July 4 - 7, 2013:
A great 4th of July weekend in Emeral Bay with the Corsairs! Motored
over with no wind in about 3hr 20min. The drive train worked very
nicely and the repaired hour meter ran the whole trip nicely.The water
temperature is in the low 70s in Emerald Bay which made for a wonderful
weekend. Ran the generator 1.5 - 2 hours/day which was more than enough
to keep the fridge and freezer cold, mostly determined by the need for
hot water for showers and the like. On the afternooon of the 6th about
20 people showed up for afternoon tea aboard Botany Bay. The big dinner
in the cove was wonderful. The return sail was very nice in the late
afternoon! We were able to sail all but the last 3 miles in about 3
hours and then motored the last bit
back into the slip
without incident for a wonderful weekend. About an hour and a half to
get the boat cleaned up after in the slip.
June 24, 2013: Washed decks small remote keyboard not working, probably needs
new batteries.
June 23, 2013: Engine on 1045am
not much wind engine, gen,
transmission
oil all look good.
Away from mooring at 11am
with a gurgling noise from stbd
drain in cockpit while motoring at speed. Can see large air bubbles
going
by in the cooling water
from the exit of
the oil heat exchanger to the vented loop.
Back in
slip 1600
hours and trying to determine what the problem is with the
engine cooling system: Started generator,
engine,fridge while watching strainer basket. A big pile of seaweek of
various
types came into the strainer and the flow rate immediately increased
significantly. The noise from the antisiphon went away. I
pulled the strainer
apart,
cleaned carefully and re-assembled with lanocote on the seal and
screws. Flow
rate now back to normal.
There is
no air at all in
the clear line going up to the vented loop and back down to the water
injection
point. Looks like air was probably being pulled from either the fridge
or air
conditioning circuits which were both open.
Transmission
fluid sampled
and changed (7/8 quart, about 1/4 inch above scribe)
Main engine oil sampled and
changed (3 gallons). Don't
have a main engine
oil
filter, order Monday.
Generator oil changed and
oil filter changed (Westerbeke 36918 oil filter)
Note that 80% load is 21.6
amps at 50hz/220V out of generator oil
filters
also now. note: large water pump
pliers are able to get a bite on the generator filter and remove if an
appropriate
sized oil filter wrench is not available.
June 22, 2013: Today
is the Corsair Yacht Club Ashbridge race for 2013 which I got talked
into sailing. Unfortunately there is not much wind out there today!
Ran generator this morning
for 90 min. End time 3187.5 hrs, the generator hour meter is definitely
not working properly.
Ashbridge start for us
13:32:10,
however, we ended with DNF, not
enough wind, got
something around the prop/rudder and came into wind hole.
Almost
made the point north of the cove and
then could not. Tried running up the coast as the racers suggest after
motoring
around the point.
Black
plastic ring found on
stbd deck after race. need to inspect hardware.
No
steam/smoke from the
diesel.
A good race! All fingers
and toes still
attached to crew.
Interesting observation,
the
time in the raytech "nuymbers" display is not seatalk time, rather it
is the time on the local computer!!
June 21, 2013:
Getting ready to head over to Catalina with Emily, Adam, Kim &
Mike aboard for the Ashbridge Race with Corsair Yacht Club. Filled water tank for trip
over with crew of 5 for the weekend, spot checked battery bank
water level - about half way between plates and full marks. All
batteries good but will need
water before sweden. Looking
in the bilge I can
see that the joint between two water tank
valves leaks slightly. Could see the damp area under at the bottom of
the
bilge, touched around and found moisture at the bottom of the "T"
fitting between the tanks. May just need tightened a bit.
1500 Oil
checked, all good,
warming up diesel, cleared harbor 1530, motor sailing
for R10PV.
Wind was good enough to sail from PV point to Isthmus! On mooring at
1900. At shutdown on the mooring a
very slight amount of steam, may be just temps and the like but need to
check
it out.
True
wind speed was about
10knts and the sailing performance numbers from hard on the wind to
close reach look
pretty accurate. Odd SeaTalk behavior on
ocean temp,
was cycling through three numbers, one of which was the correct value.
June 20, 2013: I think I have a plan
for
the power system and got updated pricing on Victron
inverters / isolation transformers from Jamestown Distributors:
3600
watt manual iso
transformer $939.12
3600 watt auto
iso transformer $1385.45
8kva 230v $5752
5kva
230v $4344
3kva
230v $2826
100amp
24v TG charger $2124
100amp
24v Skella I charger
$1989.12
June 19,
2013: Testing the generator hour
meter. Running microwave
on generator 3186.0hrs start (15 hours on gen oil) 30 min of run tonight.
finished 3182.2 Might actually be running slow. Definitely need to
replace the
generator hour meter.
