Nardi dive compressor

Tuesday 21 Dec, Anchored Lake Worth FL, cruising day 24: Wiring-in new Nardi dive compressor then preparing for our departure to Fort Lauderdale.

Up late this morning. Having been anchored here for a week now, it seems our new relaxed mode is also making us sleep longer.
During the night the wind steadily built with the approaching storm and by mid morning gusts of 30+kts were raging across Lake Worth. Surprisingly, despite the white caps (breaking waves) all around us, the boat movement is not too bad at all. We are quite comfortable. But clearly activities will be inside only today.

I look over my maintenance file to see what has highest priority. The Volvo is due for a 200 hour service, which would use up most of the day, but I’m reluctant to make the engine temporarily inoperable while on anchor in a storm. Really not a wise move.

Then Oana reminds me that I have not yet tried a test run on our new Nardi dive compressor. The one that got damaged during shipping with FedEx. The issue is, it has a very robust European electrical plug on it which I really don’t want to cut off, yet I don’t have any European sockets to make a good set up. But, using a travel adapter I plug it into our UK-style sockets to at least see if it will turn on with the generator running. It does turn on, but when I press the start button to initiate the very big electric motor, several circuit brakers flip.
I kind of knew that would happen. My friend Noah, on his Hallberg Rassy 55, Uncle Mo, had the same issue with his new Bauer dive compressor. Apparently, with these large 16 amp 230 volt electric motors, the initial startup current can be 10x the stable running current. Meaning up to 160amps for the first few milliseconds. So, same as Noah, I purchased a K-Curve breaker which coupes with such a current surge without tripping.

Not really sure how I planned to do this, but rummaging in my collection of spare electrical wiring, I find a 3-core cable rated to 32 amps @250v. So as crazy as it seems, the brand new Nardi gets its electrical box opened and Captain Glen has soon removed the factory installed power cable with its nice European plug. For now, all I want to do is see if the compressor actually works. I’m not interested in aesthetics. That can come later. So this original cable will get stored for now.

I take one piece of cable and wire it directly into the electric output box on the generator. Then run that cable into the AC cupboard in the saloon where it gets connected into the K-Curve breaker, which is now neatly installed in a spare slot on the DIN rail. Then from that breaker, the other cable is run back into the engine room and wired directly into the compressor – replacing the original cable.

With the wiring complete, it’s time to fire-up the generator and make the actual test. And I can tell you, it was a nervous moment. I’m no dummy when it comes to electrics, but I’m certainly far from being a qualified electrician. Let’s say I know just enough to be dangerous!
With all fingers crossed, and some toes too, I start the generator and go into the engine room. Then call for Oana to flip the K-Curve breaker on. A good start: no flashes or bangs or electrical smoke. And the compressor has power to it. Now the big test: will it run? I press the start button and the generator gives a momentary growl then the compressor spins into life. Wey-hey! What do you know? – maybe I am an electrician afterall. Or just lucky 😊

For the moment this is good enough for me. As they say, let’s stop while the going is good. I’ll make a better test another day, filling a real dive tank. But now it’s time to clean up and prepare the boat of our 3am departure.

Yes, that’s right. 3am! Crazy, eh? Especially that Fort Lauderdale is only 42 miles away. Here is the reason. We want to try to get anchored in Lake Sylvie. Which is a very short dinghy ride to see our friends in Pier 66 Marina. While the lake is moderately deep inside (4-6m) the entrance channel is only 1.8m at low time. And 2.6 at high tide (we draw 2.5m). Hence we have to be there, 3 miles into Fort Lauderdale, at or before 10am (high tide is 10:35). Back tracking, it means we have to leave 7 hours before this deadline. And at 3am, the offshore winds should have calmed enough to give us a decent beam reach sail. We could have been more civilized and left mid-morning and tried our lake entry on the evening high tide, but this is not something I want to do in the dark.

So let’s see how it goes. Tune in tomorrow to find out!