The Rutland 913 Wind Charger is Working

Corroded Wire Break

Reinstated Rutland at Work

20 August 2012

I decided to have one more go at removing those two side bolts so that I could lift the wind charger off the mounting tube to bring it into the cabin.  If I failed I would ask Henrique when he came to polish the hull if he could recommend a real mechanic to remove the bolts because I didn't want to take a chance on a marina employee having a go and doing some damage.

Doug, an American sailor passing through MdP, had a Rutland 913 on his boat and told me that they are so simple and rugged that the only likely thing to go wrong would be the brushes.  My plan was to open the unit up, look at the brushes, and if they were the problem get replacements while I was in the U.S.A.  If the problem turned out to be more serious or mysterious than that I would ask Henrique if he could ship it to Rio for repairs while I was away.

I went up to the Rutland with a 6mm Allen wrench and a 10mm ring spanner to fit on the Allen wrench for leverage.  To my surprise I managed to remove both bolts.  Perhaps the soaking with WD40 that I had given them in MdP had worked its way through the threads, perhaps the warmer temperature of Brazil had made the difference, perhaps I was stronger in Brazil than at MdP.  Who knows?  Who cares?   I had the bolts off.

The next step was to find the wire connection that we had made and break it so that I could lift out the charger.  The cable passing down from the Rutland was joined to the cable rising from the regulator at about one meter below the Rutland.  The join was inside the rear leg of the bimini but I was able to pull it out through an access hole drilled on the inside of the leg.  What I saw when I pulled out the joint surprised me and gladdened my heart.  The joint on the positive wire had corroded completely, leaving a visible gap in the run of  the wire.  The shrink tubing had slipped down from the joint and presumably enough salt water had found its way through that 20mm hole a the top of the Bimini leg during the rough passage around the Horn to cause the corrosion,

If I was lucky this would turn out to be the only problem with the Rutland and I would be able to sail for Cape Town with a working wind charger.

I telephoned Arnold to discuss the pros and cons of soldering vs crimping and on the way back to the boat decided to use crimping because we both agreed that it would be good enough get me back to Australia OK.  (After all, the failed crimping job had lasted since New Zealand.)  Soldering was better, but I had my doubts about being able to do it myself. 

By nightfall the crimp joining was done.  I had committed the elementary mistake of completing the joins  before sliding the shrink tubing into position, but I am too far down this cruising life to worry about things like that.  If the Rutland proves to be OK I'll silicone the joints, use plenty of electrical tape, silicone over that, and try to do it right the next time.

Tomorrow I will dig out the Rutland's tail from deep storage, bolt it into position, free the blades which are tied down with rope, then wait for enough wind to see if the unit is working again.

Painting the tail in MdP had been a good move.  Although the rust was superficial, it would have turned into deep corrosion before too long.  Replacing a corroded tail would not be as simple as fitting a piece of ply because the tail does more than simply point the blades into the wind.  It is thick and heavy to act as a counterbalance to the main body of the unit on the other side of the pedestal.


21 August

I woke up at 6.30 AM looking forward to seeing what the day would bring with the Rutland wind charger. 

After breakfast I removed enough plastic containers and equipment from the starboard quarter berth to gain access to the tail of the Rutland below.  Having the containers out in the cabin was useful because it gave me fast access to tools and materials and facilitated my search for the nuts and bolts required for fastening the tail to the wind charger.  I knew that I was looking for long and thin bolts, and I was sure that I had put them in a labeled plastic container.  I methodically searched through every container, sub container, and plastic envelope and could not find it.  I then went through a second pass, not looking for what I expected to find, but for anything of interest.  I found the bolts loosely thrown in a small box of shackles.  It was very uncharacteristic of me to be so careless with such important bits, but I really wasn't feeling very well with that chest cold in Mar del Plata.

I then went up to screw in the two side bolts that had given me so much trouble.  I had cleaned the bolts with WD40 the night before then washed them in soapy water and  I had given the same treatment to the threads on the Rutland.  The idea was to allow the Loctite to get a good grip.  The side bolts had originally come down with no lock washer on one side and one of those flat, heavily ridged washers on the other.  This time I would screw the bolts back in with ordinary spring washers.  The operation went well.  The biggest danger was in dropping something in the water, but nothing like that happened.  I used plenty of Loctite (green strength) and screwed the side bolts very tight by using a ring spanner for extra leverage on the 6mm Allen key.

Then it was time for the tail.  I cleaned the tail shaft on the Rutland with WD40 then slipped the tail on with little difficulty.   There were 3 bolts to fit and once again the big danger was in dropping one of the tiny nuts or maybe one of the ring spanners into the water.  Fortunately all went well.

The in was Show Time.  For the first time since approaching the Horn I removed the rope and freed the 6 blades of the Rutland.  There was a gentle wind with occasional gusts just strong enough to perhaps cause the Rutland to put out a charge.  I went down below and flipped the switch on the HRDX charge controller from “stop” to “go” and waited.  Soon a gust came up and for the first time in more than 6 months I saw various levels of amperages dancing up and down the display.  Then I got a hint of the hum that the Rutland makes when it is putting out a charge.

The Rutland Owner's Manual states that the blades should not be restrained during wet weather because the spinning of the propeller shaft helps keep water out of the inner workings of the unit.  Somehow it had survived the gales of the Horn and the beat to MdP through more gales with its blades tied off.  Pretty impressive (and lucky!)

For those fellow wrinklies who remember the classic Warner Brothers Looney Tunes cartoons, I felt like doing a Daffy Duck up the jetty hysterically doing cartwheels, flips, and plenty of “Woo Hoo”s.

Now that I knew that the Rutland was working OK I put silicone sealant into the crimp joints that I had made the day before then used plenty of electrical tape to support and protect the joints.  I then carefully stuffed the joints back into the vertical Bimini tube and sweated it out until the next gust of wind verified that my work with the joints had not broken a connection.

After than I spent an hour putting everything away with the occasional company of the Rutland's hum which I had always liked and had missed very much.

With the work done it was only 11 AM but what the heck, I broke out a cold beer to celebrate. 

Time would tell whether the fix would hold up, but I was confident.

The closeup photo shows one of the two mounting bolts that gave me so much trouble, high up the mounting pipe just below the charger.  The cord at the back of the tail is to enable me to point the charger off the wind in order to tie down the blades without risking  a nasty injury to the hand or arm.