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Feb 1, 2011
281
sail boat dock
Loud Humming from Battery Isolator

Got down to the dock and my boat has a loud electrical noise, almost as loud as the Espar heater. My first keelboat and it is humming like it is going to blow up like a Klingon ship. I find the culprit and it is my battery isolator panel. What would have happened if I did not get down there ? Why, old age ? Which unit do you suggest I use to replace it. How old is it ?
Should I ditch the matching old Link 2000 that likes to stop the button functions on me ?
Thanks for any advice, have read many of your posts.
 

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Feb 6, 1998
11,665
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
Got down to the dock and my boat has a loud electrical noise, almost as loud as the Espar heater. My first keelboat and it is humming like it is going to blow up like a Klingon ship. I find the culprit and it is my battery isolator panel. What would have happened if I did not get down there ? Why, old age ? Which unit do you suggest I use to replace it. How old is it ?
Should I ditch the matching old Link 2000 that likes to stop the button functions on me ?
Thanks for any advice, have read many of your posts.
Sounds like the relay is gone. There are much simpler combiners made today but they won't work with your pathemaker remote panel and you can't adjust the cut in/out like you could with the old Pathmaker. Hamilton Marine in Portland still has one on the shelf but I'd suggest a Yandina or Blue Seas ACR combining relay.
 
Sep 21, 2009
385
Hunter 34 Comox
Maine, I have one for you. What do you think about installing a "snorkel" for the air intake on the engine. Say up under a lazerette seat with a remote air filter? I always wonder how the engine gets enough fresh air when we spend so much time sealing the engine bay off to contain noise. Have you ever seen this? Just askin'
 
Feb 6, 1998
11,665
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
Maine, I have one for you. What do you think about installing a "snorkel" for the air intake on the engine. Say up under a lazerette seat with a remote air filter? I always wonder how the engine gets enough fresh air when we spend so much time sealing the engine bay off to contain noise. Have you ever seen this? Just askin'
I have yet to see any boat that pulled a negative pressure in the engine compartment, not to say it can't be done. Interestingly enough I had a friend about 12 years ago who was convinced that his "lake boat" with dual honking V8 engines was not performing due to being starved of air. The compartment seemed to "tight" to him. I grabbed my draft tester for setting up & tuning heating systems and even at WOT with both engines sucking lots of gas and fuel we never saw negative pressure in the engine compartment.

These draft gauges are pretty accurate and perhaps you could borrow one. With the bilge blower running it could possibly cause a negative pressure but still doubtful. Find a draft tester and check it out..
 
Sep 21, 2009
385
Hunter 34 Comox
negative pressure.

I have yet to see any boat that pulled a negative pressure in the engine compartment, not to say it can't be done. Interestingly enough I had a friend about 12 years ago who was convinced that his "lake boat" with dual honking V8 engines was not performing due to being starved of air. The compartment seemed to "tight" to him. I grabbed my draft tester for setting up & tuning heating systems and even at WOT with both engines sucking lots of gas and fuel we never saw negative pressure in the engine compartment.

These draft gauges are pretty accurate and perhaps you could borrow one. With the bilge blower running it could possibly cause a negative pressure but still doubtful. Find a draft tester and check it out..
Thanks for that, somehow I just knew you had tested this. I should have thought of doing the same, but then, I'm me. I'll put it on the list. Cheers
 
Mar 15, 2011
1
Nor'Sea 27 San Francisco
Gelcoat pinholes?

Maine Sail - I'm getting ready to restore the gelcoat on my boat. It's definitely oxidized and will likely need wet sanding but I've found these little pits in the gelcoat in odd patterns. They're all very very tiny, the largest ones are less than 0.5mm in diameter while most are way smaller than that and they appear in patches mostly isolated to the starboard side of the boat. At first I thought they were just bits of dirt but when they didn't wash off I looked closer and realized they were tiny pits trapping dirt. In some of the later photos I scrubbed some of them the best I could and you can definitely see the empty pits. My initial thought because of the pattern is that these were defects when they initially sprayed the gelcoat, maybe bubbles in the mix. Have you ever seen anything like this?

Regardless of the cause, I'm trying to figure out the best way to deal with them. I'm thinking that many of these will go away with a couple rounds of wet sanding and compounding. If that doesn't work, do you think there is any way to prep and fill these with fresh gelcoat? The other trick with this hull is that it's fiberglass with a molded-in lapstrake pattern with the flat part of each strake measuring about 4-5". So compounding/polishing it is going to be fun.

Here are some photos... keep in mind that most of these are extreme macro shots and make it look way worse than it is. The largest holes you see in these pix are less than half the size of the diameter of a paper clip, and you need to get your face less than 12" away to actually see that they're pits. Most are way smaller.

HUGE thanks for the project guides and advice.

- bryan


This is right at the bow and a few inches above the bootstripe. Note how the portion of the gelcoat that is on the stem is perfect while the area right next to it back onto the hull has the pits. This is what made me think it was an error when they sprayed the gelcoat in the mold.


Here's a field of really tiny holes, probably each less than 0.1mm
 
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Feb 6, 1998
11,665
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
That is either a factory defect or a bad gelcoat patch job. By the color differences I would have to guess bad patch job but hard to say for sure. The gelcoat also looks very thin in those areas. Not really much you can do but start over and re-patch it. Color matching though is not easy. Be careful it appears thin and the "dirt" spots look more like a base layer than dirt to me, but again very tough to tell from a picture..
 
