August 13^th, 2008: ‘Nada’ Commissioning Process Almost Finished

It’s been months since I reported on the ‘Nada’ project. My apologies – I’ve been very busy. ‘Nada’ has been in the water since mid June. My brother Chris and I arrived on June 20^th for the commissioning process. We arrived in lousy weather to find half the systems on the boat not working: it was rather depressing. ‘It’s the Capi2 distributed power system’ we were told. ‘It’s doing weird things. For example, sometimes the navigation lights come on without anyone touching them. We turn them off and they come on again at odd times…’

Troubleshooting

It turned out almost none of the problems were related to the Capi2 system, and most of them got rapidly resolved, And in fact the nature of a distributed power system, in which the digital circuit breaker (a ‘node’) is close to its load, simplifies troubleshooting. If there’s power at the output from the node, then the problem is in the wiring to the load, or the load itself. It really is that simple.

We have learned to use the ‘smart’ nature of the nodes with caution. Capi2 had programmed the shower pump nodes, and the engine room blower, to continue operating for 30 seconds after they were turned off (in order to ‘sponge out’ the shower compartment and cool the engine room some more). But then an operator would turn off these devices, and when nothing happened assumed the switch had not worked properly and try it again, re-setting the time delay. In frustration, the whole boat would be shut down and the system rebooted just to get the pumps and blower to turn off. We no longer have time delays in any user operated function, but we still do in some automatic functions (e.g. the bilge pump float switches – after the switch shuts down, the pumps continue to operate for 30 seconds to ‘sponge out’ the bilge, which is a really useful feature).

The nodes in a distributed power system have a current (amperage) sensor. If a circuit is turned on and no current flows, the system will flash an alarm (it means the wiring is defective or the load is burned out). ‘Nada’s’ LED navigation lights were working but still triggered the alarm. We found out the current drain of the LEDs is so low it is below the threshold for the current sensor, causing it to think there is an open circuit. So we have disabled the alarm on these circuits while Capi2 builds a more sensitive node (with a 20 mA threshold).

We finally tracked down the weird behavior of the navigation lights. We had a loose ground strap on the batteries, causing an intermittent loss of voltage. Unlike traditional circuit breakers, which are ‘dumb’ devices, the Capi2 nodes are ‘smart’. Capi2 had programmed them with a priority hierarchy such that in the event of a progressively lowering voltage (typically caused by a battery going dead), the less important devices would shut down automatically. The navigation lights had been given the highest priority. When the voltage crashed because of the loose connection, the system defaulted to them.

Software is Key

Peter Udden and Gerwin Leupen from Capi2 joined us for a couple of days and worked through the system with us, adjusting the software. We have many times anchored in remote places where we were a little nervous of being boarded in the night. So on this boat I proposed a ‘panic button’ by the bed that turns on every exterior light on the boat and blows a horn – that should scare off intruders. On a conventionally-wired boat, this would require a mass of extra wiring. On this boat, there’s not a single extra cable needed - it’s just a matter of writing this function into the software. At one point I realized Malo had added an aft deck light that was not in the original specifications. I asked Gerwin if we could add this to the ‘panic button’. It took a little less than 60 seconds to make the necessary software revisions!

Now that we have the hardware in the boat, improving the functionality, diagnostics, and so on of the system is mostly a matter of developing the necessary software. I have been throwing ideas at Capi2, some of which will shortly be implemented. All-in-all, I am more convinced than ever that distributed power systems are here to stay and represent the future of boat power distribution systems.

NMEA 2000

We have installed a NMEA 2000 ‘backbone’ for the navigational electronics. This consists of a single cable run from one end of the boat to the other, with a ‘terminating resistor’ at each end. In much the same way as a distributed power system scatters nodes all over a boat at the closest point of connection to the loads they feed, so too the NMEA 2000 system adds a ‘T’ to the backbone close to any electronic device with a single, short, ‘drop’ cable to the device. All communication within the system then takes place over the backbone cable, which also supplies the power to lower-powered devices, so there is no other wiring. This eliminates a mass of ‘point-to-point’ wiring from the boat.

It took me half an hour to install the backbone and its ‘Ts’ for all the devices on the system. Along the length of the backbone, I added a depth/speed/temperature sensor, masthead instrumentation, fuel and water tank sensors, a navigation station display, an interface with my laptop, an electronic compass, a fuel flow monitoring device, cockpit instrumentation, engine instrumentation, and a GPS. It took very little time at all.

