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Interesting to see that a few folks have mentioned too much weather helm etc with the main. We've found Coral Wave often feels most balanced with the first reef in. We had attributed that to running a 135 Genoa rather than the stock 150 (which appears to have never been used by any of the previous owners). That said, the main does seem to help with sea state compared to headsail alone. So, a couple seasons ago we had a second reef put into the main. It's extra deep, somewhere between a typical 2nd and 3rd reef. We really just wanted something to make the boat more comfortable than no sail, when we find ourselves in conditions we wouldn't intentionally end up in. Unlike some commenters, we do find we prefer to have both sails up when the wind is ahead of the beam. We definitely don't point as well with just the headsail. Maybe it's a technique thing. But when the wind is on or aft of the beam, and north of 15 knots, headsail alone gets us close enough to the same speed as having the reefed main up, that the extra heeling from the main isn't worth it.

I am clueless about your bank. 
How did you determine those numbers?
What is your theoretical total AHs and what was the battery voltage during the episode?
The alternator output on a dumb regulator depends strictly on the absorbing resistance, which is also related to the battery voltage/SOC.   What batteries and brand are they?

-Ken 

Hi Ken, the house bank is 4 6v Trojan T145 so 12v at 520ah. The "down 40ah" was based on the Xantrex Link. It's an older model link, don't recall the model off the top of my head, and I know from reading one of RC's articles on his site that ah counters aren't super precise. Honestly I didn't check voltage that morning, just looked at the ah counter. Also had a few basic loads on (radio, nav instruments) plus the malfunctioning fridge, which seems to be drawing 7.5 amps rather than the 5 or so it should be.

Thanks Stu, I don't think this battery bank is "internally challenged" as it is performing as expected. I didn't realize that the bank would accept that much charge with so little of its total capacity used, but I guess even a small % of a large bank is still a lot of space to fill, so minimal resistance for the alternator to push against. Though, my understanding was it's only the lower 80% of a bank that will take charge that quickly. We were well above that. From your explanation, it sounds like these big banks will drive an alternator hard, even above that 80% SOC. For now I'm just going to keep a cheap spare alternator aboard, until I can afford to upgrade to something larger with external regulation. With our fridge broken, we're barely using any power anyway, and things have been fine the last couple weeks. Alternator running cool. Our solar has us back to full charge by noon every day on the hook. I've still got some investigating to do with the fridge, and suspect that may have something to do with the load on the alternator during the one experience.

It seems funky smells are often from the lines rather than the tanks. This applies to fresh water, and the sanitary system. Could you try disconnecting it from the plumbing, adding some water, and then checking that sample? We were just doing some work on our forward tank, which always appears clean through the inspection port. When I pulled off the vent line, it was full of some pretty nasty stuff.

Stu, the confusion is with regards to a battery bank that is only down 40ah accepting 40 amps of current from the alternator. It's still a pretty full bank. Don't batteries only accept that kind of charge when there down around 50% or 60% SOC? As I understand it, Ken had suggested that maybe there was an issue with one of the other loads. So I'm thinking I'll create a similar situation and start turning individual loads on and off. At the dock, rather than in the middle of Lake Superior, in case I end up with a burnt alternator.

We had a similar experience with our old batteries, originally installed 2015. This spring they boiled off when plugged into shore power. Likely an internal short. Installed the new bank, and it has been great on shore power, solar, and when running the engine (with this one exception) I've checked the electrolyte levels and they haven't gone down at all.

I think I may drain the batteries to a similar level, while safely at the dock, and try running the engine to see what happens. I'll slowly add loads as suggested.

It's a bit irrelevant anyway, with our AB Cold Machine out of commission, our power consumption is practically non existent. Amazing how little power the DC cooler we're using consumes. It would be nice to have the icebox functional again, but for our usual 4 day weekends, we're fine. It's only on our annual 10 day cruise that we really need more fridge space, and therefore more power.

Investigate why/what was allowing that high a current to be produced -- somewhere there must have been a low resistance path that allowed a high current flow.  Either that or the regulator went whacky   

So being down only 40 amp hours,  on my house bank wouldn't be expected to produce that much of an acceptance rate eh? I thought it seemed excessive. We are having a fridge problem right now. It had a refrigerant leak, which has been repaired, now trying to get the refrigerant level to a place where it cools properly. Currently running at 7amps continuously. Maybe there's more of an electrical problem with the fridge than I presumed, and something there caused this low resistance path? Other than that, from an electrical perspective, we did install all new batteries and a new solar controller (Victron Smart MPPT) this spring.

Bringing this thread back from the dead. The alternator we installed last year (Wilson 90-31-7000) had worked well until this weekend. Our battery bank was more depleted than usual, but still hardly at all. According to the xantrex link we were only down 38 amp hours out of our 520. But that is still more than our usual 20ish. This was due to a fridge issue, which I'll post about in a new thread.  Anyway, once we started motoring and got up to 2000rpm, we noticed a strange smell. I sniffed around the engine room and it seemed to be coming from the alternator. According to the Xantrex the alternator was putting out 40 amps, plus whatever loads, so I'd guess 51-52 total. Pretty close to the 55 amp rating. Took a temp reading with the IR gun, and it was 128c, that's about 260 in freedom units, near the windings. I started shutting off loads and we brought the engine speed down to 1600. The amps and temp started to drop pretty quickly and the smell went away. With the Xantrex showing 30 amps, all seemed well. Question is, shouldn't the alternator have limited its output to avoid burning up? Was it actually dangerously hot, or just a weird smell because we've never had it that hot before, in which case should we have ignored it and let it burn off? This alternator has about 60 hours on it, but with our solar and everything, this is the highest it's ever run. Usually I see around 20-30 amps.

