- After reading about the loss of the jibstay on Tomfoolery, an Alberg 35, in the September/October 2017 issue of Good Old Boat, checked the rigging on Constance. Found that one leg of the cotter pin inserted into the bronze clevis pin holding the jibstay was broken off. Upon first effort to straighten the other leg, that leg broke off as well. Pulled and replaced the cotter pin.
- Replaced the spinnaker halyard with 2mm halyard leader
from DynamicSailor
.
- Use the same piece of halyard leader to replace the spinnaker topping lift as well. Will replace the rest of the halyards when decomm'ing Constance for the winter.
- Installed the Blue Sea Systems
SI-ACR
just below the electrical panel on the port side. Quite a little scene. Had planned to installed the SI-ACR in the battery compartment, below the floor. Changed the location, so 3/8" holes were needed in the lugs in place of 5/16". Difficult to get a drill into that area to make pilot holes for the four wood screws to secure the SI-ACR. Ended up with only three screws. Could not get the SI-ACR to work...quick flash indicated that one or both batteries were less than 9.5V and that the unit was in lock out. Checked and re-checked voltages. Checked and rechecked connections. Measured voltages and connectivity. Each time measured voltage at the connection between the battery cables and the Need entry for MRBF
's. Finally checked at the battery terminals as well as the MRBF's. 13.35V from the Newmar at the MRBF. 12.29V at the forward battery terminals. "That's not right!". Found that the MRBF on the forward battery had blown. Replaced the fuse. SI-ACR started working within 2 minutes, per spec.
- Disconnected the Newmar
battery charger from the aft battery AND charger. Removed the wiring on 2017-11-14 after determining that the system operates satisfactorily. Meaning:
- Alternator charges aft battery directly via 6AWG red cable. SI-ACR closes immediately and charges for battery as well via 6AWG red cables connected to the Guest battery switch.
- Charger charges fore battery directly via 10AWG(?) black wire. SI-ACR closes after about 2 minutes, as advertized, and charges for battery as well via 6AWG red cables connected to the Guest battery switch.
- At all other times the batteries are isolated from each other.
- Currently, both house and engine starting are handled by aft battery. Fore battery (weak) is purely a reserve.
- Verified operation of the SI-ACR.
- Verified that the anchor, steaming, and navigation lights still work.
