Instruments Now Working

Sunday was also Australia Day (Think USA 4th of July) so I took the day off from the renovation work.

I spent an hour at the boat trying to mount the wind and depth instruments on the teak panel that I had sanded and varnished over the previous few weeks but one of the 3 wires to the depth instrument broke at the connector.  I returned to the boat with Brenda and Stephen late in the afternoon to see the fireworks display over the Fremantle Harbour area and I had a quick stab at crimping on a new connector but managed to hash it up, so I put the work away and enjoyed the evening.  And a pleasant evening it was, in the comfort of the cockpit of the boat in the clear summer night, chatting with the people in the next boat, glass of white wine in hand, nibbling on light snacks, with the boat well positioned for a great view of the fireworks. 

Lowrance and Trimble GPS's Working OK

But all was not lost with the boat preparation.  During the evening we checked out all of Pachuca's navigation lights and found them to all be OK, including the deck light.  We also ran the refrigerator to chill the drinks and verified that it is OK.

This morning I returned to the boat and located a set of 20 of those precious hard-to-get tiny connectors for the Raymarine equipment.  Peter of Maritime Electronics had replaced all of the 4 connectors on the wind display and I decided to replace all of the 3 connectors on the depth display.  That all went well and within an hour I was getting wind and depth data both on the display and on the chart plotter.  I then turned on the venerable Trimble and Lowrance GPS's and found them to be working OK.  They had been on Pachuca when I purchased her and somehow had survived the 5 year circumnavigation.  Before leaving the boat I flushed the marine head and found it to be squeaky but working OK.  Flushing the system with a few drop of olive oil in the toilet water stopped the squeaking and gave a smooth action on the pump.

The last repair job that I am aware of is the radar, and I will telephone Maritime Electronics this week to see if the new cable has arrived.

Wind Instrumentation Working, Radar on Way

I met Peter, the principal of Maritime Electronics at the boat on Thursday.  He had brought a spare masthead unit but started by looking at the electrical connections at the panel.  I had missed something.  I had connected 3 wires to the wind display but had not noticed a 4th wire, which had sheared off at the insulation so was showing no wire or connector.  Peter replaced all of the connectors and voila! I had wind speed and direction.

He then climbed up the mast to look at the radar with me managing his safety line at a winch and his assistant managing the chart plotter and passing up tools.  Peter found the repair work on one wire that had been done in Argentina, which had parted.  He joined up the wire, climbed above the radome so that he would not be cooked, then asked his assistant to begin transmitting.  The radar came up OK and worked fine.  Peter has ordered a new cable and will contact me when he is ready to make the swap.  Fortunately I routed the radar cable with practicality rather than appearance in mind, and from my recollection of the cable swap in Honolulu I figure that we can do the task in about an hour, particularly since I will be doing the pre work of loosening all of the cable ties.

We discussed the fact that this was the second cable failure since the radar unit was installed in 2007 and his analysis confirmed what I had already figured out.  I had gone to the trouble and expense of having the mast removed so that a conduit could be installed for the radar cable, the idea being to eliminate points of chafe and ensuring a long life for the cable.  So far so good.  However, after the radome was installed with the cable passing directly across from the opening at the mast to the dome, Edgar the rigger complained, and I'm not sure if the problem was interference with the inner forestay or the effects of pumping of the mast with the radome that high.  (The mast is so heavy that I have never seen it pump.)  So the radome was moved down the mast which necessitated the removal of the baby stay and worse, resulted in a U-bend in the cable as it passed up the mast, out through the opening, then down to the radome.  Peter could feel the entire weight of the cable as it passed through that opening. He will do what he should have done when he first installed the radar: put a heavy sheath around the cable to protect it as it passes through the mast.

When the radar is repaired the boat will be 100% ready for sea as far as I can tell.  All major systems are ready, e.g. sails, rigging, electronics, engine, refrigerator, stove.  In the past few months I have visited the boat at every opportunity and have removed all superfluous equipment so that it has plenty of room and is ready for provisioning.  The gas cylinders and diesel tanks are full.

Bunbury Cruise here we come!

Progress with Electronics Problems

Maritime Electronics was able to repair the Raymarine ST60+ depth and wind displays whose connectors had been heavily damage from corrosion.  The charge was $120 which I thought to be reasonable, considering the alternative of purchasing new heads. 

New connectors for ST60+ displays

I managed to spend some time on the boat yesterday (Saturday) morning had taken one step back with the Seatalk network: whereas on the previous visit the C120 chart plotter had begun to report the position of the boat, during this visit it knew nothing beyond where the cursor was on the chart. 

