Can anyone help, battery 'steaming' St Cast west of St Malo, urgent

Jungle Jim

Jungle Jim

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Any help or advice gratefully received. I've got most of this from one phone call so not much info to go on I'm afraid. Boat is Bavaria 36, Two of Diamonds

The skipper is at sea with only two novices to assist. They were motoring, then there was a burning smell and the autopilot expired, locking(?) the wheel. They are now on the emergency tiller. Shortly after 'steam' was noticed coming from the batteries. They turned the engine off and are now sailing towards St Cast. They have put out a Pan Pan to request some help getting in.

Other electrics (radio, plotter) are functioning OK

My best guess is the alternator is putting put too much voltage which has wiped out the steering motor and cooked the batteries. The alternator was replaced in April.

Does anyone have any helpful advice, suggestions, contacts or any practical help to offer in the area please?
 
I would sail towards St Cast. Depending on time of arrival off the marina entrance, I would either ask HM to tow me to a berth or anchor for the night, have a meal and a night's rest, and get towed in in the morning. If I could not trace and repair the fault myself, I would get an engineer to do it. I wouldn't make a Pan Pan call for something like that but if the skipper feels that is justified, that's up to him; he's in charge.
 
Disconnect the alternator by removing both the big lead [ might be red ] and the field lead. [ F ] if you can find it. If unsure just remove all the leads insulate the ends with tape. You can then run the engine.

Be REALLY careful around the batteries if they are showing any signs of bubbling or gassing which they will be doing if they are hot. The gasses are hydrogen and oxygen and are explosive. Ventilate well but run nothing that might spark close to them, this includes fans.
 
I have experience of a battery with steam coming out of it, power to small consumers was OK. I was driving a Ford Mondeo and there was a smell similar to rotten eggs and then steam coming out the battery. I pulled over, battery was hot, stuff still worked but now the car would not start. Called the AA who diagnosed a dead battery. They fitted a new battery and everything worked fine. It may be that the alternator is OK but the battery is goosed.
 
The pilot drive clutch should be fail-safe, disengaging when power is removed. So regardless of anything else, disconnecting power to that should give them back use of the wheel.

Possibly worth disconnecting the alternator (since it seems likely that it's overcharging) and then seeing if the engine will start? Small yacht engines generally don't need power to keep running, so if they can start it they can leave it running and get to port sooner (assuming there's little wind if they were under power originally) and berth normally once they get there.

Sensible to make sure they are sorted for independent nav and comms arrangements now, in case the batteries become completely unavailable at a crucial moment.

Pete
 
Thanks all, I'm relaying this via mobile to the boat. Only the engine battery was showing signs of distress so possibly as BlowingOldBoots suggests it's that one that is knackered. The autopilot has previous history of being temperamental so that may be coincidence.

If it's the engine battery, will this work? With the cabin well ventilated, start the engine (if it will start) then immediately disconnect the engine battery and insulate the (now loose) terminals.

Alternative that I've just thought of. There are jump leads on board. Disconnect the engine battery and start the engine using the jump leads from the domestic?
 
My experience of French sailors is that it totally normal for them to tow one-another in to avoid a probable €800 lifeboat charge ... lives not at risk.

If no luck with the HM get them to signal another boat.

Windfinder showing only 6 knots so anchoring shouldn't be too dangerous in itself but I wouldn't fancy being off a harbour without lights** . Fishing boats come and go from there at all hours.

The nearest Volvo dealer appears to be at St Malo according to the Volvo site but any marine engineer should be able to work on the fault.

Best of luck to them.

**'Was assuming batteries disconnected but it's still dangerous even with an anchor light
 
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Jungle Jim said:
Thanks Pete, I've confirmed first thing they did was isolate all power to everything via the main switch, the wheel remained stuck.
Click to expand...
One of my 4 batteries started steaming the other day. Documented elsewhere, I isolated the steaming battery, disconnected my Sterling booster so as to avoid really charging the other, as it turned out knackered, batteries. I motored for nearly thirty hours like that. The remainers got hot but not catastrophically. Shutting all the power off and then on should reset the auto pilot. If its just the engine start battery, can they disconnect it and run on the house system? On my Bene you can. I caution as have others when working around the steaming battery
Stu
 
Jungle Jim said:
Thanks all, I'm relaying this via mobile to the boat. Only the engine battery was showing signs of distress so possibly as BlowingOldBoots suggests it's that one that is knackered. The autopilot has previous history of being temperamental so that may be coincidence.

