Chinese Fuses - Danger Will Robinson

When the grand-kids come over, 10 and 7, I like to take them into the shop and do experiments. It's fun for me and maybe educational for them. I had recently mounted a combination amp and voltage gauge. We talked about volts and amps, then for some hands on I decided to show how fuses protect the circuit. I demonstrated this by shorting out a fine strand of wire which got red hot, smelled terrible and ultimately flamed off the insulation. We would need a fuse to prevent that fire.

I had them fashion a short circuit with a fuse to protect the wiring. They watched the fuse pop when the circuit was energized. We blew several fuses so each of them could look closely at the glint as the fuse blew to prevent damage to the wiring. We had one inconsistent result during the process where a fuse refused to blow so I quickly switched off the circuit before my wiring heated up to the point of melting the insulation. We continued the excitement, blowing many more fuses.

A couple days later, I thought about that one fuse that refused to immediately blow. It was a slightly different hue, though similar in color than the rest of the fuses we had tried. I looked around my collection for other fuses with the same appearance. Yup, there was a small bag of them that came with a fuse block I had installed on the boat. I decided to put them to the test by rigging them in a short circuit. I watched the gauge as I switched on the power. 

My 12 volt lawn mower battery fed the circuit. Here's what I saw when I switched on the power. The volts would drop to less than 5 and the amperage got over 66.

 

Here are the results:

The 5 and 10 amp fuses did blow, but not until plastic case melted. I cut the power on the 20 and 30 amp fuses before they blew because my wiring got too hot. I wiggled the 5 and 10 amp fuses out of the holder before they cooled off. I waited until the 20 and 30 were cool before removing them.

So folks, it's a good idea to use only name brand high quality fuses.

From A 1975 Dairy Queen House Rag

 

We did end up buying a 27' sailboat. We lived aboard for about 3 years sailing from New England to the Caribbean.

New Tech For Old Boat

Big Duck is a 1972 Land-n-Sea houseboat. I've owned her for a little over 10 years.

Here's the story on Big Duck
 

The last time out with the family, the macerator wouldn't work. I had run clean water into the black tank and wanted to pump it out. The macerator pump wouldn't come on. It can get stuck after not being used for a time, so I thought it just needed a manual nudge with a screwdriver -- but that didn't get it going. It had to be the fuse. If I ran the macerator for too long, sometimes it would blow the fuse. I'd stopped most of that problem by putting a 5 minute timer in the circuit, but even then if it had to work real hard sometimes the fuse would pop.

Sure enough, when we returned home I could see the fuse had blown. The fuse panel is in the bilge and is not easy to see or access. This panel runs circuits in the bilge that are independent of the helm, like the macerator, bilge lights and bilge spotlight, two separate bilge pump circuits (with different buzzers for each so I can tell from the helm when they come on), a relay for the electric fuel pump and hookup posts to conveniently hook up the timing light (rather than having to get to a battery).

Not only being tough to see, it's a rats-nest of wires which yes, I'll get around to sanitizing one day. Then while changing the macerator fuse I noticed my secondary bilge pump came on. That pump is only supposed to run if the bilge water overpowers the primary pump. The fuse for the primary bilge pump was good, so I assumed the primary bilge pump or switch had failed. 

I ordered and installed a new bilge pump switch. I like these because there' no moving parts.

After installing the new primary pump switch, the primary bilge pump still wouldn't come on. It wasn't the pump because I could jump it to get it running. Figuring I'd screwed up the installation or had a defective switch, I pulled the switch back out and tested it on the bench. It worked fine. I totally rewired the primary pump to be sure the wiring wasn't the culprit. The damn pump still wouldn't come on. 

Then guess what? I discovered the fuse was blown. After all that work, I'd probably blown that fuse either taking the old switch out or putting the new one in. What a waste of time!

 Deciding I was never going to go through that again I decided to modernize the fuse panel. Today's fuse panels come with little led indicators that light up when the fuse has blown.

 I got the new panel here.

So now, I can easily tell when a fuse is blown without standing on my head and squinting. 

This is a bad macerator fuse - as witnessed by the red led.

And while I was at it. I decided to install a meter for testing 12 volt stuff. Testing that new bilge pump switch and future testing was made easier by incorporating a new volt and ammeter circuit on my workbench

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Big Duck - Not Me 10/2-3-4/20

My daughter Sara Jane, her husband Trey, their two kids - Packy 10 and Melanie 7, and their two dogs were coming to the house on Friday afternoon. The kids wanted to spend the night on the boat in the driveway Friday night with their parents (and the dogs). If things went well, we'd take the boat to the lake on Saturday. 