Thanks guys. Ron, that makes sense, I  guess there's really no need to run the engine longer than a minute or so. The injectors are either going to leak, or they're not eh? I've only worked on injectors once before, and instinctively ran the engine for a good 10min or so after to make sure all was well, but realistically, nothing changed over those 10min. I've removed the impeller for the winter, not to mention we're still below freezing here for another month or so, therefore using the bucket and water option isn't realistic. I'd have to winterize again after. But doing the injectors this weekend, running for a minute or so, and then running for longer seems like a reasonable option. I can't imagine 30 second or a minute of running without water would be enough to damage the muffler. Or could it?
Kevin, the three bucket two hose idea is great, definitely an option once the freezing risk has passed. Often our club doesn't put the water on until a week or two before launch, which is frustrating. The three bucket idea could be a great option come late April.

Hey folks, I've got a bit of work to do on the injectors, and it'll still be 1.5 months before we have access to running water at the club. I'm wondering about pulling the impeller and running the engine for a few minutes with no raw water. I suspect the engine itself will be fine, given that there is still coolant in the fresh water side, not to mention it's -10c here. My concern is melting the aqua lift muffler. Any thought or experience with this? I understand it's frp? How big a risk is say 5min of running with no water cooling the exhaust, on a cold early spring day? I'd like to get the work done now, rather than rushing right before launch.

Aaron

A thought since it's not constant.
I'm 99% against playing Whack A Mole replacing parts but in this case the 1% exception might be to replace the oil filter assembly pressure relief valve to see if affects the noise.  That's an easy low-$ try and a faulty one might show up in before/after oil pressure checks.

My game of Whack A Mole seems to have paid off. Installed the new relief valve, and the hissing seems to have stopped! Fingers crossed it does not return, and that the valve really was the issue. The old spring was definitely a fair bit softer than the new spring. Also the ends of the spring were pretty worn looking. We also cut apart the oil filter, and there no signs of metal flakes in it, so I'm feeling pretty good about the state of internal bearings.

Unfortunately, now that the engine isn't hissing, it's become very evident that two of my injectors are super noisy. They do have a fair bit of diesel wetness around them as well, which I've been aware of for a couple seasons. I'm thinking the injectors are likely the cause of our engine bogging, and poor fuel consumption this season. One of them especially is hammering away compared to the others. So I ordered new injectors from Kubota and attempted to install them today. I hit a roadblock though. I can't for the life of me get the old "heat shields" out. I've tried mechanics pics, PB Blaster, gentle tapping with a hammer and drift. Nothing is budging them. All four are stuck. I didn't find any tips in the tech notes, or the forum, and it seems that the M25 doesn't have this part? The service manual suggests jamming a Philips screwdriver in to try to pull them out, but I'm hesitant to do anything that could create metal debris.

I've noticed that the number of gauges (yes, it's the Canadian spelling) on a vessel corelates to the level of risk associated with operating said vessel. Cars have fewer than planes, which have fewer than space shuttles. Given that we operate Coral Wave on the worlds second largest lake, surrounded by wilderness, are often the only boat in an anchorage, and operate frequently outside of VHF range, the more gauges the better!

I agree completely about the too little too late trouble lights. One of the first things I noticed when we started with Coral Wave was the lack of an oil pressure gauge at the helm. Not sure what Catalina's reasoning is for setting things up that way. I'd much rather have the fuel gauge at the nav station, and an oil gauge in its place if space was at that much of a premium. Seems like fuel gauges in boats are unreliable at best, and oil pressure is a more pressing concern. The reason I was thinking of adding a manual gauge in the engine room, since I was going to be putting one on temporarily for a diagnostic reading anyway, was that I have a series of hourly engine checks I perform during extended motoring. I take IR temp in a few places, check for leaks, check the bilge, and record/reset the barometer while I'm below deck. It would be handy to have an oil pressure gauge down there while I'm at it. Also, when there is any troubleshooting going on, I'm in the engine room and Kristina is at the helm.

I wouldn't want to run a remote gauge and have engine vibration transmitted to the copper tubing/fittings. What's the benefit over a pressure sender?  I've done a few panels that i added a pressure gauge to but always ran a wire.

Yeah, just the having to run a wire. As someone who's still learning, I tend to think the less I mess with the electrical on the boat, the better. Also, don't manual pressure gauges tend to be more responsive, and therefore better for troubleshooting? I would just be mounting the gauge in the engine room, not running it to the helm. So it would just be used for engine checks and diagnostics.

Thanks again Ken, my thoughts exactly on the pressure relief valve. I was thinking I'd start right off the bat by replacing that, and also perhaps the oil pressure switch at the same time. I believe both are cheap parts. And I'm wondering if the Rice Crispies sound and engine bogging could be related to a switch which has been overworked by a faulty relief valve cycling on and off too quickly to light the light, or cut the engine, but just enough to cause the bogging the one time. I believe the relief valve should be a standard Kubota part, though, it looks like it's actually a series of 3 parts on the Kubota parts blowup (spring 1624136950, seat, valve 1624136930, ball 0771500201). I see from previous forum posts that there does not appear to be Kubota or any other equivalent for the switch, so I will just order one from the Canadian Westerbeke supplier. I think they are pretty cheap.
For the oil pressure check, I was contemplating installing a gauge permanently in the engine "room", and it looks like there may be an unused port, according to the  service manual. However the manual only discuses installing an oil pressure sender in that port. Would there be any reason I couldn't install a manual gauge rather than an electronic one?