The NMEA 2000 system is a ‘plug and play’ system, which is to say you are supposed to be able to put any NMEA 2000 certified device on the bus and have it immediately recognized by, and interoperable with, all the other devices on the bus. I deliberately selected equipment from different manufacturers to see how well it would ‘play’ together. The boat has sending units from Maretron, Floscan and Volvo Penta, and display units from Maretron and Raymarine.

On the one hand, it’s been very impressive. As soon as we powered up the system, the Raymarine display units came up with the depth, speed, heading, and GPS information from the Maretron sending units, and the fuel consumption data from my FloScan unit, while my laptop-based Nobeltec charting systems imported the GPS and other data into the charting system without any further input on my part. This is just as advertized.

On the other hand, we discovered that the various manufacturers have not yet implemented the available NMEA 2000 protocols that would allow, for example, the Raymarine ST70 display units to calibrate my Maretron depth and speed displays. You have to use a manufacturer’s display equipment and software to calibrate its sending units. This seems to me to be a serious weakness in terms of full implementation of the ‘plug and play’ concept. Hopefully, it will get rectified as the NMEA 2000 approach becomes more popular and widespread.

In the meantime, I would still recommend buying NMEA ‘certified’ equipment (and not just NMEA ‘compliant’ – to be certified, it has to pass a rigorous test program). As with distributed power, I feel sure NMEA 2000 is the future of boat electronics.

A Focus on Efficiency

We’ve kept the electrical load on the boat low without in any way sacrificing comfort. There is a combination of Alpenglow fluorescent lights for overhead lighting, and Alpenglow LED lights for reading lights (which are terrific). It’s my opinion the LEDs are not quite there yet for area lighting, hence the fluorescents (of which I’ve always liked Alpenglow – we’ve used them on three boats now over 20 years without a failure). On the efficiency front, LEDs are competitive for area lighting, but the ‘color temperature’ and quality of light is still not as good. However, this is rapidly changing. I suspect that as soon as next year if we were to do this again we’d use LEDs. For reading lights, LEDs are now the only choice on an energy conscious boat. We’ve also installed LED navigation lights, but with some concerns – there have been quite a few reported failures in the field. LED technology is immensely complicated and I’m not so sure that all the manufacturers entering this field have properly mastered it. Although Malo hasn’t used them, if it had been my choice I would have used the Lopolights from Denmark.

There is no air conditioning. There are plenty of fans, from Hotwire Enterprises. These are driven by electronically commutated permanent magnet DC motors. They are highly efficient, have extremely long rated lives, and are cheaper than the competition. That’s a combination hard to beat!

For refrigeration there are Frigoboat fridge and freezer boxes driven by keel-cooled condensing units using the ‘Smart Speed Controllers’ developed by Rob Warren of Climma in the USA. I added extra insulation around the freezer. Both boxes are working great with a low power drain.

The watermaker is a 24v DC ‘Newport II’ unit from Spectra. Spectra are the people who introduced the highly efficient Clark pump to watermaking (it’s up to three times as efficient as a conventional pump), and have been continuously improving their systems ever since. The Newport II is impressive: it’s easy to install, easy to operate, and pretty much takes care of its own maintenance through the automated backflush function. I’ve never been much of a fan of watermakers because of the relatively high cost of water and high maintenance load, but these latest-generation devices have removed most of the work from the system. The cost of water is still relatively high, but then dockside water is also getting quite expensive in many parts of the world…

The fresh water and saltwater pumps are variable speed pumps from ITT/Jabsco. Unlike traditional pumps, there is no accumulator tank. The speed of the pump varies to maintain a constant pressure. They’ve been working great. Bilge pumps are from Rule, which also makes excellent pumps.

There’s one other device I should mention, which is the solar-powered ventilation fans from Nicro. We had these on the last boat. They do a great job of moving air through the boat, especially when it’s not in use, which keeps damp and mildew at bay. They are really easy to install (you just cut a hole in the cabin top – there’s no wiring), and work better than many of the small Dorade vents boatbuilders tend to install these days.

Electric Propulsion

There was an electric propulsion motor in the boat, but then Beneteau got in a rush to put electric propulsion in a large catamaran, so the motor got sent to them. We are eagerly awaiting the replacement so that we can start to collect fuel consumption numbers when powered by the 22 kW Polar Power 144v DC generator. In the meantime, we have been doing some preliminary data collection with the parallel Volvo-Penta D2-75 inboard propulsion engine. This engine, powering a latest-generation Volvo-Penta high skew, four-bladed, folding propeller is proving to be very efficient. The electric propulsion system has a tough challenge ahead of it!

