July 29-31, 2000 -- Annapolis, Land of Work

On July 29, we woke up to the inverter not working. It had shut down on a low voltage error. It had also only used 100 amp hours. Mind you, our battery bank is currently 880 amp hours strong! Previously, we had a discharge floor set on the batteries of 50%. I have updated this to a discharge floor of 100% so that we can last through the night. On July 30, we went over to Shamaal to borrow their scanner. We had a drawing of our storm sail layout and sizes that we wanted to scan for the operations manual. While we were there, we chatted about several subjects, including the problems we are experiencing with our batteries. I decided to attempt to equalize our batteries at that point. On the way to visit Shamaal, we stopped by Mutual fun to find out about why they are now calling their boat "mutual front and other assorted disasters." They had a rough time getting underway for the sea trial of their new autopilot. It started with their windlass not working, and went on to fouled anchors and other assorted problems. Their autopilot performed flawlessly though. After completing our scanning task, (Thanks again Sherrie!) we headed back to the boat. On the way, we discovered that Elyssia had moved their boat out to the anchorage in between us and Mutual Fun. They needed to clean their bottom before testing their new autopilot. We returned to the boat and pulled out the old hydraulic generator wiring. Once we completed that, we tried to equalize all 4 batteries on our port bank. The equalize refused to work! Once we disconnected the temperature compensation, it at least would stay in equalize, but did not seem to be working correctly. Since I had never attempted equalization before, I sought the wisdom of someone experienced. I called Bob on Shamaal. He recommended that we only attempt to equalize 1 battery at a time. I tried this, and wound up killing a battery! So, being the ever brave and intrepid soul that I am, I moved on to another battery. We were able to partially equalize it before it was time for bed. On July 31, we had success! The inverter not only stayed functional all night, but discharged 140 amp hours! Whether this was because we removed the failing/dead battery and replaced it with a good one, or because of the partial equalization on one of the other batteries, I don't know. Since we had such success with our batteries, we decided to run the wires for the raw water wash down pump, the fuel moving & polishing system and the wire for the forward lighter outlet. After much futzing, swearing and sweating, we decided to call it a day after connecting the wires for the wash down pump and fuel moving system. That evening, we headed over to Ellysia for cupcakes. It was an enjoyable evening