The crew had a ball on Friday night. It was decided we'd all take the boat to the lake for a cruise on Saturday, maybe staying aboard out on the water Saturday night.

The first challenge was to shop for the food we'd need for the trip. Guess who decided what we'd need to have aboard, then did the shopping and put things up in Big Duck? Not me!

With all the supplies stashed, it was time to think about getting the boat to the lake. Who would tow the boat to the lake? Not me! Trey not only took care of  attaching the boat, but used his truck, not my van. 

Trey's truck only has room for 5 people. It was decided that two adults, two kids and a dog would ride in the truck. Who would get the rest of the crew to the lake? Not me! Sara Jane would drive her car, taking Suzy and two dogs.

 So far, I had contributed nothing to the adventure. Trey and Sara Jane did all the organizing and work. Not only that, but Trey got Suzy out of her chair and into the car for the trip to the lake.

When we all arrived at the lake, Trey got the boat ready for the water, backed Big Duck down the ramp and tied her up to the dock. Then he wheeled Suzy to the boat and carried her aboard.

 

Then out on the lake we went, but it wasn't long before the kids got hungry for lunch. 

Who fixed lunch? Not me! 

Who cleaned up after lunch? Not me! 

We plied Lake Hartwell from the ramp down to the dam, then up to a bridge at Clemson that was too low to let us through.

It was getting late in the day and Sara Jane's thoughts turned to her Parakeet at home who had laid an egg a day before. Being them mom that she is, and expecting more eggs, she wanted to be home for the event. We went back to the ramp. Sara Jane took her two dogs and headed home to check on her bird. She was rewarded by a second egg.

It was then decided that while Sara Jane was tending to her bird, the rest of us would spend the night aboard at anchor. It was dark by the time we decided on a cove to anchor in so we kind of fumbled our way up until were tucked in, then who dropped the hook? Not me! We quickly snored each other to sleep for a very peaceful night.

The kids were hungry even before they got up. Guess who fixed breakfast? Not me! Trey cooked bacon and pancakes for all of us and cleaned up the galley afterwards.

 

About this time, we got to thinking about Sara Jane at home with her birds - she has three. We convinced her to come back to the boat.  We would all hang out for a spell. 

Sara Jane would be a while getting to the boat so we decided to check out every boat in all the Portman Marina covered slips. Here's the track of us checking out the piers with covered slips...Trey doing all the navigating and piloting.

Trey drove the boat to the dock where we would wait for Sara Jane. The kids played around on the dock while Merlin went for a swim.

Eventually the kids settled on the aft deck, each taking a Klondike bar from the nearby freezer.

 

When Sara Jane returned to the boat, we thought we'd just burn some gas and maybe find a spot to beach the boat so the kids could go ashore; it was a little chilly for swimming. We found a nice little beach and ran Big Duck up into the sand. Sara Jane and the kids jumped off the bow and waded to the beach.

They found the beach scattered with trash which they organized into piles, then the kids stuffed it in a big trash bag which we took it aboard.

The kids got wet going and coming from shore, eventually they wanted to go swimming - which they did.

But now, Melanie said she wanted to jump into the lake from the roof. None of us, especially her older brother, thought she would go through with the jump but we encouraged her anyway.

Guess what? Much to our amazement (especially her brother), she did jump.

 

 

 

Then her brother had to jump too.  

Once this jumping off the generator cover got started it was hard to call a stop to it. But we didn't want to run out of daylight not only getting the boat back on the trailer, but towing her home and putting her up in the boatport in the back yard.

So guess who: Drove the boat to the dock and tied her up - Backed the trailer down the ramp - Pulled the boat out - Secured the boat to the trailer - Towed the boat home - Unloaded the boat - Backed the boat past a tree, then around the house, then up the hill past another tree into the boat port? 

 

Not Me! Trey, Sara Jane and the Grand-kids took care of everything.

 

All in all, it was a little tiring for us old folks, but a glorious weekend with the family on Big Duck just the same. And speaking of family...

 

 Trey and family have all checked out as captain and crew on Big Duck. Would anyone hesitate to send them out on Big Duck without us old tired folks? NOT ME!

Volvo Penta Aquamatic - Removing the Transmission

You might want to do this to change your drive bellows, or check your U-joints (AKA bearing crosses) or maybe like me to replace a failing transmission.

 

I start by setting up a big fan at the stern to not only to stay cool, but also to keep the mosquitoes at bay. My dog, Merlin, likes to supervise.

