Messages

1. Is it possible to add a hump hose without removing the riser?
2. In the fix proposed in the pdf, why not use stainless? Brass won't last long in that environment.

T

Mark- if you want to replace the wires seaward will sell you a harness pretinned and with eyelets crimped
For about 100$. It was actually easier than dealing with the euro terminals. We had ours made a couple of feet longer so that the panel can be serviced.sorry foi the iPhone typos but this is what we have been reduced to on the other side of town
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Bob- I can't see it in your photo, but our quadrant has drain holes which limit the amount of standing water. Water gets in there by draining down the sides of the shaft from the cockpit seat. Water intrusion can be limited by using sealant under the plastic washer at the post cap.  I don't know whether it is the same on the '92 or not. Even with the drain and a relatively dry climate, we get some corrosion on the quadrant.
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This link gives an approximation... LPS=Angle of Vanishing Stability

http://www.sailingusa.info/cal__avs.htm

My best guess at the specs in their tool puts it in the ~125 deg range...
T

Harbor Custom Canvas in Long Beach does great work at a competitive price.

We had the same problem which was due to the right angle connection at the just-above-the-water thru hull for the anchor locker drain.We also have a small drain hole.
I seem to remember reading somewhere on this forum that the lack of a drain might be intentional, creating a semi-watertight bulkhead in case of a hole near the stem. The idea was that the v-berth ,locker could fill to the waterline without decreasing the buoyancy enough to drop the waterline significantly, thereby preventing the vessel from sinking. I do not vouch for the veracity of the idea nor whether it calculates out. Come to think of it, I do not even vouch for my memory any more.
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Stu- Thanks for the experiment. It looks like the teak plug is there on Aquavite too and it drains exactly where it does on 2ndWish. Is that how it is supposed to drain?  I guess I'll spray more diligently in that area in the future.
I'll also do a better job of the subject line in the future. I thought you were out at the Farallons this weekend?
 
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I'm a bit confused by the responses, so I'm posting an annotated picture of the area in question. The picture shows the forward end of the starboard teak trim along the companionway hatch hood. Based on Ron's response, I think a PPO plugged (with teak) what is supposed to be an opening in the teak. There is another notch aft of the hood, maybe 10 inches forward of the aft end of the cabintop. I flooded the area with water today and it came out clean.

Ron-glad to hear Apache made it through ok. Hope everyone else fared as well.
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So we went for an afternoon sail yesterday. There was >20 knots of wind and a pretty good fetch. As a result the deck (and the cockpit occupants) got pretty wet. When we returned we noticed black dirt/crud on the cabintop roof on the starboard side, aft of the hatch behind the mast. No one on the boat remembered seeing it before the sail. As we washed down the boat, we noticed the emergence of more crud coming from under the wood trim as we sprayed the companionway hood area, forward end/starboard side. I assume that some sealant broke loose and released years of dirt trapped between the wood trim and the hood. Has anyone else seen this? As an aside, the sail was amazing, double reefed main, reefed (partially furled to ~100%) jib, and we were still moving between 6 and 7 knots.  
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Disclaimer for noworrries:  added to topic title to reflect actual subject -- Stu

Ron- I completely agree on all fronts. Thanks
T

At great risk of turning this thread into another "head" discussion...

Stu- I should have been more clear- the 1 hour/day rule was for running a typical refrigerator, by far the largest load on most '80s era boats (when I learned the rule 'o thumb). I also agree though, calculating the loads is wise.

Ron-We do not have a battery monitoring system on 2ndWish so I will try your rule of thumb next time out- extremely useful.


Ok now into more controversial territory- First I scoured the M25XPB manual and found nothing about this. They merely provide the idle ranges and cruising RPMs. I contacted Westerbeke to ask about this question and was referred to their west coast distributor. The answer was pretty clear. They consider it unreasonable to expect that boat owners will not charge their batteries using the alternator at anchor. They instruct their customers to not do so at idle, but rather at 1500-1800 RPM. They do not consider carbon buildup from this process to be an issue. It would be if you did it all day.

I suspect that this is all a matter of degree. If you cruise 10-15 days per year, using the engine to charge the batteries probably has a small effect on engine lifetime (our 24 year old engine has less than 1500 hours with 100 hours of use the last year, <10 of those hours charging the battery). With frequent cruising and multiple days at anchor, a generator seems like a worthwhile investment. At 3-4 three day cruises with an occasional 5-10 day cruise, does it really warrant the purchase, maintenance and storage of a generator? As Stu says- Your boat, your choice.

 

I got there from the front and access the battery stud from the little door in the head. I suspect each human will contort in different ways so choose your poison and then your chiropractor.
T

We cruise at ~2000 rpm at 5- 5.5 knots. Charge the batteries at ~ 1800 rpm. Either way the engine temperature is ~160-165 degrees.
While I understand that diesels prefer to run under load, what is the negative impact of running it at 1800 rpm under alternator load (for a few hours at a time)?

ps . Just consulted Calder on this- The issue comes up in two places. He recognizes it is common practice to see engines running near idle for hours at a time saying in the long run it is bad for the engine and should be minimized by using a high output alternator. Earlier he describes how the inefficient low load/low rpm running ultimately leads to carbon buildup.  What is unclear to me is how serious a problem this is for occasional cruising and given that the engine is used under load at high RPM much of the time. Nowhere could I find what an "acceptable" charging idle speed is.  In my sailing training, I was taught to run the engine for >1 hr /day at >1800 rpm while cruising-even at anchor.

Stu- You mentioned that you actually need to move the boat to get the full charge current from the alternator. I'm confused by this. It seems to me that the alternator only has the engine belt speed as a variable. If the engine is running at a fixed RPM, the charge rate must be limited by that. If the charge load is increased, the engine will work harder to maintain fixed speed or may slow down. But at a fixed RPM isn't the available charge rate independent of vessel motion? Is the limitation that it is bad for the engine to run at high RPM under low load?

Also on our boat, the drain does not go straight to the bilge but to a pump. The pump prevents free flow of air to the bilge and the hose size limits the formation of convective cells.  In that case the thermal leak is limited to the increased conductivity of the small area of the hole and may not be a big leak. If the drain passes directly to the bilge, air will flow freely from the icebox to the bilge under gravity, being replaced by cooling cabin air, representing a substantial leak.

On a related thread.. we recently found that the top of the ice box was cold and noticed separation between the lid insulation and the and the lid. We removed the insulation and found it was reasonably saturated with water and ice. We dried it out and sealed the exposed foam before reinstalling.

T
 

Believe it or not we thought about that. The cup holder has 4 slots. We figured when we have enough hands or board to need all 4, we probably don't need the autopilot and it stays below. When short handed we give up a slot to the autopilot.
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