captct
New member
Im into my 6th week [with 8 left to go] on my Uniflite plying the waters off the BC coast and as I sit on the hook drifting in large concentric circles reading some of these great posts I thought I would share one.
I had been in a small bay for a few days and I was on my way to a fundraiser for the MS society.I was to pick up a friend who was also attending the same function.He was detained ....so instead of getting across the narrows quickly to pick him up... I decided to idle over.I was in no hurry so I turned on the fridge to keep it cold....and fired up the stereo and the laptop.
The narrows I was crossing is called Sansom Narrows.The approaches are very narrow and the middle opens up into a bay on each side.When the tide is flooding or ebbing the narrow ends run at 8-10 knots and the middle runs around 4.
Somewhere near the center an alarm goes off...loud and shrill.
I have no idea what the alarm is for initially as one has never gone off.It could be for high water in the bilge , gas fumes in the engine compartment.LP fumes from the LP tank or lines or the GPS or one of the inverters.
Imediatly I thought fumes of some sort....and as soon as that thought hit the old gerbil wheel I turned off the engines.The Alarm is still screaming and finally after regaining my composure I isolated the alarm....it was the inverter...my batteries were dead....and now so am I....in the water....doing 4 knots into the narrow breach.
With maybe 30-45 minutes to go before Im going to enter the southern shute.
I opened the engine compartment and both engines seemed ok.
No broken belts or anything obvious that I could see.I checked the battery bank in case they were dry or the posts corroded.Everything appeared fine.
I have a little gen set that I quickly hooked into the house supply thinking I could charge the batteries via the big inverter...and after about 10 minutes of running the gen I got one engine to start....then of course the other....I picked up my buddy and made it to the fundraiser.The next day I discovered the problem.
Loose belts
by idling over the narrows with everything running...and the belts slipping I was actually using more energy than I was creating.
I ran the damn battery bank dry
morals of this tale
-dont panic if an alarm goes off
-keep your belts tight and check them every time you go out
-carry a generator that can be put into your house power/battery chargers.
hopefully I havent bored you all to tears with my own stupidity
cheers
C
I had been in a small bay for a few days and I was on my way to a fundraiser for the MS society.I was to pick up a friend who was also attending the same function.He was detained ....so instead of getting across the narrows quickly to pick him up... I decided to idle over.I was in no hurry so I turned on the fridge to keep it cold....and fired up the stereo and the laptop.
The narrows I was crossing is called Sansom Narrows.The approaches are very narrow and the middle opens up into a bay on each side.When the tide is flooding or ebbing the narrow ends run at 8-10 knots and the middle runs around 4.
Somewhere near the center an alarm goes off...loud and shrill.
I have no idea what the alarm is for initially as one has never gone off.It could be for high water in the bilge , gas fumes in the engine compartment.LP fumes from the LP tank or lines or the GPS or one of the inverters.
Imediatly I thought fumes of some sort....and as soon as that thought hit the old gerbil wheel I turned off the engines.The Alarm is still screaming and finally after regaining my composure I isolated the alarm....it was the inverter...my batteries were dead....and now so am I....in the water....doing 4 knots into the narrow breach.
With maybe 30-45 minutes to go before Im going to enter the southern shute.
I opened the engine compartment and both engines seemed ok.
No broken belts or anything obvious that I could see.I checked the battery bank in case they were dry or the posts corroded.Everything appeared fine.
I have a little gen set that I quickly hooked into the house supply thinking I could charge the batteries via the big inverter...and after about 10 minutes of running the gen I got one engine to start....then of course the other....I picked up my buddy and made it to the fundraiser.The next day I discovered the problem.
Loose belts
by idling over the narrows with everything running...and the belts slipping I was actually using more energy than I was creating.
I ran the damn battery bank dry
morals of this tale
-dont panic if an alarm goes off
-keep your belts tight and check them every time you go out
-carry a generator that can be put into your house power/battery chargers.
hopefully I havent bored you all to tears with my own stupidity
cheers
C