They say that cruising is just making boat repairs in exotic locations. If that’s the case then yes, we are in fact cruising.
A couple of nights ago the wind generator started acting a little hinkey. The electrical output was intermittent even though the blades were spinning. We have this big blow coming and the last thing I want is for the wind generator to start acting like an angry girlfriend, you know, stop putting out altogether.
I wasn’t sure if it was the unit itself or the regulator that controls the whole shebang that might be the problem. On Wednesday evening I disconnected the wind genny from the controller and wired it straight to the batteries. Nothing, no output.
So this morning after listening to the weather forecast I climbed up on the radar arch and removed the wind generator which is a lot easier said than done.
I laid it on the mother-in-law seat and started disassembly. I found nothing wrong except some excessive carbon buildup between the brushes and the slip rings. With the aid of the Dremel I soon had everything spotless once again. After reconnecting the wires and remounting the unit I was very happy to once again see some amps pouring into the batteries. Bring on that excessive wind……After that it was time to deploy a second anchor. We’re carrying 4 big anchors and we’ve got a pretty big blow coming so it would be kind of silly not to get another one wet. It went well and now we’ve got
2 down, both with kellets adding to their ability to grip the planet.After lunch we headed out to find some lobster.
We were able to grab a pair of 4 pounders. We had to be back early as there was a meet and greet at the Pipe Creek Yacht Club. We spent the evening having appetizers, cocktails and trading stories with the other crews before we get trapped on the boat
for a few days. There are about a dozen boats here with room for more than a dozen more. It’s nice that the anchorage is not crowded and everyone here is happy to have the room to drop an excessive amount of chain and still be able to swing comfortably.
5 comments:
where is the mother in-law seat mine always sit port side right at the companionway? I really enjoyed your fishing storey I have had simular fights with grouper but with rod & reel, I need to try spear fishing sound like a good time with the hunter food provider need satisfied!
On our boat the bench seat on the aft deck is called the Mother-in-Law seat.
Spearfishing does satisfy a lot of the primal hunter / gatherer urges. Unless the fish wins, then you pretty much feel like a putz.
Mother-in-law seat, that is too funny. You have become quite the hunter there. Impressive. So what do you do with all the fish? I imagine eat them but really 100lbs worth. Lobster on the other hand I can eat those 3 meals a day. Glad to see you are having fun in the sun.
What kind of wind gen is that Bill? Is it one you would buy again?
We eat what we can, freeze all we can and then give the rest away to other boats in the anchorage. We do often eat fish and lobster 3 meals a day though.
The wind generator is a Rutland 913. Its super quiet, very dependable but doesn't really put out amps until the wind hits 20 knots. I would not buy it again...
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