Chestertown doesn't want us to leave...
We were ready to bid adieu to Chestertown and head back to Annapolis to work...alas, it was not to be.
As we were opening up the visor on the spray dodger in the cockpit the zipper jammed. Our alternator/regulator quit functioning, tach dropped off, no power output form the alternator. The chain jammed in the pipe leading from the windlass to the chain locker. All within 10 minutes.
Something tells me we're to stay another day or two. We wanted to hit Farmer's Market in Saturday morning anyway...I guess we will pick up some more fresh produce.
I have been messing about with the charging system, doing field test on the alternator, isolating switches, fussing with the regulator...thankfully the solar panels and wind gen are putting out. I have it down to a couple of choices...one is to put on the spare alternator which is a do-able job. The other is re-wiring the harness which is a monster task. The third is isolating the regulator which I will do first thing in the morning...I've had enough today.
Darned near electrocuted myself in the process, too... I was using the manual starter & kill switch on the engine instead of in cockpit...the engine kill switch jammed, the engine died and I had no idea there was anything wrong. When we started up the engine the next time it would not turn over. I took the Golden Rule... if something suddenly doesn't work, go back to the last thing you were working on. Bingo! I jostled it and the current jumping the gap jumped into me...I have black lines across 2 fingers. Yikes!
Heather has been perusing the electrical and mechanical books & manuals and knee deep in the fixin's...I have to say we make a good team. I just wish we didn't have to prove it sometimes...
The chain locker will be dis-assembled, the angle that the chain enters the locker changed and the pipe size (PVC) enlarged to prevent this from happening again. But to access it I will have to dremel open the locker and take apart part of the windlass. Sounds like a Grand Friday is in store for the Crew of Holding Pattern.
Like I told someone today...sometimes paradise is roses, sometimes paradise has teeth. Today those teeth bit us in the backside.
I figured out what has caused all of this... we haven't donated anything to the water lately....tools, laundry pegs, nothing... and the last big thing that got donated (our best hammer) was dropped by another boater...so I think he got credit for the deposit...
EDIT: All things are right in the world again. A full field test showed that the voltage regulator was bad. West Marine in Annapolis has one in stock and we can get it for Port Supply price which is as cheap as I can find to order it anywhere else.
The chain glitch is remedied as well...and although I will have to change the locker entry in the near future it is not a must to get the chain in now.
I like it when a plan comes together. | 