Bristol Channel Cutter Elizabeth

Can’t wait to find some time to rip into some varnish projects. Pick up where I left off, then round the corner and start all over again with the boomkin and rudder cheeks, the first varnish projects I tackled all the way back in 2008. I only got about 5 coats of Epifanes on the Boomkin. I’d say for only 5 coats it has held up well. I did keep it covered 50% of the time.

The latest item to shit the bed aboard Elizabeth was the engine control. The button that allows me to throttle up in neutral seized in the depressed position (that’s rather punny), such that I could neither start the engine nor get the non running engine into gear (moot point I suppose). New control unit ran me $158 from go2marine. There was a nice discussion at the Sam L Morse forums about various control units, their longevity and construction. I chose to simply replace my existing unit with the OEM Teleflex brand. If this new one lasts 20 years, like the old one, I think it will have been a good choice.

Three months later I finally hung the two prints which Adam gave me in the main salon. He is a fantastic artist and these two paintings help add alot of cozyness to my sometimes lifeless cabin. Adam’s use of light and his ultra-realistic style amaze me everytime. You can see more of his art at his website.

So what could be my new engine issue? Is the starter fried?  With all that smoke…how close did I come to having a fire aboard? Immediatly after dropping the hook, I dug into the engine room to begin troubleshooting. Visual inspection of starter and ignition wires indicated everything was OK. No melted wires. I crawled back a bit further to where the starting battery perched. The entire engine room smelled like ‘burning electricity’, so it was hard to determine exactly where the smell originated. But upon inspection of the battery, there was no doubt in my mind where the odor came from. The negative terminal had completely melted! It looked like ‘Hot Liquid Magma’ at the terminal. Internal short I guess. I talked with a few friends about possible issues. Together we traced my charging circuit and tested to make sure the starting battery was getting a proper charge. All checked out OK. I have an Ample Power Next Step Regulator coupled with their Eliminator to charge a 2nd battery bank.

The simple starter test: I swapped the starting circuit Hella key switch, and fired up the engine using the House Bank. Starter appears to be OK. Engines running. No meltdowns… yet. So, out with the old battery. Let’s just say, moving the Group 31 from its perch is a royal bitch; sweat and curses come standard.

I loaded the small boat with my bike and the dead battery, bound for West Marine to find a replacement. I pulled up to Daphne to get Teresa and her bike. Now, Charleston Harbor is actually a river, the Ashley River. At max flood/ebb, the current rips at about 4 knots. All the boats in the harbor sit in different directions depending on their hull shape. Some are in harmony with the wind direction, others follow the flow of the current. This day, the wind and current opposed one another and the chop was annoying to say the least.

Making room for Teresa’s bike, I moved the battery and my Dahon to the center. All in a matter of seconds, she handed me her bike, the dink rocked from the large wake kicked up by a powerboat speeding through the nearby ICW, the painter jerked, I lost my balance - which was compounded by stepping through a crack in the floor, and the dink began filling with water! I thought I could recover it, but nope, it was too late, I was getting wet, the bike was in my hand. I let go, the dink flipped over and I swam away, thinking, “Damn there goes another phone!”  Teresa yelled, “It’s OK, It’s OK. Get the bike, it’s stuck on the dink! Quick!” The bikes! In my state of shock, I didn’t even realize the bikes would be gone. With hope, I swam to the dink, but there was no bike - it was the outboard motor lower unit, triggering another realization… the outboard was submerged.  My phone, the outboard, 2 bikes, chain, lock, oarlocks - sunk in 30′ of water with a 3 knot current. Damn. Two dinghies arrived quickly to help out. Jim from Starbound, and another fellow, who’s name I didn’t catch, but his boats name was Timrod. We righted the dink and pumped her out, retrieved the oars, got a GPS fix, and took a deep breath.

Having sunk an outboard before, I knew if I was going to save this outboard, that was the first thing I had to attend to. I got the outboard to the Mega Dock, hosed her off, flushed the oil, sprayed the cylinders, and cleaned out the carb. She’s running just fine - for now. Go Team!

We found a diver through the “I know a guy who knows a guy who’s knows a guy” network. He came down after he got off work in two halves: half in the bag and with half a tank of air. Needless to say, finding our bikes that day was fruitless. The next day another diver came down, and again had no luck finding the bikes. 30′ of murky water and  3-4 knots of current didn’t help the situation. We decided to give up the search, and move on. It was MORE than time to leave Charleston.

Charleston was the original destination for this trip. Most everyone I spoke to about Charleston said something to the effect of…”Oh, what a great city, it’s a good walking town, fabulous history, very cosmopolitan, you’ll love it, and they even have a french quarter”. I figured I’d spend the winter in Charleston…should be warmer than Martha’s Vineyard at least. When we arrived, I nostalgically put my sail covers on one last time and sadly wrote in the logbook, “1310: Trips over, anchored in Charleston with 120′ of chain in 25′ of water, M.E. secure @ 1174 hrs”.

The best thing I found in Charleston was the candy shop with free praline & candied-pecan samples. We stopped by there everyday for a free snack. We also got a free carriage ride, and free pizza lunch by suffering through a presentation about Festiva Vacations… 3 hrs later, they gave us vouchers for $130 worth of food and carriage rides. Eh, not bad.

