Alternator troubles

11/27/06

“I like”

Today task was to get the alternator sorted away. Brad spent the morning on the phone with companies trying to figure out exactly what we needed. We ended up overnight a 90 amp output alternator (our past alternator was 50 amp) to a local marina. Moments later we decided to take a slip at the other local marina, whoops. Every once in awhile, it is nice to get a slip or a mooringball just to use their showers. We made use of being terra bound by walking 2 miles to see Borat finally. It was a great movie, but not above any of his other material.

11/26/06

It rained intermittently. I climbed the mast to re-tape the spreader guards and untangle the incorrectly rigged spinnaker halyard. I posted some shots from up there. The pats played and Brad and Dan watched a sports bar.

11/25/06

Dan caught a fish! Did I mention Dan caught a fish? Yes, you heard correctly the monkey has been lifted off our back. We traveled to Wal-Mart to get a fishing license because apparently local bait shops don’t sell them it is only the mighty Wal-Mart which sells Florida fishing licenses. No more than 10 min after Dan through in a line he had a fish on it. It was no monster but we were giddy. It was maybe a 13in catfish. What a sight. That night high on our accomplishment we hit The Tikki Bar and suffered through a local band. “The Pirates” were two older men on guitars and one older nerd on the drums. Ohh, but one of the members played the kazoo too, five star entertainment.

11/24/06

Engine

I guess I’ll get right to the point. Brad noticed that our voltmeter was reading very high while we were motoring, 15 or so volts. In an attempt to save the battery bank and sacrifice the alternator we isolated the batteries and anchored as soon as we could. It seems that the regulator on the alternator went which led to an overcharging of the batteries till we isolated them. The batteries turned out fine but the alternator no longer charges the batteries. New Smyrna Beach was now our temporary home. Did I mention by the time we set our hooks the parts stores were closed for the weekend. It was 2 more days till we could even order the part.