Standing rigging on boats should be replaced every 10-15 years, especially for boats taken offshore. The standing rigging on Apropos was 20 years old, so well past its due date for replacement. I decided to perform the job dockside and not pull the masts. This has its plusses and minuses. On the plus side, you can do all the work at the marina and don’t have haulout, mast crane, and yard fees. On the minus side, it takes a lot longer since you can only remove a certain number of shrouds/stays at a time in order to keep the masts from falling down. Apropos, being a ketch, has 2x the rigging and 2x the chainplates and since I planned on doing most of the work myself, I didn’t want to be in a boatyard for a month. There were also lots of variables like the time involved in getting new chainplates fabricated, sourcing custom chainplate bolts, and getting all the swaging work done. I also decided to make this as much of a DIY and learning project as possible. I hired a rigger (Terry from Yachtfitters) for guidance and technical expertise, but did most of the work myself.

Here are the main steps I followed for re-rigging Apropos:

• Tune the rig to spec and mark all the shroud/stay turnbuckles with tape. This is needed to get the proper length for making the new shrouds/stays.
• Remove groups of shrouds/stays strategically. For mizzen shrouds, brace the mast with temporary lines from masthead to deck. For main mast shrouds, remove in groups that allow adequate mast support from remaining shrouds. Deliver shrouds/stays to rigger, whose shop is a 2-minute walk from the marina.
• Remove chainplates associated with the removed shrouds/stays and replace with new. Seal the gaps between chainplates and deck. Replace the chainplate bolts with new.
• Pick up and install the new shrouds/stays from rigger, who did all the swaging work (attach the new wires to turnbuckes at deck end and eyes at mast end).
• Repeat the previous 3 steps until done. I ended up splitting the entire re-rigging into 5 groups of shrouds/stays.
• After all shrouds and stays have been replaced, re-tune the rig back to spec.
• For cap shrouds, use seizing wire between spreader end and shroud to fix spreader angle. Add leather boots on spreader ends to protect the sails.

The remaining paragraphs provide details on some of the major parts of the project.

Going aloft

Re-rigging with masts in place requires lots of work aloft. In the past, I was never comfortable going aloft without another person spotting me and taking up slack in the backup/safety halyard. During the project, I probably made 20 trips up the masts. I learned from Terry (professional rigger) how to do it safely. I use a self-made 3:1 block and tackle connected to a climbing harness to go aloft. This allows me to pull myself up the mast with an effort of 1/3 my body weight. What I added to my climbing gear is a fall-arrest device that takes the place of a second safety halyard and the need for a 2nd person. The arrest device connects to my harness and slides up a halyard anchored to the deck. With this, every few feet after I pull myself up a with the 3:1, I slide the arrest device up above my head. If something fails on my main 3:1 halyard, the arrest device will keep me from falling. When I reach the mast level where I’m doing work, I make sure the arrest device is supporting my weight, then I tie off the lazy end of the 3:1 and can use both hands to remove/re-install tang bolts and cotter pins. When working alone, I also use a spare halyard to hoist the shrouds up the mast to the height of where they connect to instead of pulling them up with a messenger line. When removing shrouds/stays, I secure the spare halyard at the level of mast tang before going aloft, then I remove one shroud at a time and secure it to the spare halyard. I also bought a new canvas tool bag that I clip onto my harness that has a rigid top that keeps it open. This makes finding the right tool, tang pin, or cotter pin easier. There’s nothing worse than getting to the top of the mast and not having the correct tool, so I make sure I think everything through before going aloft and double check I have everything needed for the task. Since I made several trips up both mast heads, I took the opportunity to replace both topping lift lines.

Shrouds/Stays

Apropos’ main mast is supported by 8 shrouds, 2 backstays, and 2 forestays. The mizzen mast is supported by 6 shrouds and a jumper stay. The bowsprit has 2 whisker stays and a bobstay. That’s a lot of rigging! All stays are 304 ss wire, with the exception of the bobstay which is solid 1″ ss rod. Most shrouds/stays are 3/8″, a few are 5/16″. All turnbuckles were replaced with high quality Hayn silicon bronze and tefgel was applied to the threads.

Chainplates

Chainplates secure the shrouds/stays securely to the boat at deck level. On Apropos, they are all internal, which means they go through the deck and bolt on to teak timbers inside the cabin. Even though they are 3/8″ thick 316 stainless steel, crevice corrosion usually occurs in the area between the deck and the opening down below. It’s usually a combination of salt water intrusion and lack of oxygen that causes the corrosion. All the chainplates on Apropos were original, which makes them 42 years old. I had no idea what condition they were in, so I planned to remove all of them to inspect & replace.

Removing

Removing the 10 chainplates was no easy task. There are 2 triples (for 3 shrouds) that are 6.5″ wide, 2 doubles (for 2 shrouds) that are 4.25″ wide, and 6 singles (for 1 shroud) that are 2.5″ wide. Each chainplate has an approximately 166 degree bend, which is the angle between the hull sides and the shrouds. Because the bend is inside the core, the chainplates need to be removed downwards, often with a lot of force. I used blocks of wood and a heavy mallet to pound them down from above. The triples were by far the most difficult to remove and the wood blocks kept splitting, so I made a 2.5″ x 2.5″ x 12″ piece of UHMW polyethylene with a 3/8″ notch routed on the bottom to help pound the chainplates down. Because of the bend in the chainplates, removing them caused the outboard edge of the raised deck piece to break off. After re-installing the new chainplates, I used thickened epoxy to reattach them.

