A way To Save Charging Time

[Kenomac]

I purchased the Fluke 374 brand new for $185 delivered. Read all about it today, read the users manual, looks easy to used compared to others.

[Kenomac]

Excited to receive the bimini back next week with solar install.

[a64pilot]

I'm gong to be interested to see how many AH per day you get.
So far I am not getting as much as I hoped, but then I haven't left yet either.

[Bleemus]

I have a simple formula for solar. If you have 400 watts of panels figure 25% of that in Amp Hours per day in average sunny cruising climes. 400w of solar = 100 Amp Hours a day. In a rainy place like Maine figure 1/5th or 80 amp hours and in super sunny figure 1/3 or 130 amp hours. That is on average. Works for me.

[a64pilot]

I have a kilowatt, and am getting nowhere near that, however I really haven't left the Marina yet with its forest of masts and poles etc.
I may have corrosion on some MC4 connectors as I left them open and unconnected for at least a year on the boat. I figure I'll likely cut them out and replace with shrink crimp splices.

[Symphony]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Symphony,

What kind of harpsichord is that? We have a 7ft French double manual by Frank Hubbard in our living room. I built it myself 20 years ago.

Ken

hey Ken! Harpsichords! wow.
In that picture I played a little Flemish single by Fisk, easy to move to gigs and had beautiful gold leaf and papers. It was borrowed for a cantata concert, one on a part group I conducted. The university had a green Dowd double I previously moved around. Big sound.

I don't own a harpsichord now, they are jealous instruments and pine away if not played constantly.

The Hubbard french doubles are ever popular on the resale market. Big sound. Is yours FF-f''' or to g'''? three stops? transposing?
Do you keep a keyboard of any kind on board?

~~ to keep my reply on-topic: how many amps does your harpsichord draw when using the buff stop?

congrats on your batteries and Oyster.
Richard (just sold Symphony and looking to upsize)

PS - this is one of the best threads on CF ever, a wide-ranging but all on topic conversation.

[Kenomac]

It's a transposing French double. Unfortunately, neither the harpsichord nor the competely re-manufactured 1893 Steinway C concert grand gets played at all. My upstairs office tenants would have a fit. I work a lot when at home, and find myself too tired to play after 9:00pm on the few nights I'm home, but my wife won't let me sell either instrument. Leftovers from when I was in the grand piano rebuilding and tuning business for 15 years.

No keyboard on the boat, maybe someday. I've already lost my ability to play any of the Chopin polonaises and some of the Mozart sonatas I learned in my forties, I shouldn't have stopped practicing.

What boats are you looking at, and which area are you looking to go cruising?

[weavis]

I have a love affair with Yamaha musical equipment. My Acoustic guitars are Yamaha as are my keyboards.

This photo is of my gigging equipment when in Florida.. Electronics have moved on a lot since then.

I would consider one of the PSR range for a boat. Full weighted keyboard, foot pedals and many piano sounds to choose from. Can just be slid away when not in use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wokf3hD8CiA

[Kenomac]

I like Yamaha pianos and have tuned thousands of them, I highly recommended them to my customers. But Yamaha is the General Motors of the piano industry and most likely will always be. Steinway is.... Steinway. Other manufacturers have not been able to replicate the sound or musician-instrument interface. At one point in the 1970's, Yamaha even tried to purchase the Steinway company but was thankfully, unsuccessful. Steinway makes a couple thousand very expensive instruments per year, Yamaha makes millions.

Just like cars Ferrari vs GM.

Even with my now limited ability due to non practice, I can still play a Steinway concert grand and sound pretty good to the untrained ear. Put me on the Yamaha.... and it's embarassing.

Placed under the right pair of hands, the Steinway is magical and can bring tears to your eyes..... the same idea as placing a Ferrari in the hands of an Formula One driver. Magical.

Maybe someday I'll get a keyboard, but presently I'm enjoying my medium format digital photography which doesn't take up as much room.

[Bleemus]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I have a kilowatt, and am getting nowhere near that, however I really haven't left the Marina yet with its forest of masts and poles etc.
I may have corrosion on some MC4 connectors as I left them open and unconnected for at least a year on the boat. I figure I'll likely cut them out and replace with shrink crimp splices.

I was assuming very limited shading. Sounds like you have some. Hopefully it improves when on the hook.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

I like Yamaha pianos and have tuned thousands of them, I highly recommended them to my customers. But Yamaha is the General Motors of the piano industry and most likely will always be. Steinway is.... Steinway. Other manufacturers have not been able to replicate the sound or musician-instrument interface. At one point in the 1970's, Yamaha even tried to purchase the Steinway company but was thankfully, unsuccessful. Steinway makes a couple thousand very expensive instruments per year, Yamaha makes millions.

I think if I played concert halls or classical venues, the Steinway and others of that ilk would be the correct instrument... I no longer play professionally, I dont play classical music and my middle of the road/Rock stuff benefits from the piano and as it is with other instruments... a Steinway would be wasted on 99% of the listening ears...

Im happy with the sound replication for what I do at home and for fun.. Its a lot better than any overstrung and a heck of a lot lighter. When Ive finished, it is placed on its end in the bedroom cupboard.

I dont play much but its there when I need it, next to the Strat and the Yamaha acoustic... Band in the cupboard..

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by weavis

I think if I played concert halls or classical venues, the Steinway and others of that ilk would be the correct instrument... I no longer play professionally, I dont play classical music and my middle of the road/Rock stuff benefits from the piano and as it is with other instruments... a Steinway would be wasted on 99% of the listening ears...

Im happy with the sound replication for what I do at home and for fun.. Its a lot better than any overstrung and a heck of a lot lighter. When Ive finished, it is placed on its end in the bedroom cupboard.

I dont play much but its there when I need it, next to the Strat and the Yamaha acoustic... Band in the cupboard..

If and when I eventually get a portable keyboard, it will most likely be a Yamaha.

[Symphony]

thread hijack continues!
hey Weavis, nice stuff, easy to move for gigging. I have a Yamaha P-155 for home use and recording. It has full size weighted action and 8 great patches for pianos, Rhodes, Hammond, Clav, etc plus the self contained stereo amp+speakers is enough for home or boat. I use it at home with headphones so I don't wake the wife. My next boat will have a way to store and set up this keyboard. My wife is a singer; we pull off any recording or performance with this, a Rode NT1, Scarlett pre-amp, and a Macbook running LogicPro.

Steinway C - wow, Ken. I have lots of Steinways (German and American) on campus to use, nothing like it, especially the Germans. But I will retire from teaching soon enough and then I'll be happy with the Yamaha digital. never needs tuning or rebuilding-- bad news for tuners and technicians as you know!

Wife and I enjoyed our Tartan 4100 for years of cruising around New England. Now we consider 50-60' Amel, Oyster, Hylas, Shannon, Nauticat, HR. We aim to do the American snow bird run (Nova Scotia to Trinidad) a few times, then the Med. To keep my sealegs I help as unpaid delivery crew to log sea-miles toward my Yachtmaster and USCG license. I've done 3,000 blue water miles this year and enjoy passages very much. Since I am a senior professor I can be flexible with my time, and summer is very free.

[Kenomac]

An Oyster 53 or 56 or HR is what you want. My wife likes the 575, but it's too much money, and I would like a 66 someday. But right now the 53 is working out great.

Forget about the snowbird thing, buy the boat in Europe and stay there.

[Symphony]

The exchange rate of GDP and euro to my US dollars has caused me to consider starting in the Med first. Then will come back to America.