Upgrades for 2020 season

[Mischief Managed]

I have a ton of projects to do this year, really looking forward to getting them done. I have been working on them all Winter and have already acquired all the stuff for these projects. Here's my list:


Remove broken Furuno radar and install new Garmin 24" phantom radar.


Simplify my battery banks and improve capacity and charging efficiency with the following mods:

• Combine 2 GC batteries for ZF marine microcommander with my 4 house GC batteries to increase my house capacity by 50%
• Install ZF marine automatic house/starting battery isolator/combiner for Microcommander shifter power (instead of having dedicated shift batteries)
• Remove original 1992 diode-based battery charging isolator and Install Blue Sea ACR between house and starting batteries.
• Install Blue Sea SOC monitor
• Install remote control panel for inverter

Dinghy changes:


The goal here is to have an extremely light but comfortable dinghy that is convenient to store and use, and fun. I don't like my air floor Zodiac and hate having to remove and install the engine all the time as required with the Weaver setup than came with my boat.


The new dinghy should plane with 4-5 people aboard (I have a lower pitched prop I can swap in for heavy loads), will have truly comfortable seating for at least 3 people, and will only weigh <300 lbs, ready to use.

• Modify my Mercury 9.9HP two stroke, tiller-steer/throttle/shift, manual start engine to make it a 15 HP remote-steer/throttle/shift, electric start (this fun project is done). I now have a 15 HP, 81 lb motor. I got all the parts at steep discounts over the last few months by carefully shopping for new old stock.
• Rig new 10'8" Aluminum RIB, w/aluminum Euro-helm boat, with my Mercury 15 HP two-stroke.
• Add regular davits to my transom for lifting dinghy and Hurley davits to swim platform for parking the dingy after it's lifted. The idea is keep the strain off the transom once the dinghy is hoisted aboard. Much of the fabrication work for this was completed over the Winter.

Interior:

• Add third drawer to my dinette seat base and enlarge two existing drawers. For some reason Tollycraft included two drawers in the forward seat base, but made them shorter than would fit and left a giant space suitable for a third drawer complete unused. When this project is complete I will have doubled the volume of drawer space in with very little effort and expense. I already built the drawers over the Winter.
• Make teak and smoked plexiglass doors for my electric panel

Ground tackle:

• Extend anchor rode with 300 feet of 5/8" 8-plait. I will have 500 feet of rode when I am done.
• Make 30' 5/8" 8 plait snubber and attach to my new Mantus chain hook.

Add four 400+ watt solar panels and MPPT control to my hard top.