[Alberg30] Grey Marine Electrical Problem

[Brian Zinser]

This is one area which I have the least knowledge and experience, so any
assistance would be appreciated.

A couple of years ago, I was on a trip to Grand Marais, MI.  Lost the
wind for the last ten miles and had to fire up the engine.  About 5
miles short of the harbor entrance, the engine quite.  At first I though
I had run out of fuel and filled the tank with gas.  Went to re-start
the engine and battery #1 was totally dead.  Switched to battery #2 and
continued into the harbor.  Borrowed a car and drove 25 miles to nearest
garage and had batteries recharged, bought a voltmeter, returned and put
the batteries in, tightened up the v-belt and finally got a positive
charge occurring under load.

The last two years I have continued to check this problem and when my
batteries were fully charged, was not getting a positive reading (14 or
so volts) when the engine was running.  I (thinking no in error)
diagnosed the problem has having fully charged batteries. 

Yesterday afternoon we had a big high setting over us and Lake Superior
was as flat as it ever gets and I had to motor 25 nm to get home.  I
never noticed a positive charge on the engine volt meter the entire trip
and my suspicion was correct, after getting into port last night, I
tried to start the engine on the battery I had used and although it was
not totally dead, it did not have enough to start the engine. 

The big question I have is my problem most likely a bad alternator or
could some other item like voltage regulator be my problem?

Brian Zinser
Manana #134

P.S.  I have a trailer for my boat and other than moving the boat around
the garage where I store it on level ground at very low speeds with my
SUV, I always hire someone with at least a F250 or 350 to move the boat
the mile or so to the harbor.  If you plan to haul the boat a long
distance, you will need a big vehicle. Last year, a fellow with a J42
was hauling it to the harbor with a brand new Suburban.  When he turned
into the harbor, the rig jackknifed.  Lucky for him the boat and trailer
remained upright and other than a small bend in the front of the
trailer, the boat received no damage.  The local commercial fisherman
got out his fork lift and was able the salvage the mess and we got his
boat launched.  The good news is that he had a $500 deductible on the
Suburban.  The deductible on the J42 was $15,000.

 +---------------------------------------------------------------+
 |  Boatowners Mechanical And Electrical Manual by Nigel Calder  |
 | http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/007009618X/alberg30-20 |
 +---------------------------------------------------------------+

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