August 29, 2011

It's been a hot week in Sacramento, but I managed to get quite a bit done both in the shop and on the boat, despite more than the usual consumption of cold beer.

After 5 weeks, I'd finally run out of patience with the shop that was supposed to get the old outboard running, so I went by to pick it up and take matters into my own hands. They had said they were able to start it, but to keep it running, they needed to keep pumping fuel using the tank bulb. That indicated a bad diaphragm pump in the carburetor. It also needed a new impeller for the water pump. They wanted another $400 to rebuild the carb and replace the impeller. I didn't want to sink that much cash into an old motor in dubious condition, so I opted to spend $100 on the parts and $30 on a manual. That brought the grand total to just under $200, about my limit on sinking cash into the old motor. I brought the motor into the shop at home, and started tearing it down, even though the manual I had ordered hadn't arrived yet. It was a bit tricky to remove the carburetor, and it was so small it was like working on a watch. I was careful to try not to lose parts and keep them in order so I could get it all back together later. I also took pictures to supplement my feeble memory. Once it was apart, I discovered that the carburetor body had somehow broken and been repaired by gluing it back together with epoxy. Looks pretty Mickey Mouse to me, but one of the guys in the outboard shop said it was about the only way to do it and was OK. No worries about air leaks because the broken section was the mounting flange for the air intake. Replacement carbs are no longer available anyway, so it is what it is. And of course the manual arrived right after I had done things the hard way. The good news was the manual would be extremely helpful in the harder task of getting it all back together and tuning it, and at least I hadn't screwed up anything...yet.

The electrical cable for the autopilot that I had ordered last week arrived more quickly than I had dared hope, and I was able to get new hydraulic hoses made the same day, so I was able to get back out to Circadian to try to finish up the autopilot installation and testing in time to meet the registration deadline for the warranty.

Since it as so hot, work started with the sun and progressively slowed to a stop by 3 in the afternoon, when it became so hot even mad dogs and Englishmen quit.

I was able to connect the new hoses without major problems. I had a couple of leaks initially, which were cured with a new barb fitting for the low pressure return line connection and tightening up an elbow on one of the high pressure connections. Relatively little mess, too.

The next day I focused on completing the electrical wiring using the newly-arrived 10 gauge cable to supply current to the 1/4 hp motor powering the hydraulic pump. With both the electrical and hydraulic connections completed, it was time for the big moment: fire it up and see if everything worked. YES! It lit up and basically seemed to do what it was supposed to. Of course there was still quite a bit of set-up and testing to do both at the dock and moving on the water.

At the dock, I got the steering going again by bleeding it simply by turning the wheel back and forth and doing the same with the autopilot pump using the "power steering" feature. I also timed the full left to full right rudder using the autopilot. It turned out to be considerably slower than specified (12+ seconds vs 6 seconds). That may be partially caused by air remaining in the hydraulic circuit. I'll need to do a more complete bleed when I have a second person aboard to help me. The lock-to-lock time can also be adjusted by changing the pulley sizes on the motor and pump. If it's still slow after re-bleeding the lines, I'll check with Wil at WH autopilots about changing pulleys. The other issue seems to be a fault in one of the potentiometers (pots) in the pilothouse control. It is used to set the autopilot's rudder angle limits electronically. When the pot was adjusted so that the limit was anywhere between about 12 degrees and 30 degrees, the power steering feature failed to work to starboard. 12 degrees isn't enough angle, and at 30 degrees the rudder arm hits the mechanical stops, so I'll have to talk to Wil about this one. Might have to be returned and fixed.

The remaining tests and set-up had to be done moving on the water. I managed to convince my friends and dockmates Ron and Harold to come out and help me the next morning. The first challenge was trying to remember how to cast off the dock lines after having been tied to the dock for so many months.

Once we got over that hurdle, everything went pretty well. The boat ran great and I was able to handle it satisfactorily despite a bit of slop in the steering. The walkie-talkie headsets that I had gotten from Cruising Solutions made communication and coordination between my helmsman and me pushing buttons below easy and effective. The autopilot seemed to find and hold a course fine, and we tried calibrating the fluxgate compass. Despite two tries, however, the fluxgate bearing never seemed to match up right with the ship's magnetic compass. I wasn't very concerned, however, because a) I didn't know if the ship's compass was accurate, and 2) as long as the autopilot holds a set course properly, it doesn't really matter much if the bearing number isn't right as long as I'm pointed in the right direction. Since my crew had their own work to do, I called it good and we brought her back to the dock Having a couple of experienced crew on board made it much easier for me to dock Circadian (for only the second time) without mishap.

Lying awake in my bunk that night, I had a small "Aha!" about what might have caused the problem with the compass bearings. I had been wearing one of the communication headsets while I was bent over close to the fluxgate compass pressing the setting buttons. Could the headset have produced enough of a magnetic field that it would swing the compass off course when that close? A test using the headset and ship's compass the next morning showed me that, indeed it could and indeed it did! So, after I re-bleed the hydraulic lines, we'll just have to go out again and recalibrate everything.

Now that those issues were resolved in my mind, I could put away all the instrumentation and move to other projects. I had been undecided about whether or not I would bother disconnecting the autopilot's pilothouse control and putting it below. (The cable connections were tricky.) I'm sure it is secure in Hidden Harbor, but it didn't come with a cover and I didn't want it perpetually exposed to dirt, dust and sunlight. I came up with a solution that I modestly think was a stroke of genius. My baseball cap not only was a perfect fit, it provided some camouflage so no one would suspect it hides a valuable piece of electronics. Fast, cheap and easy: it doesn't get any better!

As the day heated up, it was time to turn to projects requiring less work and offering more shade. I quickly finished up the cockpit lazarette storage project from last week by adding a length of flat bungee cord secured to a stainless screw eye to hold the storage buckets in place.

I then went below and replaced a bunch of elbow catches on drawers and locker doors that were missing. Although I thought I had purchased more than enough, I ran out before I had added them to all the doors that needed them.

Although it was just approaching noon, it was already so hot I thought it was time to call it a day and head back to the air-conditioned house. Besides, I was burned out and so was the dog. I packed up and headed home with the truck's air conditioning on "High."