The engine bay is another area I would do differently. Apart from having this big heavy green noisy thing called an engine it also had two fuel tanks, calorifier, Hurricane heater and large battery bank. When you add the weight of the toilet tank in the back cabin there was a significant load at the stern.
Photo from 2012
Obviously I’d leave the engine but, as mentioned in the previous post, I would move the diesel and toilet tanks to the middle of the boat. The propulsion and heating tanks had a combined capacity of 385 litres or 320kg, plus the steel. Incidentally, the Aldermaston Wharf engineer laughed when I decided to paint the engine bay white telling me “It will show every mark!” Which was precisely my objective.
The domestic battery bank consisted of four 6 Volt 450ah batteries giving 950ah at 12V. They were located at the very rear above the stern tube. At 55kg each that was another 220kg.
Photo from 2012
If I was designing a boat today I would follow Pip & Mick on nb Oleanna and fit a Lithium battery bank. However the initial cost of a Lithium system is significantly higher than lead-acid and I’d therefore only do this if I planned to live aboard. The advantages of Lithium when compared to lead-acid are their lower weight, greater usable capacity and quicker recharging. Another important advantage is they don’t vent so you can place them inside the cabin. I won’t write much more about a Lithium system at this time as Mick will have far more practical knowledge and experience than me.
My rough calculations indicate by moving the fuel, toilet tank and battery bank would remove approximately 750kg from the stern. I believe it would have made a major different to the fore and aft trim.
1 comment :
More interesting ideas.
Cheers
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