This year’s cruise is becoming the “Maintenance & Repair”
cruise. It’s going to be VERY windy here in Key West. When you folks up north
get cold and snow we get big winds. So, yesterday, we motored into an excellent
secure anchorage for this blow and went to bed happy as a clam. In the morning
with a forecast for clouds (which = little sunshine and not much solar cell
output), I went to start the motor and charge up the batteries but all I got
was… nothing! No click, no start, no nothing. Half of an hour later I had the
starter off and apart to find this:
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| You know it's bad when parts and bits of metal fall out when you take it apart. |
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| Black and burned |
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| Insides melted and twisted apart |
The starter had destroyed itself. (This stuff only happens
on weekends). A bit of a search on the internet found one 50 miles away, back
in Marathon, but they close in 1 hour. So, Monday morning, I will be on the bus
heading back to Marathon to buy our new starter. As I said, “cruising is the
art of repairing your boat in exotic locations”.
well I do have some sympathy for your situation , then I remember it was 23 degrees this morning.
ReplyDeletewell I do have some sympathy for your situation , then I remember it was 23 degrees this morning.
ReplyDeleteWow, that starter is in bad shape. Good thing your still in the States! You don't have a hand crank do you. I am not looking forward to the day I have to hand crank my motor!
ReplyDeleteKen
hmmmmm, that battery cable redo didn't have any thing with this?
ReplyDeletemaybe an automatic fire suppresion system ?
of course any piece of equipment is subject to failure and the more moving parts the greater the
odds of failure.
probably best if you don't waste money buying lottery tickets!
Danny, Always enjoy those words of encouragement! Hope that it get's warmer up there some day, 78 Deg today.
ReplyDelete