Two Days of Electrical Work

We've spent the last two days getting through what we think is the bulk of the electrical work.  We have seen the worst of the damage and bad as it was, at least we know that we'll be able to recover and make improvements along the way.  ... And the damage was indeed worse than I had expected.  Brenda and I were lucky to get back to La Paz with as much equipment functionality as we had, let alone even having a boat to bring back.

Typical Damage to Wiring

The first damaged wire that we tackled was the one between the electric bilge pump and the electrical panel.  Jak replaced that with a new one (marine grade, of course).  Fitting the cable required the removal of the starboard battery which must weigh about 80 lbs.  Jak wasn't too happy with the strapping down of the battery and our solution required pieces of wood.  A bus trip to Home Depot was a disappointment because all they seemed to sell was wood trimmings.  Fortunately I recalled some pieces of timber that I had stored in the bodega and they proved to be almost perfect for the job.

I discovered more wire damage in the section next to the navigation station and the first damaged wire that I pulled up was the nearly severed one from the flux gate compass.  This cable contains 4 small wires and one ground and I have sent a message to Raymarine regarding the feasibility of either replacing the wire or repairing it by soldering.  At worst I can replace the compass - at a price of about $200 USD.

Another damaged wire turned out to be one going to the non-working Trimble GPS repeater at the binnacle, and this led to a difficult but productive exercise of removing 5 obsolete 'B&G' redundant cables passing from the chart table to the electrical panel and also to display area in the cockpit above the companionway.  Jak then spent a couple of hours tidying up the wiring behind the breakers and at the end of the second day the wiring behind the main panel was leaner and more orderly than I had ever thought possible.  I figure that about 2/3 of the wiring in that area has been removed. 

We try to do the bulk of our work in the relative cool of the morning, usually starting at about 8.30 AM.  We then try to finish shortly after noon - one day as late as 3 PM - when the heat of the day sets in.  Some afternoons are hotter than others, depending on the strength and direction of the wind.  Yesterday we decided to return to the boat to do some work on deck with sails.  When I entered the cabin at 4.30 PM the temperature was a full 100F but fortunately things cooled down to about 90F after I opened the hatches.

The task was to see how we could sheet the staysail and storm jib.  On top of the cabin are 4 pads to support support deck winches in a full ocean racing configuration.  The front pads have strong and well backed stainless steel U-bolts that fortunately I had decided to leave in place when we did a lot of work on those pads in Port Townsend (removing badly cracked teak caps, filling in holes, painting), thinking that they might be useful as anchor points for rope lashings.  Jak thought that they were in a good postion for fixing sheet blocks for the sails.  I was somewhat skeptical because although the points were at about the right distance from the center of the boat it would be a fluke if it were to yield the correct sheet angle to the tacks of both sails.  Besides, that would be too easy.  I had already resigned myself to putting in short tracks with all of the associated expense and trouble.

Fortunately Jak's assessment proved to be correct.  For both sails a projection of the sheet from the block and through the tack intersected the luff at about half way up.  All of a sudden a major task had evaporated.  However, we still have  some work to do because we will have to pass the sheet through a block on the track in order to get a good angle to the turning blocks at the coaming that lead to the cockpit winches.  There are already two forward blocks on cars on those tracks, previously used for the staysail sheets which are much too far from the center of the boat and require that the sheets pass between two shrouds.  However, we think that we'll require more flexible blocks for this role, such that they can be pulled to the angle and orientation required by the change of direction of the sheet.

Replaced Sections of Hoses

Another task that evaporated was the replacement of the anchor windlass battery.  Jak questioned the need to install a new battery since we plan to do very little anchor work in our run around the Horn.  That made sense to me.  Better to wait until I get back to Australia to replace the battery.  I know that I can crank the windlass with a winch handle for any unexpected anchor work.  It looks like the solution to the problem of charging the windlass battery at a moderate rate is a simple one.  Jak tells me that there are voltage regulators with 12V input available on the market.  I'll set up such a regulator between the "house" bank and the windlass battery.
 
Jak pronounced the staysail to be very good, as I had expected.

However,  although we agreed that the storm jib that Victor had sent from Australia was the perfect size and well made and brand new, we reluctantly came to the conclusion that it is a bit light for the high winds (60 kts, and maybe more) that it may have to deal with.  We figure that if the sail blows in high winds we'll be left with ribbons of sail at the end of the storm, and  I don't want to risk demolishing that fine sail.  I didn't have much luck finding a good second hand sail here in La Paz, and Jak said that he'd look for one when he gets back to the USA.

As for Victor's sail, it hasn't been a waste.  It is very small, light, and will be easy to carry back to Australia.  I have visions of handing the sail back to Victor, still in pristine condition, and informing him that part of his fine boat Chiquita has rounded the Horn.