Fridge Optimizer: Boat refrigeration enters the 21st century

Immediately after we repowered last Spring I decided to replace Compadre's refrigeration system.  The compressor unit was installed in the engine room, and because the ambient temperature was often in the 80s, the unit was very inefficient.  Just before installing the new unit in a better spot, I came across a review for a new product called the Fridge Optimizer.  It's manufactured by a small company here in Seattle with the unlikely name of Stainless Lobster.  I don't make a habit of doing product reviews, and I have no financial interest in Stainless Lobster, but this gizmo is one of the best things I've ever put on a boat, so I feel compelled to spread the word.

Fridge Optimizer control head.

Simply put, the Fridge Optimizer manages all aspects of your on-board refrigeration system.  It is a thermostat, compressor speed controller, humidity sensor, automatic defroster, energy-usage monitor, and more.  All in a nifty little control unit with a multi-screen display.  It plugs into the terminal strip on the front of your existing compressor unit, with no modifications or special tools.  Very elegant, and it works like a charm.  It sells for $250 and is worth every penny.

Gone are the days of fiddling with that mysterious little round refrigerator-control knob: The one with arrow that just says "colder"; the one where you make an adjustment because things aren't quite cold enough, only to find 12 hours later that the milk is frozen.  Now if I want my milk to be 37 degrees, I set the temp at 37 degrees.  Pretty clever, eh?

And gone are the times when you would open the fridge door and find the evaporator unit (cold plate) caked with ice ("I know that salmon is in there somewhere, but all I see is ice").  The fridge now defrosts itself.  Really!

How many times have you wondered how many amp-hours your refrigerator was using -- "Honey, it seems like this darned thing is running constantly.  Is it supposed to do that?  Why is the house battery so low."  The Fridge Optimizer tracks the energy used by the refrigerator over a 24-hour period, and shows the percentage of time the compressor is running -- on a nifty graph.  OK, my science background is showing through here, but this is actually very useful. For what it's worth, our new system runs roughly 37% of the time, and is a whole lot more efficient than our old system, which DID run most of the time.  

The statistics:  All you need to know!

The thermostat is mounted on a small fan, which helps even out the temperature in your refrigerator and aids in the defrost cycle. The thermostat-fan unit is connected to the compressor unit by a small cable (included), and the control head is connected to the compressor by an ethernet cable (also included).  The whole thing is very well thought out and easy to install.

So that's my pitch.  Check out the Fridge Optimizer at the  Stainless Lobster website.   Accept no more frozen milk.

Like having a new boat

"Well, how are those new engines?" they all ask.  I can only answer, "Fantastic!  It's like having a new boat."  We now refer to the era of the Chrysler Crown gasoline engines as the "Old" Compadre.

It's hard to overstate what a difference the new engines have made.  Gone are the days of wondering if we'll get underway as planned.  Many a time we had arrived at the boat with plans to cruise for the day or longer, sometimes accompanied by friends and relatives, only to discover that one engine wouldn't run.  Sometimes it was a fuel pump, sometimes a carburetor, sometimes a bad spark coil.  Sometimes one or both of the old engines would refuse to start after running several hours -- like when attempting to leave the fuel dock at Pender Harbour, B.C.  No more.  We just push the button and the engines start.

I had lost track of the number of times we'd been cruising along and suddenly lost one of the old engines.  We didn't actually lose them, of course -- they simply stopped running.  Once in the middle of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, once in Elliot Bay on the way to the Bell Street Classic Yacht Rendezvous , once in Agate Pass on the way home from Port Townsend, once in the Strait of Georgia on our way to Desolation Sound, once only a mile from our berth in Bremerton.  Or how about under the railroad bridge waiting for the Ballard Locks to open?  Twice!  Compadre's log book reads like a tow-truck driver's memoir.  Fortunately we had twin engines, and we were always able to continue to our destination on one.  Or we just stopped where we were and fixed whatever was wrong.  Sometimes it was a fuel pump, sometimes a bad spark coil, sometimes faulty electronic ignition.  No more (I hope!).  With the new engines we cruised to Princess Luisa Inlet in B.C. in May, to the San Juan Islands in July, and to South Sound last week.  No problems.  You push the button and they run -- until you shut them down.  Wonderful.

It may sound odd, but Cindy and I didn't realize what a burden those old engines had been until they were gone.  It was as if a little black cloud had followed us on all our outings, just waiting to darken our day.  Now we can be more confident and spontaneous, exploring places we would have hesitated to go in the past for fear an engine would stall or die.  What a difference.

