The Zen of Motorboat Maintenance...

[Cacia]

Looks like Friday's dive is on, cause things fell in place today. I went to buy an indicator "idiot stick" at Napa yesterday and asked about any boat mechanics. With unemplyment under 1%, mechanics are rock stars in these parts. So, today this crotchety guy named Hans calls me from a payphone and says if I can be at the boat in five minutes, he will take a look, as long as a I "step on it". So, knowing that if a mechanic doesn't have phone number and can afford to be rude, he is probably an ace mechanic, so I stepped on it.

He gave me a two hour inservice and I now know many things, one of which is that I have an automatic battery charger that has an outlet with a reset button, just like in the bathroom, way under one of the captain's chairs. Who woulda thought!

So, once that was reset, and the shore power connected, the boat started by the time we had had two beers at the Kona Brewery. Don't you just love it when things work out?

I also switched the wires to my other tachometer and ruled out the sender unit and the wiring. Pretty soon people will be looking for me.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

I don't think your charger HAS an outlet, I think it draws its power from a circuit that's
protected by that GFCI outlet. In a saltwater environment, it only takes a little salty
dampness to generate enough leakage current to trip it. Remember that GFCI outlet.
It'll trip again by and by.

 

[Cacia]

I would have never found it. yes, the charger goes to the circuit breaker GFCI, and I guess the bildge won't run if the batteries die and this trips. I really have to remember to turn the battery switch to off when I leave the boat.

 

[Hakuna Matata]

I really have to remember to turn the battery switch to off when I leave the boat.

make sure that your bilge pumps are wired directly before turning off the battery switches. It really depends on how someone wired the float switches for the bilge pumps it you turn off or leave on the battery switch.

Jack

 

[Cacia]

yea, we did that. We ran a hose on the deck with the switch to off and heard it kick in.

Assuming your batteries are not drained, of course.

 

[Darnold9999]

The joy of boat maintenance.

Did a test run on the weekend. Boat burns 5 gallons an hour at 5.5 kn!!!

Opened up the carbs to discover that on the port engine some idiot mechanic decided that the engine would run better if he removed both metering rods. Essentially making the fuel mixture as rich as it is possible to be at all speeds and still run. Of course these rods are no longer available for this particular model of carb so I just ordered a new carb - ouch.

Good mechanics are really hard to come by. Good luck with yours!

 

[Cacia]

Yes, they are very hard to find here. And when you do, they want to schedule you in six weeks!

Hey-- I heard that Richard Branson of Virgin Air is planning to start running his jets with ethanol. :11: That is sorta scarey when you consider what it is doing to boats, the water seperation, etc.