Fabricating

Garhauer Marine fabricated and mirror-polished the new chainplates from 316 stainless steel. They have reasonable prices and great customer service. I supplied them with detailed drawings and they all fit perfectly.

Sealing

It’s important to have a good water-tight seal around the chainplates at deck level. I like to do the sealing before attaching the shrouds for easier access. Here are the steps I followed:

• Clean the area around the chainplate with acetone
• Apply black butyl rubber (McMaster-Carr #75875A661) along both sides of the chainplate and at both ends. The black butyl is extremely tacky, so put pre-cut strips inside a ziplock back and place it in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. It’s best to leave the paper strip on, then push it into the gaps between the chainplate and deck and then peal off the paper.
• Apply white butyl (clay-like, non hardening McMaster-Carr #9408T146) overtop the black, along both sides and at both ends. Since the white butyl doesn’t stick to your fingers, use it to push more of the black butyl into the gap. On colder days I like to use a heat gun to warm the chainplate and butyl slightly.
• Fasten the stainless steel cover plate and secure with 2 ss screws. It helps to push down on the cover plate as screws are being tightened. A little heat can also help to compress things and get a good seal. The plate will not be flush against the deck, it will be raised slightly because of the white butyl. Trim off any butyl as necessary.

This process should give a watertight seal. So far none of the 10 chainplates have leaked.

Bolts

Most of the 36 bolts that secure the chainplates to the hull showed signs of corrosion. I replaced them with new custom made 316 stainless steel 1/2″ bolts. The new bolts started out as carriage bolts and were machined to remove the square under the head, then a slot was milled into the head and threads were cut. Since the bolts came from stock, I polished the heads to a mirror finish. I ordered 2 sizes, 6-3/4″ and 5-5/8″ lengths, both with 1-1/2″ of threads. With these 2 lengths I was able to custom fit each one by cutting the length with an angle grinder. The heads on the original 16 bolts for the 4 stern chainplates were bent to account for the angle difference of the hull and bolt . Instead of trying to bend the heads of the new bolts, I decided to make custom tapered washers. I bought a 2 foot long tube of Tivar UHMW polyethylene 1-1/4″OD, 5/8″ ID (McMaster-Carr #8705K91) and used a chop saw to cut the washers. Each one had to be custom fit with taper angles between 3 and 10 degrees.

When installing the bolts, I used a bead of white Sikaflex 291 marine sealant between the washer and hull. I aligned each bolt orientation with the slot horizontal.

Final Rig Tuning

Rig tuning is done by adjusting turnbuckles to get the proper tension on the shrouds/stays. A good rigger knows the proper tensions for each particular shroud/stay–cap shrouds, backstays, fore-stays, intermediates, and lowers. A tension gauge (Loos & Co. Model PT-3) is used to measure wire tension. It works by measuring the deflection along a 12″ section of the wire with a spring. As the wire tension is increased, the readout (scale from 0 to 60) goes up. A convenient table printed on the gauge is used to convert the scale to lbs tension and % break strength. In the picture below, the readout is 34 on 3/8″ wire, so the lbs tension is 1200 and the % break strength is 7.

There’s another component to rig tuning besides using a tension gauge and adjusting turnbuckles. An experienced rigger constantly monitors the mast for shape. This is done by sighting up the mast from all 4 sides. The art comes in by knowing which shroud/stay to adjust to produce the intended change in the mast bend. It’s also important to get the spreader angles even. This can be done by measuring from each spreader tip to the deck. Each spreader can be bumped up/down until port and starboard tips are equal distance to the deck. Next stainless steel wire is used to seize the shroud at the spreader tip, which locks the spreader angle in place. The final step is to place spreader boots on the tips to protect the sail when it comes in contact with the spreader. I decided to use leather boots instead of the rubber type that was on the boat before. The leather boots need to be stitched on using a herring-bone stitch, which took about 30 minutes each. Instead of a climbing harness, I used a bosun chair which is way more comfortable for the 2 hours it took to stitch on 4 spreader boots.

Pinning the turnbuckles is typically done with cotter pins. Another method is using stainless steel welding rod. This gives a cleaner look and prevents snagging lines.

