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Larry's LogIt was the first Saturday of the month so we went to the monthly swap meet at the mini-mart this morning and amazingly, I sold the used battery cable. Most of it was in OK shape and the insulation was OK; I only got about $15, but since I thought it was just going to be garbage, I was happy for that. I wasn't feeling too well in the morning so while Diane went into town with a friend, I just worked on my logs, something I hadn't done in a few months. I wanted to get in an update to the web site before we left, hopefully in 2-3 weeks. In the afternoon though, before the rain started again, I made up two 'molds' for the anchor well where the windlass pad extended beyond the existing mounting platform. The holes would have gone through the pad and then into the bottom of the anchor well just on the side of the molded in platform. I decided that it wasn't a good idea to have the fasteners go through the wood platform, then through 'air' into the bottom of the anchor well so I was going to hold the mold against the side of the molded platform and use epoxy to fill in the space between the molded platform and the mold I made. It made the form from an old piece of PVC tubing that I cut and shaped with my Dremel tool. I sanded the area well so the epoxy will stick well to the fiberglass but I hope it works OK and I can remove the PVC once the epoxy hardens. Later that afternoon, before the epoxy completely hardened, I managed to pry the PVC away from the epoxy and then put another fillet at the edges where the epoxy pad and the anchor well met. That way, there was no doubt that it would be strong enough and prevent any likelihood of the epoxy separating. Happy Fourth of July. Diane couldn't play dominoes since there was a buffet lunch at the marina restaurant today in honor of Canada's (July 1), the USA (July 4) and Venezuela's (July 5) independence. We didn't go because we didn't like what they were serving and from what we heard, we were glad of it, although there was free beer (we got some souvenir beer mugs anyway). I didn't do too much except sand and coat with epoxy again the wood pad for the windlass. I did some things on the Internet using the wireless connection, which was great even though I had to bring the laptop out in the cockpit to get a decent signal. Monday was busier than Sunday; I sanded the wood pad again and put on another coat of epoxy since I had to sand away some of the prior coat - it was too rough as I waited too long to apply it. This time, the epoxy was fine and I don't think I'll need to do it again. I also addressed the problem of where the bolthole came out underneath the anchor well. Because one of the holes was very far over on the side (it had to be), it exited on a section where the bottom was uneven. If I tried to just put a washer there and tightened a bolt, it might bend the bolt or at the very least, put unfair pressure on one part of the bottom bending the washer. I decided to build up the area to make a flat surface so I first drilled out a small part; really just trying to remove the paint the builder had used there but discovered that there were some small voids in the fiberglass. So, I had to drill out much more than I originally intended. I cleaned up the area and put some more epoxy there, a difficult proposition since I had to lay on my back with my head in the chain locker and the rest of my body in the v berth. I had to maneuver my arm into the locker to get the epoxy into the hole. Drilling the spot was particularly unpleasant since the dust fell into my face from a distance of only 1 foot above me (I wore a mask and protective glasses). I eventually got the epoxy in but may need to apply more tomorrow; I'll re-drill the boltholes and see how flat the new surface is. Tuesday to Wednesday: These were some very busy days as I started the process to actually mount the windlass. I redrilled the holes that I had filled from enlarging the mounting platform. To cut the threaded bar to the right length, I first placed the wood pad and the windlass itself in the anchor well. Thursday I got the windlass test mounted in the anchor well and cut the threaded rod. The a/c wasn't working properly and we got a poor night's sleep. The a/c guy was supposed to come late but he worked on Happy Ours until about 7pm so he couldn't make it to us. I put the terminals on the new cable Diane had picked up since by the time I finished with 3 of the 4 windlass bolts (cut down threaded rod), it looked like rain and I was tired. Friday was just a continuation of working on the windlass mounting. The a/c guy finally came by and took the unit away to work on it, promising to bring it back at 4. Diane then went to town with the 'girls' and I continued working. I finished with the threaded rod, cutting it to the proper length and then started connecting the cables, so I could cut the final cable lengths and finish up with that part. In looking at the motor though, there were no marks or labels on the 3 terminals so I couldn't decide which terminal to attach the cables to. To measure for simple length, it wasn't critical but I would certainly need to know when I hooked it up during the final step. I sent off an email to the manufacturer - hopefully they could help. The a/c guy finally came at 6:30 with the unit. It was hooked up within 10 minutes and it seemed to be OK. They would come back tomorrow to see if it was still working properly and to get paid. We went to the restaurant for dinner but when we came back, the a/c had tripped the breaker again. The problem was the compressor would come on too soon after stopping, start drawing 40 amps and trip the breaker. We turned it back on and monitored it. When we had left for dinner, the compressor hadn't turned off yet so we didn't know if the problem had been resolved. We'll see what happens overnight. Saturday morning and the a/c ran all night and we slept well but around 9, the compressor cycled again and then when it tried to turn on, the current draw was 40 amps and the breaker tripped, the same problem. We called Happy Ours since the guy was supposed to come back to see them this morning as well, to ask them to tell him to see us again also. In the meantime, I started working on the windlass cables again. We got a late start since we slept until almost 8:30, missing the net. By the time I had breakfast, it was almost 10 but I was making good progress when the a/c guy came back around 11. He and his son came aboard and we explained what happened and they proceeded to test everything, but first we turned on the unit to show him the problem. They witnessed it and