Broken Alternator Support Strap

The Alternator Support Strap broke.

We had a great weekend on the water to celebrate our sailing club's Change of Command.

Yes, it really was windy!

Part of the COC Ceremony was the changing of the flags, here's me hoisting the Vice Commodore's Flag after the boat next to me took over the position of Rear Commodore (Thanks Ross!)

Despite the weather, it turned into a great weekend, plenty of spontaneous fun, food, drinks, and tall stories.

On Sunday, most of the club boats left the lake heading home, Commotion and Eximius were the last too boats.

We left and headed around the lake towards Camino Real Bridge. As we approached Marker 65, Peggy, at the helm, called out that the engine was overheating.

Suspecting that we had a blockage in the raw water thru hull, step 1, the simplest, was to check that the water strainer was clear. It was. 2nd step was to check the thru hull. I keep a short steel snake on hand, so it was just a couple of minutes before the raw water hose was disconnected from the thru hull and then I was able to quickly clear the waterway. Hose reconnected, restart the engine, water was pumping out of the exhaust pipe, we should see cooling pretty quickly, but didn't!

Peggy said that the Tach was not working either. Hmmmm! Tach output comes from the Alternator, Engine Coolant pump is driven by the same belt as the Alternator - has the belt broken?

Removing the cabin entrance top set of step and raising the engine's top cover, restart the engine, and NO! the belt is not rotating!

Removed the lower steps to get a clear view of the front of the engine - Found it! The Alternator Support arm (Strap) is boken. 

Time to call Tow Boat US - glad I have the unlimited towing option!

Yes, this is the 3rd time we have used the towing service. 

I must admit, Tow Boat US is a great service, they advised it would take 45 - 60 minutes to arrive at the scene, and we could see them as they approached the Camino Real Bridge from the South. Cap't Noah arrived within 45 minuets.

While waiting for the Tow Boat, I realized I could possibly fix the broken strap by drilling a hole (X marks the spot) but my Cordless drill batteries were both flat, I probably could have charged a battery and tried the fix, but it would take at least a couple of hours, and that would delay us to head home on Monday, with a bunch of additional issues for the journey.

Due to our boat draft and the skinny water at the entrance to the canal where our dock is located, we have to enter the canal within 2 hours of High Tide, that meant not entering the canal until 1900 Sunday night.

We advised Cap't Noah at the outset, he kept his speed set to arrive within the time restraint. 

We were transferred to another Tow Boat after passing Sunrise Blvd Bridge, the Skipper was given the same info: 2 hours either side of High tide, and he did a great job, we got to the dock just before 1900 and 7' of water at the canal entrance (Full Moon!)

After quickly unloading the boat and headed towards home. We called Manino's Pizza and ordered a pickup, it was ready when we pulled in to park and were on our way home, just about a mile from our house. 

Home, Pizza, Feed the Cat (he came home the same time as us), a shower, and a glass or two of wine, an hour of TV (Silent Witness) and then a night of deep sleep (ok, until 04:00 when the cat decided he wanted out).

This morning I went to the boat and removed the broken 'strap' marked it where it should be drilled and asked buddies on line for solutions.

The best potential option was to install a HEIM Adjustable Stainless Steel Strap. I was about to order one from Amazon, but measured twice and realized that the 'Straight' HEIM unit would interfere with the Drive Belt. That's a no go.

I checked with Catalina Direct, they had the part but only as part of the Kit to upgrade the Alternator support, which was already upgraded on Eximius, and they advised I might try getting it from Westerbeke.  Catalina Direct is a great resource for Catalina Owners. They have come through for us many times over the past 15 years that we have owned Catalina Yachts.

I found the part number on Westerbeke.com as well as downloading their searchable parts manual. Within Minutes, I had placed an order, with 2nd day air shipping. I ordered 2, this is one of those things that it's obvious, with 20/20 hind sight, good to have as a spare.

Total cost: $82.28 which includes Taxes and 2nd Day Air Shipping for two!

