Summertime on Kent Island: 7/26 - 7/29

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Monday, July 26  

I woke up at 2:30 AM to a flashing “HPF” on the A/C’s thermostat and no cooling.  I waited a few minutes to make sure it was real.  After I was sure that it was not a dream and the A/C was not giving me a false alarm, I crawled out of the v-berth and stumbled into the companionway to turn on some lights.

The HPF alarm stands for "high pressure
fault" and usually results from some type
 of  blockage in the raw water cooling. 
(However, there is currently a glitch
in our A/C system that occasion-
-ally produces false alarms.)

I lifted the little door in the floor of the companionway, exposing the raw water strainer and unscrewed the vent cap to check the water flow.   Sure enough, the water flow was weak—it shot up only an inch or two while it usually shoots up about a foot.  I closed the seacock and pulled out the raw water strainer basket and removed the blockage—it was mostly natural marine growth with a thoroughly mutilated jelly fish thrown in for good measure.  My hands still burned a little from the stings of the jelly fish as I crawled back into the v-berth to go back to sleep.  Just one of the joys of living on a sailboat on the Chesapeake Bay!  (Just as a side note, I make preventative strainer basket cleanings weekly but jelly fish don't come lurking by our boat on a schedule!)

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Many hours later I woke up to a sunny, warm, and humid day.  It was already 80 degrees outside at 10 AM (not that I slept that late) and was headed for an afternoon high of 86 (not too bad).  A light 3-knot breeze from the west northwest made being outside bearable.  I put the forepeak tent back up and spent some time outside with Lola before driving to Annapolis.  My plan for the day was to drive to Annapolis and accomplish a couple tasks: pick up Maggie's sewing machine after being serviced and make three heavy battery cables to my measured lengths at Fawcetts Boat Supplies.

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After picking up Maggie’s sewing machine I dropped by Main & Market (it used to be called Main Ingredient) on Bay Ridge Avenue for lunch.  (Stopping here for lunch was like going home for lunch.  In the past, with my business in Annapolis, this restaurant was always one of my “go to” places for lunch.)

This delicious cafe salad was my lunch-
-I really felt that I needed the greens
today.  They’ve been missing
from my onboard meals.

My last stop on this trip to Annapolis was Fawcett Boat Supplies.  I got the very end of their roll of 2/0 cable in both red and black.  Fawcetts must be trying to keep their inventory down.  (I spent $75 on cable materials but the crimping of the ends accomplished without charge.) 

The three 2/0 battery cables
I made today.  (I should
have used a slightly
smaller cable size!)

   

I returned to the boat after picking up a bag of ice cubes and a couple packages (one of which was my gasket set for the raw water strainer) and had a nice peaceful evening onboard.

Tuesday, July 27

I sat outside in the cockpit while Lola lounged under the forepeak tent for a little while and then came back to the shady spot on the starboard deck.   There she felt what little breeze was available and shade from the hot sun.

Lola was ready to come back into the A/C
at this point.  (By the position of her
ears, you can tell she had a bit
of an attitude at the time.)

Like yesterday the outside temperature was 80 degrees F at 10 AM.  A scant 2-knot breeze out of the northwest caused tiny, almost unnoticeable, ripples on the surface of the water in the marina.

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My major task for the day was installing the three upgraded battery cables that I made yesterday at Fawcetts.  Again, I had to completely disassemble the quarter berth and remove the drawer unit to gain access.  (With all the contents of the quarter berth and the drawer unit temporarily placed in the main salon, the boat was a total mess—it was a good thing Maggie wasn’t home yet!  I pick her up at the airport this evening.)

I turned off the onboard battery charger and isolated the boat’s battery usage to Bank #1 (the starboard bank).  However, I didn’t know if the current from our solar panels would be similarly isolated, so I decided to replace one cable at a time and hope for the best.  (With the battery charger off, the solar panels were providing all the charging needs for the boat, which at the time could have been 4 or 5 amps just due to the fridge.)

The number and size of the cables around
Battery Bank #2 was alarming.  Part of
the reason is that the windlass with
its huge cables connects 
to this battery bank.

Routing the bigger cables was a real chore!  I got the long black cable in place and the short black one, however, I abandoned the effort to install the long red cable--it was just too stiff to connect it along with the other cable connections.  I had to reinstall the old long red cable.  It was nearly 2 PM until I finished up, reassembled the quarter berth and the drawer unit, and made some lunch.  (Like many other projects, I didn't notice any difference in performance after completing this one.  Everything worked as it did before. Perhaps it works more efficiently but I can definitely worry less and sleep better now.)

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While I was working this morning, the A/C had a false HPF alarm and shut down for a few minutes.  It eventually corrected itself but only after enough time that I was able to check the water flow (it was fine!).  That makes two false HPF's (and one real one) in the last two days.

