Begin by reading this

This blog is a continuing account of my endeavors to upgrade, improve and refit our Beneteau 57. 

It is going to be techy and I am not writing this for an audience not interested in the technical side of yachting ;-)

Boats are becoming more and more complex, many technical disciplines interact and the use of electrics has increased dramatically the past decade or so. Add the potential for near-or-better than home comfort and you get an exciting challenge to keep it all running.

So what is the starting point then? Well, the B57 is a very good sailboat. Some say the best Benetaeu has produced. Certainly the best looking! 

It turns out that most of them intended for private use where also quite well equipped. It was noted already in the pre-purchase process that the owners had ticked a lot of the boxes in the options list. This means to us that many of the items that a long-term cruiser would need and would need to install in smaller boats, is already there. This is the rationale behind getting a little larger boat already equipped than a smaller and cheaper leaving funds to install all that was missing. So the idea is to work with what we got and improve on it.

Artemis was also very well taken care of by previous owners, not as owners who stood on the their own knees with head in bilge but as owners paying for professionals to do the job. There is a distinction here and this is one between good intentions and actually knowing how work where carried out by those paid to do certain things. The blog will reflect on that in each project. 

Here are some of the items already installed and running;

1. Watermaker - in this case a no-name 240liter/hour job using the ubiquitous CAT pump, DOW membranes and a single phase 230Vmotor
2. Washing machine - toploaded standard household
3. Genset - 9,5 kW Onan
4. 2kW inverter - Victron
5. 40A 12 and 24V chargers
6. 12 and 24 volt batterybanks using a mix of AGM and SLA lead-acid batteries
7. One Frigoboat refrigerator
8. One cold box - compressor uses sea water circulation to improve efficiency
9. Networked navsystem (Raymarine) with AIS, Radar and Autopilot
10. Airconditioning in all cabins

Our wish list looks like this;

1. >1kW installed photovoltaics "PowerBimini"
2. Wind generator 
3. 10kW LFP batterybank
4. Freezer
5. Active carbon filtering for drinking water
6. Simplification of the 12-24 volt electrical systems
7. Improved safety and redundancy of critical systems
8. SSB and Pactor upgrade for WinLink and weather forecasting
9. Iridium GO
10. Visibility at anchor
11. Emergency rudder
12. RIB - replace the current inflatable one with all-aluminium
13. Spreader lights - shall light up all deckspaces. LED of course
14. Cockpit mood lights
15. Alarm system - one that has zones and protects both on and off boat
16. Improved and networked entertainment system
17. Standing rig replacement
18. Various antennas up the mast and backtstay
19. Replace lifeline wires with rigid tubing
20. Sort out why bowthruster tends to overheat

Update December 2021; 

The wishlist looks like this; 

1. >1kW installed photovoltaics "PowerBimini" - in the pipeline
2. Wind generator - nope not high on the list 
3. 10kW LFP batterybank - Done!
4. Freezer - Done!
5. Active carbon filtering for drinking water - Done!
6. Simplification of the 12-24 volt electrical systems - Partly done!
7. Improved safety and redundancy of critical systems - Partly done!
8. SSB and Pactor upgrade for WinLink and weather forecasting - Not high on the list for as lpng as we are in the med
9. Iridium GO - in future
10. Visibility at anchor - Parts sourced and concept ready
11. Emergency rudder - remains to be designed
12. RIB - replace the current inflatable one with all-aluminium - nope but with a Highfield
13. Spreader lights - shall light up all deckspaces. LED of course. - Sourced but not installed
14. Cockpit mood lights - sourced
15. Alarm system - one that has zones and protects both on and off boat - still on the lookout
16. Improved and networked entertainment system - not urgent, on the backburner
17. Standing rig replacement - eventually when we leave the Med
18. Various antennas up the mast and backtstay - got it figured out how to do
19. Replace lifeline wires with rigid tubing - longer term and low priority 
20. Sort out why bowthruster tends to overheat - it is sorted out!
21. Better lock for the cockpit entry - concept ready
22. Dual fuel filters - built awaiting installation
23. Larger inverter - 3-5kW
24. Induction stove upgrade
25. New BMS (simplified system design)