Terra Nova electrical

[supersailor]

The rewiring of Terra Nova's engine is complete. The incentive for this was the frying of the fuel pump, the tachometer, and the temp gauge. It turned out that the fuel fuel pump was running on 9.7 volts and that the
rest of the system was running on 10.7 volts. This was caused by a bad ground and a stuck glow plug switch. A closer look showed the wrong push switches for the glow plug and start circuits and a Honda starter switch that cannot handle the loads that the glow plugs demanded. The main harness was 15' longer than was necessary. It wrapped back and forth in the cockpit. This meant that the glow plug circuit was 30' longer than was necessary. No wonder the glow plugs dropped the voltage to 10.7 volts. Added to this, various wires were spliced into the harness, some fused, some leading to nowhere. This system? was a fire waiting to happen.

I added a Blue Sea 12 fuse fuse block near the panel with a grounding bar. Terminal bars were put high in the engine compartment for the power distribution and grounds. A relay was added for the glow plugs. Only one main ground now goes to he engine.

On the day of the test, it was twenty nine degrees out and the engine block was in the high thirties. The engine started in two turns of the starter after 15 seconds of glow plugs. The voltage drop is now to 12.1 volts with the plugs on.

The wiring seems to be a total success. I attempted to attach a couple of pictures. hopefully they came through.

Bob Morrison
Terra Nova E-34

The descriptions for the three pictures were done over the top of each picture. The program is jumbling them together so I attempted to differentiate each one by :
Picture 1 ( )
Picture 2 [ ]
Picture 3 { }
Hope that helps.


(picture 1ower terminal strip, Eliminator) [Picture 2:Ground strip on left, power center,] {Picture 3: The fuse block has a cover, the black}
(battery management right) [3 stage regulator, relay] {wire left is a ground for the fish, the grounds
{are at the top of the fuse block}

 

[Frank Langer]

Bob, that looks very impressive! Well done! It's great motivation for anyone who still has a "rat's nest" of wires or potential fire hazard in their boat wiring.
Frank

 

[supersailor]

Moving on.

Thanks Frank. Now it's time to tackle some of the other good things. The crankcase vent drips on the tranny. It's not corroded. The K&N filter looks good with a barbed fitting added on top for the vent. The vent didn't drip on the flange so it is a rusted out blob. The engine vibrates way too much. A Vetus Bullflex is on the way but I need to find a shorter shaft seal. New engine mounts are also needed and a new cutlass bearing. Maybe the boat won't continue to vibrate itself to death. The "Eliminator" battery management system makes the battery switch work very differently with the upshot that the engine battery does not shut off. I have to add a shut off for it. I've figured out why it takes an Olympic Weightlifter to raise the main even though I have the Strong Track system.

It's been an eventful nine months that I've owned the boat! If I can get the Coast Guard to move on the Documentation (it was bought in Victoria), I look forward to an eventless year this year!

Bob Morrison
Terra Nova, E-34

 

[Christian Williams]

Very nice electrics job.

So--why does the Strongtrack require weightlifting? I thought you just rubbed your hands together and presto, the sail is up....

 

[Loren Beach]

Very nice electrics job.

So--why does the Strongtrack require weightlifting? I thought you just rubbed your hands together and presto, the sail is up....

I know of a boat with the Strongtrack system and it works great. Of course if there are other unresolved friction areas there's still detective work to be done.

Another place to look is the 180 degree turn the halyard takes at the masthead. Lots of load there and the original pin-axle sheave might be causing a lot of the problem.
Good place for a new roller bearing sheave from Harken or one of their worthy competitors. Easier to upgrade are the turning blocks at the base of the spar (we've changed all of those out for Gauhauer all-roller/ball bearing blocks.
Also, the original "deck organizers" are solid-axle and add more friction, and would benefit from a technology change-up.

And, make sure that some former owner did not put on a halyard line that's a little too fat for the cheeks at the top and is hard to pull through either way. Boats like mine only have real room up there for a line about 5/16" diameter, but some owners seem to like to go with 7/16 or a half.

Hope you solve the problem, and keep us informed.

Cheers,
Loren

 

[supersailor]

Strongtrack

I tried the rubbing the hands trick but found it took the slow speed on a 24 to coax it up. It came down in a huge rush, though. It made running only on the 130 only look inviting! The main is fully battened with four battens. Each full batten has a screwed on swiveling and pivoting slide in bronze. The pivots on the top three battens were completely frozen and they are resisting being loosened. The slides now available are 316 stainless. I am buying 4 stainless ones and am lubing them well

I think what happened was the sail was dropped for the winter and left under the sail cover. They froze in the dampness and don't much like unfreezing. Once I beak them free, I will keep them for spares. I remove the sails in the winter taking care of that problem and extending the life of the sails. I also will make the main halyard smaller and non stretch as Loren suggests. My halyard could probably pull the boat out of the water without the need for a travel lift.

Bob

 

[supersailor]

If anyone is interested, I can provide more detail on the electrical layout and the motivations for doing things in the way that I did. I did do things a little differently but for good reason. The cost was not huge (under $400 and that included tinned wire, shrink wrapped connectors, terminal strips, a fuse block, tach and a voltmeter. Not having the engine roll over and play dead again makes it all totally worthwhile.

Bob