Sep 25, 2008
615
Morgan 415 Out Island Rogersville, AL
Maine, I was at Harbor Frieight the other day and I saw a hydraulic battery cable crimper for sale. I believe the price was 59$. It came with a number of different dies. (Sorry I didn't think of taking a picture.) Do you think they are any good. I'm currently using the kind of wire cable crimper that you have to beat with a hammer. I've made many crimps with it and none have failed yet.
 
Feb 6, 1998
11,665
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
Maine, I was at Harbor Frieight the other day and I saw a hydraulic battery cable crimper for sale. I believe the price was 59$. It came with a number of different dies. (Sorry I didn't think of taking a picture.) Do you think they are any good. I'm currently using the kind of wire cable crimper that you have to beat with a hammer. I've made many crimps with it and none have failed yet.
Snotter,

This is a long subject that could go on for days but suffice it to say the dies on the HFT crimper are NOT the correct sizes for the lugs we use in the marine world.

There are two types of lugs used. Heavy Duty Power Lugs and Starter Lugs. The power lugs are color coded and have the die codes marked on them as a proper crimp tool will. The proper crimp tool for these lugs will also have the proper die setting for the lugs used. Starter lugs are flared at the end, far thinner and use different die settings. The proper tool will be clearly marked as to which dies you use.

Currently there are only a hand full of reasonably priced tools that crimp to this standard. The FTZ and the Quick Cable tools. AMP also makes one but unless you have 1k..

The FTZ can be bought from KL Jack in Portland, ME for $159.99, which BTW is perhaps the best price in the country on this tool. SBO also has it for $179.00.

Over crimping is as bad as under crimping and the HFT dies are the wrong size for Power or Starter lugs. Not a bad tool other than the wrong sized dies. You can always Mickey Mouse it, and ruin a few lugs in the process to try and get a good crimp, but it will be guess work at best. There are many differnt sized lugs for various 4/0 wire applications so just because a die based tool say 1/0 or 4/0 it may not be for the lugs you use because lugs vary with the standard you are crimping.
 
Sep 25, 2008
615
Morgan 415 Out Island Rogersville, AL
Maine, thanks for the short answer. I guess I'll be sticking with the hammer-crimper--one size die fits all.
 

Bob S

.
Sep 27, 2007
1,771
Beneteau 393 New Bedford, MA
Screws into the deck vs through deck fasteners

Maine,

Missed you at the NE boat Show. Went the following weekend. It would have been nice to put a face to a name!

As always, your "how to" have been so valuable to us all. I have followed your post on bedding with butyl rubber for all my stanchions and a few chain plates. This is the first winter that my bilge has remained bone dry.:dance:

I had some bad de-lamination of the cover over the steering quadrant. I removed the bottom glass to reveal the wood core. I stored it in a dry attic at work that is usually 20° hotter than our work area. It dried out over the winter and I removed all the loose and soft wood. I will re-glass it soon. This cover uses 4 flat head screws that screw into the deck (not thru it). Would you recommend using your method of drilling it out, undercutting and refilling with epoxy? Can you use the wood screws directly into epoxy?

Thanks
Bob
 
Sep 25, 2008
615
Morgan 415 Out Island Rogersville, AL
Ask away!
Maine, in addition to 3 group 27 deep-cycle batteries on my boat, I have 2 4D batteries. The 4Ds are wet-cell tractor batteries built to withstand vibration. The big suckers are only 115 AHs and are not classified deep-cycle. I've recently looked and I could not find anyone on the internet selling wet-celled, deep-cycle 4D batteries. Do you know of a source that will deliver reasonably?

I really like the built-in FRP box that the batteries are in and do not want to rip the box out. The box is configured for 2 4Ds end-to-end. I wonder if 3 group 24's would fit in the box and provided me with more than 230 AHs?
 
Feb 6, 1998
11,665
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
Maine, in addition to 3 group 27 deep-cycle batteries on my boat, I have 2 4D batteries. The 4Ds are wet-cell tractor batteries built to withstand vibration. The big suckers are only 115 AHs and are not classified deep-cycle. I've recently looked and I could not find anyone on the internet selling wet-celled, deep-cycle 4D batteries. Do you know of a source that will deliver reasonably?

I really like the built-in FRP box that the batteries are in and do not want to rip the box out. The box is configured for 2 4Ds end-to-end. I wonder if 3 group 24's would fit in the box and provided me with more than 230 AHs?
That's because I know of no manufacturer building true wet Deep Cycle 4D's. Many claim they are but most are not. WM claims their 4D's are dual purpose not deep cycle. The average 4D is 8.5" wide so even a group 24 won't fit across the box. You could put them end to end though and you should have about 42" to work with. Three group 31's should fit end to end though and would give more Ah's than three group 24's. The US Battery group 31 has 130 Ah's X 3 = 390 Ah bank
 
Jan 22, 2008
1,483
Hunter 37 C sloop Punta Gorda FL
I took group 31's out and repaced them with of pairs trojan 105 golf cart 6 volt batts. If memory serves they are 7+" wide, but taller than group 31's. check and see if you can get 4 of them in your box.
 
Sep 25, 2008
615
Morgan 415 Out Island Rogersville, AL
3 group 31's seems that would be the way to go.

Bill, I doubt if 4 trojan 105s would fit.
 
May 6, 2010
472
1984 Oday 39 79 Milwaukee
Perko strainer sizing

Rod,

We are in fresh water (Lake Michigan) but each season when we haul out I'm noticing more zebra mussels in our scoop style water strainer. I am planning to replace it with a through hull and the Perko 493 strainer in your photos. We have a Universal M-25 with the Oberdorfer 202 water pump, which has 3/8" threads in the inlet. I am wondering what size strainer I should get? Currently our water comes in through 1/2" heater type hose so I'm not sure buying a 3/4" or larger strainer will be of any benefit.

Thanks