Shipping was $12 for regular, or $32 for 2nd Day air. Peggy ok'd the extra 😁

So, the new Strap should arrive Wednesday, I'll install it on Thursday when we load the boat for St. Patrick's day cruise with HISC.

Here's a pic showing the Alternator hanging off it's top attachment - no damage done to the hose or Oil Filter close to the left (Stbd) side of the Alt. 

The 5 bolt holes in the lower attachment point are 

1. Spare - Threaded

2. -VE Power connection

3. The current Strap Connection bolt - Threaded

4. Spare

5. Spare - Threaded

Here's a Photo-shopped image with the strap shown in it's original position (Bolt #3)

Note how it clears the face of the Alternator and just clears the Drive belt (not shown) 

The X on the strap shows the rough position of the #5 bolt hole.

That's where I'll drill a new hole in the strap.

Here's Photo-shopped image with the strap after drilling a new hole and ready to attach to the #5 bolt hole.

I'll have this modified strap ready in case the 2nd Day Air doesn't arrive on time, just so that we can take the boat out again this coming weekend.

I'll post a new pic of the new Strap and Installed view when it arrives.

See you on the Water.

Sorry about the fuzzy. My phone battery was low and I took this pic with my Tablet, all the pics from yesterday when I replaced the arm were fuzzy.

It took about 10 minutes to fit the new arm and tension the belt to 1/2" on the longest (Alt to Drive Shaft) belt run.

Once the belt was tensioned, I opened the Raw Water filter, and started the engine. Confirmed the belt was not slipping.
Now had Tach and water pumping out of the rear, good so far.
Left the engine running for 10 minutes, stayed below 140ºF and humming along nicely.

Shut down, stowed tools and cleaned up.




Knowing that the traffic on I95 would still be heavy with the evening rush hour, I set to on another project.

The USB dual outlet on the Electric Panel broke sometime ago, it's intermittent due to the socket not allowing a USB plug to be fully inserted in one of the two USB outlets.

 New item purchased from Amazon arrived today, along with the Alternator Support Arm (Strap)

This dual outlet is better than the old one, it has USB 3.0, the outlets are illuminated and it has an on/off switch.

I did not install the cover flap, I fear that is what broke the previous unit, the tabs could have damaged the outlet.

Wiring was identical, just had to disconnect the old connectors and attach them to the new. Took all of 10 minutes. Quick test (to start charging my phone battery) and it worked just fine.

I also purchased a 12v to 5v 5amp converter, plan is to use this for our EarTek headset battery charger, rather than occupy one of the USB outlets. 5Amps is enough to power that charger and the replacement Weather station that is in my Amazon cart, just waiting for the February payment to clear so that we don't have to much on the Amazon card.

That converter is another project on the list.

Again, See you on the Water.

Paul

Update: Luckily I did not toss out the old USB outlet. Inspected it today and found that it was a Cover Tab, that had broken off and prevented a USB plug being inserted. Looks like I'm about to add a 2nd USB outlet to the boat :) Now, where shall I mount it?

Time for New Batteries - Again

Replacing our Sailboat's Batteries

Duracell 6v Batteries
April 2016

Our boat batteries are now 4 years old, they are showing their age and we're planning on some trips that demand we have confidence in our Battery System. We installed the new batteries in April 2016, just about 4 years ago, and in Florida that's not too bad. Then, I installed Duracell Batteries, but this time they will be Trogan 6v TROJT-105 Batteries and the best price I found is at Batteries Plus.

By ordering them online, they should be 10% off their already good price. But I'll check with the store to make sure that their In-Store price is the same as their online price.

I placed the order and they should arrive Friday this week. So we'll go down to the boat tomorrow (Wednesday) and remove the four old batteries.

