AARON'S TRI CABIN QUESTIONS..

[prowlersfish]

I have had good luck with the smart pumps . The 4.0 is not adjustable But all others are Adjustable . they have a 3 year warranty

[rickalan35]

Aaron,

1. My Tri-Cabin leaked at the very same point as yours is leaking (salon mid-ceiling) and in my case, the leak was originating from through one of the "windshield fastening bolt holes". I removed the headliner on a rainy day and presto, there was a steady stream of water leaking through.

As you know, our tri-cabin windshields may be unbolted and subsequently removed for trucking purposes. At some point this must have occurred on my boat and when my windshield was re-bolted, (probably by the trucking company) they didn't re-seal the bolt holes well enough. The water is not supposed to seep back into any of the bolt holes but did indeed find a way to do so, on my boat. By the way, the fiberglass on the salon roof is very thick and therefore the bolt holes are deep. I re-caulked all the tops of the bolt holes and bolt washers with sealant plus added a rubber gasket and the leak subsequently disappeared. I waited for the next rainy day in order to double check, before re-installing the headliner. Hope this helps you a little.

Thankfully, the Trojan ugly and original, fiberboard headliner on the ceiling over my galley is now history as I finally got around to installing new vinyl material last spring. They made the original fiberboard headliner that way in order to facilitate easier windshield removal because each time the windshield is removed, the headliner must come off. But I did indeed arrange for the new headliner in that particular section over the galley to be readily removable in case I get another, similar leak again in the future.

2. I had a similar polarity issue when I re-modeled my galley. My brother-in-law installed all new electrical outlets and each one tested fine individually. But then I ran into problems with the panel that were similar to yours.

I hired a marine electrician to come in and look at our work, as we couldn't figure out what the problem was and neither could our marina. It took the marine electrician five minutes.

Turns out my modern plugs don't like being hooked up backwards, even if the through wiring is hooked up correctly and in the correct series. The wiring must be linear and the plug must be correct side up.

I may have not expressed myself very well here nor very correctly and perhaps one of the other guys can jump in and explain it better for the both of us. I'm simply not good with electricity.

If I were you, I would look for any "recently" installed plug. It might test fine individually with a polarity tester (as mine did) but it must be installed right side up or "it" and everything further down the line (if it's like mine) will be improperly connected. The electrician summed it up by saying that today's plugs are not like those from the past, their smarter.

[aaronbocknek]

Aaron,

1. My Tri-Cabin leaked at the very same point as yours is leaking (salon mid-ceiling) and in my case, the leak was originating from through one of the "windshield fastening bolt holes". I removed the headliner on a rainy day and presto, there was a steady stream of water leaking through.

As you know, our tri-cabin windshields may be unbolted and subsequently removed for trucking purposes. At some point this must have occurred on my boat and when my windshield was re-bolted, (probably by the trucking company) they didn't re-seal the bolt holes well enough. The water is not supposed to seep back into any of the bolt holes but did indeed find a way to do so, on my boat. By the way, the fiberglass on the salon roof is very thick and therefore the bolt holes are deep. I re-caulked all the tops of the bolt holes and bolt washers with sealant plus added a rubber gasket and the leak subsequently disappeared. I waited for the next rainy day in order to double check, before re-installing the headliner. Hope this helps you a little.

Thankfully, the Trojan ugly and original, fiberboard headliner on the ceiling over my galley is now history as I finally got around to installing new vinyl material last spring. They made the original fiberboard headliner that way in order to facilitate easier windshield removal because each time the windshield is removed, the headliner must come off. But I did indeed arrange for the new headliner in that particular section over the galley to be readily removable in case I get another, similar leak again in the future.

2. I had a similar polarity issue when I re-modeled my galley. My brother-in-law installed all new electrical outlets and each one tested fine individually. But then I ran into problems with the panel that were similar to yours.

I hired a marine electrician to come in and look at our work, as we couldn't figure out what the problem was and neither could our marina. It took the marine electrician five minutes.

Turns out my modern plugs don't like being hooked up backwards, even if the through wiring is hooked up correctly and in the correct series. The wiring must be linear and the plug must be correct side up.

I may have not expressed myself very well here nor very correctly and perhaps one of the other guys can jump in and explain it better for the both of us. I'm simply not good with electricity.

If I were you, I would look for any "recently" installed plug. It might test fine individually with a polarity tester (as mine did) but it must be installed right side up or "it" and everything further down the line (if it's like mine) will be improperly connected. The electrician summed it up by saying that today's plugs are not like those from the past, their smarter.

back on terra firma after a 3 day trip..... it snowed in syracuse on our layover on sunday. i was NOT ready to see snow! anyway, there is a strip that is removable where the mounting bolts for the front of the windshield bolts through. easily removable from inside. this also allows access to anchor/running light wiring assembly. i will trouble shoot in the spring, for now, i will just put a large baking pan on the counter and hope for the best as the water is turned off at the marina for the season.

as for the electrical issues..... there are two GFI outlets (one port, one starboard) that have been added so they are new. the other outlets are original. in addition to the GFI's, i have two recently installed (2006) smoke/carbon dioxide detectors that are actually hard wired directly to the 110volt system on the starboard side of the boat. i wonder if it could be those. also, like i said, the boatside male plug on the outside of the boat was retrofitted and the small metal grounding strip is NOT connected to anything. combined with these two installs, i am curious if that could be what the problem is?

