Electrical and Fuel Issues
About ten days ago we had a diver clean the bottom of the boat and replace our zincs (sacrificial anodes). Whilst the bottom generally looked good he reported that there were “halos” around the main zinc, rudder support and stern pipe where the prop comes out. He said these indicated an electrical problem. These observations coupled with the extensive loss of zinc in a relatively short time got us worried. This morning we finally managed to get a marine electrician out to the boat and he found … no obvious cause! He did say that loss of zinc might be due to a DC issue but the “haloing” was associated with stray AC current. He tested the electrical system whilst dormant, with the engine running, connected to shore power and with the battery charger going. In all cases the reading looked absolutely normal. So our assumption is that we need to be a little more careful replacing the zincs at shorter intervals, especially whilst in these hot and very saline southern waters. We also believe that the “haloing” maybe due to stray current at a dock with a faulty electrical system. This could have happened in New York, Portsmouth, Charleston, Vero Beach or Key West – all places we have stayed on a dock on this trip. This is very different from our previous cruising experiences where we have rarely stayed on a dock. Anyway, we will have a diver inspect the bottom and the zincs again in a couple of months.
On our previous trip to the Caribbean (2017-8) and to a lesser extent more recently, we have had major problems with our fuel being contaminated and black sludge getting sucked up and blocking the fuel lines, causing the engine to stop. We have been working diligently to address this issue over the past year. I built a “polishing” kit that we carry with us, we treat our fuel religiously with biocide and we over-seal our fuel filler caps with adhesive sealant. This morning we decided that we should once again “polish” our main tank, sucking out fuel from the bottom of the tank with a PVC probe tube, pumping it through a filter and back into the tank. It’s a pain in the arse but at least we would then know we had done all we could to avoid issues as we start to travel once again. We are delighted to report that there was essentially no debris in the bottom of the tank – it was a bit of a worthless exercise but very reassuring. We then topped up both fuel tanks to the top of each fill pipe and re-filled our spare jerry cans. Unfortunately, the gasket and or seals for the fuel gauge at the top of our main fuel tank are leaking and when we came back from an afternoon walk we realized we had a couple of pints of diesel fuel in our bilge. What a smelly mess! We used spill cloths to soak up the worst and have added some bilge cleaner and water to the bilge to clean it up. We will pump that mixture overboard once we are out of the marina and in a less sensitive environmental area. Until we resolve the leaks it doesn’t make sense to fill to the top of the pipe. Once we use a little fuel it wont be an issue.
Mike
24 42.220 N, 81 06.131 W
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