All for a single screw

While poking around in the engine room a while ago it was noted that a bonding wire was just laying around loose in the bilge, bonded to nothing in particular. The screw that once connected it to the starboard side shaft seal housing had corroded to the point where it had lost its head. The rest of it had remained, fused into the metal part of the seal. There was no chance of extracting the broken-off screw bit with an easy-out. Worse, the odds were good for the easy-out breaking in the attempt. Those who have tried to get a broken easy-out out of whatever it had broken off in, are likely cringing at the very thought. I did. Another approach was needed.

One could drill and tap a new hole near the old one and put in a new screw. Not much of a project but still something that needed to be done before putting a lot of miles under the keel. Still, one should always be just a bit careful about drilling new holes in machinery. Particularly when that machinery is sitting in water and the hole is under the water line.

So out came the electric drill and drill set for making the new hole. Also needed was the tap & die set for threading the new hole. The electrical bag held some of the tools needed for making up a new bonding wire. The hydraulic crimper box came out to fix the ring connecters to the ends on a new piece of 6 aught wire. The general purpose tool set came out for odds and ends like screw drivers and pliers, along with some scotchbright and 80 grit sand paper for assuring good electrical bonding on the somewhat grungy parts. The parts boxes for screws, washers, connectors, and tie-wraps, were brought out from storage.

Since we were dealing with bonding wire there was no need for the heat gun box as heat shrink on the connectors is not required. For those wondering why not use the original wire, it broke off at the supposedly attached end as soon as it was tugged on just a little bit. Attaching that end at a much more accessible spot than the original meant installing a longer wire.

We opened up the access panels to the engine room and jumped in, both figuratively and literally, to get the job done. After deciding exactly where to poke a new hole, the drill motor was brought into play. The hole was safely drilled but there was no way to fit the normal “T” handle tap driver into the workspace. So the electric drill was called back into play to drive the tap into the new screw hole. A bit of soap made do for cutting oil while the lightest possible touch was applied to the drill trigger.  Electric  drills are excellent tap snappers. Which will ruin a day just as much as snapping off an easy-out.

It all went pretty much as planned, which means it took about twice as long at it seemed it should have. We did have to open yet another tool box for a magnetic pick-up tool. That was needed to chase down a runaway tap that bounced its way into the work space. As a long time aircraft mechanic, leaving stray parts or lost bits in a work space is simply intolerable. After the task itself was done, came putting all the tools away, a final cleaning up the work space, and closing up the access panels to the engine compartment. And all to replace a single screw. 

But that is the way of boats.

Solving mysteries

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...

We poked around some more and found the switch hidden behind the rolled up American flag that is stowed up right next to the helm station door. Two switches. One for up and down, and one for? Power? But if that one is for power, what is the circuit breaker in the panel doing? Maybe that just powers up the control relays? Not sure why anyone would design the system that way but hey, it's a boat. Neither of the two lower helm switches were included in the wiring diagram, though it did show two foot switches and a remote control that are not actually a part of our system. 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. 

Land side brains and boats.

As anyone who has spent any time around boats would have guessed, these first couple of days on First Light have been long and busy. We showed up with a full list of things to get done, knowing the list wouldn't fit in the time allowed. First item on the list was figuring out what was gong to remain on the list for this stay and what would have to wait until later. Replacing all the batteries on the boat was on the "contract out" list as an item we had hoped to have on the "Finished" list before this trip. No one familiar with boats will be surprised to hear that plan fell through. It was no one's fault. The tech we hired had a serious family obligation crop up. He recommended a replacement but there wasn't time to get on the new guy's schedule. So "replace batteries" went on the list as something to try and get done in the few days available. 

Day one was spent just finding our way around the boat. Which switches for which lights, "what's this" and "what's that" kind of thing. A couple of hours disappeared taking down and putting up canvas. There is a repair required on the flying bridge that will be structure and glass work. It drew our attention for a while. Bins and cubby holes were emptied, as well as time lost into just looking around trying get a handle on what we gotten ourselves into...this time.

As night drew nigh, and after some consideration, I decided it was safe to put power on the boat even though the batteries were clearly roached. They weren't that old, its just that they had been sitting dead flat for likely the better part of a year.They had come up fine during the sea trail though the voltage had fallen off rather rapidly once the engines were shut down. Essentially we would be running a few LED lights on the DC side of the boat's electrical system, carried by the battery charger. The AC side, fridge, outlets, and power tools like the pressure washer, vacuum, trouble lights, and recharging hand tool batteries would rely on shore power. "Replace ship's batteries" was moved off the current "to do" list and back onto the "contract" out list.

Day two was partly spent in the engine room sorting out priorities and grumbling about the poor state of some of the electrical work. But all appeared to be basically sound. We then dove into the huge locker under the cockpit floor. It was filled to the brim with all kinds of goodies. More fenders (10 so far) two fender boards, dinghy motor, two more anchors plus chain and rode, lines (some still serviceable), and a fish cleaning thing that fits a holder in the cockpit I had found puzzling. (So that's what that thing is for...cool.)

