Mahe 36: Original FP Mahe 36 Thread

[jean1146]

Everytime I look at the batteries and think about pulling them out I do have cold sweats.....who ever is going to do that is going to want to kill me because I know I can't do it.Scott I thought you had cut a hole over the batteries and installed a hatch? Anybody has a better idea,may be Philippe could tell us if he has done it.
JC.

[Scott730]

Martin
The batteries have more headroom on the left side of the box so you can lift them over the lip, bearly, then slide them out. I also mounted a Xantrex battery monitoring system and ran a jumper from the negative starboard terminal to the shunt, it works fine. I mounted the shunt on the bulkhead section just in front of the battery box. And I also had a hell of a time running the wires (I suggest that you run 2 pull lines using a snake or a wire coat hanger, use one to pull the wires and the other for future needs) I snaked them along the wire chase that runs from the aft storage locker to the hanging locker in the port berth (remove the plywood panel for access).
Have fun.

Scott

[Scott730]

JC
I discussed the hatch idea with Philippe and he thought it was a bad idea because the bulkhead is right there. This could weaken the structual strength of the boat.
Also, I've had 2 guy's tell me no to replacing the batteries. You can do it, it just takes some time and a few bruises. Have one of your sons help, he can do all the heavy lifting and you can do all the drinking!

Scott

[jean1146]

Scott
I didn't think about that...I have 3 sons that should be enough,he he he,all I need to do for them is buy a bottle of Captain Morgan. By the way I spoke this morning with someone at FP in France,hopefully everything is going to be taken care off very shortly,they are working on it. I haven't sailed in over a month now,my main sail is going to be full of spider webs.....
JC.

[lavi08]

hi JC

Thanks for your post regarding the blisters, if it is possible can you tell us what the Yard would do it to prevent more blister? and how much will cost you (FP) for the entire repair? thanks again, hope you can sail soon.

lavi08

[jean1146]

lavi08
At this point I can't tell you what is going to be done to my boat.As things unfold I will post in the thread.
JC.

[pguillemin]

Originally Posted by jean1146

Everytime I look at the batteries and think about pulling them out I do have cold sweats.....who ever is going to do that is going to want to kill me because I know I can't do it.Scott I thought you had cut a hole over the batteries and installed a hatch? Anybody has a better idea,may be Philippe could tell us if he has done it.
JC.

We have replaced a few batteries.
The easiest is to cut the front panel then reinstall it with hinges
But we have been able to pull batteries out without that on Larry Winchell 's Mahe after she was hit by lightning

[jean1146]

Philippe there is no front panel on my boat.All there is is a little piece of 1' by 1' piece of wood. They shoud have set those batteries 6" lower and there would be no problems.My batteries are over 2 years old,how long before I have to replace them,in the old days they would last for ever.By the way are those batteries sealed? I hope they are.
JC.

[pguillemin]

JC

On the port side in the ER you should have a white panel in front of the batteries which support the switches and breakers.
This one can be cut on its two edges and mounted with hinges back
Batteries are sealed
As of battery life ,I never heard of forever.I think that the new tech is giving you better batteries
Before you had to go to golf cart ,Surettes or Rolls batteries to get good flooded one and they were very heavy,very expensive and still needed to be replaced every 5 years

[Scott730]

JC, Philippe
On our boat there is no panel in front of the batteries, the battery box, which has the breakers and switches for the engines, is on the starboard side of the battery tray and does not have to be removed or cut to replace the batteries. You could cut off the lip of the tray and glue or screw it back on, but you can lift the batteries above the lip on the left side of the tray, there is more room above the battery so you can, bearly, clear the lip to slide the battery out.

Scott

[DtM]

Our breakers and switches are on the starboard side of the tray?shelf.

there is a lip (about 1" or so as described). I hae not ried yet and I am not looking forward to it but it seems to me that there will just be enough clearance to get the batteries out. i may well cut the 1" batten and find another way to hold them in.

Hopefully we will have a few more years yet.

We have not added an whole lot of gear that requires messing in the battery area (yet).

d

[MKB53]

Thanks for the info. Mine has a lip where the batteries are, probably about 50mm (2in) high. I have not looked to see whether there is enough clearance to port but I had also thought of cutting the lip out and will probably do so to make it easier. It would be easy to replace iit with a screw/bolt on panel.

PS: My son is an apprentice marine electrician. The down side is he took one look at it and said "you can do that yourself, count me out"

[MKB53]

BTW - what I have taken to doing to find out what actually happens in the out of the way places is to shove a digital camera up and take some pictures so I can study it at my lesiure

[LarryW]

Scot, & all

Here are two pictures I took at the factory when I sailed my boat in France. Unfortunately they had already changed to the new batterie config. But it does answer the question of how FP wires them.

Larry

[kev&jo]

Hi Guys,

Battery replacement…this is not an easy job!!

I replaced the batteries on our boat after about 10 months of continuous use (liveaboard), we replaced them with 4 Trojan T105 (6V), which are excellent and increased our capacity by about 25%.

Basically you have to move the battery into the upper space (under the rear guard rail bolts) to the left hand side above the battery box, there is just enough room the get the first battery into this space, then the others come out a little easier after this. The batteries are sealed, which is a god send whilst doing this job.

Not prepared to go through this routine again, I modified my battery box, by cutting out the tray section, retaining the actual switch panel (see picture) and replacing the current copper bar’s, which join the batteries with normal battery connection leads. The batteries are held down with two substantial webbing straps with bottom rails in front and behind the batteries screwed to the shelf to prevent movement, which now make’s the job of battery inspection and replacement one not to dread. We are now currently in Titusville (Florida) and can report that this modification has performed without exception on our journey from Grenada.

We have now done over 7000+ miles on our Mahe (hull #86) and loving every minute.

We have had our fair share of usual problems, which are well documented on this forum all of which have been rectified via our agent (MI Cats) through to FP, who have always supported us without any fuss once an issue has been raised, can’t ask for more!

Sorry to hear that some of you are having blistering problems. I have had the boat out of the water twice for antifouling and can confirm that under the original antifouling we had an epoxy coating (light grey in colour). We have no signs of any blistering at this point and will be keeping a close eye on it.

Hope this helps.