ISSUES ... there are always ISSUES with a boat ....

We have been able to deal with a few “issues” while in Newport .  We had ALCOM replaced our Bell TV system (Bell’s service cuts out at about the Washington/Oregon border) with a Direct TV system.  This will allow us access to TV programming in California, Mexico and right down to Central America. 

 

 

An afternoon spent doing this ......

 

 

Means NO MORE of this .....

 

 Just to share some of the "torn apart" moments .....

 

 

 

 

 

We were getting a little discouraged to be looking at our beautiful boat ... all torn apart !!!!

 

 

And THIS is always a fun job ..... grey and black water tank sensors being cleaned and checked.

 

The other issue we had ALCOM address was related to soft shift valves on our steering system.  The valves are (apparently) already installed (who knew !?!?!) , but the locking valve - which keeps steering fluid from going back up the lines - needs to be installed, so we had those lines and valve fabricated and installed.  This stopped the “water hammer” banging that we got in rougher water, when the rudder is really having to work.  YAY !!!

 

The third issue we have been dealing with,  is our dear old reoccurring autopilot issue.  After replacing the satellite heads just prior to leaving on this voyage, we STILL had the autopilot fail multiple times while underway…. A bit disconcerting needless to say, given some of our significant seas and running in the dark !!!  We are on the third ( yes …THIRD !!) circuit board for this system.  Now it would seem something has gone amiss AGAIN !!!  Everyone seems a bit stymied as to why this unit keeps failing, including Simrad ….

After a couple MORE auto pilot failures on our way from Newport Harbor to San Diego, Cameron did some serious "deductive reasoning" by switching compasses from the Sat Compass to the Fluxgate Compass,  then isolating our two charting programs, switching from the NavNet program and running on Coastal Explorer then trying each of these programs on the various compasses.  Having the autopilot "fail" in certain situations isolated which component(s) were the culprit. 

 

 

 

Rest assured .... we were NOT underway when all this was happening !!

 

 

After all of this, Cameron MAY have figured out what the autopilot issue is.... It MAY be the Interface Unit that connects the satellite compass to the rest of the NavNet 3D system.

If so, Cam is a TOTAL GENIUS because NO ONE ELSE ON THIS PLANET - NONE of the "experts" we HIRED (at significant expense !!) to deal with this issue .... have been able to figure out the damn (and on going) problem …..
We will know better if the autopilot is fixed  in October, when we take SL out for a long test run.

 

All of this made me appreciate how COMPLEX these boats are and how owners really need to understand the intricacies of their vessel.  A Masters in Engineering is almost a requirement !

On top of all of THESE issues, our batteries are not holding a charge (which is a BIG issue when you are not tied to a dock and plugged into shore power as we were for a few nights in Newport Harbor).  We came back to the boat one evening in Newport Harbor, to find VERY weak batteries, which made the Sub Zero Fridge / Freezer very unhappy and we were thinking the power issue had burned out the compressor !!   Cycling the fridge on and off got it working, but only temporarily.  As it turns out, we are likely in for a new control circuit board (not the compressor as originally thought).  It will be repaired in San Diego.

 

 

Dealing with a fitful fridge ..... NOT fun

 

As much of an inconvenience these problems are, they are issues that are best dealt with NOW, when they are easily fixed,  and for that we are grateful.  We were never in any danger and we were still very comfortable on the boat ....

And as discouraged as we got with some part of most every room being  torn apart, we managed to get everything reassembled and we left Sea Level in very good shape in her slip in San Diego.... batteries and fridge are all being dealt with in our absence.