Have I mentioned faster and cheaper?  Yes, it's true.  We now cruise at over 9 knots, compared with 8 knots with the old engines.  And we do it using less fuel.  Top speed is an astounding 13.5 knots, but at that speed the only thing larger than our fuel consumption is our wake.  We won't be doing that very much, but it's nice to know we have some power in reserve when we need it.

By way of introduction to the "New" Compadre, I thought it would be nice to show some photos of our recent travels.  We've had a great summer so far, and look forward to more cruising before things slow down in the fall.

"New" Compadre in Jervis Inlet, B.C., on the way to Princess Louisa Inlet

Docked at Princess Louisa.  Chatterbox falls in background

Chatterbox falls from the dinghy.  Boat dock is right of the falls.  Feeling insignificant?

Headed back toward Malibu Rapids, inside Princess Louisa Inlet

On a buoy at McDonald Island, Princess Louisa Inlet

Early morning at anchor.

Stern-tied at Wallace Island, Gulf Islands, B.C.

Late afternoon, anchored at Clam Bay, Gulf Islands, B.C.

Sunset at anchor, Clam Bay.

In with the new

Well, I'm pleased to report that Compadre went back in the water on April 12 with the new engine project largely finished.  After aligning the engines and completing a few remaining tasks, we were ready for sea trials on Monday, April 18.

What a success!  The engines run very smoothly and are quieter than I expected.  Fuel economy is better than with the old gas engines, which was no surprise.  What I didn't expect was a big increase in performance.  After all, the new diesel engines are only 80 hp, whereas the old gas engines were 110 hp.  But performance we got... We will now cruise at 9 knots, compared to 8 knots before.  Fuel consumption appears to be a little less than 3 gallons per hour at our new cruising speed, compared to 3.5 gallons per hour before.  So we are going faster using less fuel.  It's not magic, but close to it.  Chalk it up to the much greater efficiency of these modern, computer-controlled diesels.

In our last post I described some of the projects that needed to be done before the new engines could be installed:  New engine beds, fuel-tank changes, etc.  Another task was to build two new drip pans to place beneath each engine (a Coast Guard requirement).  These are usually made of stainless steel sheet or fiberglass.  It just happened that the Shipwrights Coop had some extra copper sheet left over from another project.  The least expensive option (I almost said "cheapest", but on a boat few things are cheap) was to use the copper, so now we have two beautiful copper drip pans in the bilge.  Few people will notice, but I hope the Coast Guard will appreciate them the next time we are stopped for inspection.

New copper drip pans

After what seemed like an endless string of preparatory tasks, we were finally ready to hoist in the first new engine.  Having already taken out the old ones, we pretty much had the process figured out.  With one person running the overhead crane and the fork lift (not at the same time!), another to give commands, and a third (me), to guide the new engines into place, everything went smoothly -- we had it all done in one afternoon. 

Up with the overhead crane.

Through the door with the fork lift.

Arren rests the engine on temporary cribbing before lowering it into place

Port engine in -- one more to go!

We're done -- ready for sea trials.

One of the great advantages of having work done at the Port Townsend Shipwrights Coop is the wealth of resources available under one roof.  In addition to wood-working expertise, there is metal fabrication of all sorts, machining, electrical, refrigeration, etc.  For our engine cooling system we needed some hose menders that stepped down from 1-1/4 inches to 1 inch.  We could have ordered stainless steel menders online for about $35 each, but our project manager, Arren Day, suggested he could turn some on the lathe more quickly and for less cost.  So before long we had the ones shown below.  Too beautiful to hide in an old hose! 

Custom bronze hose menders.

As we undertake various upgrades to Compadre, we strive to retain as much of her original structure and hardware as possible.  One of our key requirements for the re-power project was to retain our original chrome shift levers in the wheelhouse.  These stand on opposite sides of the wheel and are about 18 inches long.  The long levers where necessary with the old engines and gears because quite a lot of leverage was required to shift gears.  Our new gears shift very easily, so we don't need the leverage, but we need to retain the levers for historical reasons. 

Control console with original chrome shift levers.

