Trouble Strikes

We were ready to go this morning. Looks like another fine day.

We turned all the systems on, disconnected the shore power, and turned on the inverter to power the PC and charge some devices. Uh Oh, the inverter started flashing an error "AC Overload". Checking the breakers there was nothing on. I cycled the inverter a few times but still the error persisted. Oh well redundancy is the name of the game so I found a DC charger for the notebook and tried it and all was fine but this means no watching DVDs or TV when on anchor.

We tried to leave early but I couldn't get the dockmaster to come to assist so I got another boater to give us a hand getting away. Leaving was problematic since we had a strong current coming from the rear. We managed and got away just in time to see the swing bridge open! What? it is only supposed to open on the hour and here at 9:30 it opened. Well my Skipper Bob instructions were from 2 years ago and the Active Captain notes said it opens on the hour and 1/2 hour -- darn could have left even earlier.

We went through the bridge and stopped at the Beaufort Downtown Marina for fuel. We took on 53 gallons -- 44 for the main tank and 12 for jerry jugs on the deck. We did a pump out to of both holding tanks.

Then we were on our way -- just 30 miles today to Bull Creek to await high tide in the morning so we can transit Hells Gate and Fields cut in relative ease. On arrival I found the PC had shut down. The DC power supply was off. Apparently the outlet had blown a 5 amp fuse. I traced the outlet to the fuse and it was blown. I replaced it with a 10amp fuse but the outlet would not hold the plug tightly. This is probably why the fuse blew. Fortunately I had a spare 12v Outlet so I replaced it and I'm now using it to power that computer.

Another problem was that the forward head would not pump into the holding tank. I worked the pump harder and overextended the pump arm a couple of times then that started working.

So 2 of 3 problems overcome and just the most expensive one -- the inverter is left for further troubleshooting and probably replacement. It is a big unit at 2000 watts continuous so I hope I can find a solution rather that just buy a new unit.

I'll investigate later.