Under that stuff we found buckets full of other stuff floating in water, and a whole load of chemicals that have no business being stored on a boat. Tangled up with all of it were beefy hardware bits that have to do with the fancy tip-the-dinghy-up-on-the-swim-deck system. Another power boat thing of which I have no clue. 

Poking around in the now empty hole revealed a few minor chafing issues with the hydraulic steering gear that were easily addressed. Deb started cleaning and I started sorting. By the end of the day it was all under control. We were happy with the progress but beat right down to our socks.

First thing on yesterday's list was lubing the thru hulls. That required opening up the engine room (engine ROOM!) to find all the various handles. Here Kintala has it all over First Light. With her two engines, two air cons, waste dump, generator, and sink drains, it is a bit scary thinking of all the places through which water is trying to get into this boat. The bad news was that two of the thru-hulls were stiff enough to make it onto the survey MUST FIX list. The good news turned out to be that that one of those is forward in the engine room, just aft of the batteries. As I moved forward toward the thru-hull my nose caught a whiff of something that set off an alarm bell in the mechanic side of my brain. The side that hasn't been particularly busy since we moved back on land. Moments later my ears ramped the alarm up to full %$#$%%%^ ME! mode.

The batteries were sizzling like breakfast bacon and stinking of acid, their cases distended and the tops bulging. The Mechanic side shoved my land side brain out of the way and took over, calling for the battery charger and DC bus side to be shut down right now! It then took to smacking around the land-side of my brain for being near terminally stupid. Dead flat batteries on a full honking charge? Amps surging, generating heat and gas, warping plates leading to a dead short and...ka-boom!

How in the world could I have forgotten that fundamental safety issue? But, somehow, my land side brain managed to do exactly that. 

The next few hours were spent replacing all of the batteries on the boat, four house, one (big) start battery for the engines, and another (normal sized) start battery for the gen-set. The good folks at Duck Creek used a fork truck to lift the pallet full of new batteries up to the bow, then returned to lift the old batteries back down to ground level. One of the young yard guys helped me wrestle the (big) engine start battery out of its holder, then wrestle the new one back in. No way could I have pulled that off by myself. But hauling the rest of them in and out of the engine room, even with Deb's help, put a well deserved hurting on my 66 year old frame. Penance for such a bone-headed act.

Wiring up the new battery bank gave me a chance to correct some other MUST DO items. Adding terminal covers that were neglected the last battery change was just part of the job. Even the land side of my brain knows better than to leave hot terminals uncovered, especially in a machine space. Some of the wiring needed rerouted as well. It is hard to explain but there is such a thing as "happy" wiring. It is easy to spot, as is "unhappy" wiring. The mechanic side of my brain, now in complete control, made the wiring as happy as possible. The rest of the day was spent with the power washer, blasting 2 years worth of grunge off the outside of First Light. My Mechanic brain made notes of things that will eventually be addressed. Most of it cosmetic, some of it not. A mechanic brain, left unchecked, will spend untold hours and oodles of money to fix things only another mechanic brain would understand or appreciate. Non-mechanic brains would scratch their nose and ask, "You spent how much and took how long to do that?"

Truth to tell, I like my mechanic brain a bit more than my land side brain. I have projects again, things that could be done, should be done, and must be done. My land side brain is mostly filled with things that other people insist be done, dictate how it should get done, set (usually absurd) limits as to when it must be done, and are absolutely bonkers about filling out the paperwork that testifies to it being done as demanded. Most of which my mechanic brain would laugh at, ignore, or work around without a second thought. It is probably best to leave my mechanic brain on the boat for now. It is a poor fit for my land side life.

 Today, me still embarrassed, the electrical system was front and center once again. It holds the lion's share of "MUST FIX" items. We contacted the recommended  certified marine electrician who just happened to working on a boat near by. Some of the "MUST FIX" items written in "boat electric speak" needed translating into "airplane electric speak" if I was going to get them cleared off the list. "AC NEUTRAL to GROUND CONNECTION NOTED" made sense after translation. At first I feared a long troubleshooting task was at hand. Such a "short" (in airplane speak) can be an elusive little bugger hiding deep, deep in the wiring harness. 

But do the easy stuff first. A GFCI plug in the galley, actually wired into the "Microwave" circuit breaker, was tagged as kaput. Such an item could also be the source of the noted AC NEUTRAL to GROUND connection. I changed it, copying the wires from plug to plug exactly. Not only was the GFCI still not working, now the microwave was dead as well. Deb, being far smarter and more patient than I, dug into the paperwork that came with the plug and spotted the mistake. The wiring I copied had two white wires crossed. Swap them and everything worked. Even better?  That sneaky little short had disappeared.

Of course there are more wiring glitches to fix. Two will be splicing into main power leads to add over-voltage protection. One at the main house bank to the ship loads. The other at the generator start battery to the starter itself. Somehow both were overlooked during previous surveys. Also, something needs to be done behind the main electrical panel to ensure the AC and DC wires and connections don't try to get friendly.

Those will have to wait for the next visit. Or they may end up on the "contract out" list. At the moment time is more of an issue than funding, Each trip costs at least three days on the road, usually 4. But the long and short of it is First Light is already starting to feel like home. Something making my mechanic brain smile.