Arren and I discussed several options for mating the old shift levers to modern control cables.  His solution was as elegant as it was ingenious.  He discarded most of the old mechanical linkage that once connected the levers to the gears, but retained a short lever attached to the shifters on the inside of the control console.  To this existing bronze lever he added a ball fitting to connect a modern control cable.  The cable is anchored to a custom bracket fashioned from aluminum channel stock.  Now we could connect the old shifters successfully to the new gears.  Arren then fashioned a custom detent mechanism so that the chrome shifters snapped into forward, neutral, and reverse, and held their position until a gear change was needed.  Needless to say I was extremely pleased with the result.

View inside control console, showing new shift cable anchor bracket and shift detent mechanism.  The detent ball is inside the set screw on the right end of the bronze lever.  The ball follows the arc of the lever and falls into recesses in the bronze plate, marking forward, reverse, and neutral.

While we were out of the water and under cover I took the opportunity to put fresh paint on the hull.  Two coats was all I had time for with the press of other tasks; that will have to do until we haul out next time (three or four years if all goes as planned). 

New hull and bottom paint -- looking good!

We have had trouble keeping paint on the anchor guard since we purchased Compadre.  The problem is partly because the guard is stainless steel, which doesn't accept paint well, and partly because the anchor slams into the guard every time it is raised (which of course is why we have a guard in the first place).  The solution seemed to be to coat the guard with something other than the Interlux Yacht Enamel we have used on the wooden hull with great success for years.  But what to use?  Arren and I discussed this at length, first considering epoxy paint, then 2-part linear polyurethane, both of which are pretty durable.  But we were still worried about the impact from the anchor.  What we needed was a tough but flexible coating -- something like pick-up truck bed liner (if only it came in semi-gloss white!) 

Enter Moby Deck.  Or what used to be called Moby Deck anyway.  It's got another name now, which no one except the painter at the Coop seems to remember.  Designed as a non-skid deck coating, it's tough and flexible, and adheres well to metal.  With a special primer made specifically for stainless, this sounded ideal.  So we turned the painter loose, and 6 coats later we had a very nice, semi-gloss white anchor guard.  When I reattached the anchor just before we launched, it gave the guard a pretty good bump (not on purpose mind you).  No harm -- no foul. We'll see how it does this summer while cruising.  Stay tuned.

The stainless steel primer is bright yellow.  Some folks at the Coop suggested we keep it this way.  I thought not.

Anchor guard with it's new coating of Moby Deck.  Very stylish.

So with new engines, a successful sea trial, and best wishes from the Coop crew, we headed back to our home port at Bremerton Yacht Club on the morning of April 19.  The day was calm and sunny, and the current was with us the whole way.  Four hours later we were home.  It was a great ending to a great project. 

Once again, I can't say enough about the crew at Port Townsend Shipwrights Coop, and especially our project manager and friend Arren Day.  We could not have asked for a more positive experience.  From the very day we arrived, partners and employees of the Coop would stop by regularly and ask me how things were going, and whether I had everything I needed.  If they spotted me doing a particular task, it was not unusual for them to say "wait a minute, we have a special tool for that --  would you like to borrow it?"  Not once did they make me feel like I was the amateur and they were the pros, although that certainly was the case.  And the project was on budget and on time.  I cannot imagine working in a more helpful and supportive environment.  Thanks to all at the Coop for a job well done.

Of fuel tanks and engine beds

 After the old Chrysler engines were removed, we had several tasks to do before the new engines could be installed.  The biggest of these had to do with the fuel tanks.  The tanks are stainless steel, which is OK for gasoline but not ideal for diesel.  The issue with stainless is something called "crevice corrosion", which attacks stainless steel when moisture is present but oxygen is not, like at the bottom of a diesel fuel tank.  Since the tanks are relatively new (circa 2001, I think), we decided to modify them to handle diesel rather than build new tanks.  The modifications included adding inspection/access ports, water-collection sumps,  new fuel pick-up tubes, and tubes for removing water from the sumps. 

Compadre's fuel tanks with holes for new access ports.

A sump is needed at the bottom of each tank so that water in the fuel will collect there and not slosh around the bottom of the tank (and cause the dreaded crevice corrosion). After cutting an appropriately sized hole in the bottom of each tank, Arren took a large stainless steel pipe cap, removed the threads from inside, and welded it to the bottom of the tank, thus creating a sump.  Very ingenious. 

New sump at the bottom of tank.

New sump viewed through access-port opening.

