Silly Panda (Generator)

Grr... Grace's Electricals have demanded too much attention at the end of 2018 onto 2019.

Bad Panda!

Even before the Mastervolt Combi let go (see post on this) we had stumped up a big bill to repair the Fischer-Panda 4KW generator.

Basically over time, and exasperated by minimal use, salt deposits leech up the generator exhaust and rot out the exhaust manifold. Once past the exhaust, it can (and did) compromise the cylinder head.

Come 2018 winter servicing, I could not get the genny to start and had to get the man out from Fischer Panda UK. He tried to resurrect and free up the valve in the dodgy exhaust manifold but it was too far gone. 2 hours later, the diagnosis was complete and the Panda needed a new exhaust manifold and cylinder head. Around £2500 by the time you are done inc labour. Fisher Panda parts are expensive. Silly Panda.


This engine is too fiddly and in too hard a working space for me to attempt doing the work myself. Also I don't have the knowledge to troubleshoot the generator if it did not work after replacing the parts.

We are now better advised to make sure we run the genny more often to lengthen its service life. The Panda is basically rebuilt and the new exhaust manifold is an improved design with a higher side exit for the exhaust with is less prone to taking up salt.

Mastervolt Charger/Inverter Combi Replacement 2019

Money Money Money

You know that thing where they say B.O.A.T. stands for "Bring Out Another Thousand". Well this time its two grand :-(.

We powered up the boat from shore in Poole just before making a longer trip to France and ... bad electrical smell from the engine bay...  and bang... that is the end of the 12-2000-100 Mastervolt Mass Combi inverter/battery charger.

It's dead. Really dead. The charger does not work and turning on the inverter makes nasty overload noises and dims the lights! Not good. Turn that all off! Now!

The unit was installed from Grace's beginning and so is 12 years old. Mastervolt have a fixed price repair service (£450) but only if your gear is 10 years old or younger and then you have to send it away. This was no help to us on either criteria.

Identical Physical Layout

Aquafax are the UK Mastervolt distributer back in Hamble and had the replacement/updated 12-2200-100 in stock. All the UK online resellers lie about having stock (I called them all). We were returning late on Friday to Hamble and Aquafax are open Saturday mornings. As we were planning to leave on Sunday for France, we decided to bite the bullet and buy the new one direct from Aquafax. The "bird in the hand" and all that.

The swap out and exchange took me 3 hours with a bunch of back bending in the engine bay. The units are physically identical so it was an easy job assuming a level of competence with basic electrical work. 

Normal issolation precautions were needed here as there is the potential for very high currents in play from the house batteries. The boat isolator solenoid does not isolate the charger and to add a confusion into the mix, Najad had mislabeled the 425A fuse from the Mastervolt, confusing it with the one from the Generator. I of course disconnected both fuses and found this by testing at terminals before working on the gear. Trust no-one and assume nothing is good power electronics practice.

Raymarine Electronics Upgrade 2019

Old but good!

We have been happy with the old Raymarine E120 Classic nav system and had found the RD218 Radar invaluable during out 2018 summer trips to northern France and the Channel Islands, especially with the addition of AIS.

Old Analogue RD218 Radar

In terms of the Radar, it saved our bacon approaching both Cherbourg and Guernsey in grey-out fog conditions. With Guernsey in particular, we had two small fishing boats appear out of the fog anchored off exactly where we knew something would be, pre-warned by the Radar blobs overlaid on the chart plotter screen.

Thinking ahead, it was clear that we were at some point going to upgrade the ageing (13 years plus) electronics and we are of the mindset that if we leave it later rather than sooner, we are effectively doing the work for someone else (Grace's next owner).... so at the end of 2018 we pulled the trigger.

Dave Hudson at Hudson Marine Electronics gave us the advice and support we needed. HM are at our own Mercury Marina in Hamble and so it was easy to pop in for a chat.

https://hudsonmarine.co.uk ... I will say that this is a family run business and the team have been brilliant. They are committed and well stocked (very well stocked!) so if you are doing the online shopping thing then they are a safe bet also. But, if you own a boat and have the time then walk in the shop! One day we will lose these places so go meet and trade with a human being while you still can!

ES127 MFD

Dave steered us away from the most expensive Axiom MFD plus Doppler Radar setup to a step cheaper using the ES Series, ES127 MFD (£2000 ish) and the Quantum radar (£1439). This setup was saving us over £1000 compared to my original intention. Always good to have a supplier down sell you and explain the reasons.

We also saw a little (£160) Raymarine rebate. Add in the SeaTalkNg to SeaTalk1 convertor (£106) and the install costs (Can't remember! about £700) and we have a £4200-£4500 project. Bear in mind that I sold our working E120 MFD and RD218 radar on Ebay for a total of £1000 which helped.

Of course, we retain all our old transducers, auto pilot and instrument displays. We are just swapping out the MFD brain and the radar here. You have to do both together as all the new MFDs will not talk to older analogue radars. You have to go digital.

Install Details:

We used the old RD218 existing mast bracket. The hole centres are compatible with the new radar but it sits further forward on the bracket. We did not want this so Hudson do a convertor plate that sits the radar back again. 

No! Run the cable!

The Radar "should" only need a small power cable running up as the connection to the MFD is wireless (Wi-Fi). I was worried about that... and reassured... but guess what... we found the wireless connection to be unreliable. We have a fog horn speaker mounted below the radar and we concluded it was masking the wifi. So the Hudson lads (Paul and James) came back to run the stupid expensive Raymarine Cat6 cable up the mast back to the MFD. Problem solved. Honestly, if you are reading this, run the damn cable.

L-R Main Power, Radar Network, SeaTalk

In Situ

Interfaces with our older instruments and transponders

GPS:

The new ES127 has its own internal GPS and this is clearly better and faster to get a fix on power up compared with the old one (it sees more satellites too). Our old GPS antenna is still recognised by the new kit so we have left it in.

Lighthouse II or III

The eS series MFD plotters were released at the time of Raymarine Lighthouse II software. The screens are responsive and very fast compared to our old kit. From what I can see and understand the LH III software enhances 3D viewing that I do not use and will slow down the user interface of my eS and compromise the integration of the (old) Autopilot control onto the MFD. 

LH II is working for me so I am going to leave that all alone. 

In Use: First Impressions

The main thing we notice is screen resolution and chart plotter speed as we move around and zoom in and out. It's quick! 

The radar experience is no different and I am not sure what benefit the digital thing is buying me. I will say that the old RD218 was a 27 Watt  device in transmit where the Quantum digital system is 17 Watts. Thats is over 35% more power efficient on your batteries.

Our old system would sometimes refuse to get a GPS fix after turn on and would need a reboot to encourage it. All good with the new system. More reliable.

We like the AIS target interception plot. It gets too busy in the solent and thinks basically that everything is going to hit you! However it is perfect for off coast passages and working out what is going on in shipping lanes with the big stuff. You can easily see where 10 different ships are crossing and how to prioritise your attention to the closest. Really good.