71 Ericson 29

[toddster]

Well by process of elimination, it had to be - and was - an internal short in the new switch. Tests OK when you hold it in your hand, goes screwy when the terminals are tightened down. I was just put off by the weird state of the original wiring (how did it possibly work like that?) Lost a whole day to this. Two work days to go until my date with the travel lift and I have at least two weeks of work yet to go

[Mo]

Good luck with the rest of the refit. Have a good weekend.

[sastanley]

toddster..glad you found the problem.

Stupid boats.

[toddster]

Splash

Finally back in the water! The six-week haul-out turned into six+months, and there are a dozen things left half-finished. But the alternative was to miss a whole year.

The boat looks so small in that travel lift! At least it doesn't look like a complete derelict any more. We had a four-hour cruise from the lift to the marina. I had guests on board so didn't do any extensive trials, but a few A4-related observations.

The CO alarm that I installed was pegged right out of the gate. Even with air flowing through the cabin. Guess I need to take a closer look at the exhaust fittings. It registered some when I was running the engine on the hard, but didn't go to alarm before.

The new Indigo prop. Cruised right at 6 kts at 1700 RPM. I was a bit disappointed at sluggish response in reverse, but was too distracted by the reason that I needed reverse to notice that the prop walk was gone. I'm gonna have to learn to back up all over again. Also, this was the first trip with a clean bottom and with a working tach, and a working speedo. er... speedometer, that is.

I'm not sure that the alternator is working. The cockpit ammeter never twitches, up or down, so I assumed that it's a dead gauge. But the battery voltage under cruise never went above about 12.5 and seemed to perhaps drop slightly? We didn't use any power except LED running lights and otto. Could a fried ammeter be disconnecting the alternator? Also the alternator was clearly salvaged from another engine. There are some wires hanging off the back that aren't connected to anything...

Anyway, there is still lots of work to do on the boat before winter, particularly plumbing and deck issues. And now it's a 90 minute drive from the shop. Will go for a 2-3 day work party as soon as I recover and put in a token appearance in the office for a couple of days.

edit: Also, after the acid-flush and re-plumbed FWC, the temperature stayed right at 160 or slightly below for the whole cruise (river water temp 68). The oil pressure is always right around 20. Seems a bit low, but I have no idea if that gauge is correct, either.

Which brings up one more lesson learned. If acid-flushing your engine is on the schedule, do it BEFORE you put on new paint. Looks like somebody had a little accident with the chili and forgot to wipe. Had to get a bit abrasive to clean it up

[sastanley]

toddster..we'll need to work on the alternator..sounds like you may have been running on battery..probably a good thing you had LED lights & unless thrashing about, the auto pilots don't really draw much.

I'd lose the ammeter completely and wire the alternator output to the big lug on the starter for now, to see if it is charging...permanent re-wiring can happen later, you may be Ok with that as a permanent setup..many people are. Having an ammeter in the cockpit introduces such a long round trip run for the charging circuit that I think it is more hassle than help. A volt meter anywhere in the boat can at least indicate if the alt. is charging when the voltage reads higher than a resting battery.

At least you got her floating..the rest of it is just details.

edit - "Barkeeper's Friend" (oxacylic acid if I spelled it right) will get rid of the nasty rusty stuff from an acid or vinegar flush. I had spilled it all over the boat and splashed it onto the hull and everything!

That oil pressure is a little low, but not bad..Don Moyer says 1 PSI per 100 RPM is at least "safe". Mine creeps a little lower than I'd like at idle..7 or 8 PSI, but runs about 25-40 PSI at 2,000 RPM..it drops off a bit to that 25-ish number after the oil gets good & hot.

[toddster]

Yeah, I used barkeeper's friend. (It's oxalic acid - just like acetate (vinegar) except it's an acid on both ends.) The kind I have has abrasive in it. It also comes as a cream that I use to clean my glass cooktop, but I'm out.

Oh, and the alternator worked at least intermittently last season. But it did seem like sometimes the batteries got low.

Man, it's weird to look out the window and not see the boat sitting there.

[Ericsonian]

E29 and Indigo

Hello Todd
If you need any measurements from an Ericson 29 skeg, shaft etc there's one on the hard here. Mine is in the water and I would really like to hear how your backing improves with the Indigo - thats on my short list for next haulout! Mine walks to port and won't steer until it really is moving.

[toddster]

Just got home from a weekend on the boat. The prop walk is gone with the indigo prop. Which in a way is too bad, since I used that as part of my docking maneuver. Now it backs the way you steer. However it takes a lot of throttle before anything happens.

I jotted down some RPM and speed numbers. I think I saw a thread on this somewhere??? I can't really compare with the old prop, because I didn't have a working tach or a working speedometer before.



