The rest of the story: I thought we knew enough about our problem to spend a couple of nights cruising before an expert came to find the short. Successfully started the engine three times as we motored across Sandusky Bay, then had a great sail to Kelly’s Island. When we dropped the sails and turned on the engine, there was no response, nothing at all! Called a tow who offered a huge emergency fee for the 3+ hour exercise of towing us back to our slip, where our expert could get on it.
Turned out, the problem was two failed diodes in the alternator. Although we turned the battery off while the engine was off, while we were motored out of the marina, and across the bay, the alternator was draining the battery, which was dead when we tried to start the engine after our sail. It took some time to find a replacement alternator, but it was ready to go last Friday. On Sunday, we sailed across the bay to spend a great night anchored off Johnson Island in the bay, and it appears that we can finally get on with our shortened cruising season!
See me original post for the history of my troubleshooting. Thanks to each of you who worked the problem with me:
Turned out, the problem was two failed diodes in the alternator. Although we turned the battery off while the engine was off, while we were motored out of the marina, and across the bay, the alternator was draining the battery, which was dead when we tried to start the engine after our sail. It took some time to find a replacement alternator, but it was ready to go last Friday. On Sunday, we sailed across the bay to spend a great night anchored off Johnson Island in the bay, and it appears that we can finally get on with our shortened cruising season!
See me original post for the history of my troubleshooting. Thanks to each of you who worked the problem with me:
Strange alarm after installing a new battery??
Arrived at our marina this morning to step our mast with a new Harken furler. Our battery was too low to crank the engine (2nd time on this battery)so I got a starter battery from the marina. Cranked the engine - no problems through the mast stepping process and return to our slip. Decided to...
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