Sunriser is a Fountaine Pajot Astrea 42, delivered in March 2022, which we adapted to be a live aboard. The main requirements for us were: maintainable and manageable by ourselves, live comfortable, not dependent on harbours/marinas, decent sailing capabilities and ready for different climates.
For this we made some upgrades to the standard of which some are described below.
Energy
The boat comes standard with a 12 volt system on which all systems run (instruments, fridge, anchor etc). This system has a relatively small lead acid battery bank and a 2000 Watt Inverter.
We do not want gas on board for cooking so needed extra energy for induction cooking, but did not want a generator.
For this we added a 48 Volt system. This consists of 2 (Integrel) 9000 Watt alternators on the boats engines, 30 Kwh lithium (LiFePo) batteries and a charger/inverter that provides 5000 Watt of 220 Volt AC.
Besides cooking, we have always warm water and have heating/airconditioning on 48 Volts. Also we keep the 12 volt batteries always full with 2 (Orion 48 Volt DC to 12 Volt DC) conterters. This is important as Lead Acid batteries like to be 100% charged and can take a lot less charging cycles than LiFePo batteries which prefer to be around 76%.
The original 2000 Watt inverter serves now as the backup.
We placed 5 x 400 Watts 48 volt panels on an arch and another 500 Watts 12 volt on the roof. The reason for the 2 voltages is that during longer absences we can switch off the 48V batteries and leave them at their optimum voltage and still keep the 12 Volt lead acid batteries topped up.
The electrical oven/microwave and induction.
The first 3 weeks (in Dutch summer) we managed without using shore power nor the Integrel alternators, but did not use airco.
The future will learn if we have excess of energy. If so, we are thinking of adding some form of electric propulsion.
Protected helm seat
To sail in colder ánd warmer climates for longer periods we need more protection than the exposed helm position. For this we added a roof to protect from the sun and canvas to protect from the cold.
Watermaker
To be able to live on anchor we installed a Rainman watermaker. With this we make up to 140 liters of fresh water from salt water per hour.
With this we have changed some of the heads (nautical term for toilet) to fresh water and can also rinse the boat with our own water.
Other upgrades
to do: (pictures of), firefighting equipment, washing machine, outside table.