June 8, 2017
Well, I don't know where to start.
On the way to Savannah, I noticed that the port-side alternator was not charging. When we got to Thunderbolt, I put in a service request for early Monday morning, and sure enough, at 10 am, an electrician showed up and found that a circuit breaker (which I didn't even know existed) between the alternator and batteries had tripped. Why? who knows. Anyway, that problem got fixed.
To continue the saga of boat issues (we'll talk about Savannah in a minute) we departed Thunderbolt Marina on Tuesday morning for Beaufort, SC. We got about 10 miles along, when an engine alarm for the starboard engine sounded--the engine was overheating. I shut it off and ran down to the engine room to find that the fan belt that runs the raw water pump had broken.
I carry extra belts in the boats parts locker, but I had never changed a belt before.
To keep from drifting into danger, I lowered the anchor, and began a failed 2 hour attempt to replace the fan belt. To make a long story short, I couldn't figure out how to adjust the tension in the new belt.
So we lifted the anchor (that took about an hour), and motored back to Thunderbolt on one engine.
It took a qualified mechanic about half an hour to put the new belt on properly--now I'm an expert on replacing fan belts!
Well, I don't know where to start.
On the way to Savannah, I noticed that the port-side alternator was not charging. When we got to Thunderbolt, I put in a service request for early Monday morning, and sure enough, at 10 am, an electrician showed up and found that a circuit breaker (which I didn't even know existed) between the alternator and batteries had tripped. Why? who knows. Anyway, that problem got fixed.
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| circuit breaker |
To continue the saga of boat issues (we'll talk about Savannah in a minute) we departed Thunderbolt Marina on Tuesday morning for Beaufort, SC. We got about 10 miles along, when an engine alarm for the starboard engine sounded--the engine was overheating. I shut it off and ran down to the engine room to find that the fan belt that runs the raw water pump had broken.
I carry extra belts in the boats parts locker, but I had never changed a belt before.
To keep from drifting into danger, I lowered the anchor, and began a failed 2 hour attempt to replace the fan belt. To make a long story short, I couldn't figure out how to adjust the tension in the new belt.
So we lifted the anchor (that took about an hour), and motored back to Thunderbolt on one engine.
It took a qualified mechanic about half an hour to put the new belt on properly--now I'm an expert on replacing fan belts!