New fuel pick-up tubes were needed because the old tubes went right down to the bottom of the tank -- great for sucking up sludge at the tank bottom but not so good for engine fuel.  We also needed suction tubes to remove sludge from the new sumps.  Arren decided to place the two tubes next to each other and weld them together near the bottom, thus creating an assembly with good lateral stability (You don't want the pick-up tubes to be wagging around).  This eliminated the need for separate support brackets for the tubes inside the tank.  Again, very ingenious.

New pickup tubes, with tank access-port frame installed.

Fuel pickup tube (right) and sump suction tube (left).  Very cool.

While the tanks were being modified, the engine beds were changed to accept the new engines.  Fortunately the original engines beds were still in fine shape, and they could serve as the foundation for the new beds.  Several wood pieces had been added to the original beds many years ago when the Chrysler engines were installed.  Those old additions were removed and new pieces were added on top of the original beds in order to support the new engines in the proper position. 

We were delighted to find that the frames and floor timbers beneath the engines are still in sound shape and no repairs were needed.  Dirty, but sound.  We could live with dirty! 

Engine beds with new modifications (the unpainted wood).

Next I spent several hours with a paint scraper preparing the engine room for new paint.  Many years of accumulated grime had to go.  And then several more hours with paint brush in hand.  Not a pleasant job, but I have to admit the end results are pretty spiffy.

Newly painted engine room, with port fuel tank in place.

With the space free of engines and tanks, I took the opportunity to re-route a bunch of electrical cables, propane line, etc., that run through the engine room, and placed them in new conduit behind the starboard fuel tank.  I won't bore you with the details here, but this is a big job I had been wanting to do since purchasing Compadre.  It had nothing to do with the re-power job itself, but the three days I spent on it resulted in a more professional installation, and makes future wiring jobs quite a lot easier.

With the prep out of the way, all is ready for the new engines.  We'll have that for you in our next posting.

Out with the old

In an earlier post I explained our plans to repower Compadre with new Yanmar diesel engines.  We are now part way through the project, and I'm happy to say that all is going according to plan (which is not always the case with old boat projects!)

Enroute to Port Townsend -- A beautiful morning on Puget Sound

The last trip with the old Chrysler Crown engines was very pleasant and uneventful after a slow start due to fog.  We left our moorage at Bremerton YC on February 2 at 0930, bound for Port Townsend, in very heavy fog.  Visibility was only two to three boat-lengths, which made for slow progress during the first hour.  Thank goodness for radar and GPS.  The fog lifted as we approached Brownsville, and when we cleared Agate Passage we were in calm seas and bright sun.  Benefiting from a favorable current most of the day, we arrived at Port Townsend around 1500.  It was a beautiful trip and a fitting close to Compadre's Chrysler Crown era.

We hauled out on Thursday, February 4 and were placed inside Building 3 at the Shipwrights Coop.  The Coop recently took over the old Townsend Bay Marine facilities, and most of their work is now done indoors.  Those of you who have worked outdoors in the typical boatyard will appreciate the luxury of working indoors.  The day rate for storage indoors is about twice what the Port charges for outdoor storage, and is worth every penny.  No worries about the weather.

 

On our way to the Shipwrights Coop

Building 3 awaits (that's a 140 ft mega yacht already inside.  This is a BIG building!)

Nearly there.

Ready to be blocked up.

After Compadre was secure I began preparations to remove the old engines.  I disconnected the electrical wiring and cooling systems, unbolted the engine mounts, disconnected the propeller shafts, and removed the alternators.  The engines and gears could then be hoisted out through the wheelhouse doors.

This is where experience really counts, and I was glad that Arren and Greg from the Coop were doing the heavy lifting (literally).  While I was disconnecting stuff, they planned how they would get the engines out.  There was just enough room to maneuver the forklift into place along the port side of the boat.  With a chain-fall hoist suspended from the forks, the port engine was lifted free of the engine bed and up into the wheelhouse.  After a bit of re-positioning, out the door it came.  Once the engine was through the door they picked it up with the overhead crane, lifted it free of the forklift, and lowered to the ground.  It looked easy!

In comes the fork lift (well, part of it anyway).

Up she comes.

800 pounds suspended in the wheelhouse -- anyone nervous?

Out the door.

Now what?  No more room to back up, and only part way out.

The overhead crane did the trick.

One down, one to go.

