First year of cruising full-time - new boat owners migrating from Sail to Power

[NCheaven]

Thank you to all contributors - good lessons for TF readers. Yes, there is some gray mud in the western Pamlico Sound rivers - would make bomb proof barracks, etc. The mud just laughs at wash down hoses at the bow. Where did you choose to winter?

 

[phicyclist]

Fantastic vessel. We are also preparing to move from a sailing trimaran to a trawler as a family. What have the biggest pain points been for you during the switch?

For batteries, we have a Victron Argofet allowing the AGM starter to remain isolated from the LFP house bank while both can be charged simultaneously. Surges are absorbed by the starter battery and there haven't been any issues - it works even without a regulator, although with one is much better.

 

[welippisch]

Yes. It was a wakespeed alternator regulator. I discovered (by listening to the tech who fixed the problem several months later) that it does not play nice with Mastervolt systems. Has no interace to Mastervolt bus so it is kind of guessing as to when the batteries go to float mode. The fix was to swap them out for the one that works well with Mastervolt - I think it is Alpha Pro.
I still have some lingering problems that have to do with bad shore power (220 V or a bit lower) that ends up shutting down BMS. Have yet to fully understand how to avoid that. Our onboard power boosters do not seem to work well with mastervolt inverter / charger. Tech from Mastervolt who was very good claims that newest firmware he installed will fix that problem. Let see. Right now I am off the boat to visit my parents but will see if the fix worked when we are back on the boat in February and head to Bahamas.

I'm sorry but I am late to the thread. I believe we met, and I drooled over Tara while we were next to each other at St. Michaels this past summer. I have a Fleming 55, Finito, with Corgi named Diesel. Due to issues with my house system during that cruise, I elected to switch this winter to Lithium utilizing the Epoch 24V Elite Series 2 batteries. May I ask what LiFePO4 batteries you used? I'm wondering if they have a similar BMS. The installation has just been finished and will be ready for a real world test in a week or so. Thanks for your time and publishing the thread.

 

[MVTara]

I'm sorry but I am late to the thread. I believe we met, and I drooled over Tara while we were next to each other at St. Michaels this past summer. I have a Fleming 55, Finito, with Corgi named Diesel. Due to issues with my house system during that cruise, I elected to switch this winter to Lithium utilizing the Epoch 24V Elite Series 2 batteries. May I ask what LiFePO4 batteries you used? I'm wondering if they have a similar BMS. The installation has just been finished and will be ready for a real world test in a week or so. Thanks for your time and publishing the thread.

Thanks for your kind words about Tara. We have Mastervolt. I hope your install went smoothly.

 

[phillippeterson]

Where were the water leaks? Are they taken care of?