So far I've been taken out on quiet a few weekends since being back on the water and I've been able to show them what I can do. Although I must admit I'm probably testing the patience of my owners with a few issues that weren't apparent when I was in the Yacht Haven.
So lets go back to the last Bank Holiday. My skipper had replaced the bearings on the Marlec wind generator but the unit struggled to spin. After the usual e-mails he sends to the manufacturers when he gets puzzled, it turns out they feel that the unit has managed to burn out. So he's taken the whole unit complete with stainless steel mounting pole off. The unit has headed north to Corby to enable it to go through research and be diagnosed as to what may have occurred, it's regulator has also gone, as in theory this should have prevented any damage from occurring. The manual anode that skipper fitted has had to be replaced as this managed to slip over the side during the removal of the pole.
So come the last bank holiday I was yet again taken out for a run. Both my G2 & Code 0, was attached to the guard rail at the bow in readiness but the wind hung just below 15 knots, which is usually the time to put a reef in the main and well above the time to fly this extra cloth. I was taken well past the forts near to Chichester and was turned round to head back. Now before I left the pontoon earlier in the day I had a misdemeanour with engine running and all usual circuits on I managed to cause an entire black out when the bow thruster was tested. Not only did all the instruments reset themselves but the intelligent regulator attached to the alternator died, this meant that even with the engine running the batteries appeared not to be recharging. Whilst my skipper wasn't in too much of a panic his crew certainly was.
Anyway we had a cracking sail back from Chichester with boat speed and SOG being as expected. I was being held at a good wind angle and a larger 50' yacht just couldn't pass me, despite its huge 110% genoa. Any way my engine started without fuss and we headed back to my pontoon.
On the Monday skip returned and set about lifting the floor to check my batteries before disconnecting the intelligent regulator from the alternator and sure enough the batteries charged. After a few minutes he reconnected it and it returned to normal. So he repeated the exercise and run the bow thruster to make sure. During a trip up to London he carried out some research in to the fact that even though I have a 100amp alternator only about 30amps ever is discharged. So now he knows that the ratio between crank pulley & alternator pulley is 1:2.5 and he's downloaded the power curve, he can see what he should expect in terms of amps at any given revs.
He's also temporarily rigged up the AIS so you should be able to see where I am 24/7 just go to www.marinetraffic.com and look in the Solent area or type in my name in the search window. He's got about 4,000 different combinations to work out the final wiring configuration but I'm sure he'll sort it in due course. He also stripped down the solenoid for the electric winch so now that's back up and running.
I understand that the Honda outboard motor has been given a thorough service and this has required a new carburettor. The Yamaha that was drained before winter has started and ran like clockwork.
I'm looking forward to this weekend to see where I'm taken and show them that I am a fast cruiser and keep their trimming skills well honed.
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