On our Way North – Second visit to Martinique

 

Coming from the Grenadines, we had decided to stop at Le Marin in Martinique to replenish our food stocks and carry some maintenance and upgrades.

As we soon discovered, the decision to get to Le Marin was providential for other reasons. The two days of sailing from Mustique with a night stop at Rodney Bay (St. Lucia) had been much fun as we were putting Keraban through its paces, with plenty of breeze, but somehow it taxed our bodies and mine in particular. Upon arrival I felt scary symptoms on my lower back reminding me of a dark period in the not so distant past.

The fact of being far and counting on your own makes such situations touchy, at least mentally.

The next morning we got a slot in the always buys Le Marin marina, just on time as I was soon unable to move much. Long story short, we managed to get an Rx – the hospital was only 200 meters from our pontoon – and we were at least comforted by our friends back home that nothing structural was at stake. A nurse started visiting twice a day onboard to inject anti-inflammatories and the condition gradually improved.

In spite of this liability, we got a fair amount of work done. A friend recently mentioned that sailing in the Caribbean is just doing boat maintenance in a more exotic place. At times I agree.
For those not interested in solar panels and the like skip this chapter, it can get boring:

– Hydro-generator connector: We moved the hydro-generator’s external connector to a dryer area, as it was constantly soaked by the boat’s wake when running before the seas. The 300W Watt & Sea is rated works with 400V tension. As a result the current through the connector’s cabling and pins is limited, hence 12A rated connectors will do the job. The installation meant drilling new holes to accommodate the connector, isolating it from the aluminum hull, laying the new cabling, deleting the old one and then testing the whole assembly. A full day.

– Charge controller for the solar panels: With the fuse problem solved weeks ago, we discovered that our old controller was not, well, controlling properly. Compared to direct power measurement on the battery bank, it was reading 0.6V higher. As a result charging was cut way too early. Other than plain malfunction I can’t think of a reason, not even temperature differential between the location of the controller and the batteries (after measuring there was barely 0.5C difference). We found online an addendum to our manual stating that the float charge level could be manually modified (in our case from 13.9V to 14.5V for example, to compensate for the misreading) but after numerous calls to distributors in France and then directly to the manufacturer in Germany (very responsive btw), such a feature is available for models with a later firmware….

– The next option was finding a replacement charger, this time MPTT technology. These gizmos employ algorithms that will maximize charge compensating for partial shadows and loss of tension on the panels during the early and late hours of the day. The overall result is a claimed 20-30% increase in current sent to the batteries. It all sounds very nice, but after a warning from our knowledgeable friends on Talitha and reading the manuals for the models available off-the-shelf we discovered that many MPTT controllers need a 5V differential between the open current panel tension and the actual battery tension to start charging. In our case panels are rated 17V nominal (which will happen maybe at noontime, but not earlier nor much later), implying batteries depleted below 12v (less than 40% state of charge, when you don’t want to go below 70% in a good discharge cycle) before getting any juice…

– After research, we found a charger with a much lower threshold, just 2V differential that happened to be available on a store at the Carenage, nearby Le Marin.

– With the new charge controller in place the next morning, the following leg of the solar panel mission targeted finding a flat flexible panel rated at 90-100W to be placed over the sprayood (after observation this is an optimum location as it gets sun throughout the day). Most vendors on the island do not sell thin flexible panels as they claim their performance is hampered by the high temperatures generated under the panel when glued to the surface (racers seem to disagree though). In our case this was not applicable as the panel was going to be placed on the sprayhood, supported by sandows and plenty of ventilation underneath. After walking, slowly, across the bay we spotted a Catamaran that was getting the flat panel treatment and managed to get the address of the vendor to collect one….On the way back, with the panel under my arm, I stopped and asked the Catamaran’s owner-skipper about it: he complained that the first set caused a fire, the replacement supplied under warranty stopped working after 2 weeks…this was his third attempt under warranty. I “rushed” back to the store and returned the panel. Long story short, a decent panel was found by the end of the day.

– The 100W panel is rated at 21V nominal, and can not be connected to the same controller where the 17V panels are plugged. Luckily, the hydro-generator’s controller is a hybrid MPTT unit, with both hydro and solar sockets. This also meant we had to get the cables from the sprayhood back to the transom. For that we used the piping in place for the navigation instruments located on deck that got us to the chart table and from there back to the transom, where the controller is…..only to discover at the end of 8 hours that the connector that was supplied with the generator lacked a pin that is specific to that make! It was Friday close to end of business as we started to look for a pin that would fit, scratching the bottom of numerous spare part boxes in various electronic shops before we found one that fitted…..

I was, somewhat naively, convinced that portable solar panel technology in the sailing world is proven and standard, but after many hours spent reading blogs and getting diverging views from vendors on the same topics, there is some need for trial and error to get the right combination and then having it deliver to its potential.
Most important, we would have never got there without the knowledge and dedication of Didier, who did all the work mentioned above, step by step, with patience and dedication. If you need electrical repair when at Le Marin he’s your man (cell +596 696 852 688).