June 19, 2013: Installed bulkhead
connector in the aft shower to stop water from getting under the seat
when
taking a shower. West marine part number 5358254 made by ambassador
marine part
number 131 0015 CP "Elboe Bulkhead Shower Head".
With
only a small amount of
sanding on the supports under the seat I was able to install the
connector and
re-arrange the whale plumbing system to match the new configuration. I
have
been able to make significant modifications to the system in terms of
taking
things apart and putting them back together in a different
configuration
without any leaks showing up. A very nice plumbing system, highly
recommended.
The existing hardware is a 20 year old style with 15mm plastic hard
line,
o-rings, and metal keepers. The modern version is easier to work with
and uses
the same diameter tubing (either 15mm or 22mm).
No more water showing up under the seat after taking a shower!!!
June 17, 2013: Replaced LPG gas
sensor under stove which has taken to going off in the middle of the
night.
West marine part number 9457367 which is trident part number 1300-7720.
This one started acting up
with false alarms about a year ago (3 years old) and has gotten worse
over
time. The propane sensor/control is on the same circuit as the rest of
the
galley and so is on almost all of the time. (Not the propane itself,
just the
control panel and the sensor). I like having the sensor online so if
these have
a limited life it just becomes a consumable. It will be interesting to
see how
long this sensor lasts.It is described as a "Marine L.P. Gas Detector,
12
or 24 VDC, UL listed, Alarms & sends shut off signal to gas
control panel
when L.P. gas is detected, Part # 1300-7720"
On LBB I had a similar
problem but after a longer period of time as it was on a seperate
circuit and
thus was not running all of the time.
June 16, 2013: General boat
cleanup, all linins and blankets washed; decks washed;
removed epoxy supplies
from
the lazerett
June
6, 2013:
Spent most of the day
considering the ac power system. I did verify that the air conditioning
system
works from 208V - 230V 60hz and nominal 200V at 50hz.
It
should pull 6.25A at
230V
in air conditioning and 7.5A in heat. So both running full out should
consume
about 15A. Which is right at what the Victron auto-selecting isolation
transformer can handle.
Still
unclear if the
microwave would like 60hz 230v power. It does run but produces little
heat on 60hz 208V. There are some interesting comments online about
microwave ovens on the wrong frequency. Apparently each pulse of the
magnatron comes twice per cycle. Thus a 50hz microwave on 60hz power
outputs about 120% of design power but will eventually fail. A 60hz
microwave running on 50hz will output about 83% of planned power but
the transformer if designed closely for 60hz will fail. The internal
difference between the two units is the size of the capacitor which is
charged twice a cycle and is selected to get the right power level for
a given voltage and frequency of power.
Removed
old supports for
small autotransformer installed behind the nav seat.
Size of cutout for inverter
/ battery charger control is 3" x 6" approx. Overall is 4" by
7" could grow to 4" by 9"
if willing to cut teak.
Power selector under nav
seat is about 6" by 6" overall.
Above power panel is 1.75
high by 5.25 wide
June 1, 2013: General
repair work. Tom and
I pulled the hour meter, I was able to roll it forward by pushing on
the lowest
digit slightly while the meter was running. Now at 1000.0, connected
meter
directly to the battery and running meter forward based on the
following:
- Meter ran 1.6 (998.4 -
999.9) hours
before stopping on way to catalina.
- Ran engine 3 hrs 45 min on
way over, 3 hrs 20 min on way back, sailed for awhile and then 35
minutes.
result is about 7.6 hours - 1.6 hours or 1006.0 is approximately the
correct
value for the hour meter.
- Stopped running engine
hour
meter forward at 1006.1
hrs
Rebedded
the dodger aft and
top mounts.
Note: hour meter cover is
glass, glued bezel back on with something called "plastic surgery"
which looks like it worked. Just a few drops around the edge of the
bezel to
hold it on.
Engine hour meter repair
with plastic glue looks well setup after an
hour, reinstalled and ran engine to verify all meters working (tried
checking
all of the connections on the tach, still no op.)
Currently about 40 hours on
the engine
oil, Transmission oil changed at 993.6 =
12.5 hours on ATF. Plan
to change engine & transmission oil at
50 hours or about 10 hours away.
May
27, 2013: Heading home after a nice
weekend over in Emerald Bay. Started engine at
1000, note that hour meter is still stuck. No wind at this point. There is perhaps 16.75
inches of
fuel, boat is rocking on mooring will need to check in King Harbor. Dropping
mooring at 1010
hrs
heading for R10 from Emerald Bay.
Motored
until just off
Redondo bouy and decided that the wind was too nice up and down the
beach and
decided to sail up to the refinery ships and back. Motor
down at 1320 hrs,
sailed until 1455 hrs, then into harbor and motor off at 1530 hrs.