The new Batteries have a 20hour 225ah capacity. At night, our Fridge/Freezer draws about 4.5amps, so that would be about 4.5*24 or 108ah if the fridge ran continuously, it does not! Our, very rough, typical night time usage includes:

Device	Amps draw	AHours	Sub Totals	Total
Fridge	4.5	12	54	54
Anchor Light	0.5	12	6	60
TV	4	4	16	76
VHF Radio tx.	5	1	5	81
VHF Radio rx.	2	12	24	105
Running Lights	1	12	12	117

With 4 225ah batteries, 2 in parallel and those in series to provide 12v, we should have 450ah total.

If we consume about 120Ah per night, we should only drain the batteries down by about 25% (roughly) and that's our goal, to not drain below 50%.

Our Solar System pumps in as much as 8*300watts during the day.

So, if we're using 120Ah per day, we should have plenty to spare.

I'll have to work on the formula's for these calculations.

Oh! and if we run the engine, that can pump as much as 100ah per hour, but it's normally toned down to about 60amps per hour in bulk and quickly drops to 10/13ah in accept.


All of these figures are guesses, and when looking at good battery management, the % of discharge and rate of charge are so complex that I really think it's best to leave it to the battery management system and ensure that the data fed to it is as good as it can be. So I'm updating our alternator regulator so that it's part of the BMS rather then the isolated external regulator currently (pun intended) in use.

I'll post more realistic data when I have it. Meanwhile, it's time to pull the old batteries, so that's Wednesday's task. That and wire in the smart regulator.

The Battery Bay is located just forward of the Galley under the Cabin seat, which, on Eximius, is the original seat located beneath the current seat. Confused? I'll add a pic later.

The 4 Batteries are held very securely.
The wooden beam is bolted to a Fore/Aft beam which in turn is bolted to Vertical End beams inside the Battery Bay.

The new batteries fit like a glove. The Terminal positions are just slightly different from the old Duracell's but actually work out better.

The Trojans have a single piece cover for the filling ports. The slight difference in the terminal positions result in the covers being easy to lift off (the old Duracell fill covers required a twist action to unlock them)

The process to install them is:

1. Place #1 as far forward and near to the midships end of the Battery Bay.
2. Place #2 as far aft and near to the midships end of the Battery Bay
3. Place #4 as far aft and outboard of the battery bay
4. Place #3 as far forward and outboard of the battery bay
5. Move #2 to touch #4
6. Move #1 to touch #3
7. Install the Forward Inboard Vertical location bar (3 screws and nuts)
8. Install the central hold down beam and support beam.
9. Connect the Battery Cables.

The resulting installation is complete. Now to test everything.

Solar Panels are still turned off (covers in place)
12.4v shows on the Battery voltage digital display (low, they need charging) They should show 12.6v when fully charged.

Turn Solar panels on (remove covers) and leave for 24 hours.

Voltage now 12.6v when panels are turned off and all systems are off.

Initial Fluid top up - filled each cell till dielectric can be seen touching the lower edge of the filler ports.

24hours later, voltage steady, solar panels output reduced to float stage.



Test engine start, all fine. 48 hours, relaxed each of the terminal nuts and re-tightened just to make sure cable stress is released.

The central hold down beam is not the prettiest, but those batteries are not going to move even if the worst ever happens.

Ready for the club raft up this weekend.

See you on the water.

Snubber for the Anchor

New Snubber for the Anchor

We bounced around at anchor last weekend in Lake Boca during the night of the Chili Cookooff, so much that our anchor got dislocated and we drifted towards the other boats in the fleet. Time to look at how to reduce the risk of anchor dragging - again!

Quick overview: We typically let out about 75' of anchor scope which in Lake Boca is about 7:1.

The boat's anchor roller is about 4' off the water and mostly it's about 7' deep when we anchor at low tide. We try to find 7' depths as we have a keel that sticks down 5' 7" from the flat water surface and Lake Boca has a typical tidal change of about 2', so we look for 7' at low tide and 9' at high tide.

A couple of years ago, I made an Anchor Snubber that was 30' long and it uses about 3' of rope for the knot that attaches to the anchor chain (I use a rolling hitch)

After researching online, it seems the 30' is too short! When attached to the anchor, it's 15' legs are only 12' long due to the knot on the anchor chain. Online research showed that our boat, 34' long, should have a snubber of about 28' in length.

