Technical Informatioin on Tellico Lady Upgrades, etc.


	The following detail some of the changes/upgrades we have made to Tellico Lady since we bought her, and why. In additiion, just for interests sake, there is some detail on certain topics such as the Navigation systems.
	Inverters	We have installed two inverters, one of which is a pure-sinewave type rated at 3000 watts. This runs our refrigerator, and microwave when we are off shore power and don't want to run the generator. The pure sinewave is increasingly required by todays modern electronics. This unit is capable of a 100% overload for up to 3 minutes, which is quite remarable.
	Internet Connections	We have added an Engenius WiFi long range modem to the boat, which allows links up to about 2 miles. We hope this will help with our ability to find and connect to shore based hotspots. In addition, we have added a Cradlepoint router that accepts our AT&T broadband aircard. When the broadband card is linked onto an AT&T tower, this combination provides us with our own personal hot-spot on the boat with encrypted security.
	Cell Phone Range	To increase the ability of our cellphones to talk to a tower, we have added a so called "Billy Club" antenna to the top of the boat and a cellular amplifier/transmitter made by Digital Antenna. This considerably extends the ability of our cell phones (and/or our aircard) to talk to an AT&T tower.
	Drinking water pump	Our old potable water pump caused terrible water hammer, despite efforts with expansion tanks, etc. to minimize this. The new pump has an electronic variable speed control on the motor and is much quieter than the old pump.
	Microwave/Oven	Our original microwave/convection combo oven died on our first effort at the Loop. We liked it so much that we replaced it with another once we were back at Tellico Marina. Thus, for cooking purposes, our choices are (a) the two burner propane cooktop, (b) the Microwave/Convection oven that allows baking in a conventional fashion, or microwaving foods, and (c) the Bar-B-Que grill on the aft deck.
	Counter Tops	Our counter tops were a bit worse for the wear, so we installed 3/4 inch black granite tops. These have proved to be very practical in terms of no corrosion, no rot, and pretty well impervious. However, they did require us to add 350 lbs. of concrete to the port side of the boat to compensate weight to prevent listing.
	Cabinetry	Despite being a large boat, with quite a few storage places, the galley was always shy on storage space. We had a company called Viper Customs make us a nice small cabinet with a granite top and two slide-out drawers behind two swing-open doors. This has proven to be quite handy.
	Anchor Washdown	We added an anchor/chain washdown system that pumps sea-water under pressure to a hose fitting on the Portugese bridge, and this is great to rinse off the anchor chain as it comes up and also the mud off the anchor. The beauty of this is that it does not use up the potable water on the boat.
	Navigation Systems	We have three GPS systems on the boat, and as well as radar and VHF. There is a laptop and monitor exclusively dedicated to the helm that provides a constant moving map showing the boat position at any given moment. It also shows the path taken and automatically creates a ship time/position/speed log.
	Shaft Seals	We had the shaft seals on both propeller shafts and both rudder shafts repacked as well as the rubber "boots" that hold the propeller shaft seals replaced. This was to ensure that there was no problem with excessive leakage at the shafts while under way and in a remote area.
	Holding Tank Monitor	I designed a holding tank monitor that is a rubber encased float switch that triggers an alarm that plays "Westminster Chimes" when the holding tank is about 10 to 15 flushes away from full. This gives a warning without sounding too "threatening" and has an over-ride switch once acknowledged to prevent having to listen to the alarm for some hours before a pumpout is available.
	Satellite TV	We have an HD digital television on board that we added, and we have an "in motion" tracking satellite antenna system that allows us to watch Direct TV wherever we go. This required the tracking satellite dome to be mounted on the upper boat deck, and the controller and computer mounted inside in the salon area. This system can track the satellite, once locked on, even with the boat under way and rolling due to seas. Pretty impressive electronics to do so, using gyroscopic stabilization as well as signal "hunting" techniques.
	Dinghy	We added a 11 foot inflatable dinghy on the boat deck, with a 5 HP Nissan outboard motor. This is a nice stable dinghy, with about 1200 lb carrying capacity. It has an inflatable keel, and I replaced the original marine plywood floor boards with similar boards made from HDPE to eliminate the issue of rot.
	Davit Crane	We added a Brower dinghy crane (davit) to lift/launch the dinghy/motor combination. This is a 600 lb crane, that mounts on a standpipe that bears the weight on the main deck level and extends up through the overhead of the main deck to the boat deck where the actual crane arm is mounted. It is electrical with a pendant controller.
	Fenders	We have many fenders on board, but have added five of the large 21 inch diameter "ball fenders" for good clearance protection in locks. There seems to be no such thing as too many fenders. We also have fender boards, which are boards that hang on ropes and lie horizontally over the side of the boat to allow fending off on pilings.
	Battery Chargers	We have added 4 battery chargers for complete redundancy. Two are dedicated (one each) for the port and starboard engine starting battery banks. One large capacity unit charges the 8 golf-cart battery bank for the inverter, and one 12 amp unit is dedicated to the Onan 8 Kilo-Watt AC generator starting battery.
	Spare Parts	We have many spare parts on board. Too many to list here, but to give some idea we have every pump, every impeller, all hose types, a spare transmission, spare injectors, spare injector pumps, etc. etc. If it turns, sucks, or blows -- we pretty much have a spare.
	Tub/Shower Upgrades	We had our two washrooms with the tub/showers redone by a company called Miracle Method. This is a sprayed on very hard (almost cermic-like) finish that really made the tub and surrounds look new. In addition, this was a wonderful way to eliminate water leaks.
	Inverter Battery Bank	We have created battery boxes in the lowest point of the bilge for the inverter battery bank. We bought and installed 8 golf-cart type batteries and this gives us a potential of 880 amp/hours of power to run the inverter. This will not allow hot-water heating or air-conditioning at anchor (unless we run the generator) but all other 120 VAC appliances can easily run for a 12 hour period.
	Windlass	We added a windlass made by the Italian company "Quick" that we like very much. This has a maximum 1900 lb pull, and can provide anchor free-fall for quick deplyment. In addition, it has both a chain wildcat and a rope drum that can be operated seperately in the event that we need to deploy dual anchor rodes.
	Anchoring Chain	We retained the original 300 feet of 3/4" rope with 10 feet of chain anchor rode, but have reserved it as a spare. Our main and normal anchoring rode is the 240 feet of 5/16 HT chain that we added. This chain has a working load of 3900 lbs and a minimum breaking strength of over 11,000 lbs, so we are very confident that this will be adequate for our needs.
	Swim Platform	We had the same company (Viper Customs) that made our extra cabinet build us a swim platform as well. Our old original teak platform had definitely seen better days, and they took it away, made a plug, then a mold, then pulled a new fiberglass platform from the mold and installed it. This did a great deal to improve the looks of the stern.
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