The starboard engine followed later in the day.  I had arranged for the new owner of the Crowns to pick them up late that afternoon, and we had them on pallets and ready for shipment by the time he arrived.  Before long they were in the back of a U-Haul truck and on their way to a new home in British Columbia.  It was hard not feel a little sentimental seeing the Crowns sitting on pallets.  I had spent many hours repairing and maintaining them and a couple thousand dollars upgrading the electrical and cooling systems.  At least they were on their way to another use -- better than the offer I had to sell them for parts.  And true to the spirit of stewardship which lies at the heart of classic boat ownership, they left in better shape than when we acquired them 8 years ago.

Ready to go.

In our next post we'll look at fuel tanks and engine beds.  And cleaning the bilge.  Be sure to check back.

Completing our 2010 restoration project

 In our last post we described the beginning of our 2010 restoration project at Port Townsend.  We finished most of the demolition and began to install new floor timbers.  In this post we'll take you through to completion.  In all we replace 13 floor timbers, 26 frames, and several planks.

Under the portable canvas shelter at Frejya Boat Works, Port Townsend

One of our concerns when we started the project was the condition of the stem.  As we noted in our last post, we saw lots of staining and rust in the forepeak and were worried that the stem might be compromised.  Once we cleaned off 80 years worth of grime, we were delighted to find that the stem is solid teak and was still very sound; the wood looked nearly new.  Stephens Brothers Boat Builders were noted for their craftsmanship and use of premium materials, and Compadre's stem is a prime example.  After some serious scraping and clean up, Arren replaced the old stem bolts with new silicon bronze bolts, and we were good to go!

New silicon bronze bolts in Compadre's teak stem -- Good for another 85 years!

As we cleaned up the stem we noticed an odd hole, about a half inch in diameter, extending completely through the stem.  No one had a good explanation, but Arren thought it might have been caused by galvanic corrosion between two closely spaced fasteners of different composition (say bronze and steel).  In any event it was no cause for alarm, so he enlarged it a little with a hole saw and glued in a wood plug.  You can see half the plug on the extreme right edge of the image above.

Mysterious hole completely through stem.

Opening up the mystery hole.

Even the most serious project at Port Townsend has it's light moments!  

After cleaning and refastening the stem, the next task was to begin installing new frames in the bow.  The first few frames have little curvature, so there was no need to steam them.  Arren just hammered  the new frames into place next to the old ones.

Arren installing first of 26 replacement frames.

Four new frames adjacent to old ones -- Time to start shaping and fairing.

Careful with that thing!

Ahh... Much better!

Making sure frames are fair.

I mentioned in an earlier post how impressed I was with the craftsmanship of Arren Day and his small team at Frejya Boat Works, and the obvious pride they take in their work.  That sense of pride is demonstrated in the details of the new first floor timber.  

First floor timber -- Beautifully done.

This small, roughly triangular piece resides way up in the bow, immediately behind the stem.  One can see it from a distance through the lower cabinet door in the forward head, but you certainly can't look at it up close with the planks in place. It would have been easy to just rough out this piece, cut an opening for the keel bolt, and secure it in place.  Instead, the opening for the keel bolt is pleasantly shaped with a nice chamfer around the edge.  I like to think Compadre's original builders at the Stephens yard would be pleased.

Second floor in place -- Again very nicely done.

Larger floors farther aft.  We're ready for planks.

Even though I have watched the planking process several times, it remains "big magic" to me.  I simply don't understand how a flat piece of wood can be cut to exactly the right shape to fit in a weird-shaped, curving space.  And these guys even manage to make it look easy!

Garboard pattern, starboard side.

Measure twice, cut once.

New garboard in place, port side.  Magic!

As the structural work neared completion it was time for me to prepare the topsides for new white paint.  I also decided to strip off some of the paint on the transom to see what was underneath.  Was it teak?  Yes! And off came the rest of the paint.  After lots of paint remover and sanding, we had a handsome and clean teak transom. 

Compadre's teak transom emerges after perhaps 25 years under paint.

Under the white were patches of ugly green.  Why do people do this?  Apparently maintaining the varnished teak transom was just too much.   In any event, pictures from the 1980s show Compadre with a painted transom, so the practice began some time ago.  But no more!

With 12 coats of varnish on the transom, new white topsides, and new bottom paint, we were again ready for the salt water.  Off came the canvas shelter, and the shipwrights and owner took a moment to admire their work (I did the painting).  Then off we went on the lift.   After 12 weeks on the hard (February 11 to May 7),  Compadre was looking good and was stronger than ever.

Shipwrights Matt and Arren on launch day.  A job well done.

Off we go again!