We are in the middle of an early heat wave and the temperature today is expected to go above 41C (106F) so I was up shortly after 5 AM and was at the boat just after 6 AM to get as much work as possible before the heat set in.  Conditions were very good and I managed the delicate work of fitting 7 new connectors for the instruments with no problem.  I then tested the units and was pleased to see that I was getting depth readings but wasn't surprised to find that I still had no wind data.  Worse, the autopilot head was still reporting "Seatalk Failure" and the the C120 was getting to data from the various instruments.

With my new confidence with those tiny Seatalk connectors I decided to have on last look at the connections into the Autopilot head at the binnacle, and just as well I did because the middle connector had not been properly inserted.  When I repositioned that connector the Seatalk network came alive and the C120 was reporting boat position, speed, heading, and depth.

At this point I think that I have gone as far as practicable with the electronics.  The radar is not working, and my strong suspicion is that the problem is in the upper part of the cable which was repaired in situ up the mast in Argentina.  The wind system is not working and I suspect that the problem is also up the mast at the masthead unit.  I commented during my passage around the Horn that the wind masthead unit has the toughest life of any component on the boat.  It had to endure day after day of gales and heavy rolling with heaven knows the strength of wind surges.

I then 90 minutes going through the boat's spares and materials and removed 7 plastic containers and buckets of material for storage in Darlington.

I will contact Maritime Electronics this week and arrange a visit to the boat in the new year.
 

Work on Electronics

Pachuca's Raymarine electronics system is not working very well.  The components that are not working are:

- Radar
- ST60+ depth sounder
- ST60+ wind instrument
- Autopilot (even with the new head that I brought back from the USA
- Flux gate compass

The only thing that is working is the C120 multifunction display, which can display charts but no position or wind and depth data.

I am pretty sure that the problem with the radar is the cable, which was heavily repaired with soldering while we were in Argentina.  That leaves the other components.

YUK!

BLAH!

BARF!

Fortunately I began my investigation by removing the panel above the companionway that houses the ST60+ wind and depth displays and I was shocked at what I found.  During those months of rough sailing from La Paz onwards salt water had found its way behind the panel and heavily corroded the connections to the displays.  The connectors were corroded into the posts and is several cases the connectors held and it was the wires that broke.  In one case it was the post that gave way.  The photos tell the sad story.

I immediately took the displays to my old friends at Maritime Electronics for cleanup, assessment, and possible repair.  I certainly hope that they can be salvaged.  When the instruments are back in place - be they the repaired originals or new ones - I will try the system again.  I will also arrange a visit to check the radar system.  When everything is working again I will put a rubber seal between the wind instrument panel and the companionway bulkhead to prevent a repetition.

I marveled at how quick and easy was to deliver the displays for repair after a 10 minute drive, in contrast to the weeks and sometimes months of waiting for repairs while in foreign ports.  It will be a long time, if ever, before I take this easy availability of parts and services for granted.

The house renovation is taking priority over the boat but I plan to spend time on the boat whenever I get the opportunity in order to get her ready for sea again.  I have removed bags of clothing from the boat so that I can wash everything - including the bags - and return only a modest amount of it.  I have also begun removing unnecessary equipment, materials, and tools.  The electronic repairs is a lead time item that I have already started.  There is some urgent varnishing and stainless steel polishing that I want to finish by the end of January.  The hull is in good shape and I might get by with sending a diver to clean it in the water.  The rigging, sails, and engine, and communications system are in top condition. 

Replaced the Oil Pressure Sensor

I haven't been able to give Pachuca much attention because my efforts are currently focused on the house renovation project.  Every week or ten days I visit the boat to have a look around and depart with a cart load of material to take to Darlington for storage.  However, this morning I gave the engine some attention because it had not been run since shortly after my arrival in Fremantle last April.  My first task was to swap out the oil pressure sensor that Mark Jochems had ordered for me during my visit to Port Townsend.

The faulty sensor had caused me a lot of worry during my passage from South Africa because during engine runs the oil pressure alarm would begin to sound at random times.  The big question was whether there really was low oil pressure or the sensor was faulty.  Until that question was resolved I was forced to shut down the engine whenever the alarm became active. 

Ready to unscrew faulty sensor

Replacement sensor above

Fortunately Mark continued to provide his outstanding support from half way around the world and through days of interaction with him via Sailmail and performing various maneuvers on the engine under his instruction he concluded that the problem wasn't real and the fault lay with a faulty sensor.  The ultimate responsibility of running the engine with an active oil pressure alarm was mine and I had enough confidence in the investigation that we had done to go for it and simply ignore the alarm.  My safe arrival in Fremantle after many hours of engine runs vindicate the decision.