Here are the wire sizes and specs for the final rig tuning:

• Main mast cap shroud 3/8″ wire, 44 or 15%
• Main mast fwd lower 3/8″ wire, 42 or 13%
• Main mast aft lower 3/8″ wire, 38 or 10%
• Main mast intermediate 5/16″ wire, 23.5 or 10.5%
• Main mast backstays 3/8″ wire, 34 or 7%
• Main mast inner forestay 3/8″ wire, 35.5 or 8%
• Main mast headstay 3/8″ wire
• Mizzen mast fwd 3/8″ wire, 41 or 12%
• Mizzen mast lower 5/16″ wire, 21 or 8.5%
• Mizzen mast cap shroud 5/16″ wire, 26 or 12%
• Mizzen mast jumper stay 1/4″ wire, 7 or 5%
• Bowsprit whisker stays 3/8″ wire, 38 or 10%

Conclusion

The project took about 2 months from start to end. It involved a lot of custom fabrication, plenty of trips up & down the masts, and hours working aloft. It was a good learning experience and something I shouldn’t have to repeat again on Apropos. Replacing the standing rigging and chainplates will give me some peace of mind when sailing offshore in heavy weather conditions.

Apropos came with a Fleming Servo-Pendulum windvane. It was an older version (1980’s) and heavily built of stainless steel. I mounted it on the stern with existing hardware and eventually learned how to use it. A servo-pendulum system steers the boat relative to the wind by deflecting a vane that pivots a paddle in the water. As it pivots, the water pressure swings the paddle in a pendulum motion, moving lines running from the windvane to a drum attached to the wheel. This turns the wheel and hence the boat rudder. We sailed thousands of ocean miles with “Ian” doing the majority of the steering. As with any windvane, having a balanced boat is the most important thing.

Here are some of the problems we encountered with Ian.

• The path the control lines take from the windvane to the wheel are through the hull into the lazerette, into the cockpit, and to a drum attached to the wheel. Three sets of blocks were used along the way but there was still a lot of friction. Enough apparent wind was needed to overcome the friction to make it work. On long ocean passages, this wasn’t too much of an issue. But chafing of the control lines and getting the proper tension on the lines were constant struggles.
• Wear and tear on the boat’s steering system was another concern. In action, a servo pendulum system is constantly turning the wheel back and forth by small amounts for course correction. Even though the rudder is only moving by small amounts and the boat is sailing relatively straight, there’s constant movement of the steering system.
• An unexpected mishap occurred during an offshore passage from Kiribati to Hawaii, when a weld joint on the paddle failed and the paddle sunk to the bottom of the ocean. We were 8 days into a 10 day passage, so we hand-steered the rest of the way. Even though Fleming is no longer making windvanes, they still had parts and I was able to have a new paddle shipped to Hawaii and had it welded back onto the shaft. It worked on a windy 20 day passage from Hawaii to Seattle. But the point is, 35-year old equipment is bound to have problems and I didn’t trust it anymore.
• The vane adjustment was difficult to use. It has a ratcheting 360 degree vane with 120 teeth to provide 3 deg adjustment. I extended 2 lines as toggles so you didn’t have to reach all the way back to the windvane to adjust it, but it was still a bit clunky to use.

New Hydrovane Windvane

A Hydrovane self-steering windvane is an auxiliary rudder type system that drives its own rudder via a sophisticated drive unit linkage. Both the vane and the rudder are larger than the vane and paddle used in a servo-pendulum system. There’s an adjustment called a ratio knob that can be set according to wind conditions. The vane can also be adjusted up & down as well as pivoting to fine tune the sensitivity. The vane rotates 360 degrees via a continuous control line that extends into the cockpit, making it easy to adjust while at the helm.

Installation

Although the Hydrovane can be mounted off-center, I decided to mount it on the centerline of the boat. Hydrovane provides the correct brackets and shaft needed for any boat, and for Apropos I needed an upper H bracket, a lower A bracket, and a longer shaft, and 2 mounting brackets, teak pads and backing plates. For every step of the installation, I tied safety lines to the parts in case something fell. I was able to work from the dock when installing the upper H bracket, and from a dinghy for the lower A bracket. The install instructions (booklet and video) provided by Hydrovane were very well done and easy to follow. Phone support from Richard and Will at Hydrovane was also very helpful with any questions I had.

For the upper H bracket, I had a custom stainless steel plate fabricated and mounted it to the stern platform with 3 U-bolts. The H bracket then got bolted to the plate for a very solid upper connection. Next I mounted the shaft to the H bracket. For the lower connection, an A bracket was used with SS tubes extending to mounting plates that through-bolted to the hull. I used 3″ pvc pipe in place of the SS pipe for determining the exact placement of the hull through-bolts. One of the most time-consuming parts was sanding the 2 teak pads that fit between the hull and mounting plates to the contour of the hull shape. For this, I taped 80 grit sandpaper onto the hull and moved the teak pad back and forth until there were no gaps (took over 2 hours per pad). I used aluminum backing plates inside the hull, and fastened them using thickened epoxy to increase the contact area of the plates. After the upper H bracket, shaft, and lower A bracket were all mounted, the drive unit was added to the top part of the shaft, and finally the rudder, vane and vane adjustment line. Here are some pictures taken during the installation.

Apropos came with 8 oval, 3 small round, and 1 large round bronze port screen rings. After arriving in Mexico, we realized we needed them to keep out bugs, mosquitos, and no-see-ums (tiny flies that bite) since we had to keep the ports open for ventilation. The problem was that the frames had no screens, so we hastily added some fine mesh fabric by wrapping polyester thread (same as used for sails) around the edges of the rings. This worked well for the year it was needed, but eventually the mesh fabric became brittle and easily torn.

