[Public-List] OH, what a day

[mahseer at kos.net]

After the reundvous we left about two hours later than our 0730 departure
time due to fog.  We had a great sail down to the Solomons and stayed an
extra day to have some parts ship in through West Marine.  Then had
another great sail to Mill Creek for an overnight stop.  After this things
started to go wrong.  On the sail down to Chrisman Creek I didn't dog down
the fore hatch so at the Creek after anchoring I checked the "V" berth to
find my bed absolutely saturated in water (or so I thought)  After pulling
everything apart I found only the bed sheet wet not the blankets or duvet
on top (go figure).  Since we planned to stay an extra day I spent it
hanging out my laundry to try to dry it up with some success.  Things
began to get better or so I thought, we had to motor most of the way to
Norfolk because of no wind, so at the mouth of Hampton Roads the engine
stopped dead with a vicious ebb tide this is what I really needed no
problem I though try to restart then I noticed a vast amount of SMOKE
coming out of the cabin, dam I really need this fire on board no wind in
the middle of a shipping channel.  Stupidly down below I go remove the
engine cover and get blasted with more acrid smoke.  In the blackness I
could see a bright orange glow from the cable from the alternator to the
main disconnect.  I turned off both main switches and left for the smoke
to dissipate.  Called Towboat US who towed me to Tidewater Yacht marina. 
After securing my self I went below to investigate the problem, it appears
that the nut on the alternator came loose and the regulator temperature
sensor shorted to the casing causing the problem.  I cleaned up the mess
and rewired some what to get power to the boat for the night, tomorrow I
will take the alternator to be checked for possible diode shorts and find
some 10 gage wire and terminals to re-wire the boat.

Have a great day
John Boor
MAHSEER #380


 1225062836.0