If it's the engine battery, will this work? With the cabin well ventilated, start the engine (if it will start) then immediately disconnect the engine battery and insulate the (now loose) terminals.

Alternative that I've just thought of. There are jump leads on board. Disconnect the engine battery and start the engine using the jump leads from the domestic?
Click to expand...

I would suggest taking the engine battery out of circuit and leaving it well alone.
let it cool and disperse any gas for a few hours, then start with the domestic battery if it will.
Or maybe just sail somewhere, anchor off, row ashore and acheter une pile nouveau?
 
Bav34 said:
My experience of French sailors is that it totally normal for them to tow one-another in to avoid a probable €800 lifeboat charge ... lives not at risk.

If no luck with the HM get them to signal another boat.

Windfinder showing only 6 knots so anchoring shouldn't be too dangerous in itself but I wouldn't fancy being off a harbour without lights** . Fishing boats come and go from there at all hours.

The nearest Volvo dealer appears to be at St Malo according to the Volvo site but any marine engineer should be able to work on the fault.

Best of luck to them.

**'Was assuming batteries disconnected but it's still dangerous even with an anchor light
Click to expand...
The problem will probably be just a knackered battery. There have been reports of others suffering recently. Its the hot weather. The so called sealed batteries get warm, lose water, the alternator thinks the batteries are flat and continue charging and the situation compounds itself.
Stu
 
Jungle Jim said:
Thanks all, I'm relaying this via mobile to the boat. Only the engine battery was showing signs of distress so possibly as BlowingOldBoots suggests it's that one that is knackered. The autopilot has previous history of being temperamental so that may be coincidence.

If it's the engine battery, will this work? With the cabin well ventilated, start the engine (if it will start) then immediately disconnect the engine battery and insulate the (now loose) terminals.

Alternative that I've just thought of. There are jump leads on board. Disconnect the engine battery and start the engine using the jump leads from the domestic?
Click to expand...
Dont disconnect the start battery with the engine running unless you have the system switches set to both.
Im assuming the Bavs use the same system as do the Bene and Jeanneau.
 
skipper_stu said:
The problem will probably be just a knackered battery. There have been reports of others suffering recently. Its the hot weather. The so called sealed batteries get warm, lose water, the alternator thinks the batteries are flat and continue charging and the situation compounds itself.
Stu
Click to expand...

Scarey stuff.

I must admit to being confused re the steering.

If the AP is locking the wheel then the emergency tiller would also be locked.

If the AP is the grey rubber band one on the wheel just flip the locking lever off.

If the AP is a ram then this connects to the steering quadrant which is attached to the rudder shaft.

The emergency tiller attaches to the top of that shaft so if the wheel really won't turn I can't see how the tiller is helping,other than perhaps giving a bit more leverage.

Agree with the reset suggestions. Or flip the lever off.
 
Re AP.

Last year my AP jammed and was very difficult to steer even with the lever off. When I took it apart the belt had snapped and 3 bits were stuck in the mechanism (not sure of proper term). My crew was surprised I even carry a spare belt, but when you single hand its vital!
 
Here is where we are at:

Engine restarted, suspect battery disconnected so they are proceeding under power. Battery voltage monitor on the instrument panel is showing normal charging voltages so all looking good. Battery covers remain off and things are being montiored but they can get in now with no drama.

Regarding the autopilot, the wheel attachment has many delrin-type bearings in it and has jammed in the past. I suspect that something has come loose and the bearings have jammed again. I have in the past had to take the wheel off and shake it off the vertical to free it. It was supposed to have been fixed but the boat is 17 years old so maybe it's finally gone to meet its maker.

Thank you all for your advice, it has been much appreciated by me, and by the skipper and his novice crew :encouragement::encouragement::encouragement:.

I'm signing off now as I only popped into the office to load the van for tomorrow, and that was five hours ago :ambivalence:

Edit:just seen the last few posts about the tiller. I dunno either, the wheel is not turning, but they are steering quite happily with the tiller.
 
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