If it's not one thing, it's two or three others

[tparrent]

Another beautiful day in North Carolina today with cool morning temperatures, light winds and a cloudless sky. Since I'd figured out the windlass situation - and had my spare anchor in hand - I figured it was the perfect time to take my ten year old son and his friend out for a float.

At the launch ramp, I tested the windlass. Seemed fine.

Started the engine. No problem.

Powered up the chartplotter. Um...

Powered up the chartplotter. Dagnabbit. Nothing.

Who needs a chartplotter on local waters? Not me! I powered away from the dock and off for some more (mis)adventures.

I quickly realized I had no power to anything other than the windlass and engine. Hmmmm...

I motored over to the nearest quiet cove and anchored. I decided that troubleshooting on the open lake was not a good idea. Anchoring went fine without a hitch - except for the usual need to reach through the hatch and give the anchor a shove to make it ready to fall. At least it's not putting any pressure on the windlass sitting there pointing to the sky.

I pressed the "Push to Reset" button on the control panel. Pressing didn't work so I got literal and "pushed" it. Same non-result. Of course, now that I am an experienced electrical troubleshooter, I went in search of a bigger, badder breaker and I found it back by the engine, buried under dock lines in the starboard locker. The black on black color scheme couldn't fool me this time and I felt around until I found the tripped switch and reset it. Megawatts of power all over the boat!

I know that I should figure out what is causing these circuit breakers to trip but not while I have two ten year olds aboard. We motored off in search of adventure.

My boat guy told me he had not filled the tanks before I launched but I knew I had five gallons in the starboard tank because I had not used any during the last misadventure. I had a few drops left in the port tank, which I was drawing from, so what could go wrong?

I switched to the starboard tank, which has never actually had fuel drawn successfully from it, and continued down the lake. Five minutes later the engine started coughing. I pumped the priming bulb and could feel fuel but it wasn't real high pressure. I switched back to the port tank and used up some more of my precious drops of fuel getting to another cove where I anchored again.

This time I left the engine running and switch to the starboard tank again. I squeezed the primer bulb for quite awhile and the engine kept purring away. Looks like I had solved that problem - although I did wonder why I had never had to touch the priming bulb when using the port tank - even when I started the season with all new fuel in both tanks.

I pondered this while the engine continued to purr. The boat guy had replaced ALL the fuel lines a month ago after he found the starboard pickup line had actually rotted away - never having been used. No matter, the engine was working now.

Upon retrieving the anchor, the windlass started acting up again when it got to the rope chain link. I had not had this problem the last few times out but prior to that it often failed to pull the rode through the link. I had to work it back and forth quite a bit before it finally pulled everything in. The Lewmar instructions clearly state you can use a rope/chain rode and, of course, they recommend their own rode - which I had installed. It's a very annoying problem, especially when conditions are not as calm as today.

The engine had been idling a good twenty minutes before we once again got underway. Five minutes later the engine quit - right on the busiest part of the lake. I switched back to the port tank and, without any priming at all, the engine started right up. Odd.

I very slowly made it back to the ramp on my remaining fumes, puzzled at what could be going wrong.

So now I have three problems to sort through before I head down to the coast for some serious exploring in the next couple weeks:

1. What is causing the circuit breakers to trip?

2. How can I get the fuel feed from the starboard tank working?

3. Is there any adjustment I can make to the windlass to a) allow the anchor to self launch and b) retrieve all of the rode smoothly?

It's been years since I have boated regularly. I'd forgotten how much "fun" all this problem solving can be :crook

 

[thataway]

1. Overload--at some place in the circuit you have a device pulling more than the breaker will handle. Or you have an intermittent short circuit.

Basically the windlass is for taking up slack as you power up over the windlass--not for pulling the boat to over the anchor. Same for breaking out the anchor--use the boat to break out the anchor. Then pull in the rope/chain/anchor combo. If you are having a problem which is bogging down the windlass, this can cause the breaker to trip. If you put more load on the windlass than the designed amperage (40 to 60 amps?) then the breaker will trip. If there is corrosion any where, this can increase resistance, and the load. So you need to go over the entire electrical system. (hint--breakers should not be located under dock lines--the dock lines can press on the reset button, The dock lines can be wet, and cause corrosion etc. The only thing which goes in the lazaretto side which has my VCR, Breakers, and Switch, is a portable battery charger, which sits above all of the electrical connections. All of the positive wires (red) have some cover where there is an exposed connection (bare wire or brass fitting). I also cover the negative connections.

You need to measure the current draw of the windlass. For that you need a clamp on DC volt meter which goes over the + wire to the windlass. For less than 10 Amps you can use your volt meter, in the 10 amp position of the probe and the red and black probes in series. But any more than 10 amps will blow the fuse in the volt meter, plus you have to move the + probe to the 10 amp position. You will also need to monitor the current draw of each circuit as you turn on--after you have checked all of the connections for corrosion (Not on the lake!)

