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Thursday, November 15, 2018

AAAAAANNNNNDDDDD Life gets in the way....

No, we haven't forgotten about you.  We've had to do a bit of necessary repair work on our cockpit enclosure (winter coming on) and have had to move our storage from the Marina building basement to a private storage facility further ashore (they're doing some renovations and we're kinda in the way). 

The wheel is in place, at the proper depth, and wired in.
Last week, we got the support lines replaced with chain and rerouted our wiring to connect the motor.  We booted up the sysem, turned the rheostat and, low and behold it turned.  It turned both forward and back.  We were ecstatic. . . .

. . .or were until the NEW motor controller--from the same company--went *pop* fizzzzzzz and quit. 

I checked the motor load and our wiring, and that doesn't appear to be the problem.  I just think the stats provided with these cheap Chinese controllers really don't match their capabilities.  So we're in process of getting and installing a more robust unit.  As soon as the current ice storm is over, we'll give it a go and give you a full report.

Winter finally caught up with us today:  snow and ice and rain.  We were bright enough to do our shopping yesterday so we have a day hunkered down in the boat, drinking tea, doing artwork, writing, and in general, having a quiet day of it. 

In coming days we'll be testing the new motor controller, installing an electric water pump for the galley (finally giving up on these crappy marine galley pumps....they either seem to be utter plastic junk or way more than we can afford), and doing a review on our flexoglass wheelhouse enclosure at a year of use, wind, and sun exposure, so stay tuned.

More very shortly.

Brrrrrr

M

Saturday, November 3, 2018

Electric Motor Install: Part IV: In the Water

....and if you haven't figured it out yet, these headings don't really mean a whole lot.

Yesterday we removed the Kayak that was supporting the wheel--which took a bit of finagling--and lowered it into the water for the first time. 

Mercifully, it hits the water evenly and at the right depth
Of primary concern was the depth of the buckets at their lowest position.  Ideally, they should be about 2" below the water surface.  If we were far off that, we'd have to remove and reposition where the wheel was attached to the stern.

Happily, once we got it off of flotation and let it down, the bottom bucket was almost EXACTLY 2" below the surface. 

Occasionally, I win one.

So today we'll get chain cut and make the supports permanent (at present it's hanging from the blue lines you see above).  We'll wire up the motor and see if she works properly.  Look for a test on the water today or tomorrow if that goes well.

Wish us luck.

More Shortly

M

Thursday, November 1, 2018

Electric Motor Installation Part: the third

FINALLY a fortuitous conjunction of tides, weather, help, and sunshine made it possible for us to get the wheel in place.

These chain supports will support the aft end of the wheel frame and will allow for adjustment.
Here's the stern, cleared and ready for the wheel.  The wiring is leading out the old engine exhaust tube on the Starboard side.
we dropped the wheel off the dock and onto our Intex kayak, which let us line it up with the old mounting holes that had been the outboard mount.  The thing is now firmly connected to the stern.

here's a shot from Port, showing the kayak step on the side of the wheel.  The aft lines supporting eh back of the wheel frame will be replaced with chain as soon as we're sure of the lengths.
With help from a nice slipmate, we rolled the wheel off the dock onto our Intex Kayak, which let us get is lined up with the stern far more easily than what I'd originally planned (Thanks Gail), snugged it over, and got it lag bolted in place. 

Tomorrow, of course, they're predicting rain, but when that clears, we'll pull out the kayak, set the depth for the wheel, hook up the wiring, and try the thing out.

Wish us luck.

We actually have gotten rather a lot done while waiting on weather and tides.  We made a lovely batch of Perry (think hard cider, but from pears), and did a lot of resetting of lines to make room for the wheel.

We bottled the Perry on Halloween night.  Initial tastes are promising, I can tell you.
We spent Samhain evening with friends, toasting the Pagan New Year.  Hope it's a much better one for all of us.

Happy Samhain!
Oh, by the way, we both voted:

Go do this
You should really go do that.  Really.  It's important.

More shortly,

M