Good connections

When we left you last the engine would not start.Everything was ready, but nothing was starting. This is when you need friends who know what they are doing. They are much more help than a book. After not solving the starter problem on his own, Bill called Norm who is very knowledgeable about Diesel engines. Norm gave him some things to check. The checks led him to think the starter may be bad so he removed it and took it back to the shop that had rebuilt it last January. The starter worked great for them. They also had some good advice. When checking a circuit, don’t use the battery as the ground, use the part. That way if the engine has a bad ground it will show up. Bill went back to Gypsy and cleaned all of the connections and reinstalled the starter. This is where not having a galley counter over the engine is a big help. We tried once more and the starter spun. The engine started right up and ran great.

The engine is loud and so we also have been working on the engine enclosure box. The box sides got sound foam installed. The foam is about 1 1/4 inches thick and has several different densities of foam to better absorb the noise. You cut the foam to fit and cover the edges with mylar tape. Then you glue it to the box with contact cement.

The foam is heavy so we added screws and large washers to help hold the foam and keep it in place.

We also have been working on our instruments. The chart plotter was not sealed well to the cabin side and was leaking water into the boat so it got mounted on a fiberglass trim ring and resealed.  The auto pilot controller, bottom right, also got installed. The instruments are a compass, top left. The chart plotter, below the compass, shows the charts and the radar image. The two B&G instruments on the right show wind, depth, speed. The auto pilot controller is below them and it still needs to get hooked up.

The instruments are all connected to a data back bone that shares the information: wind, depth, speed, GPS, AIS, radar between the units. There is also a wifi module so we can use our ipads as repeaters for the chart plotter. On top of all of that there are power wires to give the instruments 12 volts DC to run. Trying to keep it all neat is a challenge. This will get a cover to hide the wires from view.

While Bill has been wiring away for the last couple of weekends Nina has been working her way across the overhead, (the cabin ceiling). She has been installing cleats to hold the overhead panels and lights. She also has been installing insulation foam. The foam has custom removable bits where the hardware is so we have service access.