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Hi All,

When I visited the boat after a couple of months today (Note my boat is a Pearson 10M) and tried to turn on the bilge pump to pump the water out here is what I found:

-- The bilge pump was running but was barely audible (Less sound than usual)
-- No water was coming out even after running the pump for a few minutes
-- Tried with the 2nd battery, same result
-- Thinking that there was a problem with the switch panel (rule model 41) opened it up and checked everything to be ok.
-- Checked battery voltage and found to be in normal limits.

Then thinking that this troubleshooting was going to take time I turned on the stereo to entertain myself in the interim. Here is what I found then:

-- Again turned on the bilge pump and the stereo volume went down to zero.
-- Switching off the bilge pump brings back the stereo volume
-- Same thing happens with the fresh water pump. Turning on the fresh water pump takes the stereo volume to zero, turning it off restores the stereo output!

I was perplexed. The battery cannot be that much out of juice that it cannot provide required current to these two devices!

Then I said let me check if the battery can turn the engine on. Lo and behold the engine started with the first crank! So I surmised that the batteries are fine. At least enough to not give me the problem I was having.

So where was the problem? After thinking about it for a bit, I think it is a grounding issue. Somehow, as soon as I am turning on an appliance that drains some significant current the ground is breaking. What do you guys think?

I did take pains to do the proper grounding when I re-powered with the Universal diesel engine last year. With advice from Stu I put in a grounding bus and terminated the engine ground and the negatives of both batteries to the bus. Also connected the other ground wires to it. I did not have any problems until now. It was just this time that I had this issue.

Anyone faced a problem like this before? Any suggestions on how to troubleshoot and find where the root cause is coming from?

Since we are on the GPS topic and for those who use an Android-based smart-phone...I tried the EarthNC Lite App (Free) on my DroidX - http://earthnc.com. Pretty cool for a free app. If only it would also display the speed in knots, then it would be complete! The 'Currents' app (also free) from Yoyana is pretty good too - www.yoyana.com/Currents. Smartphones have truly changed the way we do things, eh?

The only problem is that my DroidX screen is not that visible/clear/bright enough while sailing in bright sunlight. Which is mostly when we do go sailing...

Nice work...

Cory,

I am surprised you did not find the FG elbow in local marine shops...perhaps the correct diameter was the challenge. Great work on making one.How did you make it, and get the right diameter while doing that? Did you use a 'form' to wrap FG around? If yes, how did you take the form out when you were done? Just curious.

Nice clean engine room, BTW. What did you use for white paint? I used Rustoleum white enamel bit that looses it shine after a few months. Perhaps I did not apply enough coats...

Cheers.

Thanks Mark. Good idea. I did some research on universal adapters and found the following which seems pretty nice and versatile. Particularly with the output voltage selector.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6455233&CatId=5489

Note: I have no affiliation with TigerDirect or the vendor...

Stu,

Let us know when you have reviewed SeaClear.

BTW, if one does not have a inverter on board, how does one power the laptop? The laptop has a 19vDC switch mode supply. That means we would need kind of a voltage regulator/converter that does a couple of things:

-- Convert the 12v dc from the batteries to 19v dc
-- Regulate the voltage since the battery voltage is going to be fluctuating a bit

Background:

I am trying to setup a GPS system with a larger monitor and use a laptop based program. I found a good LCD TV that used a 12vDC input via a dc adapter. I plan to mount it so I can swing it out to face the cockpit in the companionway hatch and can be swung away to face inside the boat when not being used for GPS purposes (and can be used for TV viewing etc). I have all the components figured out except for powering of the laptop for extended time.

Suggestions welcome!

Guys, it has been said before. The Teflon tape is an electrical insulator and can prevent the electrical connection between the zinc and the HE.

What is the primary purpose of the Zn? To save the engine parts from corroding due to electrolysis. Yes, the secondary, albeit important, purpose is to keep the water leaking from the HE. So keeping the primary purpose in mind, I would avoid any possibility of an impaired electrical connection.

It has also been said that Zn plug has a pipe thread hence it will bite into the HE and make its water tight seal. Yes, it will then also bite into the Teflon and make an effort to make the electrical contact but why oh why would we make it any difficult for it to get the electrical connection? If the water is leaking, there is a reason why it is. Find the reason and fix it.

My two cents...

Good site. Thanks ROC...

Garth,

In situations like this I have found that the root cause is simpler than we expect. However, yours may be a true unique case, we will find out...

I am with Mike on this one. If you have not already done so, keep the two impellers you tried (old one that works and new one that does not work) side by side on a flat surface and compare them carefully. Most important is the height of the impeller (width on its axis) when laid flat - circular section laid on a flat surface.

Somehow my feeling is that your new impeller is a fraction smaller than the older one. Given that the key is ok and the impeller is spinning, if the height (width of the impeller on its axis) is slightly smaller, it will allow the water to flow freely around in the impeller, rendering the impeller completely useless. That is only explanation my mind is able to come up with.

Let us know what you find out...!

Joe,

You also need to add the weight of your motor to the 70 lbs., which I guess is the net weight of your dinghy. Not that it would make a difference in your decision so far as the total weight is below the 150 lb mark. It is still worth noting and being aware of.  Regards.

I have used Epiphanes on my Pearson 10M cockpit combing. It has been 2 years and it is still as good as new. Having said that, I do have a cockpit cover that provides some additional protection. Attached is a pic from my project in 2008 taken after 6 coats...

Question to hose people who have experience with SeaClear II running on Windows and using a GPS receiver...

I am running SeaClear II on Windows 7 laptop with a bluetooth enables GPS receiver. Many times when I start up the Receiver ad SeaClear s/w I get the dialog box appear on SeaClear - "Cannot open Communication port 3". And even though the GPS is On and communicating, nothing comes up on SeaClear. I have found that just opening up the TX/Rx section on the SeaClear Properties and closing it kicks the communications and the GPS data then starts coming up on SeaClear.

Anyone experience this and can suggest a proper solution?

Thanks!

Ken,

Just curious, did you find where the bolt came from?

Cheers.

Ken,

Bolts similar to this are used to secure the gear case to the engine. If you are not familiar with the gear case, here is some explanation. If you are looking at the engine from the side where the pulley and the alternator belt are than the cover on the engine facing you is called the gear case. The gear case has altogether 12-13 such bolts. Out of these majority are of one length only 2-3 are of a longer length as far as I can remember. The right side of the gear case (the side which as the alternator) is shaped like "mickey mouse's ear"...

As others have said above, the same kind of bolts are used on the coolant manifold and also on the intake manifold.
Attached is a photo take during my re-power and shows the front of theM25 with the gear case just behind the main pulley. When you do find the place the bolt came from I would recommend using medium strength Loctite to put it back. Also make sure the threaded end of the bolt is intact and that it has not sheared off!

Hope that helps. Let us know what you find...

Cheers.

Thanks Phil. Great pics. I get it now.

Cheers.