gulfcoast john
New member
We live 110 miles away and arrived at our marina (NAS Pensacola Bayou Grande) last weekend to find no AC power on Cat O' Mine and the AC panel tripped off with the 'REVERSE POLARITY' red warning LED on. The fridge automatically switched to DC and ran down the house battery toward the Nova Kool design specified 10.8v cutoff (how about 11.6v, you Nova Kool slimeball engineers?) The AC Marinco shorepower inlet neutral prong (to white wire) was totally blackenened/seared/charred/fried and wiggly loose and the corresponding shorepower cord receptacle hole burned sooty black and charred. No pic but the inside cover was so sooty I think it had contained flames. This inlet is over the water and requires sitting on the port gunnel and holding a grabrail with one hand while connecting power with the other hand on a good day, and on a bad day (as this one was quickly turning out to be) I dreaded dissecting the guts of this 110v inlet and dropping Important Parts in the water. Should we go back home and get the truck and trailer and haul out?
My power inlet strain relief was clamped hard on an insulated wire section with no room to wiggle. The line inside the cabinet to the AC distribution panel was flush against the wall and cable tied every 18 inches and not subject to vibration or movement or touching anything. Well, we did the dissection over the water and found only the white wire burned about 1 inch total from the connection and a very loose and burned blade to wire screw. I'm very much more OC than the typical boater, but I do not 'wiggle' the boatside 110v inlet prongs. Do you? When you mate the shorepower connection with a 45 degree twist, you would never know that a blade is 'loose'.
So I sez to myself, I sez, "Myself, could just a loose blade connection do this? There was no sign of charring 2 weeks ago and there’s no significant wakes or rolling or movement in the marina. Makes sense that the AC panel would interpret 120v AC potential between the AC hot and green safety ground wires as a ‘Reverse Polarity’ fault. Are you going to let this AC electrical problem interfere with your boating today when we could go to West Marine and buy and replace a new AC inlet connection wiring module if they have one and a new 50' shorepower cord?”
... and Myself sez, "no way, lets wing it." Eileen agreed, so we did. Took several hours and several gallons of sweat and some tools (like a tiny Phillips) I never thought I’d use. We didn't drop any Really Important Parts and only a couple of Important Parts in the water.
So we replaced as above and verified there were no warm wires or any other signs of AC trouble and the Blue Seas AC distribution panel lit up happily and the house battery started charging and the air conditioner worked so we disconnected and set out to a favorite barrier island for a nice long beach walk.
We like to anchor off stretches of Gulf Islands National Seashore and go hiking for several hours in areas where there are no boats and no people in sight for miles. There have been no reports of theft of boats/items that I know of, but I still think leaving a nice boat or nice car with the windows and doors open with my wallet (and passwords) and credit cards on the seat and the boat keys in the ignition and Genesis 5.0 key fobs ($400 each to replace, according to our dealer) on a public road or waterway is an invitation to The Kind Of Trouble I Do Not Need. Our concern at this point in our lives is avoiding issues that ruin a whole boating day or weekend or season. If some casual thief stole our ID and credit cards and drivers license and passwords it would mean countless days on the phone and standing in long lines. It’s just not a viable option to close all the boat windows and lock the door in Florida in August at 95 degrees with 85% humidity in 85 degree water. Besides, you could jigger the door open with a screwdriver while doing $1000 worth of damage to the DSG door and jamb. We keep the doors and windows open while we’re gone with a WalMart magnetic insect screen on the door.
Our solution to this existential problem, after considering the many options, is a cheap electronic 4-digit code safe (similar to hotel rooms), secured with a 1/8" cable to a 2.5" rigging tube. The manual claims it gives over 30 days warning with a red LED blinking to warn of weak batteries prior to the AA batteries getting too weak to retract the steel bars that lock the unit. That has never happened, and we use it many times every weekend during the boating season. We have a manual bypass key in case the batteries get weak, but we never got around to bringing the key to the boat, since it would never be needed (do you see where this is going?). We replace all 1.5v batteries on the boat with new ones at the start of every season. When I removed them last Nov they tested almost good as new, and went in the Non-Critical Applications Used Battery Box (NCAUBB for you Navy types).