Today I had a look at the placement sensor (Part ID VOP 21250645, Product No. 262567) and was relieved to see that the existing wire harness would fit nicely into the new unit.  I then used a 23mm spanner (wrench) to remove the faulty sensor while using a 15mm spanner to hold back the fitting that it was screwed into.  Fitting the new part was straight forward, though I was wary of over tightening the part with the large 23mm spanner.

I then went through the engine starting sequence that is so engrained in my head that is second nature: (1) Check the oil level, coolant level, and belt tension (all good), (2) Ensure that the raw water inlet and exhaust valves are open (they were), (3) Turn on the engine master electrical switch, (4) At the cockpit activate the engine panel and wait for the two "beeps" informing me that all is well, (5) Set throttle to neutral, (6) Hit the starter button.  The engine burst to life on the first try with the starter.  I set the control to "reverse" to give the engine some load and ran it for about 30 minutes at 1000 rpm, until the temperature was at a steady 196F and the volt meter was running at a healthy 14.5V.  Afterward I checked the oil pressure sensor for leaking around the joint and found no problem.

The V berth section had been smelling a bit musty for a while so I removed all items of clothing stored in about 6 bags and eventually took them to the car so that I can wash everything, including the bags.  I will store the clean clothes and bags in Darlington and decide later what I will return to the boat.  On the next visit I will remove all of the wool blankets for washing.

I also removed the storm jib that Victor had sent to me and Brenda lugged in her baggage when she joined me in Argentina.  In the afternoon Stephen and I visited Victor and I returned the storm jib to Victor, explaining that I had not been able to have it up on my staysail when rounding the Horn because the staysail at the time was jury rig with bulldog clamps, but at least he could say that his boat Chiquita's storm jib had been around Cape Horn.

Continuing the Blog

I have decided to continue this blog because I need a repository of activities with Pachuca, and rather than starting a new blog I may as well maintain the continuity of this one.  The original scope of this blog was the preparation and hopefully a successful circumnavigation of the world.  I will now extend that scope to include an open ended chronicle what happens to Pachuca after the circumnavigation.

So let this entry of 24 November 2013 be the demarcation between the circumnavigation and post circumnavigation eras.

Presentation to Fremantle Sailing Club

Cruising Section Topic Night
A Circumnavigation After Retirement By Robert Morales
Thursday 17 October 2013 at 7.30 - 9pm in the Wardroom
Dinner: Please join the FSC Cruising Section for dinner in the Galley from 1800. Bookings are appreciated by the Restaurant Staff 9435 8800.

The presentation evening went very well.

I met Kim Klaka, head of the Cruising Section at 5.30 PM and he was very helpful assisting me in setting up my laptop in the presentation room.  Once we were sure that the projection and sound were working OK we returned downstairs to the dining room for the traditional pre-presentation dinner of the members of the cruising section.  Brenda, Coral and I were seated with Kim and his wife Annette  on one side and Jim and Margaret Putt on the other.  It was great to see Margaret again, for the first time since my departure in 2008.  Dinner for Brenda and myself was generously provided by the Cruising Section, which I appreciated very much.
 
For my talk I was honoured by the presence of Bob Kucera, the commodore of the club, and was surprised see old friends.  Victor had driven down from Kalaroo, Bob and Jean Porter had driven from Darlington, and one of the men who had accompanied me on my sea trial of Pachuca had driven all  of the way from Dwellingup on just a few hours' notice.

Kim introducing Robert

Robert Showing Video

I was allowed a full 90 minutes for the delivery, and that extra 30 minutes over the time allocated to me at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival allowed me to proceed at a more relaxed pace. 

After the presentation Kim presented me with a gift of two beautiful drinks glasses with the FSC on the sides.  These solid impact resistant glasses will be part of Pachuca's inventory for special occasions.

One of the highlights of the evening for me was meeting Sue and John Rogers.  John had helped with the building of Pachuca in 1983 and I was hoping to keep in touch with him and learn as much of the history of the boat as possible.  Better yet, he told me that Frank, the mining engineer who had Pachuca built is returning to Perth from New Zealand and I am very much looking forward to having a few sessions (and perhaps sails) with him.  John, by the way, confirmed that Frank had invented a device for extracting gold without the use of arsenic and that the name "Pachuca" was probably related to the city of Pachuca in Mexico.