Ideally it would be shaped like the letter Y with the upper two legs of the Y being 25' and the lower leg being 3' and a pendant to connect the snubber to the anchor chain of about 2' long.

I ordered Nylon 3 Strand Anchor/Rigging Line 5/8" x 100' White line from Amazon by Maple Leaf Ropes - $60, it came with a single stainless steel thimble pre-spliced into one end.

Another purchased that benefited from Amazon Prime. Ordered Wednesday evening and arrived Saturday.

Eye Splices in the two long ends

Step 1 was to cut a length of 28' plus the extra required for a cleat sized loop on the other end from the existing thimble. I spliced a loop on that end to fit around a 10" cleat on the deck.

Step 2. I cut a 25' length plus the extra required for a 10" loop at one end and a 6" inline splice at the other. I spliced the 10" loop in one end.

Inline Splice joining the short side to the long side

Step 3. I spliced the two lines together to form the Y shape, about 3' from the lower eye thimble.

The Completed Snubber
and Pendant + Spare

Today, I made up the Pendant from 1/4" 12 strand Dyneema line. That should have a breaking strain of about 17,000 lbs. It's about 4' long with loops in each end to fit over the bolt in a shackle to connect it to the Thimble in the Snubber

I made a second pendant, just in case. 

Next I'll make a mesh bag to hold it all so that it doesn't get snagged up on the Anchor Locker aboard Eximius

Didn't take long - another thanks to my Navy training.

That's me at 15 in St. Vincent's Rope training classroom - 5th from the left back row.

That was 56 years ago! Wow!

Wonder how many of my class mates are still around ?

See you on the Water - hopefully securely anchored! 

HISC - Chili Cookoff 2020

Hillsboro Inlet Sailing Club - Chili Cookoff 2020

We headed up to Lake Boca for the Chili Cookoff February 8th.

By Saturday morning we had loaded the boat except for the last few items (Coffee Pot which we use at home and Electronics - camera etc which we don't leave on the boat.

Easy transit from the Dock to SandBar Park, then I setup the Action camera and took this Video.

Hope you enjoy it. Let me know.

Part II will come later.

The Chili cookoff was a great event, plenty of chili, Margaritas and friendly conversations with some great club members.

See you for part II later.

Paul 

Grab rails

Safety Grab Rails on the Dodger

I'm sure that every sailor that heads back to the cockpit after working forward at the Mast or Bow in any kind of Sea has their hands reaching for something to grab and stabilize themselves.

On Eximius, Safety is the top priority just above having fun, and I drool over some of the grab rails I see on other similar sized boats. Having almost finished our new Dodger, I was looking for a way to prevent anyone grabbing at the canvas or planting their hands on the new Dodger Window.

Here's what I came up with:-

#1 Horizontal grab rail between the two dodger frame tubes.

It's basically a SS tube with 316 Stainless Steel Top Cap 1" on each end. Held in place with a 4" SS Bolt and a couple of ABS spacers (1" x 1/2"diaand 1/2"x1"dia) and a nylock nut on the inside where the bolts come through the frame tubes.


There's a 3" leather reinforcement patch sewn to the outiside of the dodger canvas.

#2 Diagonal SS tube with a cap end at the top and bottom.
The bottom end is attached to a 16 Stainless Steel Angled Deck Hinge With removable pin, the hinge is screwed to the cabin top juat aft of the cabin top side wooden hand rail.


The lower end of this rail is inboard compared to the top end that is attached to the top bolt. To enable that angle, I re-drilled the hole in the top end cap at an angle. It turns out that not only allows the tube to align with the deck hinge, but it also adds to the rigidity of the Dodger frame.


This provides a sturdy grab rail that's easy to get to before the horizontal rail is within reach. And it reduces the temptation to try and grab or lean on the window or canvas.


The new dodger side windows provide less shade for our Solar Vents above the head and aft berth, so they are running more frequently.

