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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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Emergency: Electrical problems.

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Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 05/29/2012 : 03:36:42

Good post Bruce - as has been said in other threads, those of us who spend 5-6 months on the hard are at an advantage since we have time to go over these things - but stuff still gets missed. It would be good to put together a maintenance checklist for semi-annual, annual, and biannual items.

To be honest, I rarely open up a battery to see what is going on inside.

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dragonf1y
1st Mate

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USA
34 Posts

Response Posted - 05/29/2012 : 06:20:56

I'd certainly agree :)

I'll be making more formal lists myself in the next few days as time allows. This year I spent time on some small upgrades, cleaning (PNW 'green' takes its toll over the winter months even if you try to periodically clean. Don't have time to get out the toothbrush and hit every nook and cranny), knowing that last season was so short here due to weather and I had checked these things last year. The batteries being shot (likely) wasn't a surprise, but the low engine oil was. I'm going to have to keep an eye on it in case there's an oil consumption issue. I didn't change or check it this year as I maybe put 30-40 hours on it and that's only because we took one long trip and I had to motor a lot.

This year I also spent time visually inspecting deck hardware and fittings. I had targeted the lifelines as finally needing replacing and I think I'll be doing that as soon as I can. I also need to get up the mast and check that too. And I'm do for haul out to get the rusty keel touched up, bottom paint done and replace my knot meter through hull.

Point is I think I'm in a similar position a lot of people are in - love my boat (even if it's too small), want to do things right, be safe, and keep my wife's criticisms and anxiety to a minimum, but as the breadwinner and someone who works a lot, it's hard enough to make the time to clean the boat and do the basics much less to go sailing.

I'm seriously considering hiring a service to clean the boat inside and out once a month so I can focus on maintenance and getting her out of the slip to enjoy sailing.

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OJ
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4382 Posts

Response Posted - 05/29/2012 : 06:50:12

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by dragonf1y
 . . . it's hard enough to make the time to clean the boat and do the basics much less to go sailing . . .
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Ditto

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OJ
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4382 Posts

Response Posted - 05/30/2012 : 08:12:05

Daniel,

Would be interested to hear the resolution/outcome of the issues you encountered last weekend . . .

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dragonf1y
1st Mate

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USA
34 Posts

Response Posted - 05/30/2012 : 11:08:09

Well, there were two issues. 1) Low engine oil 2) Low water level in my deep cycle battery.

The engine dying appears to be solely from the low engine oil. As I noted, I hadn't done much maintenance this year. Last year's summer was horrible here and I think we took the boat out 5 times all summer. In July last year we took a week long trip to the south sound through the Tacoma narrows. At that time I had checked the oil and batteries (among other things) before we left. The engine oil level was fine at that time. We traveled about 80nm that week and probably 60 of it was under engine power as there was almost no wind and when there was, I wouldn't sail through the narrows. I think after that trip we only went out two more times.

As for the battery, I'm sure it's well beyond it's normal lifespan and having been on the charger most of last year and all winter, perhaps that triggered the super low water level in the one battery. The starter battery seemed fine. Both will be replaced however - I need to start shopping around for replacements. I will also take the opportunity to replace some old ring connectors which were poorly done by a previous owner and generally clean things up in the battery compartment, but overall it's not bad.

Resolutions:

Topping off the engine oil fixed the no-start issue. I wonder if this was also the reason I couldn't pull start it. I'll need to test that theory this weekend when I go to the boat. It's obviously a wakeup call to give the engine a thorough going over, change the oil and clean the filter. Then I'll need to keep an eye on the engine oil level more and see if it's consuming a lot. I don't see any leaks or obvious issues. How much is acceptable for a 4 stroke 10hp outboard to consume? I'd assume very little, but I'm new to boat ownership in the past 4 years, so I don't know.

Topping off the water in the deep cycle battery and charging both batteries restored electrical power so we could charge our phones and have some cabin lights when going to bed the last night and allowed us to start the engine to get into our marina.

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