1971 Newport 30 Sailboat
Scored a great marine dehumidifier on eBay – Dry-Pal 1 by Mermaid.
My friend Viktar joined me again for a fun workday. While I built a shelf in the stern section (just behind/above the battery bank), Viktar hardwired the unit into the AC panel, rewired the control panel and extended its cord so it could be mounted on the interior.
Next steps are to run ducts and 3D print adapters for intake.
After a lot of thinking (and some $ saving) I’m finally ready to rip out my gel battery pack and jump to Lithium. The AGM batteries are now pretty old and lost quite a bit of capacity and power. The house battery is even older and can’t carry water pump and head flush well without severely dimming the lights.
The propulsion system setup I have now is something like this
I’ll keep the fuse, relay, and all the components of the motor but replace the rest with a Victron-based system so it will look something like this
This new setup gives me a lot of advantages:
Will be super fun to put this all in and configure it. Some of the components have already arrived. It’s a pain to get those giant new batteries onboard. Thanks to my dock neighbor Lauren who gave me a hand.
With help from my friend Viktar, solenoid control panel was installed, wired in, and tested.
Made a new side cover on CNC and trying glow paint to make a fun Newport 30 sign on it.
Epoxy finally kicked in and the new ceiling light in the head is done. It’s pretty awesome with touch controls, dimmers, and red light option.
The new Fridge arrived. Fits really well. This is the Isotherm Cruise 65 Clean Touch Stainless Steel, 2.3 cu.ft., AC/DC
Still need to design and build out the galley shelving around it but it’s good to have it so I can finalize measurements for the panels.
My friend Viktar helped wire in a new outlet.
