SIESTA time!

[MikeD]

Time to record some adventures on Siesta.....

We are heading up to Siesta tomorrrow... this equates to a 4 hour drive from Christchurch (NZ) to Havelock Marina where Siesta is moored. I try my best to do this every second week...

I have some planned maintenance for tomorrow which includes replacing the house battery bank and installing a victron battery monitor.

Over the last few weeks I have installed an new diesel heating system to replace the original Hi Seas diesel heater. The new heater is an Eberspacher D2 unit and I have ducted it to the saloon and cabin. What a difference!! (bring on next winter!!) If anyone interested I will post some pictures of the installation and am happy to answer any questions.

On Saturday my son and I will will head out for a cruise into Pelorus Sound. Weather in spring can be a bit of a problem with strong NW winds, but this weekend is looking OK.

Mike

 

[Codger2]

I have some planned maintenance for tomorrow which includes replacing the house battery bank and installing a victron battery monitor.

My Victron 602s is about 2 months old & I love it! I now have more things (data) to worry about than I ever had!

 

[MikeD]

Battery & monitor now installed, an yes I now have more data to worry about That said, I like to know what is going on with all of the boats systems.

 

[MikeD]

Following are a few shots of Siesta and our cruise in Pelorus Sound last weekend. The weather was fantastic!

Mike

 

[fryedaze]

Battery & monitor now installed, an yes I now have more data to worry about That said, I like to know what is going on with all of the boats systems.

Just installed a Victron 602 last month. What a great tool. Dont know how I lived without it. First thing it did was let me know that at least one of my alternators was charging at 15 volts. The accuracy of the old analog meters didn't clue me in on the high volts. Probably why my 8D failed at 2 years.

 

[MikeD]

Last weekend

We cruised out to our favourite mooring in Homestead Bay, at the Head of Pelorus Sound last weekend. The weather was absolutely brilliant.

The first picture is looking out from Pelorus Sound to Cook Straight. Cook Straight separates the North and South Island of New Zealand. The other two photos were taken while we were moored in Homestead Bay (Port Ligar), an absolutely stunning day.


-Mike

 

[MikeD]

Dusky Dolphins

These Dusky Dolphins were having fun to the bow wave while we were cruising back to port last weekend.

Dusky Dolphins in Pelorus Sound - YouTube

-Mike

 

[MikeD]

Another day on the ocean, you just can't beat this!

-Mike

 

[MikeD]

Getting ready to deploy the new scallop dredge. Results soon!

 

[MikeD]

Entree for tonight's dinner

 

[MikeD]

The Chetwode Islands

 

[MikeD]

Wow!

You don't get many days like this in Cook Straight. We were fishing on a rock that comes up from 100m depth to 15m, located about 8nm from land.

The other boat in the photo is a fishing charter vessel that turned up while were there.

-Mike

 

[Andy G]

Great photo's, a nice part of the world.

Just out of interest was the Victron difficult to install?

 

[MikeD]

Great photo's, a nice part of the world.

Just out of interest was the Victron difficult to install?

Thanks Andy.

Re: the Victron Monitor, no the install was easy. The instructions are quite clear and in English, i.e. not Chinglish, if you know what I mean ;-)

I recommend that you get another heavy duty cable made for between the battery negative terminal and the shunt in preparation for the install. I don't think the instructions tell you this.

Keep the cable as short as possible and make sure the conductor size is large enough so that there is no detectable voltage drop between the shunt and the battery terminal. I used a 35mm square cable and it is only about 150mm long.

-Mike