When I returned to the boat this afternoon the rain had disappeared and it was once again a warm and sunny day, with practically no wind. I took the opportunity to try to get the foot switch to the anchor windlass to work again. The voltage to the switch was low. I removed the wires with great difficulty because of all of the gunk that had been put around the connections in an attempt to protect them from the salt water. One connector broke off by itself so I peeled back some wire, cleaned it with sand paper, and crimped on another connection. I then sand papered the posts as best as I could and put it back together again. It still didn't work. The voltage was still too low. In a way I was glad because I could see that a patch-up job would last only a few months. For some reason thin ordinary copper wire was used for the switch and when I peeled back 10 mm of insulation in order to crimp the new terminal I could see that it was corroded inside of the insulation. I am going to rewire the switch with heavier gauge tinned wire. If there was ever a place requiring tinned wire the bow of the boat in the anchor well is that place. That means that I will have to run wire from the anchor winch switch in the cockpit along the length of boat to the anchor well. That's the way the cookie crumbles. It may give me the opportunity to remove more redundant wiring along the way. I'll try to solder rather than crimp the connectors this time and maybe try heat shrink protection at the joint. The foot switch, by the way, was replaced in New Zealand and appears to be in top condition. Of course I will remove it and test it with a good power source.
That's it folks. The sailing will be over for a while. For the next few weeks it will be Pachuca Payback Time. (She is relentless in her demands but on the other hand she brought me the 2200 miles from Hawaii with no problems.)
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1 comment:
Good to see you had a successful sail from Hawaii, Bob. I was on Vancouver Island 6 weeks ago, Victoria and Brentwood Bay. Once you finish with Seattle and head up into Canada, let me know but in any case look for the double gaff ketch DUEN, 50 foot Norwegian ex-fishing boat working ecotourism and sail training from Victoria to the Queen Charlottes. Owned by Mike and Manon Hobbis. I first saw Mike in Neah Bay in 1978 when he sailed to Hawaii and I sailed to San Diego. We met in Hawaii and crewed together to Samoa. We first 'met' DUEN at Suvarov Atoll, Cook Islands.
Good sailing!
Cheers, Jim
ps TIGA has a new engine and the rig is almost all done. It is about to blow very hard in Fremantle this weekend! j
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