New Balmar Alternator
Our boat came with an internally regulated, Leece-Neville 105 amp alternator. It couldn’t keep up with the high charge acceptance rate of our new 500 Ah LiFePo battery bank; it worked too hard and got too hot and finally quit on us. Plus, it looked like it had been sprayed with salt water at one time. […]
First Overnight Anchorage and Alternator Autopsy
First Overnight Anchorage A couple of months ago we finally got to take SVRO out for an overnight trip. We left Friday after work and headed south along the San Joaquin River. The wind was blowing maybe 3 knots so we weren’t able to sail, but the motor was running fine. Our batteries were at […]
Perkins 4-108 Diesel Update
Here’s a quick update to some work we did on our Perkins 4-108 diesel. We recently had two different people ask us the same question about the K & N filter we put on the air intake of our Perkins 4-108. After looking into it, it’s obvious some info was left out on the description of […]
Mid-summer Project Update
So it’s mid July already and we’re making a little headway on the project list. Our goal this summer was to get the boat put together enough to take it out on the San Joaquin River. Ground Tackle We started with the ground tackle, and have finally managed to get the bowsprit on, the anchor […]
How do we gauge our progress?
I wonder what sort of thought process was involved when the American Boat and Yacht Council convened to establish a standardized system of wire color coding. Light blue for the oil pressure gauge? Tan for water temperature? Shouldn’t it be the other way around based on the “color” of the liquid we’re gauging? Black might […]
Leaky Perkins myths dispelled
Some would say “I’d rather be good than lucky.” Others say “I’d rather be lucky than good.” I’d rather say “I’m good, now how’s about a little of that luck y’all keep talking about?” I think I need to buy a Lottery Ticket right about now because, despite my last post, not all diesels leak […]
Of oil leaks and engine mounts
“How come the British don’t build computers? Because they haven’t figured out how to make them leak oil.”
Snowball Effect (Part II)
When last I posted, I was writing about changing the oil in our 38 year old Perkins 4-108 diesel engine and explaining the inevitable chain reaction of events that are synonymous with nearly every project I tackle on this boat as of late.
One thing leads to another
So goes it with boat projects. Pick a simple project to work on such as changing the oil & filter, and it mutates into something much more involved. The snowball effect. I should know this by now.