T&T: Cummins 5.9 High Output Alternator Large frame & belt routing

[Mike Maurice]

Sorry, Scott. The entire (ENTIRE) pump installation was brand new; 
wires, control panel and the usual suspects were rounded up and 
interrogated. There were no confessions, even though the usual torture 
was applied.

The owner would tell you that by the time I have taken a boat 1000 miles 
that my problem solving is relentless. Any problem that I don't have 
figured out usually takes a while to fix. He has an electrician going 
over all this now and they still don't have the answers and it's been a 
week since I left the boat.

If you recall I warned you that the list I posted was incomplete. Would 
you like to hear about the knife switches that are double pole, the 
battery charger that does not charge both banks, the grounds that switch 
with the knife switches, the gremlin that lurks in the engine room and 
hides when the lights are turned on?

I had a jumper cable bought and brought along just to be able to jumper 
the 2 battery banks, so that I could switch battery banks without 
turning off BOTH the gen set and main engine first. Knife switches don't 
make before break; a good reason for not using them.

You can be sure that we took no chances with having this boat out in a 
storm where all this could come to bite us good.

The boat wasn't highly dangerous, but I can "smell" trouble and one look 
at the electrical system and I was convinced that it was a house of 
cards to be treated with kid gloves and a lot of paranoia. My suspicions 
were proved correct. All of our problems occurred under good conditions 
and were fixed or bypassed without serious trouble. That might not have 
occurred if it had been storming. We anchored or tied up several times 
to avoid rough conditions.

There is a lesson in all this. Don't let small problem accumulate, don't 
take chances if they are, if you can stop and fix things under good 
conditions so you won't have to when they are bad.

Bye,

Mike

_____________________________________
Capt. Mike Maurice
Tigard Oregon(Near Portland)