After removing the fabric and thread, I soaked the frames in a metal cleaner, then used a dremel tool to polish them. Next I coated them with Protecta-Clear. I had about a yard of bronze screen that came with the boat, so I cut pieces slightly bigger than each frame. I ran a bead of Gorilla glue on the frame, placed the screen on wax paper and the frame on top the screen, then a 5 gallon bucket of water to apply pressure for 2 hours while the glue cured. The final step was to trim the screen along the edges with a pair of scissors. Here are all 12 finished rings and a picture of one of the oval port rings in place.

About a year ago I replaced the old manual head with a new electric head. I plumbed it with fresh water fill/flush but wanted to add a sea water option. The fresh water option will be used whenever there is easy access and abundant water. When sailing offshore or cruising in areas where fresh water isn’t easily available, the head would be switched over to using sea water.

I added a 1:2 valve, a Jabsco pump (taken from the old refrigeration system), and T’d into the sea water input for an easy project that was accomplished in a weekend. Here is a drawing of the project showing the new plumbing inside the yellow boundary. The green lines represent sea water and the blue lines fresh water. The sea water pump is wired to the electric head control board so when the fill button is pressed, the pump will activate. A disconnect switch was added to open the wiring to the sea water pump when the system is in fresh water mode.

The boat cover has been used for 15 years worth of Seattle rainy winters. It goes on around November 1 and comes off by mid to late April. The cover was custom made using marine canvas (Sunbrella) with zippers and twist locks connecting 4 large sections. I usually rinse it with a hose, allow it to dry, and pack it inside 2 huge duffel bags, then store it in a garage until bringing it back out for the winter. Over the years it has accumulated quite a bit of dirt and mildew, so this year I decided to clean it well. I started with a hose and a canvas cleaning product, lightly scrubbing it with a soft brush and then rinsing. This did very little in the way of making it look any cleaner. So I decided to bring out pressure washer and that made a huge difference. It took a few hours of spraying at close range to remove most of the grime, but it came out looking almost new. After drying well, I applied 3 gallons of 303 Marine/Aerospace protectant using a garden sprayer. This gives it UV protection, and makes it water repellent and stain resistant. I also cleaned and treated the 18 canvas bags that hold sand used as weights that clip on along the bottom of the cover.

We had canvas dinghy chaps made when we were in Mexico to help protect the dinghy from UV exposure. It was custom made for the dinghy, so 9 years later when we got a new dinghy, it no longer fit. I tried modifying the chaps, but wound up replacing most of the Sunbrella canvas to get a better fit. It’s my biggest sewing project using a Sailrite machine and I got pretty good with it. I also re-stitched some of the other canvas covers for the boat, and replaced the vinyl in the butterfly hatch cover and the forward hatch cover since both were over 10 years old.

The teak decks on Apropos are 40 years old and still in pretty good shape. Much of the caulking is also in decent shape but there are places where it has separated from the teak. This allows water to sit between the teak and caulking. These areas can be seen when a wet deck is drying since they are the last to dry.

The fore-deck teak had a lot of these caulking gaps so I decided to start there. Using a utility knife to score both sides of the caulk, and a Teakdecking Systems Reefing Hook, I removed all the old caulking. Next I sanded the U-shaped channels, vacuumed, and cleaned with Acetone.

Next was the tedious job of taping the teak. I used Scotch brand blue painters tape. This method requires much less sanding which is important with 40 year old decks. I used 3/16″ fine-line tape to line the bottom of the channels, as recommended by Teakdecking Systems. This prevents the caulking from bonding to the bottom of the channel and allows it to expand and contract with the constant movement of the boat deck.

Finally, I applied the Teakdecking Systems SIS 440 caulk. The method I used was to over-fill the channel, then use a metal putty knife to apply pressure to remove any air gaps and remove excess caulk. After sitting for 5 minutes, I peeled off the blue tape. The entire fore-deck took 6-10oz tubes of caulk.

After the caulk cured for 5 days, I sanded with 80-grit paper to smooth out the caulk and make it flush with the teak. Here’s the final result.

About half a tube of caulk was used to fill the deep gaps between the decking and aft bowsprit and chocks shown here. It’s important to keep water from leaking around the bowsprit and chocks.

The refrigeration on Apropos has been inoperable for a long time. During our South Pacific trip, we shut the freezer down after departing Mexico for French Polynesia–it was consuming too much power for our solar to keep up with and we knew there would be no docks to plug into for the rest of the trip. We replaced it with a portable Dometic refrigeration box that found a place on the cabin floor in the v-berth. It eventually got moved closer to the batteries on the aft port-side cabin floor. It worked well but took up valuable floor space (24″ x 16″). After returning to Seattle, it was a low-priority project until now.

