Message text written by INTERNET:amelyachtowners@...

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Dear Vito,
The amswer is to fit an isolated 24/12 volt converter made by an English
company called Alphatronix. The cost is about 150 pds stlg. It is approved
for usein everything from petrol tankers downwards. If you want to waste
money get the one made by Icom at about three or five times as much !!! I
do not have the Email address for Alphatronix to hand as I am not on the
boat but I am sure I gave all the details to this group six or nine months
ago so look back through the archive. One must wonder about the guy who
told you to run a SSB off the starter battery. Are you sure he is competent
to make the installation....when he has ask him to demonstrate it by
calling up a ham operator at least a thousand miles away. After I installed
mine I had a technician do this and he spoke with an amateur radio operator
in Poland with no problem 5 by 5 from my boat in a marina in Malta.
Fortunately the ground plate by Amel is excellent.
I have the davits from La Rochelle where they were fitted by the makers.
There are a number of points. The fixing to the transom is OK on the port
side as they fitted a S/S strut to take the load. The starboard side should
have been reinforced with a hardwood pad resined on to the inside of the
transom. The lifting arrangement as supplied is totally inadequate to lift
a dinghy even though my RIB is aluminium and weighs only 37 kilos on its
own. What is needed is a set of small triple sheave blocks to pull the
davits up and a similar set to lift the dinghy to the davits. This set will
need small plates welded on to the davits to take jam cleats for the
lifting tackle. The hinge bolts for the davits are not a close fit in the
fittings thus allowing movement. With any davits the dinghy needs to be
securely lashed to avoid any movement for short days sails but for longer
trips the dinghy will still have to be lifted on to the deck. If you need
to lift the davits/dinghy/outboard etc overnight to avoid theft the
solution is to use the mizzen staysail halyard tied on to the outboard end
of the davit next to the outboard end of the dinghy. Incidentally my dinghy
is a 3.1mtr made in New Zealand where it retails for about 1100pds stlg. It
is absolutely first class and will eventually get up on the plane with its
15 hp motor with three heavy adults and a full fuel tank even in mildly
choppy waters, a load of over 300 kilos. I stow it inverted fully inflated
on the aft cabin top for short passages and in the same place deflated for
long passages. It is not made of Hypalon but mine has spent two years in
the Med and still looks as new. The make is Southern Pacific and they are
,I think, Now being imported to the UK by a company in Wales although I
suspect it would be cheaper to buy one direct from NZ and haveit sent by
ship or air cargo. Even with those costs and import duties which might not
be payable for a yacht in transit. Incidentally 3.1 mtrs is the maximum
size that fits on the aft cabintop. If anyone is interested I have all the
contact info on my boat down in the marina. I suppose that Joel Potter
could make a nice deal if he were to take up an import agency for them !!

Best wishes from John SM319 Bali Hai

--- In amelyachtowners@..., Anne and John Hollamby
<hollamby@c...> wrote:

Message text written by INTERNET:amelyachtowners@...

<

Dear Vito,
The amswer is to fit an isolated 24/12 volt converter made by an English
company called Alphatronix. The cost is about 150 pds stlg. It is

approved

for usein everything from petrol tankers downwards. If you want to waste
money get the one made by Icom at about three or five times as much

!!! I

do not have the Email address for Alphatronix to hand as I am not on the
boat

The URL for Alphatronix is http://www.alfatronix.co.uk/index.htm

I hope that this helps

Peter

Hello Peter,

thanks for the info on the Alphatronix DC/DC converter. You are right about the price of the Icom P66, at least in the UK. However, I should point out that the Icom when purchased from Stephane Genitou at Pochon La Rochelle is just 308 Euro's, which is not bad.

One quick question. Do you suffer from any RF interference from the Alphatronix unit? I take it also that it is a 30 amp unit that you quoted for? Most importantly, is the input and output completely isolated from each other at DC? Crucial from the point of view of electrolysis. I had a 60 amp Far East unit on Crusader that cost around 80 Pounds, which worked well, though the input's and outputs were not isolated, though I found a workaround.

I need a new converter for my new boat in July, so would appreciate your comments.

Best Wishes

Ian Shepherd

SM2000 299 "Crusader"