Sunday, March 9, 2008

Who Drained the NEUSE??




WOW what a weekend!! We had a terrific storm system pass through here Friday and Saturday. This system started in Texas, passed over Florida with killer tornadoes then up the eastern seaboard bringing rain, snow and wind.

Here we received rain and thunderstorms on Friday then B I G wind on Saturday. It was blowing 30kts at the Matthews point Marina with gusts to 56kts!! Most of it was from the SW so it blew the water out. This is the lowest I have ever seen in 16 years at the marina!! Temptation's deck was a good 4 feet below the finger pier. A real challenge to board the boat.

With the hatch cloths in place we took no water inside -- fortunately because there was a lot of rain. Saturday while the boat was rocking and rolling in the slip -- until the keel dropped 1.5 feet in the mud -- it was a challenge to work on the engine. I finally did get it back together but because of all the commotion and extreme shallowness I did not start it.

We spent the afternoon in the enclosed cockpit sipping a few beers and watching the wind machine to see what kind of gusts we were getting. The biggest was 56 kts. The enclosure did well but at some point the cloth hatch cover over the aft cabin hatch disappeared -- blew away. Well I get to do a little sewing now..

Sunday was Karen and mines 34th wedding anniversary so we celebrated Saturday night along with Jim and Barb Thompson by going to dinner at the Beaufort Grocery Company -- fine food as usual but ohh so crowded.

When we arrived back at the boat Saturday night the boats were even lower in the slips!! We were down a good 5 feet from the finger pier and Jim and Barb's SKAT was down nearly 6 feet.. Oh it was tough getting aboard. Because the water was so low I did not run the heat pump.

We did break in the new Karen Invention -- Bug Rugs!! this is a polar Fleece blanket and sheet sewn together to make a very comfortable personal sleeping encapsulation but nicer than a sleeping bag. The name comes from feeling like a "Snug bug in the rug".

Today I fired the main engine up --- should have been straight forward but when have I ever experienced straight forward... Yep turned the key and --- nothing... No click crank anything..

Well I started troubleshooting. I went over the relays and wires I cut the cable ties of of to remove the turbo charger. Ohh boy I found 2 wires not connected to anything!! I checked the schematic and these wires and relay are not even addressed in the schematic!! I did basic wiring tracing and found voltage at the ignition switch and then at the starter solenoid!! How come she no worky?? I slipped the wire back on the starter solenoid and it fired right up!!! Ohh boy. I looked for leaks and all looked fine. I wanted to stop it to check the fresh coolant level --- OHHH NOOO it won't stop!! We press the stop button but nothing happened -- just purrs along.. Good thing I didn't need to stop immediately.

Back to troubleshooting. I found the solenoid that is supposed to cut the fuel flow, I operated it manually and the engine shut down. Well good lesson learned.

Tracing wiring I found a relay covered in corrosion!! I CLEANED IT AND WORKED THE CONTACTS MANUALLY AND THEN THE SOLENOID OPERATED. Now I could start and stop the engine -- Ohh yes my new temperature gauge is working fine. It is a TELEX LIDO using the Yanmar sender. I had to use the Yanmar sender because Yanmar uses a bastard pipe thread on these senders. Something called BSPT -- British Steam Pipe Thread!!

Well overall a fine weekend and successful day but a whole lot more troubleshooting than expected.

Temptation is ready to GO... Next trip we will leave the slip. I'm not saying all projects are complete yet but she is working acceptable.

Ohh yes the stinking fresh water problems came back... That will be another story once I figure it out!!