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Messages - Jon W

#1051
I plan to change my Racor fuel filter this weekend. Although I can see the shutoff valve on top of the fuel tank from the head sink door, it is conveniently to far away to reach. The engine will not have been run since last weekend.

If the valve is left open when changing the filter, will fuel siphon from the tank? or Will only the small amount of fuel in the few feet of hose between the tank and filter flow out? I'd prefer not to close the valve on the tank, but don't want to end up with a continuous stream of diesel. Thanks for the help.

Jon W.
#1052
Main Message Board / Re: Re-bedding hatches
April 05, 2016, 01:54:54 PM
Timely topic for me. I was washing down the boat Sunday and notice the trapezoidal hatch leaked. Looking close the gasket is not contacting the frame in the lower port corner. The name on the hatch is BOMAR so I looked up BOMAR for a gasket, but kept getting re-directed to LEWMAR. Is BOMAR or LEWMAR the place to look for a gasket?  Thanks for the help. Jon W.
#1053
Main Message Board / Re: battery cable size
April 04, 2016, 04:43:51 PM
Mine were 4AWG on my1987. Jon W.
#1054
It goes when I upgrade the instruments, autopilot, add radar, and get new standing rigging later this year. For now I plan to go sailing for a couple of months, and use my roll and half of butyl tape to re-bed the chainplates, the drains and opening portlights in the cockpit.  Jon W.
#1055
Checked Saturday afternoon and got the green light that the batteries are good as is. I let the now cold refrigerator run with temp set in the middle range overnight with no AC. According to the BMV-700 ~12 hours later, the fridge used ~25A. What a great addition. Another great result is the SmartGauge and BMV-700 read within .03 - .04V's of each other. Voltage drop from the house to the distribution panel is almost zero. I'll be checking house to starter voltage drop next weekend.

The engine started on the house bank immediately. I then shut it down, switched to reserve battery, same result. My reserve may be at the low end, but a Group 24, 12VDC, 80Ah, 650 CCA starts the M25-XP just fine.

So Della Jean is now put back together. Next weekend I install the external regulator, add House or reserve labels to the battery selector switch and BMV-700. Some final photos attached.

Except for posting the write-up of this project in the Tech WIKI, I think this brings this project to a close. Thanks everybody, couldn't have done it without all the help.

Jon W.
#1056
Wednesday afternoon the entire system was inspected by a local boat electrician named Alan Katz. The inspection went very well. We turned everything on, and it all worked like it was supposed to.

Unfortunately one of the 6VDC batteries in the house bank may be bad based on voltage spread compared to the other 3. So everything was turned off. Saturday morning I need to charge the batteries with the AC charger for a few hours, check to see what the voltage is for each of the four batteries, then call Alan to give him the results. Hopefully this turns out to be a non issue.

Saturday morning I will make the following corrections –
1)   Add an in line 10A fuse for the 12VDC outlet at the Navigation Station.
2)   Add a piece of MIL Spec heat shrink tubing to one of the battery negatives (I must have looked in there 100 times, but didn't notice it missing).
3)   Move the external regulator negative from the house battery to the negative busbar after the shunt.

When the 3 corrections are made, he'll sign the schematic. I've attached a copy of the schematic with the corrections for reference.

Thanks to everyone for the help.
Jon W.
#1057
Hi Brian,
      Every boat layout seems to be a little different. I've recently run cables from the battery box to under the aft cabin on my 1987 MK1. On my boat I was not able to run underneath the engine compartment, so I used the hole to starboard where the aft water tank hose goes to the sink area. The hose goes through a conduit, but no other conduit or wire chase is in that area. Next to the hose conduit the area is open all the way to the galley sink. Use a fish tape and messenger lines to pull through.

2 photos attached for reference. 1st photo the hole cleared up and messenger lines pulled from galley sink/water heater area to under the aft cabin. The dark stuff barely visible next to the hose is old adhesive easily removed with a light tap of a screwdriver. 2nd photo 1AWG cables passing through the hole.

Jon W
#1058
I was thinking about doing the same thing. How did you do it and why was it so difficult? Jon W.
#1059
Main Message Board / Re: Website Survey
March 25, 2016, 04:52:16 PM
Haven't been home yet, but hope there isn't a size limit for the project documentation like the Message Board. The Word document that I will be copying from is just under 4mb (mostly due to 81 photo's), plus an Excel file, a PDF, and maybe the Visio schematic native file for another ~ 1mb.

~ 5 mb total for all documentation I hope to be able to post as a Tech Wiki write up.

Jon W.
#1060
Main Message Board / Re: Website Survey
March 25, 2016, 11:00:22 AM
Glad I'm not the only one that can't find a way to link photos, PDF, or Excel files. I have a 17 page write up of my electrical upgrade I want to add to the Tech Wiki. I can add the text but can't figure out how to add the attachments or change the title of the page Stu added after a couple hours of hunting around. The write up should be the difficult part.  Jon W.
#1061
Main Message Board / Re: Air filter fill
March 15, 2016, 06:26:26 AM
What is the black box on the right bulkhead for? Jon W.
#1062
Hi lazybone,
    I did get a few Tim the Toolman grunts out of it.

Hi Ron,
    I have a GFCI outlet at the Nav station with a nice LED feature that lets you know when it's on. There are two circuits run to the four outlets in the cabin/head. Both circuits are tied together at a dedicated outlet dual buss (the small one on the right in the photo above). The power to the dual buss comes from the GFCI so all outlets are protected. This is a simple arrangement, and the original way I found it. The down side is I can only have a few things on at a time to avoid tripping the GFCI. Something to address at another time if it's a problem.   Jon W.
#1063
Hi Ken,
I added a ground wire from the hx to the engine compartment ground buss when I did the harness upgrade. I did not connect the AC ground buss to the DC ground buss. I read somewhere that it was not necessary if using an ELCI main breaker.   Jon W.
#1064
Hi Ed,
    There is a photo of the battery charger installed on page 12 of this thread. The charger is mounted under the Nav Station desk on the vertical bulkhead shared with the hanging locker. It is out of the way when sitting at the Nav station, is easy to access, mounts vertically, and is well ventilated. The photo is taken leaning over the holding tank looking aft under the desk. In the photo you can also see that the wires run through the port bulkhead not the hanging locker.   Jon W.
#1065
Thanks Ted. I'm happy with the way everything turned out, but couldn't have done it without the help from all the folks on this great forum. Inspection is scheduled for the morning of March 25. :clap   Jon W.