Well, the safe wouldn't open when we were finally ready to head home around dinner time after such a late start, and the boat ignition keys and my car keys/wallet/money/cell phones were in there too. (Thank goodness I forgot to throw Eileen’s car keys in there when we went on our walk). Some little electronic part in it had the microprocessor equivalent of a nervous breakdown while we were out hiking...perhaps a tiny 1.5v heat stroke. It gave the 'I demand a reset' code (yellow LED blink with any button push and no beep). Unfortunately, this reset can only be done with the safe door OPEN while pushing an interior reset tab flush behind the keypad. The most destructive tool I keep on board (other than me) is a short handle hammer, but we doubted we could pry the door open with that. I was PRETTY (70%) sure I’d put the bypass key in my bag in the car months ago. We could call a cab, if we had a phone, but no cab is going to take two sweaty beach bums with no money on base with no ID. We scratched our heads and thunk about options a while and I finally came around to Eileen’s suggestion to call Sea Tow, get towed back to the NAS marina and hope the bypass key was in the car, using her set of car keys to open it. July marked 30 years of marriage for us and 30 continuous years of Sea-Tow membership, during which we’ve never ever called Sea-Tow for help. I really dreaded making that call (“What seems to be the problem?” “I can’t start my engines. That’s all you need to know for now. Other Florida boat drivers will be listening on this VHF channel and I don’t want them to choke on their beer and have an accident.”)
Capt Keith was very understanding. I asked if there was some point under the cowling where I could short something with a screwdriver in a shower of sparks to start the engines, but he said ‘No, no, no, no, not that I know of.’ (Don’t ask how I know about this technique). He did NOT say, “let me get this straight…you want me to come and get you with nothing wrong with your boat and nothing wrong with your engines, you idiot? Did you read the friggin’ contract? Does it say we tow idiots in functioning boats?”
He showed up in under his 45 minute estimate in a 20 foot yellow Twin Vee cat with twin 175 hp Suzis (AAARGGGGHHH!! The SHAME!!!), hooked his tow line to the bow eye (I know you were wondering) and towed us back at 9.1 to 9.8 MPH with both drives full down. He switched to a hip tow in the marina and even nudged us stern to into our slip with some really fancy piling pivoting at sundown without touching the big Doral cruiser next to us. “Nice heavy boat,” he observed, “tows real well. I don’t tow too many like this.” (I’m glad the Doral skipper, a retired 3 star Admiral who flew Tom Cats, had left for the day. No need for him to ever know. Bryant, if you promise not to tell him I'll buy you a couple of 12 packs).
We hooked up the brand new shorepower cord to the brand new AC inlet and got the RV roof AC going and Eileen found the safe bypass key in the car. I reset the safe 4 digit combo and it worked flawlessly, over and over and over and over. The 4 AA batteries all tested good as new.
What are the odds of a critical 110v AC and a 1.5v DC failure both severe enough to ruin your boating day BOTH occurring on the SAME day? Although I kick myself for not having the bypass key on the boat, I am firmly convinced that if I DID have it, it would have broken off in the lock. Or something. Some days are just like that.
I sure hope no one took pictures of our shameful tow to post on the Twin Vee owners’ forum. Or sells them to Twin Vee or Suzuki to use in a full page ad in the boating magazines. If so, let me know how much money you want for them.
I’m going to ask Sea-Tow to add to their FAQ section on their website:
“Will you tow Members for free if there is nothing wrong with my boat or engines?”
To my knowledge, no other TC 255 has ever had to call for a tow to get home, with all its’ reliable and redundant features. I’m an outlier! And no, I do not fill my port/starboard tanks with gas from different gas stations like some of you do. (I do only feed them ethanol-free gas + Star-Tron + Yamaha Ring-Free).
I’ve never been so embarrassed, except when I ran her up on a well-charted mud bar at last years Apalachicola C-D Gulf Coast Gathering in front of a restaurant/bar full of boaters with cameras. (But that's another story).
The best part is, we’ve never burned so little gas getting to that beach and back!
If you’ve had a weirder boating day, let’s hear about it!
Cheers!
