I spent the morning at the local Mazda dealer getting our car serviced. The fan belts were making noise and needed replacing. In at 8:30--out by 11:00. Not bad.
Tracy and I traded calls through the morning. Early on, she thought she heard someone tapping on the hull but wasn't sure. A few minutes later, the power went off in the boat. She got up to find out what was wrong. People from the marina were untying Zephyr to move her. They thought there was no one on board. There is a gathering of the Poulsbo Yacht Club starting tomorrow through the weekend and they needed us to move down a few slips so there would be room for everyone to be able to raft up together. Once they saw Tracy they stopped untying and she told them we would move this afternoon.
I was calling her to give her updates on the work on the car. Nice people and a decent price for changing the oil and replacing the belts. I got back to Zephyr about 11:30.
We walked down to our new slip and then to the pump out station since our tanks needed emptying. Once we had our plans, we untied Zephyr and slowly moved through the marina to the pump out station. We moved in easily and got the job done. We motored back to our new slip and pulled in nice and easy. Out went the dock lines and we got nice and snugged in. I went below to shut off the engine. All it takes is the push of a simple button. This time, when I pushed it, nothing happened. The engine just kept on running. Tracy pushed the "off" button at the wheel. Again, nothing. I opened the engine compartment door and reached in and manually pushed the "off" rod forward. The engine went still. I swear, the jobs on a boat never end!! We stopped for a quick lunch and then started exploring to see what was wrong.
We started at the switch and worked our way down. I glanced at the "off" switch on the engine and saw where the wire was supposed to be connected and there was nothing there. Just the screw. I found the wire dangling beside the solenoid it was supposed to be attached to. It had simply snapped off. No one had been anywhere near it, its connection had just corroded off.
I unscrewed what was left of the fitting from the solenoid. Stripped off some of the insulation from the wire. Buffed it with sand paper to make sure it was nice and shiny. I pulled a spare fitting from my box of spare connectors and crimped it on to the wire.
Now on boats, you can't or at least shouldn't use the fittings you can get from your local auto parts store. You need special fittings that you use a heat gun to melt the end fitting after you crimp it to the wire so that no moisture can't get at the fitting. Once that was done, I screwed it back into position on the solenoid and the job was done. We restarted the engine and the shut off switch worked just fine. Every day we learn more and more of Zephyrs workings.
Seattle tied their record high temperature today at 66 degrees. It was well into the 50s here in Bremerton. A really nice day to work on Zephyr.
The second sail slide that was supposed to clean out the track of the "Strong Track" had arrived and I took the time to take it out and get the track "cleaned". We need to "clean" the track so that we can get the main sail to the top of the mast easier. Guess what--it doesn't fit either. It's too big just like the first one they went me. It was too late to call them today so I'll try tomorrow. I'm not sure what they will suggest we try next. I guess we will find out tomorrow.
I spent the rest of the afternoon making lists and web surfing for more parts for Zephyr. I have lots of people to call and orders to place. It never ends.
Tomorrow is another day.
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