GOING ELECTRIC: Part 4: Still they'll be more

There is a Procol Harum song that ominously tells of all the bad things that can happen and the chorus is "still they'll be more".


Well that is kind of what happens when one starts the electrification process on a boat. Most of us don't spend a lot of time underneath the cockpit in and around the engine if we don't have to. But, at the beginning of the conversion to electric propulsion you will. As you look around you keep finding more and more things that you can or need to remove off the boat.

The photo above shows additional parts of the Frigoboat 500 marine refrigeration system that I removed. The red item is the water condenser for the refrigeration system. This was connected to some of the items removed that were shown in Going Electric:Part 3. I still don't know what the purpose of the grey canister almost hidden underneath the red condenser is for but, it's going out too. You can see the white hoses which actually cover copper tubing that contained the refrigerant. These go off to the right to another canister that will also be removed. Then there is the sight glass in the lower right which was used to monitor the flow of the refrigerant. Lot's of hoses, wiring, connections and complexity. Finally there is the coolant container that held extra antifreeze for the diesel engine that was attached to the exhaust manifold that will be gone too. Looking around in other areas what do you find:

MORE HOSES! In this case they are the fuel lines that once provided fuel to the now removed diesel engine. You could leave them if you make sure they no longer contain any fuel. But, why carry extra weight that is no longer needed.

As you can see the Coast Guard and Marine insurance companies are very picky (for good reasons) on making sure boat fuel lines are securely installed. Once the electric system is installed you will no longer have as easy access to this area as you do now. So you might as well remove the obsolete fuel lines and other items while you can get at them easily.

PREVIOUS GOING ELECTRIC POST
NEXT GOING ELECTRIC POST