Poor Skip. He just comes in from sea and I kept him sitting in that hot
engine room for most of the day fixing electrical charging problems on
the Flying Pig. The charge controller attached to the old ferro-resonant
70A charger was disconnected. The ferro-resonant charger looked like
someone had cooked it for 4 hours in a 850F oven. It was a "golden
brown"...were the transformer used to be.....

The decision was made to join the 21st Century so we took the French
Fried Mercedes diesel to Waste Marine and bought a new Xantrex 40A, 3-
bank monster electronic charger. Flying Pig has gained 2.8" of
freeboard! The old charger weighed the same as the keel...The new
charger weighs just a little more than your cellphone...(c;

Once HE, sitting there atop the monster L16H battery box, got the charger
hooked up, it went clean to the stop at 40A! It has stayed there, ever
since, because his solar (15-20A) and windcharger (10-15A) failed to keep
up with the electrical load, leaving the batteries around 1.19 sp. gr. at
12.6V....a discharged state. We lit off the big Perkins 6 and I got to
smelling burning rubber with the alternator voltage never coming up to
14VDC. Loose belt, a new belt that had stretched coming up from FL. I
still think a 70A alternator also pulling a water pump NEEDS TWO BELTS
for this load!

We also discovered that the Winch battery in the bow is NOT connected
through the AH meter shunt in the engine room....so the charger ammeter
was pegged at 40A and the AH meter's shunt only measured 20-25A from it.

Next problem we'll work on is why all the damned charge controllers are
set SO LOW! 13.6VDC isn't going to charge batteries! 14.2VDC does! An
adjustment is in order...I hope.

God it's HOT in that boat with the engine compartment open....WHEW! I'm
soaked. I must have shed 30 gallons of body water today....

Well, tomorrow is another day....(c; My turn at the Flying Pig!

Larry
--
PU! Off to the Shower Larry!

On Fri, 20 Jul 2007 03:04:23 +0000, Larry wrote:

Poor Skip. He just comes in from sea and I kept him sitting in that hot
engine room for most of the day fixing electrical charging problems on
the Flying Pig.

Definition of cruising: Fixing things in interesting places. I spent
the afternoon getting bad fuel out of my dinghy outboard.

Good to hear that they arrived OK. Tell Skip and Lydia I said hello.

(currently at Block Island, RI and cruising east)

On Jul 19, 8:55 pm, Wayne.B wrote:
On Fri, 20 Jul 2007 03:04:23 +0000, Larry wrote:
Poor Skip. He just comes in from sea and I kept him sitting in that hot
engine room for most of the day fixing electrical charging problems on
the Flying Pig.

Definition of cruising: Fixing things in interesting places. I spent
the afternoon getting bad fuel out of my dinghy outboard.


What a perfect spot to start the old conversation: techno gizmos v.
camping in a cave.

I am clearly on the side of simplicity and stonage systems, less is
better, KISS group. And yes the few elctronics I have are stand alone
not all boxed together to one display. Went as far as yanking out my
power water system and water heater. But then I don't plan on many
trips above N-48. Burrrr...... I just can not understand why people
load their boats with enough systems and do dads that would make a
condo broker smile only to spend their sailing time fixing things. As
my daughter use to say, get a life dad!

Oh, I was just talking to my friend Grant yesterday. Hes building a
house. We started talking about the increase of the average size of an
American home over the last 30 years. Then we jumped to kitchens. We
both scratched our heads why would a family of 2 want a "commercial"
kitchen in their 3400 sq ft home. Wut up wit dat? We decided finally
it was the same reason why rock stars dated super models........... cause
they can.

In all sincerity, best wishes to S&L. Hope ya get some fun out of that
boat soon.

Bob

PS if you want one explanation why people spend their retirement
toiling away in some super heated engine compartment I recommend
reading: Fantasy Theme Analysis by Earnest Borman. His original
article dates back to the early 70s.

Wayne.B wrote in
:

On Fri, 20 Jul 2007 03:04:23 +0000, Larry wrote:

Poor Skip. He just comes in from sea and I kept him sitting in that hot
engine room for most of the day fixing electrical charging problems on
the Flying Pig.

Definition of cruising: Fixing things in interesting places. I spent
the afternoon getting bad fuel out of my dinghy outboard.

Good to hear that they arrived OK. Tell Skip and Lydia I said hello.

(currently at Block Island, RI and cruising east)


Tell 'im yourself. Skip's in Charleston at City Marina.....REAL broadband
country!....They have full wifi internet at OUR marina...(c;

Larry
--
While in Mexico, I didn't have to press 1 for Spanish.
While in Iran, I didn't have to press 1 for Farsi, either.
While in Florida, I had to press 2 for English.
It just isn't fair.

On Fri, 20 Jul 2007 17:06:39 +0000, Larry wrote:

Tell 'im yourself. Skip's in Charleston at City Marina.....REAL broadband
country!....They have full wifi internet at OUR marina...(c;

Yes, that's a great marina. Perhaps we'll stop in on our trip south
this fall.

What is the name of the mobile mechanic that works out of his truck
there? He helped us out with a generator problem two years ago and I
was very impressed.

Wayne.B wrote in
:

What is the name of the mobile mechanic that works out of his truck
there? He helped us out with a generator problem two years ago and I
was very impressed.



Hard to tell. There's about 8 of them I see there regularly.

Larry
--
While in Mexico, I didn't have to press 1 for Spanish.
While in Iran, I didn't have to press 1 for Farsi, either.
While in Florida, I had to press 2 for English.
It just isn't fair.

On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 21:13:07 +0000, Larry wrote:

What is the name of the mobile mechanic that works out of his truck
there? He helped us out with a generator problem two years ago and I
was very impressed.



Hard to tell. There's about 8 of them I see there regularly.

Maybe something like John Woods ?

Wayne.B wrote in
:

On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 21:13:07 +0000, Larry wrote:

What is the name of the mobile mechanic that works out of his truck
there? He helped us out with a generator problem two years ago and I
was very impressed.



Hard to tell. There's about 8 of them I see there regularly.

Maybe something like John Woods ?


That's one of them....Good guy?

Larry
--
While in Mexico, I didn't have to press 1 for Spanish.
While in Iran, I didn't have to press 1 for Farsi, either.
While in Florida, I had to press 2 for English.
It just isn't fair.

On Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:24:37 +0000, Larry wrote:

What is the name of the mobile mechanic that works out of his truck
there? He helped us out with a generator problem two years ago and I
was very impressed.



Hard to tell. There's about 8 of them I see there regularly.

Maybe something like John Woods ?


That's one of them....Good guy?

If it's the same guy we used, yes. We pulled into Charleston City
Marina two years ago with raw water problems on our primary generator.
The marina desk recommended him and he dropped everything to assist.
Excellent eye for detail, highly experienced and had all the spares he
needed on his truck, including some obscure Groco strainer gaskets.
He's one of these tough wiry little guys who can worm their way into
tight places and get the job done. I thought his rates were
reasonable also considering that he could have charged us darn near
anything he wanted.