Electric Furler!

We now have electric roller furling! The gooseneck installation and electrical hookup went easily, and everything works great. Can't wait to use it next season!

New Motor Installation

In the top photo, there are now 4 weep holes that have been drilled through the end casing. All of the brushes are in this part of the motor, and with the springs loaded, it's a bit of a trick to hold the brushes down while attaching it to the body of the motor. The piece of cardboard allows me to hold all of the 4 brushes in position while I attach the end casing to the body. Once I have it in position, I simply slide out the cardboard while holding the casing in place until I can get the bolts engaged. The second picture shows the mounting plate exchanged with the temporary plastic end piece, and one of the attachment bolts. Note the grease around the drive shaft, and on the attachment bolt, to prevent seizing. If you look closely, you can also see the silicone sealant around the motor case bolts, an attempt to keep water out of the motor.

Furling Motor Parts

Above is the new furling motor, and a spare brush set. The end plate at the top has been removed from the old motor, and replaces the plastic cover on the new motor during assembly.

New Hardware

I received the new replacement furling motor today. I plan to mate it with the gearbox this week, after implementing the suggestions for managing the water incursion problem, below.

Furling Motor Fixes

In the picture above (top), notice that the long case bolts are eroded near the end. This is the part of the bolt that was exposed to water. These bolts are nearly at the failure point.

I have received two recommendations with regard to the moisture
problem in the furling motor: use silicone to seal the recessed area
around the head of the two case bolts (the long bolts that hold the motor
together), and drill weep holes at the bottom of the motor (in the end
plate that holds the brushes) to allow any water to drip out.

I ordered a new motor today from Eric Pearson, the source of parts for these old Hood systems.

In Mast Furling Motor Repair

Here's the problem, water has seeped into the motor, and accumulated in the bottom of the unit, where all of the important electrical bits are, of course.

Here is the gooseneck unit, with motor and gear box removed from the mast.

Autopilot Voltage Follow-up (4)

But here is the curiosity. This is the noise that exists on the voltage supply with the engine off and the autopilot off. What is the cause of the noise? Not sure, but it's going to be fun to find out. Who cares? Nobody but me...

Autopilot Voltage Follow-up (3)

Here is a closer look at the behavior with the autopilot on with the engine on.

Autopilot Voltage Follow-up (2)

Here we zoom in a bit to see the detail of engine on, autopilot on, autopilot off, then autopilot on. The voltage drops down to as little as 11.5 volts as the autopilot hydraulic pump is engaged for steering.

Autopilot Voltage Follow-up

Some of you may recall that I ran some tests this summer to collect voltage data on Silence's autopilot. I finally got around to plotting the data this week, and there are some interesting results. This all began because I suspected that I had a power problem because the autopilot would randomly shut down and reset itself, and drop off course. It turns out that the problem was caused by a loose connector on the back of the control unit, but I didn't figure that out until after I had built a data logger and collected this data. In the diagram above you will see that we start out with the engine off and the autopilot in standby. Shortly afterward, the engine is turned on and you can see the voltage rise as the alternator charges the batteries. (The straight line represents a period for which there is no data as I stopped logging to save space on the SD card.) Next, with the engine on, I started the autopilot and you see the noise on the signal increase. Later, the same cycle is repeated, engine off, engine on, autopilot on, autopilot off, and then at the end, engine off, and power turned off.

Downrigging 2

We completed winterizing today, running antifreeze through all of the systems. We took down the mainsail as well. Time for Silence to take a long winter's nap.