We got up late, very late. As in 9am. Had breakfast and did our devotions separately. Renee’ went to the store with the neighbors across the docks and I got the boat ready for the electrician who was coming to help with the Bow Thruster, engine alternator and water filter issues.
He arrived at about 1pm, and got right to work. We quickly figured out that the next stop with the water filter is to remove it from the boat, and work on it either on the dock, or in a shop, as we are dangerously close to breaking the filter off of the mounts. So, we stopped that work, and went on to the Bow-Thruster issue.
Within 5 minutes of his starting into this project, I was convinced it was the right answer to get help. I had the trouble shooting guide and the tech manual for the thruster. He looked at it and figured out that one wire that he expected, to be there was not there.
So, there should have been six wires to the Bow Thruster:
- The 12 volt Positive from the battery (large red wire)
- The 12 volt Negative from the battery (large black wire)
- The 12 volt ground for the control circuit from the joy stick at the helm (black)
- The blue control signal wire from the joy stick (port)
- The grey control signal wire from the joy stick (starboard)
- The 12 volt positive wire going to the joy stick (not here)
At the joy stick at the helm there are four wires:
- The 12 volt ground for the control circuit from the joy stick to the thruster (black)
- The blue control signal wire from the joy stick (port)
- The grey control signal wire from the joy stick (starboard)
- The 12 volt positive wire providing power to the joy stick (which is at the joy stick, but has no power).
So, where I would have spent several hours trying to figure out what was wrong at the bow thruster, I would probably have done more damage than good. Instead, we only had to figure out where it came from and figure out why it had no power.
We looked in all the obvious places for this fuse, or breaker. Then we started chasing the wire from the helm down and spent the next couple of hours tugging on the red wire.
We finally gave up, and tapped into the power to a switch at the helm for a dinghy light. Installed a fuse and got the bow-thruster to work.
He then spent about an hour putting the tie wraps back in that he had cut to figure out where the fuse was.
So, four hours invested and the thruster is working again!
He will be back either tomorrow or Monday, to deal with the alternator.
On a completely different subject: Last night I saw a request for help from someone on the Sea of Cortez who was looking for an Iridium GO! SIM card. He was asking for someone who had one that was close to Guaymas. (Which is where we are). I contacted him and we will get together and I will give him the SIM card and show him what I know about how it works.
We do have room for guests, if anyone is interested in visiting and spending a week or so with us, drop us a line and we will coordinate. What you have to do/have is you need a passport and will need to be able to get to where we are when you are going to be down. When we know what time frame you are thinking about we can let you know where we expect to be so that you can make your travel arrangements.
If you want to know where we are, click this link:
https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Make_Me_Laugh_Again
Oh, and no pictures again today.