Aqua Verde is just one of dozens of lovely anchorages in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez.
although these were worked on by a variety of the
company’s agents and eventually were changed to new
models, we could never get the promised features to
work. Last year we switched to Victron, installing three
of their 2,500-watt inverter chargers in parallel, and we
are happy to report that they do everything promised.
Our 8k W Northern Lights genset was installed in a
sound shield and was so quiet we could not hear it
running in the saloon. The downside was that we could
not see incipient problems, like the weeping saltwater
hose clamp we found long after it should have been
discovered. So the side panels to the sound shield are
now in the garage. We will not order a sound shield
again. We put just 450 hours on this unit in 640 days
of cruising, which gives you an idea of how little it is
used. Unfortunately, the oil filter is horizontally mounted,
and it is very difficult to change the oil without making a
mess. In addition, there is a cheap sponge air intake filter,
rectangular in shape, that makes it impossible to fit any
form of closed crankcase vent system (the diesel itself has
more than its share of blowby).
Our AC wiring coming off the genset is 230VAC,
as are the inverters. This eliminates load-balancing
issues with the generator coils but does not provide for
115VAC appliances, computers, and chargers. To create
the 115VAC, we have a Charles Industries 3kVa step-down transformer, which takes the 230VAC and changes
it to 115. When we designed this system, we forgot
about the hum of the transformer and its inefficiencies.
At some point we are going to add another inverter for
115VAC service.
A SMOOTH, COOL RIDE
Motion control is achieved aboard Wind Horse with a
Naiad active stabilizer system. Because the shape of our
aluminum hull was so different from what stabilizer
companies were used to, we conducted extensive CFD
(computation fluid dynamics) modeling to determine the
correct size and placement of the stabilizers. We ended
up using Naiad 302 actuators with 12-sq.-ft. foils. Each
engine has its own hydraulic pump capable of delivering
full hydraulic flow at 1200 engine rpm, so if we’re
jogging into big seas on a single engine, we still have
100 percent capacity. We also have the Naiad digital
DATUM stabilizer control system.
The combination of an oversized stabilizer system,
Wind Horse’s ability to maintain 11 knots in virtually
any conditions, and our hull shape results in a very
smooth ride. Even beam seas in the 15- to 20-foot range
generally induce heel of no more than plus or minus 4
degrees. During the first year of use, with Naiad’s help,
we have fine-tuned the underlying control algorithms
within the DATUM control to soften motion, but we
have not touched it in the last 20,000 miles.
We have had a couple of minor Naiad maintenance
issues, neither of which compromised the system’s ability
