Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans

Dave is a fisheries officer responsible for a fleet of four rigid inflatable boats operated by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. When one of the boats needed to have its navigation system replaced, the usual service company was unable to take on the work and suggested Pacific Yacht Systems.

While installing the new Raymarine navigation system—complete with radar, sonar and two E120 multifunctional displays—PYS discovered that some of the wiring on the boat was unfused, presenting a serious fire hazard. Dave agreed that the situation should be rectified, then asked PYS to inspect the other boats in the fleet. Another boat was found to be in the same state, and PYS took care of the problem.

 "With the new automatic battery system designed and installed by PYS it doesn’t matter what we do—the batteries are always kept fully charged," states Dave. "It used to be guesswork on our part, but now we can operate our vessels without having to worry about them. We haven’t had a single dead battery since."

Dave was also experiencing problems with keeping the fleet’s batteries charged. PYS recommended installing maintenance-free absorbed glass mat (AGM) batteries on an automatic charging system, which ensures that all the batteries remain charged without operator intervention. When it was time to start one of the boats that hadn’t been used for several months, the battery still worked; this would not have happened with the old battery setup.

“We were very impressed with PYS’ work,” says Dave. “They were professional, courteous, and kept us in the loop.”