It was a productive day here on Take Two.
I started off with a simple (hah) project to temporarily
re-route the engine fuel lines to jugs.
We need to run the engines out of jugs so we can limp over
to the fuel dock to fill up.
You may recall that we ran our tanks dry with our profligate
generator use. We now know that the
generator uses 0.45 gallons/hour and we burn about $2.50/day. This of course doesn’t consider the wear and
tear on the generator, nor the costs of our solar installation, or batteries. But without those factors, this is pretty
good. When is the last time your monthly
power bill was $75? Of course this comes
only by foregoing air conditioning. Bump
the generator usage up to 8 hours a day and our power bill jumps to $360.
Our engines
live in the middle of our hulls. We have
little stairwells from the main cabin down into each hull. It is two steps down on either side, then two
steps either forward or aft. The engines
are under the landings. When I’m working
on the engines and the covers are off we just step right on the engine head.
But this morning when I stepped on the starboard engine I
was treated to a spectacular fireworks show right under my feet. The kind that can only result when 3,500
cranking amps finds a dead short. While
it stopped arcing as soon as I took my weight off the engine, the next couple
minutes showed me that I probably need better access to my battery switches. My plan for the day was officially cancelled.
The post-mortem revealed that the starboard engine had a
loose motor mount under the alternator.
Stepping on the engine caused it to compress on that side until the
positive post on the alternator contacted with the motor mount, which of course
was grounded through the block. This was
an awesome thing to find out before we try to cross the Gulf Stream. Jay: 1, Murphy: 0.
The last jerk to touch that motor mount cross-threaded the
upper nut and decided to just leave it that way, rather than fix it. The resulting vibration (which I’d noticed,
but hadn’t yet found) loosened the lower nut which led to the problem above.
I found four battery cable lugs to replace: the alternator positive,
the solar positive and negative, and the starter positive. Unfortunately, I think the alternator is fried. This will be the third time I’ve had them
rebuilt, and we hardly even use them. I
also installed new hour meters on the engines.
It isn’t unusual to be faced with these unexpected
projects. The boat is heavily stocked
with tools, parts, and other supplies to prepare for them. It was somewhat satisfying to survive today’s
unexpected projects without any need to go ashore. The only thing I didn’t have today was a new
nut for the old motor mounts. I have
four completely new motor mounts waiting for that starboard engine, but that
was a bigger project than I wanted right now.
To be clear, I have big nuts, but none that fit.
In other news today, Sam showed he knows 15 letters. Sarah sewed herself a purse. We set the big boys loose on the kayak for
their first solo explore. And Tanya made
use of our local cruiser’s net to find herself a haircut. Oh, and it’s cold. Getting time to leave.
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