A few more jobs done.
19 July 2015 | Anse Lazio, Praslin Island, Seychelles.
Bill/Partly cloudy and some what calm
As I wrote in the last post, todays job(one of several) was to reinstall our DuoGen wind generator. We started in just after breakfast(cream crackers with jam), about 0900. We've done this several times so we even know the sizes of the allen wrenches to use. We tied a line to the generator and slowly lowered it over the stern rail. This is not you normal generator but one that worked in air and in water so the generator part sits low so it can tilt. I shoved it into its racket while Tracy held on above on deck. In went the retaining pin and it was all attached to the boat again. On goes the central drive shaft and the aluminum post that covers the drive shaft. We made sure to coat the head of the generator and the inside of the aluminum post with Lanocoate so we can get it back off when we need to. We found in the past, that if we don't do it, it's darn near impossible to get it apart the fit is so tight. In go the screws that hold it all together and we moved on to other parts till it was all installed. When we'd taken the electric lines out through the deck, we'd attached a line to the wires so we could just pull them back inside when it was all repaired. In it went through the deck and I connected the wires and covered each with electrical heat shrink tube that keeps the water out. I carry a heat gun on board just for this job. With all the connections done, I put on the propeller on the generator and waited for the wind. A few minutes later, it started to blow. I looked at the volt/amp meter that measures the volts and amps that come in and go out of the boat. I saw no change at all even when the wind was really howling. Oh Cr-p! What was wrong now? I'd hooked up my volt meter when we brought it on board and it showed us getting power. Now that it was installed, my gauges showed zip. I shoved a prong through the heat shrink I'd put on the wires and when the wind picked up, I had plenty of voltage coming out of the generator. The problem was inside the boat!! Most common fault---a blown fuse. I knew where the fuses are since I installed the generator and wiring myself years ago. I pulled out one of the fuses and sure enough, it had blown a 30 amp fuse. Off to my electrical parts box and I pulled out my last 30 amp fuse. In it went and sure enough, the next time the wind showed up, it registered on my meter. I had wind power to try and keep my batteries charged!!! It's been quite a while since it had worked so it was nice to have it up and running again. It will never charge my batteries but it will lessen the amount of time I have to run the generator, at least as long as the wind continues to blow(quiet outside now). I finished the installation and had a great lunch of left over chicken curry on rice and a salad. We'd both earned it.
After lunch, on the the next job. An easy one. Replace the cover on our Hydrovane wind auto pilot. The old one has not only Sun rotted but had gotten sliced by the blades of the wind generator during our time in the Maldives. We were using the Hydrovane and the blades on the turned off DuoGen just sliced through the fabric covering the wind blade. We'd slapped a big piece of sail repair tape over the hole and it had still worked just fine. I slid off the old cover and slid on the new one lacing it on at the bottom to keep it nice and tight.
Now that that was done, on the project number three: Drilling, taping and installing bolts into our boom crutch. A "boom crutch" is a big chunk of wood(at least on our boat) that goes from side to side on the rear deck and supports the boom when we are not sailing. Apparently, the previous owner never had the bolts put back in when they were doing some work on the dodger/bimini/main sail. Not a big thing but something that should have been attended to a long time ago is now fixed. I drilled, taped, put Lanocoat on each of the thread of the bolts and installed them. Pain in the but drilling and tapping holes in big chunks of stainsteel tubing. All done by 1600. Time for a shower and a drink. We'd both earned it. Another day with good work accomplished. Tomorrow, a bus trip to town here on Praslin.