Voyage: Nanita Phase One; Electrical Problems

Nanita has wonderful electronics that would make you drool.  Not everything I would want but most of it.  We left St. Petersburg at about 1200 hours on Monday 10 February for the three or four day trip and drove via rental car to the marina in Fort Lauterday Marina. We were to meet our professional Captain named Jeff at the boat for the trip to Marathion Key at which point we were supposed to be proficient at running the boat.

Our first marina at Ft. Lauderdale

Our first mistake was to not start the boat on arrival because when we did start it at 0530 hrs 11 Feb 2014 the red alternator light would not go out no mater what the RPM.  The trip from the marina to the Atlantic took about two hours and required many bridge openings to get there.  We stopped for fuel at the  (marina name lookup) and filled the fuel and water tanks as well as getting some coffee.  After that it was out to the open seas, perhaps 7 miles out, but not far enough to hit the Gulf Stream that would slow us down.  The intent was to get into some eddy that would propel us faster to Marathon Key.  This did not happen and it was pretty much 5.5 knots all the way.  The more we learned about the electronics the worse it got.  Nothing was charging – even with the onboard genset – so we were running on batteries the whole time (24 hours).  I know the Link 2000 system and the Xantrex 2500 system from my boat and nothing made any sense as to why there was no current going into the batteries with either the engine and genset.

We motored the whole way and Capt. Jeff ran the boat the whole way so the crew did not get any experience at the helm – a mistake that later was to cause and issue or two.  We motored all day and all night in endlessly calm, boring waters down to Marathon Key arriving in treacherously shallow waters into Marathon Key Marina and we docked at the gas dock waiting for sun up. Everyone hit the bunks for some sleep and after waking up we all went to breakfast and by prior arrangement Jeff departed with his SO for the Miami Boat Show.  This left us with the problem.

I was pretty sure the Alternator was bad so Capt. Kim hired SALT to check things out, at $100/hr, and Fernando came up with the same verdict – a bad alternator.  After much discussion and deliberation the Captain decided to spring for the replacement alternator which was a Balmar 100 A unit at $800 plus labor.  After installation on day two in MKM things were pronounced AOK so we planned our departure for the next morning just after sun up.

The Captains

Later in the day, I discovered more gremlins in the electronic system because the Captain was messing around the subterranean wires I saw the charging rate go from normal to abnormal rates and voltages .  Dock power was not charging us nor was the genset nor the alternator.  I looked around at length and after much discussion, Captain decided to delay departure because something was wrong that he wanted fixed.  This was the correct decision.  As I was checking around the wires that morning early I discovered a lose main buss wire – bingo! In the morning we called SALT and Fernando came out pronto and took apart the panel that I did not want to tackle without my tools and found a major loose main buss wire.  He tightened it and the generator and genset were charging ok.  Time to go!  Fernando was paid and we were fueled and watered up and blasted out of Marathon Key at 6.5 knots for the Moser Pass, under the bridge back towards the East and the left hand turn into the Florida Bay.  And so ends the electrical problems of this trip and so ends this phase.

Looked at Whitby