Last Weekend at Coyote Point!

Next Friday is the BIG DAY.  We are taking the boat to the Delta again!  This Saturday we plan to drive up and get our new slip all ready--set up the dock lines, put our stuff in the dock box, pay our slip fee, get our keys, all that good stuff!  So excited.  We'll be at Delta Bay (aka Brannan Island KOA and Marina) where we spent July last year.  We got a really great slip this year, close to the main entrance and the store.  It will be a much shorter walk than last year.  We hope to leave super early Friday and get there in one day.  Joe and Carrie plan to drive up Saturday to hang out, then Sunday we plan to take the boat to Rio Vista for brunch, then get a ride home with Joe and Carrie.  Super Fun!  Can't wait.

I Smell Toast

We went by Star Marine Thursday to get a run through of the new set up. We'd hoped the boat might be done but they'd discovered one of our starting batteries was bad as they were putting everything together at the end, and they'd had to order a new one. Ian said they'd put the battery in Friday morning but we told him we wouldn't be there to get the boat until late in the day so no rush.

When we arrived Friday around 4:30, I went to get the key from Ian while Matt went to get our outboard which we were having serviced while we were there. The folks at Star Marine said Ian was on our boat. Hmmm...

I walked down and found Ian in the engine room with the installer in the saloon screwing the cover back on the engine gauge panel. They were obviously in the middle of something! The installer said they'd found a bad switch as they were doing their final tests so they were swapping it out.

I went to let Matt know the status and he came back down with me. That's when we got the full run down on the smoke and what not. They'd fired up the motors to make sure everything worked and smoke started coming out of the starboard engine gauge panel! They took the panel down and found three wires had melted together. Of course in that situation your first thought is "what did I do to cause THIS??" but it was pure coincidence, there were existing crossed wires that happened to melt at that moment. Glad it happened to them and not us!

So they got everything done and closed up the engine room and were saying their goodbyes when one of us said we should fire up the motors to make sure everything was ok now. Starboard no problem. Port- nothing. They quickly started diagnosing and had it fixed in a few minutes, turned out when they tightened the new switch down it was flexing the cover and making a bad connection. A few spacers and we were on our way.

We were only going a short distance up the estuary and we were working our way through several groups of high school crew teams out practicing. We'd just dodged between two sets of two sculls when Matt turned to me and said "I smell toast, would you go check?". (we were on the flybridge). I went below and first checked the engine gauge panels. No smoke, no smell. Good. I didn't really smell anything down there (the doors were open so there was good ventilation) but I thought I should check the engine room. I guess I've seen too many movies because I was worried if something was going on down there that when I opened the hatch and added air a fire could flare up. We have a fire suppression system so I decided not to be so paranoid and open the dang hatch. Nothing. Whew.

I went back up top and reported in. Matt said the smell was gone and we must have passed someone barbecuing. Better safe than sorry I guess.

We tried out the inverter and it is pretty cool how it automatically takes over when the shore power is turned off. It is only hooked to the circuits for the outlets so we don't overload it with the range or hot water heater. We'd have to run the generator to use those, which is fine as we'll need to run it some for charging anyway. Obviously this set up is for when we are away from the dock.

The only thing is two of our three GFCI outlets buzz with the inverter on. A quick google search revealed this is a common problem and we need to replace them with another brand of GFCI that the inverter manufacture has tested and certified to work with the inverter.

All in all we are very happy with the work that Ian and his team at Star Marine did on the boat. They came in very close to budget and time as well, which never happens with marine projects. Ian was great to work with and his adorable long haired dachshund, Lumpy, was a sweetheart and loves to get petted. We will definitely go back to Star Marine when we need more electrical work or want to upgrade our electronics.

I'll take photos and post them soon!

Work in Progress

Stopped by Star Marine Electronics to check on progress. Things are looking great and it sounds like our problems are going to be solved. Fingers crossed! The set up will definitely be simpler and more logical.

Eight Batteries!

Good news today from Star Marine. They took out the old "house" battery and made new battery boxes for the new batteries and found there was room for eight batteries instead of six like they thought. We're going to have mucho power! Yea! AND the boat will be done Friday as they'd estimated. So far very happy with them!

March 8 Update

It's been awhile since I posted!  Things have been a bit hectic lately, included a business trip to Miami last weekend.  My hotel room had a view over Biscayne Bay and it seemed like the boat traffic was non-stop.  I wish I'd had time to get out on the water while I was there.

When we went to Alameda last month we got an estimate from Star Marine on having the inverter installed and getting our electrical system cleaned up so it makes more sense.  For instance the "house" battery is currently not hooked up to the "house" panel.  Little anomalies like that.  We'd been thinking about doing it ourselves but considering how frustrating our electrical issues have been, how long we've had this inverter sitting on the boat, and not to mention that amateurs and electricity can be a dangerous mix, we decided to put this one in professional hands.  We take the boat this weekend to have the work started on Monday.  It is supposed to be in the shop for a week but we know how that goes.  We have been very impressed with Star Marine so far and have high hopes for this project.



One of the things they will do is remove our existing "house" battery and replace it with two banks of golf cart batteries.  One will have four batteries and one will have two.  They idea being to run off the four battery bank and keep the two battery bank in reserve.  We will have to reroute a waste pipe in the engine room bilge to make room for the additional batteries (our project for Saturday).  We actually have room for two more batteries in another section of the bilge but that would require rerouting several more hoses and moving some strainers and the bilge pump float switch, so we are reserving that project for later!  (If we determine we need the power.) 

We are a little bummed at the thought of being boatless again so soon but hopefully it will only be a week.  We have a cruise out to Jack London Square in Oakland the weekend of the 24th-25th so the goal is to have the boat back by then for sure.  The weekend after that we will drive up to the Delta on Sunday (April 1st) to get our slip ready and they April 6th we will take the boat up there!  Can't wait.  We have been counting down the days! 

I hope to post some new pictures soon, now that we have our home computer fixed!