The Polar Power generator is wired to a 144v bank of ‘Odyssey’ batteries from EnerSys. These are a variant of AGM lead-acid technology with very thin, pure lead, plate grids (Thin Plate Pure Lead – TPPL) which results in astonishing charge acceptance rates. The first time I ran the batteries down a bit and then cranked the generator, their charge acceptance rate immediately drove the generator to its full 22 kW output! We can put 24-hours worth of ‘house’ energy in these batteries in about 20 minutes!! We have collected some preliminary fuel consumption data. I already know that I can meet my house electrical loads twice as efficiently as on a conventional boat, but further data collection will have to wait on the arrival of the electric motor. The goal is to develop a ‘hybrid’ propulsion and house power system that is substantially more efficient than a conventional system with a great deal less engine running time.

As I reported in March, the process of pulling together the pieces for the hybrid experiments resulted in the formation of a consortium that includes EnerSys, Malo Yachts, Victron Energy, Bruntons Propellers, and INSEAN, an Italian research institution. Collectively, we applied for a European Union grant to pursue this research in much greater depth. We should know in September whether or not we will get the grant. If we do, it will enable us to go well beyond the current state of the art in developing a hybrid system.

Laminated Sails

In the meantime, the primary means of propulsion is some gorgeous sails from the China Sail Factory. These consist of Kevlar threads bonded between UV resistant Mylars, with a thin Dacron (‘taffeta’) facing for additional UV protection and chafe protection. They are a cross between racing ‘string’ sails and conventional cruising sails. The Kevlar and laminated construction gives us sails with virtually no stretch that will hold their shape over time. The layers of UV and chafe protection should give us a longevity approaching that of traditional Dacron sails.

There is the exact same sail plan as on our last Malo. The laminated sails are giving more speed with less heeling, and enabling the boat to be sailed almost 5 degrees closer to the wind. We are really impressed! They also look beautiful, with a creamy color imparted by the Kevlar fibers. On the down side, the multiple layers of laminated material make for a heavy and stiff sail. There is a full-battened main which stows on the boom – it’s a bit of a pain in the butt to put it to bed.

The cost of these sails is only a little more than that of high quality Dacron. This is the result of a high degree of automation in the China Sail Factory, combined with low labor costs, and also some sophisticated engineering which dramatically lowers the time it takes to laminate the material as compared to a flat out racing sail. The China Sail Factory calls this material its ‘Cruising Axis Laminate’ (CAL).

Dacron has been the mainstay of cruising sails for over 40 years.  In recent years, laminated sails have been making a trickle of inroads among the more performance conscious cruisers. It’s my belief that, over the next few years, CAL and similar developments will turn this trickle into a flood.

The Hardtop

Finally, I should mention the hardtop. Malo built a rigid, permanently-installed, bimini. On this we mounted four 85-watt Kyocera solar panels. It’s been a great success. Unlike a canvas top, it will never need replacing and gives complete UV protection. The solar panels put out enough power to keep up with the entire boat load at anchor. The hardtop framework does not obstruct the winches as does the conventional Malo bimini framework. In fact, the aft support makes a very convenient backrest. We’d recommend the hardtop to anyone.

Come and See Us

Over the past few weeks we’ve sailed ‘Nada’ quite extensively in all kinds of conditions. We’ve anchored in a variety of bottoms, including heavy weed which normally defeats most anchors, using the Rocna anchor. I have no way to do objective anchor testing, but I have to say I am really impressed – it bites hard and fast every time and doesn’t drag, including in some fairly wild conditions (it’s been a stormy summer in Europe). The Rocna is a bit of an ugly looking beast, but I wouldn’t hesitate to choose it again! There is also a Manson on board, which is a very similar anchor. We haven’t used it yet, but based on its similarities I am expecting it to work as well.

In general, we have most of the bugs out of the systems. ‘Nada’ is shaping up to be a fabulous offshore cruising boat that showcases a broad array of emerging technologies. ‘Nada’ will be on display at the Malo ‘Open Yards’ from August 22^nd to 24^th (when all the Swedish boat yards on the Island of Orust open their doors to visitors). I will be talking about the new systems and experiments each day. All are welcome to come.