I was going to slip Blue Opal today, but ended up offering my slot to another boat that needed the slot more than I did. After being boatman for a bit, and having a good chinwag over a cuppa with some other members (boats, COVID, parasites, and other topics) I went out to the boat to see what tidying up I could do. While out there, I showed another owner how the various power monitors and USB adapters are wired in to my battery bank, so he could get an idea of how to do it.
First order of the day was to write down the power draw of various things on the boat:
| Wiring locker LED | 0.2 A |
| Vacuum cleaner | 10 A |
| Masthead tricolour | 0.3 A |
| Fresh water pump | 10 A |
| Autopilot (idle) | 0.5 A |
| Autopilot (steering) | 3 A |
| Waste tank pump | 4 A |
| Bow/stern nav lights | 2.5 A |
| Steaming light | 1 A |
| Radio (idle) | 0.3 A |
| Radio (tx 1W) | 1 A |
| Radio (tx 25W) | 4.5 A |
| Miniplex & AIS | 0.5 A |
| Webasto (fan only) | 2.0 A |
| Webasto (inrush/glow plug) | 15 A |
| Webasto (heat priming) | 8 A |
| Shower tray pump | 3 A |
Finding the power draw for the shower pump was an exercise in frustration for a bit, because I’d forgotten how it works. The waste tank gets turned on at the switch panel, and promptly works. I toggled the switch for the shower tray pump, and nothing happened. I was part-way through trying to get it off of the bulkhead to check the power at the pump when Dad reminded me indirectly that there’s a momentary switch in the heads for turning it on! Very glad I didn’t have to get the pump off of the bulkhead in the locker, because two of the screws are hidden, and I can’t exactly get in that locker because the diesel tanks are in there.
Second thing to do was fix the leaking plug on the primary fuel filter – the 8mm (ID) copper washer did the trick; shut the diesel off at the tank, undid the plug (which looks like it can be used for bleeding, it has a hole drilled up the middle and then another one at 90 degrees at the top of the threads), replaced the copper washer, put the plug back in a tightened it, turned the diesel on. No leak. Ran the engine. No leak. Success!
As a sign that I’m probably done with the wiring in the locker, I’ve screwed the door hinges back on the door (using pozi screws instead of slot, because slot head screws are the spawn of the devil), and mounted the door in the frame. There’s some slight tidying to do in terms of tightening up zip ties and putting in the 90 degree SO239/PL259 adapters, but I don’t need the door fully off to do that.