused to 300Amps or more, from that you can have separate fuses (not switches) for bilge, navigation lights, anchor lights, cabin lights and the rest of your loads. DC wiring should be wired with RED for positive, and YELLOW for negative. You want to wire with the right size wire. Ancor Marine is known for providing good quality marine wire which is stranded and tinned and has sheathing that can withstand the wear and tear of a boat. A good size wire to run if you are running new wire and have the room is 10AWG. At 12V (Common Battery voltage) It can carry 30Amps for 30′ so you only have to run it once and can upgrade later without hassle, higher voltage boats will have no problem with 10AWG, larger current 30+ will need bigger cables.
You will want to have a seperate Battery for starting the boat, and one battery bank for the rest of the house load. Don’t mix ’em. If you need a battery isolator to share the charging to the batteries then get one but don’t use your starting battery for houseloads.
Your boat should have a Common bus for the DC Ground (from the engine or shaft), a separate Common bus for DC Negative from the battery, and DC Positive Fused at 300A from the battery. The fused battery cable should lead to the Postive Bus. The Negative bus can be branched off from components but should lead to your battery monitor shunt, then to the battery. Charging devices should ideally lead to the bus. But I have a seperate NOCO GEN3 Charger which means my charger needs to connect individually to my two house batteries to maximize the charger.
AC wiring should be stranded and tinned as well, and should be Black Positive, White Neutral, and Green Ground wiring. There shouldn’t be any Marrettes on the boat, boat wiring should use bolt down common buses or panels using Circle Terminal connectors with a heat shrink crimp. Labeling on the wires is a good sign.
7. The boat probably has an inverter, but what brand is it? Is it a True-Sine wave inverter or a modified sine waver inverter? True-Sine is better it will run things with motors (like powertools) and TV’s without damaging them, and can charge cordless tools. Modified Sine might appear to work but it may be causing damage to the motors, it can blow out TV’s and electronics. Modified Sine wave is fine but may cause the issues above, and even more efficient than true-sine for electric heaters so there may be a case for having both on board. Don’t expect your batteries to power an electric heater for long though. I went with a Xantrex Solution. Be sure and get a Marine Inverter or Charger or Combo, the marine protects you with better stability for the rocking and rolling, but more importantly protects you with proper isolation from galvanic corrosion. Speaking of Galvanic Corrosion, you probably want a galvanic isolator too from VictronEnergy.
8. You will also likely want a way to charge your batteries to get the most out of them. If you need to get an inverter get a Converter/Inverter or Charger/Inverter that can provide at least 30Amps to your batteries. The bigger the bank the more power you will need.
8. If you are sailing in Lake Winnipeg or anywhere it gets chilly, you will probably want a heater. Not everyday is +20 C or +30 C in the morning. If you have shore power an electric heater might do, but you probably want a propane heater if you don’t have shore power. 12,000 BTU seems a good number for a 30′ boat, smaller boats can go with less power.
9. Propane is the better fuel for stoves and heaters over diesel, and kerosene. It’s cheaper, more efficient and doesn’t make your food taste bad when you eat it. But it can be a hassle to have on board. You need a separate propane locker for your propane. The propane tanks should be marine propane tanks and are likely the 20 lbs style for bbq’s but a bit beefier and stored and secured tightly so they don’t roll around in a closed locker which drains out from the bottom to the outside of the hull. The propane needs a remote solenoid which is a motor which allows the propane to be turned off remotely. The solenoid should be on the high pressure side (near the tank) of the propane line, and should be preceded by a pressure gauge, and followed by a regulator to slow the flow of the propane. All propane connections must be branched off from inside the locker, so if you want to feed a BBQ, a heater, and a stove, and a water heater you need 4 connections inside the locker. The connections require unbroken connections to the appliances except if the stove has a flexible hose you can tie into. You need to have the ability to turn off the propane from a solenoid controller within 5 feet of the device that uses propane. If you have propane you also need a “sniffer” to make sure there isn’t a build up of propane from a leak or mistake. Propane is heavier than air and will gather on the floor of your cabin sole, or in the bilge. If a spark occurs… boom go your boat.
10. Other safety devices you probably need are a fire/smoke detector and a Carbon Monoxide detector. Fire and smoke is obvious but the carbon monoxide detector is because partially burnt fuels from the engine, the stove, heater or even other boats being back drafted into the boat can kill in as few as a few minutes or a few hours, and there is no symptoms until it is almost too late. Better safe than sorry. I’ve read good things about Fireboy-Xintex for all the detectors (smoke/fire, Carbon Monoxide, Sniffer, Solenoid)
11. Wet Core – If you have a wet core it means the wood between the fibreglass is wet. Which means there is a leak in the fibreglass somewhere and the wood has likely become rotten and the strength of the deck or hull has become damaged. This is expensive to repair as you have to rip the boat apart, and once some of the wood has gotten wet it will spread like a drop of water on toilet paper.
11. Other nice things to look for on a boat
- A Roller Furling Jib
- A gimballed stove.