The Old System

The old system was very complex. It was a Glacier Bay 12VDC water-cooled, cold-plate system. It was installed in 2004 and was run continuously for about 10 years, but Glacier Bay went out of business so parts were no longer available. It had 3 zones–a refrigeration box, a freezer box, and an air conditioning zone (we never really used the air conditioning zone except to try it out a few times). There was a solenoid valve for each zone and only one zone could be active at a time. There were many feet of refrigerant carrying copper tubing that ran from the compressor to each of the 3 zones. It had 2 remote display/control panels for setting and reading temperatures in the freezer and refrigerator boxes. We discovered soon after arriving in Mexico that the refrigeration system was running too often, most likely due to the lack of good insulation of the boxes. While in Mexico, I bought a sheet of 1″ foam closed-cell insulation from a hardware store and lined both boxes, but it was a sloppy job trying to fit the insulation around the cold plates. Soon after, we gave up on it and began using the Dometic portable refrigerator.

The New System

I chose an Isotherm Magnum 2505. It’s a 12VDC sea-water cooled system with an O-evaporator and built-in pump. I decided to keep it simpler by only having a refrigerator box, and convert the old freezer box to dry storage. The freezer box was very small and top-loading, and being tucked into a corner of the countertop, it was hard to access especially the lower half. For the amount of food it held, it wasn’t worth the energy it took to keep things frozen. The O-evaporator is like having a mini freezer within the refrigerator–with just enough volume to freeze a few items. The system comes fully charged with quick-connect self-sealing valves for easy installation–no refrigerant technicians needed. The compressor is industry standard Danfoss/SeCOP and is designed for volumes up to 7 cubic feet.

Installation

First I had to remove the old system. The holding plates came out easily and I was surprised how little refrigerant came out when I cut the copper tubing on the holding plates. I had always suspected a leak in the system so either it leaked out or settled in the tank or holding plates. The compressor unit was mounted under the pilot berth in a “dry” bay, but signs of moisture and corrosion were obvious.

After removing all the old equipment and cleaning, the next step was to insulate the box. Without insulation, the box measured about 7 cubic feet. I used 2″ thick closed cell insulation (R factor of 12.5) for the bottom and 2 sides (hull side and engine side). For the large sides (fore and aft) I intended to use 2″ but after seeing how much smaller it made the box, I compromised with 1″. Since the box is top loading, we stack lock-n-lock boxes to organize the food (one for meat & cheeses, one for soda cans, one for condiments, etc), and they fit perfectly with the 1″ insulation on the sides (the box would have been too narrow if I had used the 2″). After fitting the insulation, I caulked all the seams to fill in any air gaps. Next I covered the insulation with 20 gauge stainless steel to protect it and make it easy to clean the inside of the box. For this, I made a cardboard template of all the sides and took them to Ballard Sheetmetal for cutting. It fit perfectly so I used adhesive to hold them in place, then caulked all the seams with grey silicone caulking. The final refrigerator box measurements came to 5.9 cubic feet, so I lost about 1.1 cubic feet from the insulation, but this should be a big improvement since the system won’t be cycling on as much.

Installing the compressor was easy. I ran the refrigerant lines from the evaporator box and connected them with quick-connect couplers, then ran the input and output seawater hoses for cooling, and connected a fused 12V supply. These were already in place from the old system. The old system required an external water pump, so I bypassed the old pump to feed seawater directly from an existing thru-hull. I used the old temperature probe and digital display from the old system so I can monitor the temperature inside the box. Everything worked when I turned it on and the O-evaporator box easily freezes water so we’ll have ice cubes now!

Our Raritan manual pump head was probably one of the last pieces of original equipment on the boat. It served Apropos well for 4o years! I replaced a few parts over the years, but for the most part it was reliable and simple. I kept a laminated sign on top to let new people aboard know how to flush it properly.

The most troublesome part of the system was the discharge path–many feet of 1-1/2″ flexible sanitation hose that snaked its way from the head to a Y-valve then to either a black water tank or overboard via a vented loop to a thru-hull. I replaced most of the discharge hoses and the Y valve in 2013. The hoses were like a partially clogged artery with the inside diameter reduced from 1.5″ to about 0.75″. The incoming flush water was seawater via a thru-hull. We tried to give it between 10-20 pumps depending on what was in the bowl. We also avoided flushing any toiled paper through the system to avoid the inevitable clogs that were bound to happen.

New System

We decided to make life a little more comfortable aboard by replacing the manual head with an electric one. The Dometic MasterFlush 8120 is a good design, has a longer seat than our old head, comes with a built-in macerator pump, and fits in our existing raised-platform footprint.

Installation

I decided to make the input water changeable between using freshwater and seawater. For local cruising, we carry 120 gallons of freshwater so it makes sense to use freshwater whenever we can. Keeping saltwater and the bacteria that comes with it out of the system as much as possible has a lot of benefits. But for offshore cruising, where freshwater is dependent on a watermaker, I want to be able to switch the system over to seawater.

The first step was of course to remove the old head. While doing so, I immediately noticed the discharge hose between the head and the Y-valve was 50% clogged, just like it was 9 years ago before I replaced it. I also noticed the Y-valve handle was not moving completely from internal to external discharge positions. Relating the system to a heart, where the hoses are arteries and the Y-valve is the heart valves–the system was real close to suffering a heart attack due to clogged arteries and valves. The blockage is caused by minerals in the saltwater and whatever gets flushed from the bowl.

