In the spirit of NPR's Car Talk puzzler, here's a puzzle for you:
Just started a week-long cruise in which I'll be solo for the first 3 days, before picking up my wife on Oxford, MD. Day 1: Rock Creek (Pasadena MD) to West River (Shady Side, MD). Great sail for 4 hours, wind averaging maybe 12 knots gusting to 22, with some reasonable waves (2-3 feet), but very nice and cool temps. Eventually had to motor into the wind for a few hours. Anchored in W. River with no drama. Today, West River, crossing the bay to go south of Tilghman Island, and then was planning to round the point and come north to Dun Cove. Just as I was getting to the turning point around Tilghman (S to N), I went below and noticed that the new USB port w/ digital voltage readout said something like 12.4V. Now the engine was running all day today, because there was no wind, so it should be more like 13.9 or 14V. Crap! I figured I blew the diode in the voltage regulator. Engine is running like a kitten, but not charging! Minor disaster on the 2nd day of a cruise! The other thing is that I had just now figured out why the (separate) GPS unit which feeds my C80 plotter has been losing fix every now and again for many years. It's very sensitive to voltage, so if the voltage is low, everything else onboard is working fine, but the GPS is unhappy and quits on me.
So I quickly looked up repair places in Oxford, and called Hinckley Yacht Services, which was 2 hours away (gulp: Hinkley). They were great, and promised to fit me in on short notice. The GPS continued to work fine for 1 1/2 hours, despite a battery that was getting weaker. Then the GPS died (no disaster: iPhone backup plotter program, and I'm in the Choptank, so there are day markers). I'm just rounding the corner (N to E to S) to come into Oxford, when I glance down, and see what the problem is. What was it?
Just started a week-long cruise in which I'll be solo for the first 3 days, before picking up my wife on Oxford, MD. Day 1: Rock Creek (Pasadena MD) to West River (Shady Side, MD). Great sail for 4 hours, wind averaging maybe 12 knots gusting to 22, with some reasonable waves (2-3 feet), but very nice and cool temps. Eventually had to motor into the wind for a few hours. Anchored in W. River with no drama. Today, West River, crossing the bay to go south of Tilghman Island, and then was planning to round the point and come north to Dun Cove. Just as I was getting to the turning point around Tilghman (S to N), I went below and noticed that the new USB port w/ digital voltage readout said something like 12.4V. Now the engine was running all day today, because there was no wind, so it should be more like 13.9 or 14V. Crap! I figured I blew the diode in the voltage regulator. Engine is running like a kitten, but not charging! Minor disaster on the 2nd day of a cruise! The other thing is that I had just now figured out why the (separate) GPS unit which feeds my C80 plotter has been losing fix every now and again for many years. It's very sensitive to voltage, so if the voltage is low, everything else onboard is working fine, but the GPS is unhappy and quits on me.
So I quickly looked up repair places in Oxford, and called Hinckley Yacht Services, which was 2 hours away (gulp: Hinkley). They were great, and promised to fit me in on short notice. The GPS continued to work fine for 1 1/2 hours, despite a battery that was getting weaker. Then the GPS died (no disaster: iPhone backup plotter program, and I'm in the Choptank, so there are day markers). I'm just rounding the corner (N to E to S) to come into Oxford, when I glance down, and see what the problem is. What was it?