John
P.S. On searching the forum, Rogerbum has a Feb 2013 picture of his burned Marinco power inlet just like mine, with Reverse Polarity fault just like mine. I don't know whether you should 'wiggle' your blades to make sure they're not loose, or avoid 'wiggling' them so you don't MAKE them loose. I guess one compromise is to dis-assemble the inlet in your off season and really tighten down the screw/wire-clamp connection. I still don't have a reasonable explanation of how my connection could loosen, or how it could go from 'bright silver clear' to 'burned and black' in 2 weeks with no movement. In any event, I'll change over to a Smartplug inlet in the off season.
My power inlet strain relief was clamped hard on an insulated wire section with no room to wiggle. The line inside the cabinet to the AC distribution panel was flush against the wall and cable tied every 18 inches and not subject to vibration or movement or touching anything. Well, we did the dissection over the water and found only the white wire burned about 1 inch total from the connection and a very loose and burned blade to wire screw. I'm very much more OC than the typical boater, but I do not 'wiggle' the boatside 110v inlet prongs. Do you? When you mate the shorepower connection with a 45 degree twist, you would never know that a blade is 'loose'.
So I sez to myself, I sez, "Myself, could just a loose blade connection do this? There was no sign of charring 2 weeks ago and there’s no significant wakes or rolling or movement in the marina. Makes sense that the AC panel would interpret 120v AC potential between the AC hot and green safety ground wires as a ‘Reverse Polarity’ fault. Are you going to let this AC electrical problem interfere with your boating today when we could go to West Marine and buy and replace a new AC inlet connection wiring module if they have one and a new 50' shorepower cord?”
... and Myself sez, "no way, lets wing it." Eileen agreed, so we did. Took several hours and several gallons of sweat and some tools (like a tiny Phillips) I never thought I’d use. We didn't drop any Really Important Parts and only a couple of Important Parts in the water.
So we replaced as above and verified there were no warm wires or any other signs of AC trouble and the Blue Seas AC distribution panel lit up happily and the house battery started charging and the air conditioner worked so we disconnected and set out to a favorite barrier island for a nice long beach walk.
We like to anchor off stretches of Gulf Islands National Seashore and go hiking for several hours in areas where there are no boats and no people in sight for miles. There have been no reports of theft of boats/items that I know of, but I still think leaving a nice boat or nice car with the windows and doors open with my wallet (and passwords) and credit cards on the seat and the boat keys in the ignition and Genesis 5.0 key fobs ($400 each to replace, according to our dealer) on a public road or waterway is an invitation to The Kind Of Trouble I Do Not Need. Our concern at this point in our lives is avoiding issues that ruin a whole boating day or weekend or season. If some casual thief stole our ID and credit cards and drivers license and passwords it would mean countless days on the phone and standing in long lines. It’s just not a viable option to close all the boat windows and lock the door in Florida in August at 95 degrees with 85% humidity in 85 degree water. Besides, you could jigger the door open with a screwdriver while doing $1000 worth of damage to the DSG door and jamb. We keep the doors and windows open while we’re gone with a WalMart magnetic insect screen on the door.
Our solution to this existential problem, after considering the many options, is a cheap electronic 4-digit code safe (similar to hotel rooms), secured with a 1/8" cable to a 2.5" rigging tube. The manual claims it gives over 30 days warning with a red LED blinking to warn of weak batteries prior to the AA batteries getting too weak to retract the steel bars that lock the unit. That has never happened, and we use it many times every weekend during the boating season. We have a manual bypass key in case the batteries get weak, but we never got around to bringing the key to the boat, since it would never be needed (do you see where this is going?). We replace all 1.5v batteries on the boat with new ones at the start of every season. When I removed them last Nov they tested almost good as new, and went in the Non-Critical Applications Used Battery Box (NCAUBB for you Navy types).