I use a "Link Lite" meter, Victron makes the 700 and 702 meters which will measure the current draw on built in meters--and I have had one of these type on all of the boats. This allows you to know how much power--and if there is a fault--it will show up right away. As I recollect my shunt is 50 amps (but there are 100 amp shunts also available). You can get a cheap meter for diagnostic problems--cheaper than the clamp on volt meter on Amazon: This has to be manually reset, and the proper circuit established--once this is done, it can also be used for diagnostics:
For example. There are others and if you decide to go this way, we can post others.

2 Fuel line: I suspect an obstruction in the line, tank pickup or valve. Also it can be a vent obstruction --mud dabbers! It may be as simple as a little air leak also somewhere along the way. I once had one where I had put the teflon tape on a fitting and a small amount had slipped over the oriface when I was putting the fitting together. Unfortunately gas lines are not always easy to examine. But I start with compressed air, thru the line--it is very possible that a piece of old fuel line which had disintegrated got stuck in the valve or pickup.

First I would physically check the vent to the Starboard tank. See if there is any obstruction at the vent, then consider checking the hose. Next with pulli the pickup line off at the valve where it goes to the starboard tank. See if air easily goes thru the line from the fitting before the primer valve, thru the tank (on "Starboard" (we had seen cases where the fabled plate was wrong). See if air goes thru there That is easy. Next I would put suction directly on the line to the starboard tank. If the blockage is there, then the tank will have to be pulled and the intake checked. Also see if air is pulled.

3. Type of anchor: Some will self launch with the stock anchor roller/pulpit. Some require an articulated roller or different type of roller: Most likely yours will need a new roller/ pulpit.







Finally the rope to chain splice. It should be smooth, and the windlass should easily "digest" it. Is this a horizontal axis or vertical axis windlass? Unfortunately the vertical axis windless do not do as well with the Rope to chain splice. Do you have a photo of the splice?

 

[tparrent]

Here's the odd thing about the electrical issues - the circuit breakers never tripped when I was actually using anything electrical. At least that's how it appears to me.

The windlass was working jsut fine one day and the next day the breaker had been tripped.

All of the other electronics were fine the last time out and then nothing.

Now I suppose it is possible that the helm electronics breaker tripped when I reset the windlass breaker. I would not have known that as they were not on at the time.

I fear this mystery may be beyond my ability to solve. I'll try the ideas you and others have presented but I'm really not sure what I would do if I found anomalies.

The fuel problem is interesting too. I will certainly check the vent - that should be easy. I also assumed that the only problem was the pickup hose and that was replaced. It is certainly possible that either the vent has always been clogged or the selector switch was installed improperly. Replacing the hoses, while apparently necessary, would not have resolved those issues. Of course it would have been nice if the boatyard had tested the system after they completed their work.

BTW, the locker containing the circuit breakers is clean and dry. The docklines in there are still in their original packaging. I do need to clean it out for ready access but I did not see any signs of corrosion.

Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[journey on]

Understand that the breaker is tripping due to an overload, that's what it does. If it's tripping at less that nominal current, they're cheap replace it. If not then you have to find the device that's generating the over-current.

Does this breaker service all the circuits on the boat? If so remove all but one (the most important,) and add a single circuit at a time until you find the troublemaker. It may take several days.

Actually the windlass should have it's own dedicated breaker. So buy 2 new ones: one for the electronics and one for the windlass.

Oh, one additional thought: make sure the breaker's not surrounded by junk (lines, old anchors,) that might foul it.

Boris

 

[tparrent]

All of the electrical stuff worked normally today but I oculd not get the fuel to draw from the starboard tank.

I checked the vent and it was clear as far as I could tell. It has little screens over the opening and they were clear. When the engine started to run out of fuel, I quickly unscrewed the fill cap, figuring that would make up for any vent issues. The engine still died.

I tried switching the selector to other positions in case it was installed incorrectly. The engine quickly ran out of fuel.

I can feel some fuel in the line when I pump the priming bulb but it never gets full as it does when drawing from the port tank.

Looks like I may just have to take it back to the shop that "fixed" the problem and have them take another look.

The electrical issues are, I am sure, going to be frustratingly intermittent.

I did take some pictures. Do I post them here by linking to some photo sharing website?

 

[BrentB]

Tell us about batteries? One or or two? Remove the cables. clean add a dab dielectric grease and secure with washers and hex nuts

 

[JamesTXSD]

Hi Tom,

No need for a photo sharing site - you have an album here; just click on the blue boat name on your info and it will take you to your album (you already have photos of your 16 in there). Add photos, you're good to go.