Weather: Sunny and warm! Winds: Light. Seas: Choppy becoming flat then 1ft.
I'd hoped to go the 55+ miles to Desolation Sound today, but the winds just weren't there and motoring at 5kts would make for a long day. Further, goats needed roping and dragons needed slaying and crisis averted. 32nm.
Goat Roping
Motored out of French Inlet around 0750 and into Malaspina Strait. Had about 5min worth of wind to make 5.5kts, but it died quickly. Fired up the iron genny and motored north. Along the way, noticed a hot engine light, high temp gauge and troubleshooting began. Raw cooling water was discharging so not the impeller. Pulled the engine cover off and lo and behold, a busted fan belt was laying in the bilge. Fortunately, there was a replacement and we were soon underway again. Regarding the broken belt, this was the second of a Gates brand to come apart. I will not purchase Gates again.
Dragon Slaying
Continued motoring north. In the vicinity of Nelson Island, between Agamemnon Channel and Jervis Inlet, all electrical systems went off line. Dead. Burnt electrical wire smell. Troubleshooting began again. 30 amp fuse had blown. No circuit breakers had blown. Since the engine was not affected and we were in clear water with clear weather, we continued to motor north troubleshooting. Did not have a replacement 30 amp, but a lot of 16 amp fuses. Opened all the circuit breakers, inserted a 16 amp fuse and began energizing systems one at a time. Got to the pumps circuit breaker and pop, out went the 16 amp fuse. Pumps...Strider has 5, two bilge pumps, a saltwater pump, a freshwater pump and a shower sump. The saltwater and engine bilge pumps checked good. Tore the v-berth apart and the freshwater pump checked good.
Strider's Engel freezer is conveniently placed on top of the salon bilge access, where the bilge pump is. It is heavy, so unloaded, moved it and checked the pump, also good. Put it all back together.
The electrical smell was strongest forward, between the salon and the v-berth pumps. The head, and shower sump are located there and yes indeed, the sump pump was fried, frozen solid with salt encrustation. I surmise: Saltwater has been known to back flow into the sump while sailing in rough water. Normally, I pump it out. However, I had not been doing that for a while since there had not been much. But apparently enough that when the water evaporated, the salt encrusted the impeller, jamming the pump. Lastly, the pump switch is located in a place where it is routinely bumped while the head is in use. Normally, the pump's whine alerts the user and it is shut off. This particular morning, the switch was bumped and went unnoticed for there was no whine. A couple hours later, it gave up the ghost, shorting and blowing the fuse.
Fortunately, we do not shower in the head, have never used the sump and can do without. Removed the pump, chucked it and isolated the circuit. The question remains: Why did the main fuse blow and not the pump circuit breaker? YTBD.
Crisis Averted
Westview/Powell River had room for us though we circled outside for 30min while boats were repositioned for us. Naturally, SW winds began to pick up was we entered the marina, winds to push us off the dock. Fortunately, we had the outermost slip on the north side. Heading into the wind, brought the port side to the NW corner of the dock, handed a spring line off to an attendant who secured it. Then I let the wind push the bow back towards the north, settling Strider onto the dock. Did a short spring line walk exercise to position us. Like we had done it before! On the dock at 1530.
Not long after, we witnessed two separate boat incidents. The first, a large mono hull got trapped in a narrow spot, could not control the weather vane effect and crashed into two other docked boats. The second was a large powerboat smash into a dock.
Fortunately, Powell River is a large town with well stocked stores and we easily found replacement belts and fuses. Also found 7yr old Flor di Cana Nicaraguan rum, 1800 tequila and margarita mix for about half the price seen in Washington!
Wandering around, we found a most excellent restaurant on Marine Avenue called Tree Frog Bistro. Kelly went for the fish and chips with jicama slaw. I normally go for something I would not make at home and I was not disappointed with the Insalata di Mare (West Coast Ling Cod, Salmon, Shrimp, Mushrooms, Onions, Red Peppers and Tomatoes, Organic Greens, Asiago Garlic Dressing). Really yummy. While the fresh veggies underneath were cold, the seafood on top was hot making for a very nice, savory combo. I'd have it again.
No comments:
Post a Comment