So I replaced all the hoses (not a fun job) and cleaned the Y-valve. For the new hoses, I used Trident Premium. It has a 1.5″ ID and a slightly larger OD than the hoses I removed, and claims do better with odors. The procedure took many hours and I’m glad it’s done!

I soaked the Y-valve in a tub of vinegar with bicarb overnight then hand-cleaned until it was like new again.

Putting in the new hoses was more difficult than removing the old ones. With the old ones, I could use a heat gun to get them hot enough to easily remove them from the barbed connectors without worrying about destroying the hose. Installing the new ones I was careful to warm them just enough to make them a bit more pliable. I also used dish soap to help them slide onto the barbed connectors.

A vented loop (shown above) is used to prevent siphoning of seawater into the boat when the boat heals. It has a cast bronze fitting around 3-4 feet above the waterline. A cap with a 1/4″ hole on top screws onto the top on the discharge side. When I removed the cap, I realized for the first time that there was a special one-way membrane that sits above the loop and is held in place by the cap. It’s job is to allow no liquid to pass through either way, and to allow air to go in, but not out. Here is the condition of the old membrane and o-ring–it’s no wonder why there was an odor when the head was flushed! They should be inspected and replaced if necessary about every 5 years (they sell for a mere $75 and that’s with my customer discount at Fisheries Supply).

With all new sanitation hoses and the Y-valve in place, the next step was the input water. The head requires pressurized input water, so I tapped into my pressure cold water system from a place where a lot of the plumbing exists. I ended up running about 8′ of new hose to match the size of the barb on the electric head rather than use 20 year old hose that was 2 sizes too big and have to reduce it with couplers–the fewer parts with plumbing the better. I decided to wait to do the seawater option until closer to the time when I will need it, but have a plan figured out–it will require another pump and a 1:2 valve.

Next was the electrical work needed to run the discharge macerator/pump. I tied into the circuit that powers the shower drain pump and is controlled by a breaker switch labeled Shower Sump. Since the shower drain is controlled by a float switch, the breaker can be kept in the ON position without the shower pump running. The pump location is under the v-berth, so that is where I tapped into the circuit and ran 12 gauge wire to the head. Next I installed the control switch for the head and ran wires from there to the head location.

After all that work, it was time to install the head. It was critical to choose the exact position to make sure there was enough room for the seat to stay up, enough room to stand in front of it when using the sink, and enough room to allow the door to close without hitting the seat. Similar to the old head, I set it at an angle on the platform. But before screwing in the 2 brackets, I had to first connect the water supply hose, the discharge hose, and the electrical wires. I also filled in all the old holes in the platform and gave it 2 coats of fresh paint.

After bolting down the head, I turned the power on and tested it out. The control has 2 switches–the one on the left fills and flushes at the same time, the one on the right has a fill position and flush position so you can control the amount of water being used. After everything checked out ok, I applied a bead of clear silicone caulk around the base of the head and boxed in the top and sides where all the plumbing and electrical connections are with white Starboard. This gave it a more finished look and will make it easier to keep clean. Here’s some pictures of the finished project.

Conclusion

I’m hoping that by using freshwater for the head most of the time, that will help keep the discharge hoses from accumulating mineral buildup. In taking apart the Y-valve, I realized how easy it is to remove the 3 screws holding on the cover to inspect/clean it annually to prevent buildup in the valve. I also bought a product called Unchloric Acid that can be used annually to help with the mineral buildup inside the discharge hoses and Y-valve.

Old System

The battery and charging system on Apropos was as follows: an AGM 12V Group 8D Starter Battery, 6 AGM 6V series/parallel combo House bank (672 AHrs), and 2 AGM 12V parallel combo Windlass & Thruster bank. A Xantrex Charger/Inverter (Freedom 25) that outputs a modified sine wave for AC and a 130A max 12VDC charging current. An Automatic Charge Relay (ACR) used to combine the House and Starter batteries whenever a charging source is present (solar, shore power, alternator). A Xantrex Link 2000 that monitors and controls the charging of the House and Starter batteries. A solenoid parallels the House bank with the Windlass bank whenever the Windlass breaker is turned on. The charging of the Windlass battery bank is handled by a Balmar Digital Duo Charge (30A DC/DC converter) from the House bank. A 110A Balmar alternator with external Balmar MC-16 regulator is connected to the Starter battery.

This system was well thought out and worked well for 17 years. The only components I changed were battery replacement as needed, and the higher amp Alternator with external regulator. I also removed the manual battery ‘1-2-both’ switch and replaced it with an ACR.

In 2021 I noticed my House batteries were getting weak. They were fine for day sailing, but a week-long trip to the San Juan Islands where we mostly anchored really exposed their weakness. By mornings our battery voltage was below 12.0V until the sun came out and the solar panels brought them back to a normal voltage. I installed these AGM batteries way back in 2010, so they definitely exceeded their expected life.

This left me with a big decision–do I replace the 6-6V, 672AHr AGM batteries with the same (a 1-day project costing $2,500) OR switch to Lithium technology (a multi-week project and 3X cost)? I did a lot of research on Lithium-based systems and decided to update to Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) house batteries, a new Inverter/Charger that could handle Lithium charge profiles and a new solar controller with LiFePO settings.