did some diagnostics with just timing the cycles between when the compressor turned off and when the thermostat tried to turn it on again, and that seemed to be the problem - the thermostat was trying to turn the compressor on before the proper 3-5 minutes and it was causing an overload. They removed the thermostat and bypassed the circuit so the compressor would run continuously until they returned on Monday. At least we would have comfort over the weekend. They assured us that it wouldn't hurt the unit to run that way, and I remember when we had it repaired in Trinidad, those technicians did the same thing. After they left, we ate and I went back to the windlass cabling while Diane took a nap. I cut the cables to length and put terminals on 2 and then ran the third, to measure everything again. Unfortunately, once I put the third 1/0 cable through the opening I made in the deck and mounting pad, it became very difficult to maneuver the windlass into its correct location. I needed to enlarge the opening to enable the final positioning of the windlass. That would also reduce any chafe on the cables where they went through the deck. By the time I removed the cables though, it was 5 so I waited to drill the opening again until tomorrow. Since the a/c compressor was on all the time unless we turned the entire unit off, we left it on overnight. Sunday, I woke up a little early, 6:30, and found the a/c barely running - the air intake and coils were completely frozen over so I turned it off and hoped that when it defrosted it would be OK. By 8am, the frost was gone so I turned it on and it seemed to work fine, thank God. I put it on low cool so the compressor wouldn't work so hard. I worked on the wood pad and the mount in the anchor well all day. I enlarged the hole for the cables and made the edge that lead the cables down a 45-degree angle to reduce chafe as much as possible. I then dug out the core where I enlarged the hole through the deck in preparation for putting more epoxy in to seal it. After we had lunch and Diane went to play dominoes, I got out the epoxy, cleaned the area I prepared with alcohol and sealed off the core by filling the gap with thickened epoxy. I then worked on the wood pad, sanding the entire thing and coated the top, sides and holes with unthickened epoxy. That took until about 4 so I called it quits for the day. On Monday and Tuesday, the windlass project moved to the next stage. The wood pad was now ready except for another coat of epoxy on the bottom and some paint. I placed it inside the anchor well and connected the cables to the motor to measure and cut the last one. Once that was done, I started on the placement of the foot switches. I found a shoebox that was about the right size and cut out 2 holes where the switches would go. I then held the box inside the anchor well at various locations to see how the switches would be placed. I thought about separating the switches on opposite side of the well, putting one where the old one had been and the other on the other side of the well but decided that for simplicity, it was better to have them together. Since they had covers, there wouldn't be much chance of hitting both at the same time. By the time I got all the tools together though, the guy came to install the new thermostat for the air conditioner. He installed it and it seemed to be working OK but since Diane was off the boat (shopping) I asked if he could come back later since I had no money to pay him. He said no problem. I got a little busy looking up a new wireless card on the Internet since Steph (from Mima and back in Florida for a visit) said she could get one for me. I found the one I wanted and called her. She was heading back to Trinidad on Wednesday but we would see them soon I hope. Diane got back after the a/c guy stopped back to get paid so I gave him his pay. It was too late by then to do anything else on the windlass so I just took a shower and relaxed the rest of the day. Tuesday I got back to making the box for the windlass switches. There were 2 because the motor was reversing with the solenoids I had bought. I made the final decision where to place the box and then got the materials together and Diane helped me put the wood on the dock. We dropped off the laundry first and then I came back to the boat and she went shopping at Plaza Mayor. I cut all the pieces for the switch box using my saber saw and a straightedge that I clamped to the plywood. It worked pretty well but it was very hot working in the afternoon sun. The next day Diane went to the market early and got some nice fresh shrimp and some other things. Once she got back, she contacted the a/c guy again since we were having some more problems and he said he would be at our boat after finishing with Happy Ours - their refrigeration system was still having some problems. Since I had already cut everything, using the plywood and the Lexan I had from Tundra. I assembled the switch box with tape and did some sanding to get the pieces to fit almost perfectly. I had used the saber saw and a straightedge but still there were some very minor things to fix. I put it together initially with the stainless steel brads and then used epoxy to both waterproof it and glue everything, except the Lexan top which I left off and drilled for the switches. The air conditioner was still giving us trouble and the guy came back around 4:45. He and his son looked at the unit and ultimately removed the thermostat again - after that it should have run continuously but didn't. He stayed for a while trying to fix that, and finally it ran, but only for an hour or so after they left; then the compressor would only run for about 5 minutes before stopping. It was very strange since the compressor should have run continuously without a thermostat. It got pretty warm overnight since I couldn't let it run. They had promised to return tomorrow morning. The a/c actually did run all night until I got up at 3:30 to turn it off - it had gotten very frosted and was running poorly so I left it off until we got up at 7:30. When I turned it on, it had some more problems but after a few minutes settled down again. Diane went to the fresh food market again early in the morning with some friends and I continued working on the box for the footswitches. The a/c guy came a little after 9, changed the thermostat again waited until he thought it was OK, and left a little after 10:30. The a/c seemed to work OK so we'll just see what happens. I worked a little more on the box and then Diane came back and I helped her and we had lunch. After eating, I went back to work but couldn't do much after that since it started raining. |