[rbcool]

Aaron, are you sure the co detectors are wired to the 110??? They should be 12v or their not going to do you much good while your out running.
Did you bring all of us a Snowball back ??
Ron

[aaronbocknek]

Aaron, are you sure the co detectors are wired to the 110??? They should be 12v or their not going to do you much good while your out running.
Did you bring all of us a Snowball back ??
Ron

ron, i'm positive (no pun intended) that they are 110v hard wired. the circuit breaker is on the starboard side 110 panel with an internal 9v backup. personally, i'd take em out and install the household ones with the new 10 year battery. i do not like having my detectors hardwired to the a/c panel. sounds like a good off season project to me. what do you think? now, if i disable these suckers, what do i do with the wires that connect the detectors? if you want, send me your email addy and i can take a picture of them and send it to you.

as for the snowball, no. i hibernated in my hotel room after dinner and watched the mini blizzard unfold on the 31st, followed by small size hail stones. i was waiting for the frogs and other plagues to start. at least we did not have to be deiced (always a joy) for our 0600 departure to washington.

[rbcool]

Aaron, are you sure the co detectors are wired to the 110??? They should be 12v or their not going to do you much good while your out running.
Did you bring all of us a Snowball back ??
Ron

ron, i'm positive (no pun intended) that they are 110v hard wired. the circuit breaker is on the starboard side 110 panel with an internal 9v backup. personally, i'd take em out and install the household ones with the new 10 year battery. i do not like having my detectors hardwired to the a/c panel. sounds like a good off season project to me. what do you think? now, if i disable these suckers, what do i do with the wires that connect the detectors? if you want, send me your email addy and i can take a picture of them and send it to you.

as for the snowball, no. i hibernated in my hotel room after dinner and watched the mini blizzard unfold on the 31st, followed by small size hail stones. i was waiting for the frogs and other plagues to start. at least we did not have to be deiced (always a joy) for our 0600 departure to washington.

That would be a good project for winter.
My co detectors probably saved my wife and cousins lives a few years ago on our 330 Sundancer. We were troling for rockfish and had a 25kt wind from the stern that was blowing exhaust fumes into the cabin where they were napping. My wife had closed the forward hatch because it was cold. When the 2 alarms went off I ran down and immediately got runny eyes. Got them topside, pulled the lines, and cruised 40mph till the cabin cleared.
As for the wires, I would disconnect from the breaker. Then if possible, use them to help fish the 12v wires to the same location.
My 3 co detectors are connected to the individual 12v lighting circuits, so if one breaker trips I'll still have 2 working co units. I'm also going to install a seperate battery powered unit just for piece of mind.

Ron

[RWS]

Wires..... WIRES ?

Seriously?

You are going to stake your lives on a 12 v or 120 v power supply?

Could be turned off with the flip (OR TRIP) of a breaker?

LEts see, you're asleep, some hidden wires have been chafing on a screw you put in 5 years ago to anchor the VHF, GPS, Stereo, Drink Holder (take your pick)

Instant short circuuit, wires partially melt, breaker is tripped and now whjat's the status of your carbon monoxide detector?

I hope you will consider what we do.

two carbon monoxide/smoke detectors.

one in the FWD cabin

one in the salon.

BOTH BATTERY POWERED

We change outthe batteries on the boat and in the house 2x /year on the on daylight savings reset time.

RWS

[prowlersfish]

pros and cons on both , I prefer the 110 as the main thing I use it for is when the gen set is on sure a lot could go wrong with the 110 circuit , But I would bet the chances of the battery going dead are better

[rbcool]

Good points gentlemen!! Thats why I'm replacing the one in the salon with a battery co/smoke alarm. Matter of fact : I just bought one at wally world not 51 minutes ago. This thread reminded I've been wanting to do it.

[alexander38]

I have both 9v and 1 110v they both have alarms if they lose power the 110 will scare the piss out of you when the gen-set shuts down if it's plug in. I like it due to the fact it wakes you if the gen-set shuts down I can't here it in the aft cabin..

[Big D]

The 12 volt marine units are designed to be extremely anoying when battery power goes below a preset threshold. Actually a good thing to have as a stark reminder when anchored out that you better do something about your declining power reserve. Also great at drawing attention around the marina when something goes wrong and power is low (failed charger etc) while you're away. We all know that is when you're likely to spring a leak and your bilge pumps are needed the most!