You can probably get along without doing this, but I like to drain the oil. You'll need a container to catch a little over 1/2 gallon. If you remove the fill plug it will drain a lot faster.

I replaced the original drain plug with an Allen head.

Next I take off the cover with a large Phillips. The upper screw only needs to be backed off about 3 turns - it doesn't come out. The lower screw comes all the way out. The cover then slides out at the bottom and unhooks from the top.

Now undo the shift linkage. Remove the cotter key and washer from behind and pull out the pin. 

Lay the linkage down out of the way.

You can undo the lower pin and remove the linkage if you like.

Remove the helmet bolt. This varies by model. Mine takes a 3/8 Allen, but I tap in a very slightly larger Metric size because a 3/8 is sloppy.

 

Push the helmet forward as far as it will go.

   Undo the bellows clamp. I take my clamp all the way off.

 

 

Push the bellows forward as far as you can.

  Remove the two (forward) 9/16 nuts at the top of the intermediate housing.

 

Then remove the 5/16 Allen bolts that go from the intermediate up into the transmission.

Now jiggle the transmission up until the coupler sleeve on the transmission clears the intermediate shaft. Or the transmission may come up, leaving the sleeve on the intermediate shaft - either way is fine. When the transmission shaft is clear, rotate the transmission and pull it back and off.

The coupler sleeve is visible in the above pic.

 

There are shims between the these two units. Make sure they go back in the way they came out. If different parts are used, re-shimming is necessary. Here's how Ricardo recommends getting the shims right: 

 
Make sure that the two mating surfaces are clean and free from debris.
Remove the old O-rings and toss them (you'll need new O-rings).

With the extra shims that you'll end up with........., grab a random amount, and slightly over-shim underneath the new 280 transmission.

Without the two NEW O-rings yet installed, fit the transmission onto the Intermediate housing, and just snug it down.

You'll be taking a feeler guage reading around the perimeter between the two. Take a number of readings.
The feeler guage reading should be in excess of .004". If not... add another shim and repeat the above.

Now remove the 280 transmission, and measure the random shim pack value.

Reduce this shim pack by a value that will give you a .003" to .004" over-value when finally re-installed and just snugged down.

With the NEW O-rings installed, now re-install the transmission, and tighten it fully down.
Ideally, you'll end up with ZERO clearance between the two.

The goal:
Both cases tight to zero clearance between them..... yet with a .003" to .004" squeeze against the lower driven gear bearing.

The squeeze is to prevent the bearing's outer race from spinning within the Intermediate housing.

 

Besides your oil fill and drain plug gaskets/O-rings you'll need:

Main O ring (trans to intermediate) - 925259 = fits around the big bearing on the transmission.

Oil return O ring - 125017 = small protruding pipe

rag stuffed into intermediate shaft hole to prevent stuff from getting in

 

Look for both O-rings as a kit. SIERRA Volvo Penta Upper Gear Unit Seal Kit 18-2597 

 

Here's a few additional tips from a pro: 

 Just a few FYIs...

..... regarding transmission mounting..... the two nyloc nuts and the two cap screws are 3/8" NC

...... it's much easier to allow the vertical shaft spline coupler to drop down into the Intermediate housing while you remove the transmission.

..... perhaps mention that there are 3 different transmission driven gear bearing diameters.

200/250 are the smallest
270 thru the first gen SP transmissions are mid size
C and later are large diameter.

These will not interchange.

Thanks Ricardo

 

Navy Shower for Boat or Camper

When on the road with my camper, we usually stay overnight in Walmart parking lots. We've done this twice to Alaska (from SC) and back as well as too many cross country runs to keep track of. When we shower in the camper in the Walmart lot, we like to do Navy Showers to conserve water and add less grey water to the grey water tank. A Navy Shower means turning off the water when lathering or washing, having the water running only while wetting or rinsing.

The hand held shower head has a switch to turn the water on or off. This is kind of inconvenient because I'd rather just leave the shower head attached to the wall, especially after soaping up and fumbling for the button to turn on the rinse. My answer is a foot switch for the water instead of reaching for the button on the shower head.

I got mine on eBay from China:

This one is actually more like $25 when you add the foot valve.

You can find them at Amazon, but they're considerable more expensive. I didn't mind the month wait to get one.

I mounted it on a piece of wood that I covered with epoxy. I suppose you could use the fasteners they give you, but I didn't want to put holes in my tub.

Here's the installed valve.

Now I can easily turn the water on/off with my foot, leaving the shower head conveniently on the wall.

This works as well on the boat as it does in the camper. It also serves to conserve the 6 gallons of hot water for the next person to shower.

Random Land-n-Sea Pics