#3 Rear support tube. This is another 1" SS tube with end caps top and bottom.


The top is attached to the aft Dodger frame using a 316 Stainless Steel Rail Mount Hinge 1" and the lower end is secured to the Coaming top with a deck hinge.


This rail is easy to grab when boarding, the lifeline gate can be seen in the picture. It's also a handy grab when leaving the cockpit.


It has a benefit of reducing the temptation to grab the Dodger side windows, a issue that affected our previous Dodger side windows.




The last thing I have to do to complete the new Dodger is replace the zippers on the front window. I had sewn them on and cut them off several times while trying to get the dodger window to lay flat (still got a bit to go) and the window zipper has stretched quite a bit. That's part of the cause of the current 'bumps' or 'Buckles' in the front window Strataglass. New zippers are due to arrive this week.


Here's the parts all available from http://marinepartdepot.com/

Stainless Steel 315 End Cap

I drilled out the hole in the end tab at an angle for the forward top attachment to the Bolts thru the Dodger frame tubes.

316 Stainless Steel Rail Mount Hinge 1"

I could have used Top Slides but didn't want to take the Dodger frame apart

These can be used Mid tube rather than being slid over the end of a tube.

316 Stainless Steel Deck Hinge With Removable Pin


These were used as the attachment points for the lower ends of the forward grab rails.I already has two of them with bolts which I used for the aft support tubes


I have SS rings and will fit them next time at the boat.

I purchased the 1" SS tubing from Sailorman in Fort Lauderdale and Boat Owners Warehouse in Deerfield Beach.

It's been too long since our last sail, there's a need for a pump out, so we're looking for a weather window and suitable tides to get the boat out. Today is a grey day, but we're keeping an eye on the weather.


See you on the water.


Paul

Servicing my Sailrite LSZ-1 Sewing Machine

LSZ-1 Sewing Machine Cleaning and Oiling

I clean the needle everytime I change the Bobbin on my machine, it always makes a difference. I had just finished the major part of making a new Dodger for Eximius and ready to start a new project. A good time to service the machine.

Step 1 is to follow the routine in the Sailrite Instruction booklet to clean any lint from the works and Oil the machine. That's the easy part and the machine runs a whole lot better just for doing that. It takes about 15 minutes all told. Not a big deal but well worth those 15 minutes.

Step 2 is to clean the Thread Route from the spool to the needle tip and anywhere that the thread passes.

I find that the #1 cause of skipped stitches for me is gunk in the 'Thread route'

Here's the Middle presser foot, removed for cleaning.

Notice how that blue gunk is on the back side and in the needle hole.

When the needle moves from it's lowest position (below the  Needle plate when the presser bar is down, the thread is loosened so that it forms a loop that is picked up by the Shuttle Gib Hook, at least that's how is supposed to work. If anything prevents the thread forming a loop, then the hook has nothing to capture and the machine skips a stitch.

The pic shows one place where the thread can 'stick'. The blue residue is a gunk mixture of Basting tape glue and lint from the blue Sunbrella that I used for the Dodger project.

I keep a right angled screw driver on hand to make it easy to manage the Needle plate screws.

Just a few bucks at Harbor Freight

Here's the Needle plate, more blue gunk!

Again, just lint and basting tape glue. The blue patch by the aft most screw hole is build up where the glue has squeezed out because the basting tape was too close to the edge of the material being sewn.

And, of course, the Needle tip!

This pic of the needle removed from the machine shows that there's more blue gunk in the needle hole and the length of the groove in the left hand side of the needle. (The pic shows the needle with the scarf cutout on the left, but the needle should be fitted to the machine with the cutout on the side nearest to the wheel. 

This is what I clean the thread route with. It does an awesome job of removing the gunk. 

I typically remove the piece to be cleaned, place it on a paper towel and spray with a small amount of Goo Gone. Leave it for a few minutes and wipe it clean with a heavy paper towel.

The gunk can be really stuck to some of the surfaces (especially those that are not polished, like the insides of holes) So I use a scriber to push the paper towel into the holes.

