One of the more challenging things about working on boats is the dreadful lack of documentation when it comes to the various systems on board. One would have a better chance of winning the lottery than finding up-to-date wiring diagrams, operations manuals, parts lists, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for pretty much any boat I have ever been associated with. That would include all of the boats I laid tools on in more than a year of working in a boat yard. It certainly includes the five boats that have been part of my extended family's sailing experience; Nomad, Kintala, The Floating Bear, Blow'n In The Wind, and First Light.
The thought is that we may be getting First Light off the dock within the next few weeks. So it seemed a good idea to start working our way through all of the systems we haven't touched in a while, just to see what might need some attention before tossing the lines. First on that list was the electric anchor winch. I know it was checked as part of the survey but that was 18 months ago. I didn't actually operate the thing myself, nor was I watching when it was operated. Still, how much could be involved? Throw the breaker, pull the lock pin, hit the down switch, listen for the splash.
No splash. Mmmm...
That was with the switch at the lower helm. How about if we use the switch at the upper helm? Still no splash. But this time I could hear the control relays click. Mmmm...
No power to the motor maybe? We do have a manual for that system. But it proved less than informative. The pretty basic line drawing that claimed to be a wiring diagram barely resembled the wiring I was trying to track down. The manual also had little to say about how to actually operate the system. Mmmm...
So, why no power to the motor? One might think there should be a good sized circuit protection device somewhere in that power wire. But we couldn't find one. What we did find or, more accurately remember, was that I discovered what looked like a power wire down by the battery box a couple of months ago that wasn't actually connected to the battery. With no idea what it was for, I stuck some heat shrink on the end and tucked it away. Why or how it had been disconnected was unknown, but there is nothing unique about finding a no-longer-used wired just lying around in a boat somewhere. Just about every boat I have ever worked on has had wires just laying around with no hint as to what they might have been used for once upon a time.
Still, a DC motor system with no power and an obvious power wire not connected? What else to do but hook it up and see what happens? (When we used to do that kind of thing back in the hangar, we would call out “SMOKE CHECK!” Everyone around would look for the telltale sign of something going seriously wrong.) There was no smoke, but no splash either. So, still no power to motor. Mmmm...
Disconnect the wire again and keep searching. A peak at the back of the upper helm switch showed three smaller wires attached. It was what one would expect and it made perfect sense. A peak at the back lower switch showed a big power wire attached to it, which made no sense at all. But what is this? Right next to the switch that made no sense is another that sure looks just like the back of the anchor switch on the upper helm. But, if so, why didn't I see we see two switches at the lower helm? Mmmm...
Well, let's try this. Connect the mystery power wire back to the battery, throw both the circuit breaker AND mystery switch, yell “SMOKE CHECK!” and see what happens. No Smoke and the satisfying sound of anchor chain being played out, complete with a splash. And not only splash, but an un-splash with a nice smooth pull that ended with the anchor slipping easily up onto the roller. As an added bonus the anchor can be deployed and retrieved from either helm station.
Mystery solved.
1 comment:
Love it. Been in similar situations a few times, including the "Smoke check!" call. :-)
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