We spent a week getting a feel for our new home, applying for a few jobs, seeing an old high school pal, and taking in the sights. But, it became clear, Charleston wasn’t the place to spend a winter. After coming all this way, I realized, Charleston is just too cold and there’s no work. Winter is the ’slow season’, just like Martha’s Vineyard. Clearly, we hadn’t gone far enough south.

We did however, have a fantastic time with our friends Chad and Nicole aboard Sabbatical, and Maxwell and Jen aboard Anastasia. We all celebrated Thanksgiving aboard Anastasia, a Baba 35. We enjoyed a wonderful meal to which we all brought something, and felt the warmth of family so far from home this time.

Seven days after we arrived, with a good weather window, fuel and water tanks pressed up, we passed Fort Sumter again, this time bound for sea. The winds were perfect, 15 kts from the NE, but I needed a little help fetching the southern breakwater. I went to fire up the Main Engine, it barely turned over, as if the battery was dead. Then suddenly I smelled that unmistakable smell of “burning electricity”. The smoke followed. Then, after I stopped pushing the start button, the engine kept trying to start. It would slowly turn over. I even removed the key from the ignition, but still, that starter, down on it’s knees, bleeding, kept trying to get that engine running. It was freaking me out actually…like the ghost of Yanmar’s Past. A few rotations later, it breathed its final breath and the pathetic cranking ceased.

There I was being set onto the breakwater without an engine, bound for sea to make the overnight passage to Florida. Without much thought, I tacked round and headed back to Charleston reluctantly. Past Ft. Sumter again. Soon the wind petered-out of course, and I was faced with the decision to either anchor and wait for the favorable current to carry me back in or get a tow from Daphne. I took a tow.

Re-anchored in the swift current of Ashley River near our newest  friends aboard an AWESOME wooden replica of Joshua Sluocum’s Spray, Starbound, we began “Charleston Part II”.

For as long as I can remember, the main belt has been spewing black dust all over the engine room. Along with the dust came an odor of burning rubber. Unpleasant. Annoying. Instead of really solving the problem, I masked it by installing a heavy duty belt from NAPA. This solved the burning rubber smell, but the dust continued to settle - all over everything - especially the alternator.

The other morning leaving Deltaville under power, I heard a loud “schnapp”, and wondered what I had just hit! I throttled back and looked over the side, but no floating log appeared. I smelled rubber, and saw smoke below. Immediately, I shut down the engine, and dropped the hook.

Upon opening the engine compartment, I saw the problem - the old broken belt trick. Pretty sneaky sis. No big deal, I have 2 or 3 spares. But I wondered why-oh-why that heavy duty belt broke.

I began monitoring the belt temperature with my infrared thermometer. To my surprise the belt temperature reached 350º quite quickly, and when I throttled up to 2400 rpm, the belt temperature rose above 450º. Concurrently, I noticed the alternator output had dropped to nearly nill… 5 amps plus or minus 2. Bad regulator? Too much belt dust build up on the windings? Overheating caused a short circuit? Oh bother.

Upon removal of the alternator, I saw, by spinning the pulley, that the shaft wasn’t straight, such that the pulley wobbled. So much so, that on one side, the fan blades nearly scraped the front body of the alternator. Clearly this was the cause of my overheating, dust-producing belt issues.

Fortunately, in Hampton VA, there was, close by, an alternator/starter repair shop by the name of Dixie. I hopped on my Dahon, and peddled my poor alternator over for a rebuild to the tune of $140, with the promise of it being returned to me in 23.5 hours. Not bad.

The following day - installation success. No more dust, plenty of power (amps), and normal belt temperatures. Cleanliness is next to Godliness when it comes to alternators. Keep ‘em clean, keep ‘em straight. For the record, this alternator is a Max Amp 137/116 amp alternator made by Ample Power on a Yanmar 3GM30 with a single V-belt.

So many things happen out here… but alot of the time is the same old: sailing, motoring, raising sails, dropping sails, hauling the anchor, setting the anchor, washing dishes, making dinner, eating  too many cookies, washing more dishes, naviguessing, sleeping, working, spending money I don’t have, etc etc etc…

Having a career that is transportable like graphic design has its pros and cons. On one hand I’m out here doing it NOW. Not waiting, saving, suffering through another day at the office dreaming of a different life. But I’m not out here, living the carefree cruising life either. I work along the way. I work while I sail when conditions permit. I work at anchor. I work in the early morning before I haul back, I work late at night after a full days sail. I work whenever I can fit in a few minutes behind this wretched machine. I enjoy the challenge of it all I suppose. But no one else out here cruising is working. They are all retired, or on sabbatical, like our friends Chad and Nicole, who saved up some money, enough for 1-2 years and are out here - just cruising. Must be nice.

The Chesapeake is over. We’re onto the our third Chartkit already. Our first month has come and gone, we’re into week 6 now. I’ve changed the oil once, and filled my diesel tank twice. I’ve spent approx. $800 on cruising related items: food, fuel, entertainment, and parts during this first month. Is this the cost of cruising?

It’s an interesting life. Right now, my alternator is ashore being repaired. I broke a belt the other day, and so began watching the temperature at the alternator pulley very closely. The temperature ranges from 350-425ºF. The charging amperage dropped to anywhere between  0 and 8 amps. Something is drastically wrong here. My batteries are at 11.6 volts tonight, with no way to charge them. Again, something is drastically wrong here. This months budget is shot already… new alternator, new batteries, new cell phone — oh did I forget to mention that broke too? I love sailing.