Rub rub… RUB!

Andy wasn’t joking when he said most of the two thick coats of primer that Jan and I applied 8 months ago would be rubbed off as part of the preparation for painting.

Waiouru had a second detailed sanding today with particular emphasis on the “fiddly bits”.  Some areas can only be reached by hand and I now have blisters!  She was also swept down twice.  The damned boat seems to be getting longer each time she is shown the broom! 

The roof from the stern

Port side

Starboard

The mastic around the glued in steel plate on each side has been removed and the filler has been sanded back.

This next photo gives some idea of the ‘blemishes’ in the plate.  The surface has now been sanded back and is smooth as an new born baby’s bum!  The flecks of primer have filled in the pits in the steel plate.

This is actually a smooth surface!

The side hatches had numerous ‘nooks and crannies’ which took a considerable amount of time to sand back.

Mid afternoon ‘Postman Pat’ delivered a parcel to the boatyard which was addressed to us.  It was the solar controller from Hong Kong which had been ordered on EBay.  A considerable amount of research was conducted before deciding on this particular controller.  It’s a Tracer and we ordered the 20A model with the optional remote LCD panel.

The coke can is there to give some idea of size.  The 20A controller can cope with a maximum of 260 watts and we intend to have two 100w panels.  Because roof space is limited we want maximum effective electricity from the panels which is why we decided on a MPPT controller.  There are numerous advertised controllers which claim to have the MPPT functionality.  However the MPPT function in many of the cheaper controllers will probably fail or not work correctly due to poor design.  The Tracer wasn’t the cheapest MPPT controller, but is the most cost effective one we could find.

The back of the Tracer (see next photo) has a rather substantial heat sink.  The whole back of the case is metal, along with the fins on the heat sink.

As you can see in the photo, we also purchased the remote control.  It connects to the solar controller using a two metre data cable.  The solar controller will go under the spare bed in the same ventilated compartment as the Victron combi inverter/charger and the remote will go on the instrument and gauge panel above.

For two reasons, the two 100w solar panels haven’t yet been purchased.  First, we have no roof space on Waiouru whilst she is being painted (we’re also in a tent); and second; the price of solar panels is steadily dropping!  The longer we delay….. the cheaper the price… we hope!