Fogg

The older, smaller models use small impellers that can’t cope with any sort of water restriction (creates an excessive vacuum or bac-pressure at pump) which causes smaller impellers to fail very quickly. I was going through them every 10hrs until I diagnosed problems with restricted water flow. New, bigger units use larger impellors more robust.

Lots of experience with these. Short answer is annual replacement but more importantly make sure whole system is free-glowing with no restrictions or partial blockages upstream of pump (eg inlet strainer becoming clogged) or downstream of pump (eg. calcified exhaust elbow). Couple of Qs: What year and size is your engine? Raw water or fresh water cooled?

The newish AES shop next to Burnsco at GH has an amazing selection of stuff like that including hard to find non standard items.

Haha! Cool. Titanium and Motorboat have turned and are both motoring and can sniff the finish. Could be in within 3-4hrs.

Looks like I might have fixed it. Turns out my guys did some routine maintenance last week including upgrading software on all my gear - and it caused my Raymarine VHF to switch AIS on which I don’t want because I have full send & receive being handled by Vesper. Which led to duplicate ‘ghost’ AIS image. Will test more thoroughly over weekend but provisionally promising.

Is the course shown in tracker mandatory or indicative? Cos it shows race course passing north of Channel Is but Titanium appears to have just passed south?

Superb thanks for the update Josh. Good luck. Will pop down in the morning if you guys are still around - partying! ????

What make & model boat?

Looks like anywhere between 12-20hrs to cover remaining distance in these variable conds

Tracker suggests its really fluky out there with the leaders almost parked up but the tail-enders closing back up. But nowcasting for their area shows NW11-16 kts.

Yes if I switch off AIS targets in MFD then the strange stuff disappears but I can’t find any option to set up my own ID / MMSI in the MFD. It was done correctly when setup a year ago so and has only just fallen out of synch and started misbehaving - I’m not sure if the setting is buried in the choice of network inputs so I might have to ask the guys who installed it to take a look...

That’s good. Must Krakatoa resume with original crew member or can he substitute?

I haven’t changed anything and it’s the other way around ie it’s showing myself as being a dangerous target (too close not too far).

The acid test of any dinghy wheel is how they behave in soft sand - the kind you can walk on ok and want to go ashore and pull the dinghy + o/b up the beach. To cope with that iou need a solid wheel - the ones in your pics look attractive cos they’re wide but they will sink into soft sand and fill up and bog down. A solid pneumatic tyre is the best option for dealing with that. My Beachmasters often have to carry a 2.8m dinghy with 15hp o/b plus fuel tank and other crap up a soft sand beach and cope far better than any other wheels I’ve had.

To be honest I’m not sure if I did an update. I did connect to both the vesper AIS and the Axiom MFD by WiFi recently to check for updates and it was a bit ambiguous whether an update happened or not due to signal delays etc - either way both seem to be saying they are both at latest versions and only option for MFD us to reinstall same version of software - but I’m not sure if that would require a whole system setup exercise again or not. I can check the mmsi is still showing ok in both I guess.

Today my Raymarine Axiom Pro MFD starting showing weird AIS behaviour - targets suddenly had a red circle around them and I had a kind of red cone extending from my position forward. Plus other random reddish rectangles appearing all over the screen. And when I zoom in on my own boat on the centre of the screen it shows an AIS target right on top of us as Aleana (which is us). All of this is new. It feels like my MFD has ‘forgotten’ that it’s paired to the Vesper AIS onboard and is seeing the Aleana signal being broadcast as a separate target. Any idea how to reunite these two devices?

Beachmaster

V2 product spec says allow for 80A cont with 90A circuit breaker. I don't think I could do that to my poor batteries with no engine support and then expect them to keep my beer cold.

This is a superb boat book that links to the Rewa and then spins out into one of the most enjoyable nautical yarns I’ve ever read. Anyone who’s not read it - get it! https://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/South-Sea-Vagabonds-Johnny-Wray/9781775541004

Reading all of the above - do you guys get my point about the complexities of 12v being far greater than AC!

I think we’ve been talking cross purpose (or is that cross wires)? Anyway, if you’re handling the bloomin cables then yes of course mains / AC is fR more dangerous than 12V D.C. to the human body. But that’s not what I was referring to or worried shoot with BP. I’m not worried about him frying his brains - he’s done that already - I’m worried about the consequences on the electrical equipment in the system and even the risk to the boat. There are way more parts and complications to 12V than an amateur DIYer will appreciate and hence some hidden dangers. Heat and fire bring the big one. Not

What I mean is that mains / shore power should be 'set & forget' and any problems you just call in the certified pros i.e. it's not for DIY. And the onboard systems are generally simpler for a small cruiser like us. Whereas 12V seems to attract a lot more DIY activity and whilst bits can be totally safe (like fixing a faulty nav light) other bits of 12v systems are potentially hazardous with multiple place things can go wrong and overheat especially when you're dealing with charging / alternators / batteries which might be venting etc.

The problem I find with idling forward under engine is two-fold: 1. In normal conditions even in slow ahead Aleana wants to motor about 2.5kts. That's just too fast because the windlass only takes in at about 1kt. So you're going to start running over the chain quite soon. Obviously in a stronger headwind or a smaller boat with less engine grunt then it's not such a problem and the speed might be matched better. 2. Slow ahead is only about 750rpm which means my alternator is pushing out no charge which means windlass is killing the battery(ies) - I need to spin 1200-1400 rpm to excite

BP - time to get some onboard help. Co-incidentally I’ve been going through identical charging issues and realised 12v can be more dangerous than mains power (which is simpler and stable). Whereas 12v involves huge currents and potential for dangerous overloads & overheating. It sounds like you’ve given it a good try but in my view 12v charging issues are not for DIY troubleshooting - I’d concede defeat and get pro help on this one mate. Seriously.

Congrats Josh & Damon. Looks like the wind has died out there.