Was all the effort worth it? We now have 440W, of which 340W via 6 panels placed under the boom (not ideal location, but an area which is otherwise of limited use), and 100W on top of the sprayhood, with 2 separate MPTT controllers. With clear skies we are getting 5-7A starting 7.30 AM, and then gradually up to 15-17A peaks. Energy keeps flowing until about 5PM (sunset is around 6 now), especially If I bother orienting the 100W panel. During our first 7-hour passage from St. Pierre to Porstmouth the panels provided for the fridge, all instrumentation, the autopilot and charging of electronic devices (your average smartphone is good for 2.0-2.5A/hour, pretty much the same requirement of our fridge…..), and generated an excess of 2% in the state of charge, roughly +9A. The next day at anchor, batteries recovered from 95% to 100% without particular attention to energy saving. On sunny day we are autonomous even after using our water maker for 1h30 (15A/h consumption). As a result, under sail we are no longer using the hydrogenator for day trips. Most likely we will be using it during longer distances as it will keep batteries full at night, when instruments, sometimes radar, and autopilot are all active and there is no sunlight. In any case it is good to have 2 independent sources in addition to the 2 alternators on the engine.

Can’t believe I am becoming Ecolo…to compensate we replaced our civilized 4-stroke outboard engine by a good, high revving 2 stroke, which is more reliable and also weights half as much. Why we actually did that is an incredible story, for that see the next release about Dominica.
Other repairs carried while at Le Marin included:

– Replacement of the front cabin’s WC pump and piping, with the compulsory cleaning. Our good old Lavac keeps pumping faultlessly, whereas the new unit in the 2nd toilet (I won’t mention brands, the classic manual pump system) has lasted a few months only. As you apply vertical pressure to the pump there inevitably is some lateral force, and the liners between the cover and the main block are made of fragile plastic material. They will break and leak water. There is no way of replacing just the liners, and you need to buy the complete top end of the unit. The only effective prevention is reminding the crew to pump smoothly (I am told responsible boat charters spend a good half hour of their briefing about the intricacies of WCs on board ).

– Replacement of sealings on a couple of hatches (I suspect victims of UV rays in this region) which got us rid of unpleasant leakages under heavy rain (daily) and / or strong seas. The price of such spare parts is beyond belief. I have kept one original to use it as a pattern to build my own based on neoprene.

– Interestingly for Cigale owners, we have possibly found a solution to seal the hatches on the two storage areas located on the transom. We have used a thick rubber liner, about 5mm tall and 3mm wide, that just fits between the frame and the hatch. After cutting to measure, we used neoprene glue (we lightly rubbed the aluminum frame with sand paper for better holding) and for now the results are satisfactory. The liner is holding and the interiors of the compartments are no longer soaked. They are not totally dry (for that you can fault the opening handles), but as long as you chose the items stored there accordingly it is no longer an issue.

– Stitching the UV band on the Jib, which was detaching over 2 areas.

– Adding a fuel pre-filter to our outboard engine and, just in case, cleaning the carburetor again. We also cleaned and repainted areas on the outboard engine block that showed signs of rust.

– A few more I can’t remember.

Having found paradise at Carrefour, the rest of the family got very busy getting and sorting food supplies onboard, after a long period of limited availability in the Grenadines. Rightly so, they also visited some of the nearby attractions, notably the rum distilleries which bear a chunk of the history of this region.

With the last 2 injections administered by the nurse on Friday Feb 17 (under the careful watch of the kids) providing good relief, we were set to leave. A week at Le Marin then, full of emotion in spite of not sailing, and anxious to discover whether we could still turn a winch….Looking at the hull from above, I could already see that after a week bathing in the warm waters of le Marin, under water cleaning was needed once more.

Next destination was Portsmouth on Dominica, where we planned to spend 2 nights and tour the Island. We included a night stop at St. Pierre which we had visited by car during our first stay in Martinique. Somehow the feeling that a long way back is beginning knocked at the door in the back of my mind. I kept it shut.

Precedente Sandy Island - Tobago Cays (Feb 5-Feb 9) Successivo Dominica - 20/21 February

2 commenti su “On our Way North – Second visit to Martinique

    • keraban2016 il said:

      Eh oui, maintenant c est bien. On n a plus mis le moteur au mouillage, idem en nav sauf entree sortie. Visite a Antigua en jeep wrangler, on s est bien amuses, belle ile mais plus le caractere sauvage de certains endroits des grenadines. Nav de Guadeloupe a 8.5 de moyenne.

Lascia un commento

Questo sito usa Akismet per ridurre lo spam. Scopri come i tuoi dati vengono elaborati.