I didn't have time to mess with the engine this weekend - working on wiring and plumbing. And actually sailing for a day. But the alternator is definitely not charging. And there is a lot of exhaust or crankcase fumes leaking into the cabin. Just motoring around the marina, it makes your eyes water to go in there. I don't recall it doing that before... Next time, I'll try to find time to look at these things.

[sastanley]

toddster...great news. All those pesky fumes and wiring and stuff are minor details.

[toddster]

As might be expected, the problem with the alternator appears to be that it was never installed correctly. Looks like a PO bought it as a "used" part. Two mysterious wires hang out the back, that were never connected to anything.

I brought the whole unit home with me and had it tested at the Auto Electric shop. They say it works fine. But the yellow wire is supposed to be connected to 12V+. I guess I can tap that off the positive terminal of the coil. They don't know what the gray wire is supposed to do. Any ideas? My best guess is that it might go to an idiot light in some previous installation.

[sastanley]

toddster, you are getting close..if you pull the regulator you'll see some additional connections.
I am working off memory here, I don't have all the answers..

Yellow = exciter..it can go to the coil (+), although any 12v ignition source is fine.

What did you have on the big lug in the middle of the diode plate? that should be a fat wire and go to the ammeter/starter (big) lug/or charge controller, etc.

I have an aftermarket regulator, but it is a bolt-on...so it should be wired the same. Grey might equal green which goes to a small connector inside the alternator underneath the regulator when it is removed..that is what I seem to recall. This is an old picture...my two alternators are on the boat.

you need to pop the regulator off (four tiny like 7 or 8mm or 5/16" bolts or something like that.)

edit - also...be careful with all the little insulating washers and stuff if you go playing with the wiring & pulling it apart..i.e., I think the read & black posts are insulated from the case with a plastic/fiber washer, as well as the diode plate (silver thing on top in my photo) where the charging post comes out.

[toddster]

Exhaust Leak. Argh!

So yesterday I ran the A4 for a while in the slip and sucked some antifreeze up into the freshwater loop in preparation for a coming cold snap. This time it was cold and humid enough to see exhaust fumes, and I wasn't busy with 1000 other things, so I investigated the foul cabin atmosphere a bit more. I still couldn't see anything in the engine compartment, but after a while, the atmosphere in the cabin got noxious. Then I opened the lazarette

This is a "before" pic (from last year.) I could see that fumes were being ejected downward from underneath the insulation wrap at the top of the stand pipe.


When I peeled off the insulation, it was terminally corroded underneath and leaking like a sieve. Could all this be just due to moisture trapped in the insulation? BTW, the engine is a LOT louder without that little wrap. Clearly a new stand-pipe is in order. However, I'm not sure how I'm going to get it out (and a new one in) without some demolition, including a lot of the work that I just finished installing Oh well, I already yanked out a cable bundle support, fumbling around in the cold down there.


It looks like the Moyer standpipe would fit, but that would cause the exhaust to run uphill, instead of level. (?) And of course, the new exhaust hose that I just bought would end up being a bit too short. In any case, there is nowhere near enough in the piggy bank right now for that. Next time, I'll take some clothing of a more sacrificial nature, apply a wire brush to that pipe and see if there is any hope of a temporary patch with muffler tape.

Edit: Probably the acid-flush that I did at the end of the lay-up was what broke loose the exhaust leak. Seems like a long time ago now, but it's right up there in the thread posts. OK, New Year's Resolution: Get serious about keeping the log book.

[Mo]

Hi Toddster,

Don't you just hate it when you find stuff like that. Looks like you have a job on your hands for sure. There is something you can do to make it bearable working in the cold. A piece of cardboard from a large box laid in on the hull / floor were you may have to lay or kneel makes a big difference insulating you from the cold fiberglass.

Another thing I do is use a 500W halogen light ... provides allot of light that reflects around the enclosed area and they provide substantial heat as well...actually more heat than one would think.

[toddster]

Well, I can report that "muffler repair tape" does not work on the wet section of a standpipe exhaust. There is a rectangular hole about 1" long and half an inch wide on the back side, opposite the hose connection.

On the positive side, I finally got the new genoa hoisted and sailed for a couple of hours. Although there was not enough wind to make headway against the current this weekend. It looks pretty good, anyway. (However, the tatty old main is still somewhat embarrassing.)

So... not sure what the next step is, with the piggy bank being empty due to the genoa. I may play around with the stickwelder and some iron pipe next weekend and see what I can come up with.

BTW: Having a leaky standpipe exhaust directly under the helmsman's seat actually feels kinda good on a February evening... hmm...

[toddster]

OK, So I got a new contract for a "rush" project. (Aren't they all? Don't they teach anything about planning in business skool?) This will require me to work all weekend and not fool around with boat projects. So, I calculated my "rush" fee and by some odd coincidence, it comes out to exactly the cost, plus shipping, of the Moyer SS standpipe.

Now I just need to figure out what other fittings I need to hook it up, without making too many trips to the boat.