Goals:

• Safe and reliable system
• Higher overall amp hour capacity for house bank
• Faster charging rates especially while away from the dock
• Have capability to remotely monitor and control the system

New System

Batteries

One of the biggest choices in the design was what type of battery to use. Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries have been around awhile and seem to be the choice for many boats converting over to Lithium. There are plenty of manufacturers with BattleBorn, Victron, VPR, Lithionics, and Relion being some that I looked into. I narrowed my choice to 100AHr “Drop-In” LiFePO4 with built-in BMS (battery management system). They are designed to drop-in nearly the same footprint as 6V lead acid batteries, making installation easier. The internal BMS built into each battery removes it from the bank when an unsafe condition is detected. This could happen to a single battery (eg a bad cell) or all batteries (eg faulty charging conditions).

Sizing:

My AGM house bank was made up of 3 parallel sets of 2 series-connected 6V batteries (total of 6 batteries equaling 672 AHrs). Lead acid batteries are limited to 50% DOD for long life, meaning you should avoid discharging the bank more than 50%. In other words, my 672 AHr AGMs really only had 336 AHr of usable charge. And unless you’re plugged into shore power, it takes a very long time to charge the last 10% of a lead acid battery, making the usable AHrs even less. The reason is due to the charging profile of lead acid where the charge current is significantly reduced for that last 10%.

My design requirement was to at least match the usable AHrs when I switched to Lithium. But that doesn’t mean that I need 672 AHrs since Lithiums have nearly 100% DOD. So a 100AHr Lithium battery would be approximately the equivalent of a 200AHr AGM battery. I chose 4-100AHr BattleBorn LiFePO4 GC2 batteries for a 400AHr house bank.

Inverter/Charger

I installed a Victron MultiPlus 12/3000/120 Inverter/Charger. Due to the location of inputs/outputs on the MultiPlus, as well as the orientation, I had to replace some of the heavy 2/0 gauge wire on the DC side, and the 10 AWG on the AC side. The previous setup was not wired with the AC main going through the inverter before any loads, so I had some re-wiring to do at the AC panel. I used both AC outputs–AC1 supplies the AC outlets and the microwave, AC2 supplies the water heater. The MultiPlus passes the AC input through to both AC outputs when it detects an AC source coming in. When there is no AC source, it switches on the Inverter. Only AC1 output receives the Inverter output. This prevents overloading the Inverter and draining the batteries that would occur by trying to run the water heater with inverted power. I rewired the AC switch to be able to disconnect the MultiPlus AC input and output (bypass mode) in case it has to be removed for service. Here’s a picture of the new equipment and a diagram of my AC system.

Monitor/Control

For the Monitor/Control, I installed a Victron Cerbo GX with a GX Touch display, and a SmartShunt. This allowed me to do most of the wiring near the MultiPlus while running a single wire to the touchscreen display. The 5″ display took the place of the old Link 2000 with minor changes to the DC distribution panel. The touchscreen has lots of info and menus for setup and making changes.

Solar PV MPPT Controller

I decided to replace my older Outback Solar Controller with a new Victron SmartSolar 100/30. This integrates well with the Cerbo GX with a VE-direct cable and when connected, solar charging information appeared on the touchscreen as seen in the above picture (PV Charger). The controller can provide as much as 30A of solar charging to the Lithium batteries. On my boat, even in the tropics, the most output I ever saw from my 5 solar panels was about 20A since there’s almost always some amount of panel shading from the rigging. The built-in Bluetooth allows it to be controlled from anywhere by pairing it with a smartphone via Victron Connect.

Remote Monitoring

The Victron System (Charger/Inverter, SmartShunt, Cerbo GX, SmartSolar) is able to be monitored remotely as long there is WiFi on the boat. The VRM Portal is free and allows me to observe the following from anywhere in the world:

• the battery state of charge
• amount of AC shore power being drawn
• solar charger output
• amount of AC and DC loads are being consumed
• “time to go” before charging is needed (based on current consumption)
• historical data for power consumption, solar charging, and battery level

Installation

I decided to break the installation into 2 parts–first change out the Inverter/Charger, Controller & Monitor, Shunt, and Solar Controller and get that all working with my AGM house batteries. Then part 2 was to swap in the LiFePO batteries.

The first step of part 1 was to remove all the old equipment. As I was doing this, I realized that most of the AC and DC wiring to the Inverter would need to be replaced since it wouldn’t reach the location/orientation of the new Inverter. I also had to move the autopilot controller, radar wiring bus and a few other things to make room for the larger inverter. Most of the wiring was in hard to reach places, which is typical on boats. With the old equipment gone, I laid out the locations of the shunt and Cerbo GX, then mounted the touchscreen on the DC panel, and finally the Inverter/Charger. Everything tested out fine when I powered it up. Next I swapped the old solar controller for the Victron SmartSolar. I programmed the Inverter/Charger for AGM batteries, and also set the switch on the solar controller to AGM.

