Charge!

I’m in the midst of a project to replace the alternator at the moment.  The existing Hitachi alternator will generate up to 80A and is unregulated.  Being unregulated means the charging is less efficient and the house batteries can become over charged when motoring for long periods.

The new alternator is manufactured by Balmar and has an external regulator to control the charge rate and prevent over-charging.  The regulator senses the current draw and charges the battery in stages, offering less and less current as the battery gets close to being fully charged.  It’s like closing a door:  initially you can move the door quickly, but as it gets close to being fully closed it is best to slow down so the door doesn’t slam shut and cause damage.

The higher current will also make it easier to keep the batteries charged.  The result will be prolonged battery life and fewer engine hours.  Balmar sells even higher amperage alternators that would probably fit, but more powerful alternators create more drag on the drive belt.  100A is considered the limit without adding a second belt, which would require a change of pulleys on both the engine and the alternators.

I’d be tempted to make that change and switch to an alternator that supplies 120A, 150A or more, but the boat and it’s wiring are designed for the alternator that it has, so I’m reluctant to push things too far.

Installing the new alternator shouldn’t be too tough.  It’s designed with the same mechanical footprint.   The new external regulator will be harder.  There are new wires to be run that will be challenging.  The regulator needs to be installed close to the alternator and will be mounted above the engine in the engine room. Then there are two wires that run to the battery to sense voltage and temperature.  They’ll require pulling floorboards and threading wires behind panels.  By hook or by crook, we’ll get it done though and Quijote will be much happier for her new hardware.

Throttled Back

With the boat yard work complete, I set to work doing several other fun projects aboard Quijote.  Some jobs have been rather small, like rebuilding the toilet pump and replacing the bathroom door latch that was broken last summer (sending a broken spring flying across the cabin).  Other jobs are a little more challenging.

Replacing the throttle cable on this boat (also broken last summer) takes some effort.  We were motoring southbound down Discovery Passage past Campbell River last summer, when the engine rpm suddenly cut out.  As it became evident, the engine didn’t die, it had just gone to idle.  My first instinct was to check the throttle cable and that was indeed the problem.  The cable came apart where it connects to the engine.  I was able to coax it back into submission with duct tape and bailing wire, a fix that lasted us all the way home.  That’s a good thing, because it was necessary to disassemble the steering pedestal to get the cable disconnected from the shift lever.

As long as I have the steering pedestal dismantled, why not replace those steering wheel bearings that have been squealing off and on for as long as I’ve owned the boat?  Of coarse bearing replacement made the job considerably more complicated.  I had to slacken the steering cables, disconnect the chain that goes over a sprocket on the steering shaft and remove the shaft and bearing assembly. With that, I sent the assembly to a shop that can remove the old bearings and press in new ones.  The shop that does that, is out of action (for reasons I don’t completely understand) due to the government shutdown.  So it goes.  Who knew the shutdown would affect me so directly?  Lets hope the shutdown ends before the summer (for many reasons).

Yard Work

A fair amount of work has been accomplished on Quijote this fall and winter. In October the friendly folks at Yachtfitters and I hauled the boat out of the water and took care of some pressing issues.  We sanded and painted the hull, replaced a corroded through-hull valve and replaced a faulty seawater temperature sensor.

The sail-drive has needed work for as long as I’ve owned the boat.  A sail-drive is a curious name for the gear box that is driven by the engine and turns the propeller.  When I had the gear oil in the sail-drive tested by a lab, it showed evidence of water contamination. That suggested the seal for the propeller shaft was leaking.  While the boat was out of the water, I had the seal replaced and they found pitting and corrosion on the shaft where it makes contact with the seal.

I’d have thought the whole shaft would need to be replaced, but that turned out not to be the case.  They took the shaft to a shop with a lathe and cut a groove into it, removing the pitting and corrosion.  Then they filed the new groove with a ceramic paste.  After the paste hardened, they put the shaft back on the lathe and trimmed off the excess, so the diameter was back to the original. It’s now good as new, maybe better. I have no idea how ceramic wears differently than stainless steel, but it shouldn’t pit, oxidize, or corrode where it makes contact with the seal.  It’s really good to have all that boat yard work done.

2019 Intro

It’s early in the year to be starting another Quijote blog, but I have a hankering to get it going.  So much has been going on, I think I ought to be filling in the Quijote faithful, however thin those ranks may be.

Welcome to the 2018 blog reporting on Quijote activity. This will be the fourth in a series of annual blogs that describe preparation for and participation in the trips on the sailing vessel Quijote. 

2016 took us up the Inside Passage to Glacier Bay, Alaska for fourteen weeks with seventeen crew joining us along the way at various times: http://svquijote.blogspot.com

In 2017 Quijote crew did a six week circumnavigation of Vancouver Island: http://svquijote2017.blogspot.com

Then last year we headed back up the Inside Passage for five weeks to the Broughton Archipelago: http://svquijote2018.blogspot.com

In 2019 the fun continues: we'll leave Seattle in mid-August, go out the Strait of Juan de Fuca and take a left turn down the coast to San Diego.  From there we go around Baja to the Sea of Cortez.  I’ll leave the boat in La Paz during the holidays, followed by a couple of months of Cruising in Mexico.  Then in spring of 2020 we'll head off across the South Pacific, going as far as New Zealand before heading back though Tahiti, Hawaii, Alaska, and then home.  It’ll be a two year Pacific (if not pacific) semi-circumnavigation  with a few flights home to reconnect with family and friends from time to time.

Away we go!