Electrics, Getting Ready For Launching and Insurance Issues

Structurally, the boat is finished. She has a couple of coats of epoxy resin below the water line and over the internal seams along the rivet lines and is now ready for Silic One, patently a silicone based paint that is described, not as anti-fouling but fouling release, pressing home its mode of action relying on surface tension and anti-adherence properties. It has no biocides to pollute the water. The point of having a non-metal containing products relates to me seeing many dismal reviews on the net about those copper containing ones which have caused problems on aluminium boats in the nature of electrolytic action when the undercoat has been breached, which must be pretty common on small craft.

I say 'she' for her name is Tuanella 3. I bought my first yaght brand new and had to find a name that for the Southampton Ship Register that hadn't been allocated. Not the easiest I found but the word Tuanella came to mind out of the blue, one not already registered and, checking as best I could, rationalised Tuan, being Malay for master and also old Australian for flying fox, with the 'ella' component as a feminisation of both meanings to give mistress or female flying fox. Either meaning seemed ok; however much later a sailing colleague pointed out that Tuanella was the name of the realm of the dead in Finnish and Estonian folk lore. Somewhat dismayed at this information I checked the spelling and it was quite different being Tuonela, so I relaxed and left things as they were. Tuanella and Tuanella 2 both were marvellously care-free and on which my then partner and I spent thousands of enjoyable hours. The new name is emblazoned  across her prow and the tail end of her gunwales, port and starboard, in the biggest letters that would fit.

The navigation lights, starboard and port, were easy to install but the stern light was awkward, the boat's sharp aft design precluding any transom and therefore  needed a special bracket to clear the excursion of the rudder and tiller and be astern enough for the close angle of the light to be visible from both sides aft.

The battery for these, a typical leisure one of 12 volts, 60 amp hrs and weighing 16 kg sat low and forward to the starboard side of the keel housing. Allowing that a serious leek or problem could occur around the keel housing all the fixing of the battery is arranged for rapid removal to provide immediate hull inspection. Even the connections to battery terminals are of the quick release type.
The battery platform is held in place by an easy and quick release wooden chock that holds it hard against the bottom of the boat and the aluminium cross bar of the keel housing.

Also the battery itself can be installed or released quickly through the wooden batten that straddles the two bulwarks.

The 'outboard' engine has an alternator and a leash of wires emerge from it to charge a battery. Not of massive output (12v, 6amp, 80 W) but allowing this particular engine was designed for small sailing craft it is almost certainly enough. As the engine is, from a position of action down through the hull or 'lifted' for sailing, mooring or repair, there needs to be plenty of  length of the aforementioned leash to accommodate this change of position. This leash has a commodious connection by plug to the battery circuit.
The connection to the battery, somewhat free-floating to accommodate various positions of the engine, is that designed for an electric lawn mower and whose female pegs are well shrouded.

                                    When not in use it clips neatly under a nearby seat

The engine, a Tohatsu 9.8 hp long shaft four strokes, has a rectified output to charge a battery,
12 volts, 6 amps, 80 watts, which comes out on a plastic covered leash of some 60cms. To the end of this the male complement  was fixed - it too being exceptionally well shrouded, importantly of course as the pins could easily short by touching the aluminium hull.

The boat has been built in an arch underneath a railway line and getting the boat from there to an adjoining alley-way and thence to a public road for loading, has necessitated building a trolley around her which hopefully will aid in running her up on a transporter, trolley and all. The trolley will be useful in moving her around the boat yard when she reaches there. It has been made in square formation using scaffolding boards; cheap, cheerfull and strong - their rough finish provides good grip when they are bolted to each other. The bogies, two on each corner, one of each pair with a foot brake, are quite hefty being of the type to support large catering facilities.

Interestingly certain things come to light when building a novel boat, not the least being surveying and insurance, the former being necessary before the latter can occur. In the UK such boats cannot be sold before five years have lapsed after launching, presumably to generate appropriate sea-worthy provenance.
Also the question of insurance becomes awkward as such a lack of provenance makes underwriters quite wary. A bit of a Catch 22 situation develops -  the underwriters want a surveyor's certificate but and a he, in this case, won't give one till he sees her in the water. Anyhow the underwriters have covered her third party till a formal survey and valuation have been submitted which at least lets me get her into the water.
Another thing the insurance insisted on was installing an automatic sump pump and for this I chose the Whale Supersub Smart 650, http://www.whalepumps.com/marine/home.aspx, the automatic electrics relate to a 'field switch' which turns on when water covers it, but by virtue of a delay component does not turn on from the effect of trivial slop in the bilge. It also allows a switch to override this automatic component.
The unit is compact and bright yellow and the way its been installed, I can remove it quicky to allow access if  an emergency arises by way of a serious leak from the keel housing on the hull.

Here the pump can be seen sitting in the floor board housing in an aluminium 'recess' and is locked in place by a hinged strut that comes across its body and is pinned by a quick release bungee.

The makers stress the importance of not having anything touching the 'field end', here where the wires are seen emerging and the picture below, where the pump is in situ in the bottom of the boat, clearly there is good space all around the 'field' element.

Cabin lights - these would have in the past been hard wired but with 'led' technology and the ensuing battery and life expectancy of the bulbs I chose to install them in tapered aluminium sockets,one under the foredeck and one in the cabin. Ease of removal means they can double up as a torch.

The electrics, not quite complete are centred around the battery and the keel housing. Naturally one tried to keep them, or rather any wettable terminal or junctions boxes as high as possible. However one such junction can be seen, positioned for convenience in the wooden runner, at the proposed waterline. The switch gear, is held high below the seating.

Here the keel housing, the electric runs, the battery and the automatic pump are covered by boards,  creating a step in the general line of the floor boarding.

The boat, along its bottom, is absolutely flat, with not a jot of sheer to offer some central sump effect to any water taken in, so there will be a tendency for such water to slop from one end to the other whence in motion. For this I have installed a hand pum at each with the strum box at the forehead end fixed hard against the hull. The pump arrangement aft is much the same but the strum box is free from any fixture, the gutter here being narrow enough to keep it where it's meant to be.

The petrol tank is held convenient to the engine on a small platform under nearby seating and held there by two quick release bungees. In the matter of balancing being well to port, it somewhat offsets the weight of the much heavier battery which is to starboard but much more central.