Prophylactic maintenance-New alternator

Part of owning a boat long term is replacing things you've already replaced. One could be very systematic about this, and I can easily imagine my more OCD friends having spreadsheets with installation dates and expected life expectancy. But in my case, I have a mind that constantly monitors all the systems in my boat with such frequency that I haven't found it necessary to be more codified about it. It's like a memory palace, or a well traveled path, I mentally walk every nook and cranny of Aeolus in a casual way most every time I'm aboard. It's pleasant.

What are the systems? When did I last inspect? Does it need lubrication? Corrosion protection? Replacement? 

It was thinking like this that had me wondering about my alternator. I know they fail eventually on cars, and I've had my current one on Aeolus since about 2008. So I decided to replace it for no reason other than being proactive. Since we cruise extensively and year round, it is simply not fun to imagine losing power generation when at sea. While I always carry a back up alternator, I know it takes about 30 minutes to change it, and doing this while tossing in a sea is unpleasant. It's true the diesel doesn't need the alternator to run, but in winter we are running our electric boat heater, and navigation equipment, and lights and even with our good size house battery bank we would pretty quickly drop below the necessary voltage. All this to say, I'd rather replace mine before it fails on me. 

So I go to DB electrical and got another Mando Alternator For Delco Marine 20104, 982364, 18-5951, 18-5957 63 AMP Alternators/; ADR0106. It was $87. They are marine rated and protected from ignition. 

Took no time at all to replace, and the one I swapped out became my new backup. Lickity spit, and now my mind can gloss over the alternator for the next 10 years or so as I scan for things to do! 

Chilly Hope Island

The lines were loosed on Saturday after lunch and tied again on Sunday about the same time, and somehow those 24 hours were once again far longer than seems possible. Had a nice sail for a while up Budd Inlet and an easy night at Hope. It's a beautiful full moon now and there were cloud breaks enough to see it on the water transcendent magical. The current really pumps along that south side of Hope Island and the only problem is that the current will hold your boat in line with it and perhaps beam to the prevailing winds and waves. Not too much fetch, but enoough it would be unpleasant in winds 20+. The island is deserted of other humans and so the wilds were fairly wild. There is an enormous amount of debris down on the trails, such that if you aren't familiar with the basic course of the trails you could easily miss them. Those rangers, if they even do it, have some work to do later this spring.

Lovely sail up Budd Inlet

Winds came up a bit overnight and one of my complaints with the NWS is that the forecast area is way too large for Puget Sound. The Puget Sound and Hood Canal forecast area goes from all the way up in Everett all the way down to Olympia, and that's ridiculous. Even the large scale systems effect these places at different times and strengths. I've generally found that whatever the forecast says for Puget Sound, it might do that for Seattle, but will be much less around Olympia. Except when it's not. We had 10-15 on the nose coming home in Budd Inlet. No problem. A wonderful get away. Once again, Aeolus is our space ship and was problem free and lovely.

Upgrading AC cable

My Gulf 32, like yours, was built with what was probably the common AC cable of the day in 1988. I don't know if there was tinned cable available back then, but there sure is now. When I installed the new SmartPlug system a bit ago, I noticed and mentioned that the end that connected to the old plug looked like it had heat damage. I made a mental note to replace it ASAP. 

Original AC cable. Note heat damage and brittle covering

I did that today. 

I bought enough Ancor Flat Triplex 10/3 cable to do most of the boat, but am starting with the easiest to access and most critical part that carries the most load. From my research the 10/3 cable seemed the best size, capable of safely carrying all AC loads that well surpass the breaker I have installed. On a Gulf 32 the stretch of AC cable between the shore power and the inside power panel is relatively easy to access. 

Ancor 10/3 tinned cable 

Several years ago I installed an AC breaker between the shore power connection and the panel, to protect against various potential fire causing problems. You can read about that in an earlier post here. The old cable looks adequately sized, but is now 43 years old and was not tinned to begin with. Between the shore power connection and my breaker, the cable is held up by several mounting cable ties that hold cables together and keep them out of trouble. I keep a bag of these on Aeolus as they are often enough used. 

I used No Ox ID on the connection ends, even though they are tinned. Practical Sailor has done several studies that show it to be the among the best at preventing corrosion and oxidation. 

Sometime soon I will go back and replace the section between the breaker and the power panel. After that, I might slow down as getting new cable to each of my outlets will be tricky. I feel good about upgrading this bit of the system, as it is one less thing to worry about causing a boat fire. 

New Smartplug AC system

 On Aeolus, I inherited the standard AC charging cable and have used it since. Over time the yellow cable cover has faded, and somewhere along the line the end that connects to the boat had sparked or something and there was some carbon residue around the fixture. At one place along the cable, there was a suspicious looking discoloration that looked very much like heat damage to the cable cover. You know that look of heated plastic? 

So the time had come, and perhaps had been present for some time, for me to update and upgrade our shore power system. I went with Smartplug due to liking their use of tinned cable and the more secure boat connection system. 

Super easy to install and much more secur

I got it from Defender and installed it today. Easy peasy. You may know that the #1 cause of boat fires is the AC system sparking or shorting. I see far too many very old AC cords and it worries me for my fellow boaters. 

Check those chainplate bolts!

As part of routine maintenance it is important to check and tighten the chainplate bolts on your boat. On Aeolus I had previously upgraded my chainplates to a thicker steel, going from 1/8 to 3/16, as by the time I removed the original ones I felt there was no need to trust them further. I replaced these back in 2011 and have not touched them since. 

New in 2011 and not tightened since

So yesterday I pulled off the covers and put a socket on them and found them all about a turn or two loose. If not checked, loose bolts can eventually allow the bolts to place their force only on the edge of the bolt hole in the bulkhead, which will expand and strip the hole to failure. It's only by having the bolts tight that the forces are spread and shared across a large enough area to be structurally sound. 

Stbd access is behind a box not shown

Little McMicken is a Giant Gem

 We got away to little McMicken island this weekend and what a Giant Gem it is. Lovely little sand spit on the Western side and a little trail that has recently been cleared. We anchored on the north side with south winds forecast and had a fairly windy night with no problems. Of course, our ground tackle is top notch. There are two mooring balls with plenty of space between them. The area drops off somewhat steeply and so we dropped our hook in about 30' of water at high tide right on the line between the two mooring balls. I set an anchor snubber but didn't set my anchor riding sail, and so when the wind piped up to 20-25 we were doing the anchor dance, swinging from side to side, and still didn't pop our Mantus anchor loose. The anchor came out clean, so I'm not what sort of bottom it is. 

Dramatic return home nearing Dana Passage

On McMicken looking North

We look forward to going back in summer and swimming. The beaches are lovely and at low tide there would lots of exploring. 

The little things...

 I've had a genoa furling line on Aeolus for years that was just a little too big for the drum. The genoa wouldn't easily unfurl all the way, and I would often have to go forward and turn the drum by hand to wind more line onto the drum and overcome the friction. A small thing, but who wants to do that? 

So I finally got around to replacing the line with a smaller diameter line. I used Samson XLS3 in 6mm and it works great. If there is anything we learn as sailors it is that the little things become big things when you least want them to. 

The old line is just a bit bigger, and bound up in the drum.