For the needle, I use a threader tool to push/pull gunk out of the thread hole.

Nearly clean, there's still some gunk in the thread hole. Time for more Goo Gone and use of the threader tool.

When it's finished, the needle is totally clean.

All cleaned surfaces are then wiped down with clean paper towels until there's no residue of cleaner on the surfaces.

Ain't that pretty.

It's clean on both sides too.

I only fitted a needle the wrong way around once! Won't do that again.

A permanent marker drawing on the top of the machine to remind me of the correct direction of the needle saves looking up in the Manual when it's time to change a needle

A pair of Kelly Clamps can be used to hold the needle when inserting into the Inside Presser Foot. Works great for me with my banana fingers.

 

I insert a Threader tool into the needle to help ensure I get the Needle rotated in the correct direction.

The Threader tool wires should be at right angles to the direction of the walking feet. ie. The needle hole should be from left to right, parallel to the Arm Body of the machine. 

With everything clean and oiled, the machine runs like new. It takes me about an hour to complete the routine service, but it's well worth it.

Here's hoping your sewing is straight.

See you on the water.

Paul

Updating the Dodger - Front Window Panel - Wrong

I screwed up the Front Window

When I made the template, it consisted of three parts: The Top and the Front Window, and the two sides. I made the Top and the Brow (the strips that extend from the Top to the forward lower edge of the Front Window and I made the Front Window from that same template. But, somehow, I screwed it up. The Front window had more buckles in it than Blackbeard's Belt. At least it seemed to fit and I was able to attach it to the Top and Brow with the zips and I made marks on the strataglass where it needed trimming. 

It only took about two hours to trim the window and resow the edges along the top and sides and to make an extension for the front lower edge that snaps to the cabin top.. Back down to the boat for a 2nd fitting. Wow! It's worse! Back to the drawing board.

I made a new template using some more Dura Skim, with basting tape and painters tape on the canvas sides around the window and along the cabin top. 

Back home, I laid the new template over the 1st attempt at the front window. Wow again! The new template is about 2" wider than the original. That means that I cannot use the piece of Stataglass for the window, it's too narrow - Grrrrrr! But luckily, I had ordered 3 sheets of Strataglass thinking that I would need one for each side window, however, I was able to make the two side windows out of a single sheet. I had hoped that I could return the 3rd sheet, but now it turns out to be a good thing that I had it.

I sewed the zips to the new template and took it back to the boat, seems to fit a whole lot better but needs some tweaking. The corners need to be adjusted.  I made the adjustment with a sharpie marker on the template material, and I did not have total confidence that the template was as good as it could be, I also unstitched the zippers and attached them with a 2nd layer of basting tape. Back to the boat - I feel that it's better to repeat the fitting rather than blow another $220 on a 4th sheet of Strataglass.

Now, with the template marked up and the zippers attached with basting tape, back to the boat again. This time it's looking a lot better, not perfect, but a lot better. The big challenge is to keep tension at the lower edge of the window panel while checking the position of the zippers against those that are already sewn to the Brow. This is where I had a brainwave. I tried to use a snap to hold the template

temporary Snap-rite socket being used to
hold the template against the ridge on the Cabin top

in position against the studs that are in the ridge of the cabin top, this is where the front lower edge of the window will finally be attached to the cabin top. Using just the Socket part of the snap, I was able to push it over the template material and onto the snap bases afixed to the cabin top. Awesome!

With the lower edge neatly fixed in place, albeit temporarily, I was able to mark up the top edge and corners of the window template, the sides were ok.

Back home again, my car knows the way to the boat too well.

And that brings me to tonight.

It's the night before Christmas eve. We're taking the boat out on Monday, December 30th to Lake Boca where we'll celebrate New Years with out sailing club. And the window has to be done before then. So, tonight I'm sewing the zippers on the adjusted template and hope to take it down to the boat in the morning. Sure hope it fits just right this time. Assuming it does, I have Friday, Saturday and Sunday to get it finished. No pressure!