Since the Inverter/Charger and Cerbo GX are behind a panel in the aft berth, I wanted a way to observe and access them quickly without removing the entire panel, so I used a router to cut a 6-3/4″ circle with a 1/4″ lip for a 7″ acrylic port.

With everything working with the AGM batteries, it was time to swap in the 4 new Lithium batteries. Each of the 6 AGM batteries weigh 78 lbs and each Lithium battery weighs 31 lbs– that’s a difference of 348 lbs! I ordered the GC2 version of the 100AHr BattleBorn and the location of the pos/neg terminals made it easy to connect them in parallel using 2/0 (70mm^2) wire. I bought a good heavy duty hydraulic crimping tool that has die for 10 AWG to 4/0 AWG wire, used high quality lugs, and good heat-shrink tubing to build the 7 connectors I needed.

It’s important to make sure each battery in the bank has the same length of wire from its positive and negative terminals. The 4 short wires that connect battery 1 to battery 2, and battery 3 to battery 4 are all the same length. The 2 wires used to parallel battery 2 and 3 are also equal length (even though the distance for the red positive is half the distance for the yellow negative). Choosing the negative to come off battery 1 and the positive to come off battery 4 ensures each of the 4 batteries have the same length of wire between it and the charger. This is important so that each battery charges and discharges equally and they wear evenly. There is just enough room for 1 more battery in the box (the box is not rectangular and the distance from left to right in the picture gets smaller towards the bottom) so I’m thinking of increasing the bank to 500 AHrs. This should be done within about 6 months while the batteries are still fresh, so I will decide after a few cruises if I want another 100 AHrs.

With the new Lithium batteries in place, the final thing to do was reprogram the system for a 400 AHr LiFePO4 bank and rotate the switch on the Solar controller for LiFePO4.

Programming

There are a few ways to program the system. For battery type, it requires a Victron program called VE Configure (runs only on a Windows machine) and a special cable called MK3 that connects a PC USB port to an RJ45 Ethernet port on the Inverter/Charger. In the “Charger” tab, I input LiFePO4 as battery type and supplied specific numbers for my BattleBorn batteries. In the “Inverter” tab, I configured the AC output voltage and shutdown/restart numbers and enabled AES mode where it reduces power by outputting a modified sin wave when very little load (less than 60W) is detected. There’s also a “General” tab where I set the max AC shore current allowed to 30A.

A second way to program certain things for the Inverter/Charger is with DIP switch settings. The DIP switch is located on the main circuit board in the upper left corner. The 8 switches are each used twice. Once set, an UP button programs the first set, which includes things like AC input current limit, AES, and charge level %. Then you set the switches again, and a DOWN button programs the second set without changing the first set. The second switch settings are for things like AC output voltage and frequency choices.

A third way to program the system is using the touch pad that’s connected to the Cerbo GX. This is by far the easiest method for programming since it doesn’t involve a PC or require access to the Inverter/Charger. Here is where I set the batter bank size to 400AHrs. The AC input current limit can also be set here as long as an over-ride setting was set in the VE Configure program.

Here are the program settings for the SmartShunt (these are set in the VictronConnect app):

I had to do a lot of research to figure out the 3 programming methods and understand what each one could do. I’m hoping that Victron will simplify the programming into a single method that doesn’t require the special cable and PC program.

Next Steps

I will try out the system as-is for a few cruises and see how well it performs. Here are some enhancements I’m considering, in order of priority:

• Add another 100 AHr battery for a total of 500 AHrs.
• Move the alternator from charging the starter bank to the Lithium house bank.
• Add a protection device to the alternator to keep diodes from blowing in case the internal BMS shuts off the LiFePO4 batteries while the engine is running.
• Add a DC/DC charger from the house bank to the starter battery.
• Change the alternator from 110A to 170A to take advantage of faster charge times while motoring (will require a serpentine belt conversion kit)

Update

I used the system as described above for a year–the alternator connected to the AGM start battery, DC-DC converter charging the Lithium house batteries at 30A, solar panel controller charging Lithium house batteries, and Inverter/Charger connected to Lithium house batteries for dock charging. This worked well, but the weakness was that when motoring, only 30A was available for charging the house batteries. One of the advantages of switching to Lithium is faster rate of charging away from the dock, but I was limiting that to 30A. Worst case I would need to run the engine longer to charge the house bank, especially on cloudy days when I wasn’t getting much solar charging.

Changes I made for the 2nd season are as follows:

• Rewired alternator output from start battery to Lithium house batteries
• Added an Alternator Protection Module (Balmar ATM) to protect the alternator in case the Lithium batteries shut down
• Reversed the DC-DC converter from start battery–>house battery to house battery–>start battery
• Replaced the Balmar alternator regulator with the newer Balmar MC-618. Programmed it for Lithium profile.

These changes improved the system by allowing the full alternator current to charge the lithiums. To keep the alternator from working too hard, I derated the output by 15% to produce about 95A of current for charging the lithium batteries. Now running the engine for just a short time charges the batteries much quicker. On a 2 week trip to the Gulf Islands where we anchored most of the time, the house bank never dropped below 80% state of charge. Of course it’s a lot of motoring in the PNW during summer. The real advantage will be going offshore where battery management is more crucial.