Fuel
meter reading 11
inches
of fuel, I suspect that the rolling around of the boat has the fuel
measurement
tube bent again...
Opened
fuel tank access and
pushed plastic tube back into place, it is somewhat bent and so may not
be
reading the full depth. At this point it is reading 15.5 inches of
fuel. This
would be about 1.5 inches of fuel less than the start of the trip,
motoring
both ways making about 6.5 knts without the sails outbound (8.1 with
the sails
later in the trip at same throttle setting) and 7.1 knts on the return.
About
three hours of run each way (not including the sailing time and
wandering
around harbors so call it 7 hours of run time (6 plus about an hour)
and
consumed about 15 gallons of fuel. With a couple of hours of generator
time
that would be about 2 gallons per hour of fuel consumption, both
directions had
significant chop and very little wind or wind on the nose.
Will
check the fuel level
in
the morning when the tube may have returned to it's normal shape. May
be worth
replacing the tube with a new one which would be stiffer and perhaps
reach the
bottom of the tank better.
Additionally,
tried to take
pictures of some strainers on the ends of the pickup tubes for both the
generator and the main engine. Need to talk with Oyster about these and
if that
is a good idea in the current concept of large filters and
recirculation.
Definitely need to consider the fuel system as we rebuild.
No antifreeze under the
forward part of the engine, looks like tightening the clamps on the
circulating
pump hose stopped that seep. Plan to replace hose and possibly rebuild
the pump
in the fall.
Looks
like the knotmeter is
running about 5% low (i.e. measures 7.0 knts, real number is probably
7.35knts)
Will work with Tom in the next week or so to get the calibration right.
Stuffing
box is good, only
a
slight amount of moisture under it. Cleaned up the stainless donut for
good
measure.
Some
moisture came from
under the fridge near the battery box blower fan. About half a paper
towel
worth.
No
moisture under forward
v-berth, I suspect the moisture was from the slightly leaking hatch
above the berth when there are boarding seas.
Transmission
shift leaver
weap appears to be getting less over time. Probably one drop over 7
hours of
engine run time.
One
instance on the first
day of the nav system getting a position off near or at 0N 0E. This can
cause
significant issues in the cross track error and may require at minimum
resetting the cross track, re-selecting the waypoint, or restarting the
nav
software. Not clear what is the minimum required.
Definitely
appears that it
is necessary to bring up the autopilot (and thus the seatalk bus) prior
to
turning on the VHF/GPS circuit.
About
half the time bringing
up the Raytech softward I can't select a waypoint and have it stick,
bringing
down the raytech software and starting it up again appears to clear the
issue
consistently. It is worth noting that this configuration is not
supported my Raymarine explicitly and they are surprised it works at
all. They would rather have the autopilot and the instruments on
seperate busses into a chart plotter to ensure these issues do not crop
up.Probably time to consider
cleaning up the seatalk bus completely. The wiring is a bit of a hodge
podge and could use a careful looking after.
Tried
sailing to a wind
angle again, won't do it successfully and the wireless remote is not
getting a
vane angle report from the pilot. Being that it is able to successfully
talk to
the pilot I suspect that the wind point information is not getting to
the pilot
succesfully. Definitely a feature I need to get working correctly.
Another potential artifact of this non-standard configuration.
Marked
the port sheets and
the mainsheet/outhaul for 45-50 degrees apparent, was seeing 100% of
the
expected performance in 14 - 16 knts of wind. Definitely need to start
marking
things to get to repeatable configurations.
Saw 23
amps out of the
alternator with the batteries down 55 ah. Looks like tightening the
belt did
improve things significantly.
The
walls of the fuel tank
look pretty good, however, the bottom looks like it could use a good
wipe down
as there is some dark material on the bottom of the tank. Should
probably
change the fuel filters for both the generator and engine (especially
the
engine) after that much sloshing around of fuel.
May 26, 2013:
nice party aboard
with about 40 people, ran
generator for about
an
hour, ending hour meter 3184.9
May 24, 2013:
Heading to Emerald Bay for
Memorial Day weekend with the Corsair Yacht Club! 1615 starting up
engine heading for emerald bay;
underway 1640; motoring to weather at 6.5
knts. tws is 8 knts; hoping
for a good angle
to
emerald. course is near pv north rather than R10
Interesting,
knot meter is
intermittent, tried recycling the bus but no impact on intermittency.
appears
to be a sensitivity issue as itworks better when there is more wave
action.
Will take a look at the face when we get to emerald.
Engine
hour meter is stuck
at 0999.9!!!
Motor
sailing at same
throttle setting which makes 6.5 knts, making 8.0 knts in 7knts true at
90
degrees true.
Motor sailed all the way,
at
enterance at 1940! Three hour run
Engine
off at 1955, hour
meter still dead. 17 inches
of fuel at
shutdown.
