Summertime on Kent Island: 8/6 - 8/8

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Friday, August 6  

The 5-knot breeze out of the southwest quadrant and the 75-degree temperature with full sunshine made the morning a pure delight.  It was 8 AM when I sat in the cockpit watching Lola during her morning outside time.  

I had an easy day ahead of me, mostly just cleaning up the boat before Maggie arrived home tomorrow from the beach family reunion.  Sure, there were a few little preventative maintenance tasks thrown in but they were small compared to what I had been through during the past week.  (When I review my day’s tasks, I always make them more specific and add a couple to the list.   Today was no different—I now have ten (small) daily tasks for today.)  It was funny how my list grew from a couple items to ten items during the short 30 minutes I had been watching Lola.

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One of my little preventative tasks was cleaning the strainer in the shower/fridge sump pump—I do it every 3 weeks.

Our shower/fridge sump pump strainer (top of image)
is located under the galley sink.  The valve
(bottom of image) allows us to select
between shower or fridge drain.

The strainer basket was near completely
clogged up with debris.

We don’t use our onboard shower but we use the same sump pump to empty the little bit of water that accumulates in the bottom of the fridge.  The strainer collects little bits of debris in that water and the strainer is intended to prevent that debris from entering the pump.

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Just when I thought I’d have an easy day, our fridge stopped working.  The digital display went dead and the compressor’s cooling fan stopped running.  It was just before noon.  I opened the operating manual on my computer and nothing matched the symptoms I observed.  (The compressor light was on but very dim.)  So, I called SeaFrost (the manufacturer) for some troubleshooting assistance.  While I was waiting for help, I tried to pull out a 5-amp fuse (for the supplemental cooling pump) to change it.  Before I even got the fuse out, the unit came back on.  Clearly I jiggled a loose connection—but where?  I pulled at some of the connections and found nothing loose.  So, I ran some errands in our car and took a (much needed) shower (Sometimes it helps to get away from a problem for a little while).

Removing a cushion and the underlying platform
in the forward portion of the quarter berth
exposes the fridge compressor.

Showered (and shaved), I came back for a second look at the wiring.  I again pulled at each wire, this time in a more systematic manner and still found nothing.  Then I sprayed each connection with electrical contact cleaner.  The unit has been running fine ever since but I'm not certain why.  (Another mysterious electrical issue on s/v Rainy Days!)

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On a positive note, our A/C has never worked better, although we have had two false HPF alarms after the motherboard was replaced more than a week ago.  Could the problem be the high pressure switch?

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I am so glad that I am mechanically inclined!  There is no way I could afford to live on a sailboat if I wasn't.  I must admit that sometimes it is a little too much even for me.  If it's not an electrical or mechanical problem, it's insects that plague you.  There is always something trying to drag you down, kind of like a business.  However, like the old saying goes "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger."

Saturday, August 7

When I went to sleep last night the fridge was working (and the box temperature was below 40 degrees) but when I woke up this morning it wasn’t working again!  I’m was certain that the problem was electrical in nature and probably concerned the data cable or it’s connections between the compressor located under the quarter berth and the digital control located in the galley.  I was very frustrated—it was the second time we experienced this same problem.

Fortunately, I purchased a big 16-pound bag of ice cubes yesterday—it’s the only thing keeping the fridge cool this morning.  After about 45 minutes of trying to troubleshoot the fridge problem again this morning, I quit.  (I will call for service out of Annapolis next week.)

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I came outside with Lola to try and calmly release my feelings of frustration with our fridge problem.  The sky was getting more cloudy as the morning progressed.  I could tell that rain was on its way (or was I influenced by the recently increased 76% chance of rain predicted by Weather Underground?).  

My sought after peacefulness was interrupted by Lola jumping onto the bow of the neighboring fishing boat to chase some small birds.  She was in her highly focused bird-hunting mode and ignored my demand that she return to our boat—still in my underwear, I had to go get her.

Lola jumped onto the bow of this neighboring
fishing boat this morning in her hot
pursuit after some small birds.

For the time being at least, the sun was out, it was relatively cool (75 degrees), and there was a mild 2 or 3 knot breeze (just barely enough to move our flag on the transom) out of the North.  

Lola resting on the companionway hatch
after her wild bird chase this morning.

I keep thinking about how I can avoid the frustrating electronic failures that I’ve experienced lately.  I already do a lot of preventative maintenance.  Unfortunately, I don’t know of any preventative maintenance tasks that can prevent the weird electrical problems I’ve recently encountered.  Do I have to create a schedule for a regular cleaning of the hundreds (or more) electrical connections on the boat?  As difficult as it might be, should I make a concerted effort to reduce plug type connections?

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Maggie got home this afternoon--I met her and her daughter and son-in-law at the Crab Deck just a few miles away from the boat.  It was raining lightly.  Shortly after we had lunch a different daughter and her fiancé (with Maggie's new granddaughter) visited with us on the boat.  Lola was fearful of all the new people on the boat--she hid in the quarter berth the entire time. So, when they left for a suburb of Chicago, our life returned to normal again...except for our refrigerator.

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We bought another 16-pound bag of ice cubes to keep our refrigerator cool overnight and into tomorrow.

Sunday, August 8

A beautiful sunny day awaited us with an expected high temperature of only 82 degrees.  The day started out cool at only 71 degrees with some light clouds in the sky and a 10-knot northeasterly breeze.

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Sometime during last night, I thought more about our fridge problem and decided to order a new control unit with a new circuit board (or just a new circuit board (if it can be ordered separately) and a new data cable but have them tested together before shipping.  In this way, I can be assured that I could fix the fridge by late Tuesday (assuming I can get overnight shipping on Monday).  

I left a message for our refrigeration guy in Annapolis on Saturday morning but I'm sure I won't hear back from him until Monday or possibly even later.  The quickest I could get a new control board from SeaFrost directly would be Tuesday.  In the meantime, I decided to try and find the mysterious bad connection again this morning, focusing more on the data plug (a little larger than an old telephone type connector, I think it might be a CAT-6) between the compressor unit and the digital readout this time around.  (Previously I had to hold this data plug into the circuit board with an arrangement of nylon cable ties to get it to maintain contact.  During this recent fridge episode, I removed these nylon cable ties for access.)

Our fridge compressor and attached
control circuit board (on left).

Again, I found no loose connections after 30 to 45 minutes of prodding at wires.  I am hoping that when I contact SeaFrost tomorrow (from the road) that we can work on a plan for resolution. 

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We pick up our new kitty tomorrow in east central Pennsylvania, where Lola was born--it's about 3 to 3-1/2 hours away from Kent Island...

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