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After I finished my major project of the day, I got caught up on more mundane boat errands (watering the two plants, finishing up some dishes, cleaning Lola's litter box, etc.).  Before i realized it, it was time for me to leave to pick up Maggie at the BWI airport.  After I picked her up we went out for dinner at Lemongrass Too in Arnold.  We made it just before their closing time of 9 PM.

Wednesday, July 28

Leaving Kent Island relative early for Annapolis, our first stop was at Fawcett Boat Supplies where I purchased a number of materials for my upcoming boat projects.  At an Annapolis pool store, we bought chlorine tablets for use in our raw water strainer for the A/C—these tablets are stronger than the bromine tablets we have been using.

These chlorine tablets are intended to be used in
little devices that float around in swimming
pools and keep the water chlorinated.  

We went out for lunch at one of our favorite restaurants in town, Carroll’s Creek Cafe, and we both had wedge salads with a salmon fillet—a truly excellent meal!  We ate outside on their deck (but in the shade) and the atmosphere could not have been better.  A nice breeze kept our lunch area nice and cool.

We accomplished all our errands in Annapolis and we were back on the island by 2:30 PM.  I was concerned about Lola on the boat and the possibility of the A/C shutting down because of a jelly fish but both raw water discharges (from the A/C and the fridge’s supplemental cooling pump) were actively discharging water when we returned.

Thursday, July 29

Weather reality matched the the weather forecast perfectly for today—it was much cooler (in the high 70’s with a 50% chance of rain).   The high humidity was noticeable.  A 9-knot breeze was coming from the northwest direction.  The high cloud cover prevented the most intense sunshine from getting through, which helped keep it cool outside.

I selected today to work on the A/C’s raw water intake, replacing the sight glass on the water strainer and modifying the connection for the supplemental cooling for the fridge based on the weather forecast.  It’s a boat job that was delayed a couple times, the most recent time being caused by waiting for the gaskets to arrive by mail.

We opened up the hatches and shutdown the A/C just after our onboard breakfast (scrambled eggs and bacon wrapped in a low-carb whole wheat tortilla—yummy!).  We removed the drawer unit (for access to the little supplemental cooling pump) and the companionway steps and nearby floorboards to access the raw water strainer and associated hose connections.

The area below the companionway floorboards
contained the A/C circulating water pump
and the raw water strainer. (This
photo was taken before
working in this area.)

Today’s job started by removing the basket from the raw water strainer and draining the brackish Chesapeake Bay water from the system.  Some marine growth was evident on the cap of the strainer and throughout the strainer body—this was the primary reason for increasing the strength of the tablets I use in the strainer basket from now on.

Next, we removed the inlet hose connection to the strainer and the outlet hose to the A/C’s circulating pump.  Then, I removed the 1/2” hose connection to the supplemental cooling pump inlet and removed the strainer body (with its outlet header) from its normal location (normally on an epoxied-in-place teak cradle against the hull and beneath the floorboards).  (The raw water strainer is mounted horizontally due to space limitations.)

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About half way into this job the repairman from CruiseAir-Annapolis came by.  We had to put our floorboards back in place as well as the companionway stairs so that he could come aboard and repair our A/C.  He replaced the motherboard (about $400), thinking that this would solve our (intermittent) problem for sure.  It only took about 30 minutes.  (Later in the day, we had another false HPF alarm!  What's next?)

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After he was through, we went back to our project.  One of the purposes of this project was to relocate the supplement cooling pump for the fridge to an area beneath the companionway floorboards, mostly so I didn't have to remove the drawer unit every time I prime this pump.  

The last time I had to prime this pump, I noticed that no water reached the inlet (at least upon start up) while the A/C circulating pump was running.  I waited for it to stop (when if reached the set temperature) and then water flowed freely into the inlet of the pump.  So, by timing the start of the supplemental cooling pump to a point when the A/C circulating pump wasn't running, I could eliminate this laborious priming operation.

While I relocated the supplemental cooling pump I rotated it slightly to eliminate an extra turn in the hose just after the discharge--this reduced the pressure drop by a little.  The inlet hose was also greatly reduced in length.

The supplemental cooling pump for the fridge (upper
right in this image) was nestled beside the raw
water strainer (center of image) beneath
the companionway floorboards.

We restarted the A/C and watched as the water flowed through the raw water strainer (now that it was transparent again).  When the A/C reached its set point and the circulating pump shutdown, we started the fridge's supplemental cooling pump.  Everything worked as it should have!  We then replaced the floorboards and cleaned up.

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Next up, was fixing our galley sink faucet from loosening and turning when it was loose.  We simply added a flat washer plus a lock washer to the stud that holds the faucet.  While it seems simple, all this work was done essentially blind and by feel.  It took over an hour.  In the end, we feel like we accomplished our goal.  We'll confirm it in a couple weeks...if our galley sink doesn't come loose again.

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In the late afternoon I picked up a boatload of packages from the post office--one of them was the used wind instrument I ordered on eBay.  Stay tuned for my troubleshooting of our wind instrument over the coming weekend...

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