Well, the safe wouldn't open when we were finally ready to head home around dinner time after such a late start, and the boat ignition keys and my car keys/wallet/money/cell phones were in there too. (Thank goodness I forgot to throw Eileen’s car keys in there when we went on our walk). Some little electronic part in it had the microprocessor equivalent of a nervous breakdown while we were out hiking...perhaps a tiny 1.5v heat stroke. It gave the 'I demand a reset' code (yellow LED blink with any button push and no beep). Unfortunately, this reset can only be done with the safe door OPEN while pushing an interior reset tab flush behind the keypad. The most destructive tool I keep on board (other than me) is a short handle hammer, but we doubted we could pry the door open with that. I was PRETTY (70%) sure I’d put the bypass key in my bag in the car months ago. We could call a cab, if we had a phone, but no cab is going to take two sweaty beach bums with no money on base with no ID. We scratched our heads and thunk about options a while and I finally came around to Eileen’s suggestion to call Sea Tow, get towed back to the NAS marina and hope the bypass key was in the car, using her set of car keys to open it. July marked 30 years of marriage for us and 30 continuous years of Sea-Tow membership, during which we’ve never ever called Sea-Tow for help. I really dreaded making that call (“What seems to be the problem?” “I can’t start my engines. That’s all you need to know for now. Other Florida boat drivers will be listening on this VHF channel and I don’t want them to choke on their beer and have an accident.”)
Capt Keith was very understanding. I asked if there was some point under the cowling where I could short something with a screwdriver in a shower of sparks to start the engines, but he said ‘No, no, no, no, not that I know of.’ (Don’t ask how I know about this technique). He did NOT say, “let me get this straight…you want me to come and get you with nothing wrong with your boat and nothing wrong with your engines, you idiot? Did you read the friggin’ contract? Does it say we tow idiots in functioning boats?”
He showed up in under his 45 minute estimate in a 20 foot yellow Twin Vee cat with twin 175 hp Suzis (AAARGGGGHHH!! The SHAME!!!), hooked his tow line to the bow eye (I know you were wondering) and towed us back at 9.1 to 9.8 MPH with both drives full down. He switched to a hip tow in the marina and even nudged us stern to into our slip with some really fancy piling pivoting at sundown without touching the big Doral cruiser next to us. “Nice heavy boat,” he observed, “tows real well. I don’t tow too many like this.” (I’m glad the Doral skipper, a retired 3 star Admiral who flew Tom Cats, had left for the day. No need for him to ever know. Bryant, if you promise not to tell him I'll buy you a couple of 12 packs).
We hooked up the brand new shorepower cord to the brand new AC inlet and got the RV roof AC going and Eileen found the safe bypass key in the car. I reset the safe 4 digit combo and it worked flawlessly, over and over and over and over. The 4 AA batteries all tested good as new.
What are the odds of a critical 110v AC and a 1.5v DC failure both severe enough to ruin your boating day BOTH occurring on the SAME day? Although I kick myself for not having the bypass key on the boat, I am firmly convinced that if I DID have it, it would have broken off in the lock. Or something. Some days are just like that.
I sure hope no one took pictures of our shameful tow to post on the Twin Vee owners’ forum. Or sells them to Twin Vee or Suzuki to use in a full page ad in the boating magazines. If so, let me know how much money you want for them.
I’m going to ask Sea-Tow to add to their FAQ section on their website:
“Will you tow Members for free if there is nothing wrong with my boat or engines?”
To my knowledge, no other TC 255 has ever had to call for a tow to get home, with all its’ reliable and redundant features. I’m an outlier! And no, I do not fill my port/starboard tanks with gas from different gas stations like some of you do. (I do only feed them ethanol-free gas + Star-Tron + Yamaha Ring-Free).
I’ve never been so embarrassed, except when I ran her up on a well-charted mud bar at last years Apalachicola C-D Gulf Coast Gathering in front of a restaurant/bar full of boaters with cameras. (But that's another story).
The best part is, we’ve never burned so little gas getting to that beach and back!
If you’ve had a weirder boating day, let’s hear about it!
Cheers!
John
P.S. On searching the forum, Rogerbum has a Feb 2013 picture of his burned Marinco power inlet just like mine, with Reverse Polarity fault just like mine. I don't know whether you should 'wiggle' your blades to make sure they're not loose, or avoid 'wiggling' them so you don't MAKE them loose. I guess one compromise is to dis-assemble the inlet in your off season and really tighten down the screw/wire-clamp connection. I still don't have a reasonable explanation of how my connection could loosen, or how it could go from 'bright silver clear' to 'burned and black' in 2 weeks with no movement. In any event, I'll change over to a Smartplug inlet in the off season.
