A Travelling A25?

[WillieC]

Don, My A25 is anchored out in the middle of Hood Canal with the nearest shore power about three miles away. There is no AC power aboard. In its previous life, yes it did live in marinas. I have the basic no frills electrical system that pretty much came with the boat. There is no electrical connection between my shaft and the engine since the shaft runs through a totally isolating shaft saving coupler, similar to yours but about 40 years older. I have checked it with a meter and I couldn't believe it. It is isolated. The propeller is returning to its natural elements and won't be touched by any prop shop, so I am going to drive it into the canal. I hope to park the boat about fifteen minutes before one of the blades falls off.

Looking forward, I sure would like to figure out if I have a serious grounding issue as I don't want to be replacing the prop every few years. I had thought I need to run a brush on the shaft (connected to what?) until I talked to a guy up in BC who did just that and lost a brand new prop in one season.

Could it be that the deteriorating propeller is asking for more sacrifice from the zinc? Maybe a shiny new bronze prop with no exposed and sloughing zinc particles would be a good thing. And the zinc on the rudder support is barely touched. Is that zinc in play here since they are so close? I thought I had some kind of grounding issue too so I went all through the dc system with new cables, new connections, new busbars. The only thing I really altered is replacing the anemic 35A alternator with a 55 amp unit. It has a dedicated ground and does not run through the engine frame. That and the addition of an echo charger. Simple stuff. Open to real troubleshooting advice here.

Apologies to Sunsetrider. Not trying to hijack your thread, but these things are critical to extended traveling.

[Sunsetrider]

Desert Albin, how would you have fared in your travels without a dinghy? Such an encumbrance on a small boat!

[WillieC]

Will you always be landing at a dock? Will you ever need to row into town for bottle of rum? Will you never break down? Are you a very good swimmer? Do you have a kicker motor? Do you have room for gasoline on board?
Yeah, hauling a dinghy around is a pain and it doesn't answer all my questions, but I can't image not having something.
We use an Avon inflatable with a plywood insert in the bottom. And a pair of oars. We can haul it up on our hardtop when traveling more than an hour or tow it behind. Just remember to check once in a while to see if it is still there. I may have to hook up some kind of break-away alarm because a few minutes without checking and it's gone.
Your plan is to single hand, if I recall correctly, so hauling up on top could be challenging. Towing works just fine. Short shank it when you need to maneuver at dockside and use a floating line.

[Beta Don]

And the zinc on the rudder support is barely touched. Is that zinc in play here since they are so close?

That just confirms electrical activity of some sort on the prop shaft, IMO - Otherwise, both zincs would deteriorate at about the same rate, assuming they have about the same surface area. Stray currents can be hard to find, but the evidence they are there is pretty plain. Until you find it, replacing the zincs to protect the prop is your only option. *Usually* this problem arises when the boat is connected to AC power and the AC and DC grounds are connected at some point. The engine and shaft are always connected to the DC ground (via the starter motor) and when you add stray AC current to that mix, the zincs go away rapidly. I've had marina stored boats with AC connected 27/7 and the prop in the water continuously for 8 or 10 years with no deterioration of the prop and 2 year old zincs still in reasonable condition when I replace them . . . . but my next door neighbor might have to replace his zincs every 6 months. Troubleshooting it can literally make you tear your hair out!

Don

[WillieC]

" Troubleshooting it can literally make you tear your hair out!"

YIKES! I refuse to suffer that indignity. My brothers all lost their hair, I've still got most of mine!

I have read of some kind of tester that can help you chase down stray current, but it could be yet more hocus pocus. Maybe our water is brinier than I think. Also my shaft IS electrically isolated from the engine via the coupling so I am having a hard time figuring where the stray current could be coming from. I have a psshaft seal and it has a rubber hose attached to it to lubricate it, though it is probably unnecessary since the pss is below water line. Ah, maybe the carbon shaft seal is setting up a perfect Leyden jar battery! hmmm. The shaft is isolated from the bronze sterntube by the cutlass bearings. It is a bit of a mystery, other than my wondering about the deteriorating prop making the zinc work harder. Shaft is stainless, prop is bronze, nut is bronze (or SS I forget). I will be pulling the WillieC out soon as I really don't want to seize this engine out on the weekend.

As to the surface area and the zinc on the rudder support: the bulk of the prop shaft all the way up to the pss seal is underwater, just about 5 feet as opposed to the 12 or so inches of the rudder support.

Thanks for weighing in, Don.

[Sunsetrider]

Will you always be landing at a dock? Will you ever need to row into town for bottle of rum? Will you never break down? ... Towing works just fine. Short shank it when you need to maneuver at dockside and use a floating line.

Ya, I guess that makes sense. I do have a hard shell dinghy, about 80 pounds and a set of plastic oars. Tricky to get into and tricky to row. I had thought about hinging it up onto the swim platform, I know that some have done that. I should look into what sort of harness facilitates towing.

[WillieC]

Check out the dinghy thread, if you haven't already. Tricky entering and rowing may be problematic or may require more practice. I used to dread the inflatable, now I don't even think about it.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7883

[DesertAlbin736]

We lost our Boatex dinghy at sea off Nelson Island BC after a wave caught it and ripped the side of it out. It was mounted on Weaver snap davits. We really missed having a dinghy for the rest of the trip.

Driving on the way back South we stopped at Gig Harbor Boatworks and bought a new 8 ft Nisqually hard shell dinghy. Next step is to pick out and install lift davits after I get home so the dinghy can be carried horizontally with the bottom of the dinghy at deck level, not vertically with the ends acting as big scoops. The Nisqually weighs 74 lbs. Easy to get into when you have a swim platform. Rows much better than any inflatable.

[WillieC]

Steve, I want to see your vertical lift davits. And I love your choice of new dink. I'll be spending my money on other things for a while. Hauled her out tonight on the high tide and no fists were thrown between the attending parties! A good day for all!

[Sunsetrider]

Willie, I think you are addressing Desert Albin's post.

[DesertAlbin736]

On dinghy davits: Type still TBD, but leaning towards towards St.Croix rotating davits. Question is where to mount. St. Croix davits have 60 in rise and 40 inch reach. It's 48 inches from the swim platform to the the stern rail. I want the top of the dinghy even with stern rail. That would mean mounting the base of the davit on the swm platform. May have to modify or replace the swim platform, so we'll see.

[Sunsetrider]

I need to look into provisioning - what to stock, where to stick it, how to store it with ice-box only. Storage seems so limited. That has not presented a challenge so far as I've not gone beyond a 2-night cruise in local waters. Any secrets/tips?

[DesertAlbin736]

Funny you should ask! We just returned from 45 days on the water in the Pacific NW including cruising part of the Inside Passage of BC Canada, plus 10 days on the road to and from the Phoenix area of AZ and Bellingham, WA (+/- 1,600 to 1,700 road miles each way).

We stocked up on canned goods ahead of time, canned meats & fish like chicken, tuna & salmon, plus baked beans, spaghetti pasta and sauce, ramen noodles (the good kind we got at Costco, not the cheapo Cup-O-Soup stuff that's loaded with salt), pre cooked heat & heat rice/quinoa packets, single serve size cups of canned peaches, pineapple, and Mandarin oranges, etc.

Not sure how your boat is set up, since A25's are often customized by owners over the years, but ours has shallow bins under the settee seats in the main cabin that has room for lots of canned & boxed foods, plus some space on the top and bottom galley shelves. Plus under the settees is more storage accessed from the sides, but we mostly use that for miscellaneous storage like shoes and stuff. Then there's storage under the cockpit bench seats. In our case I relocated our battery bank to the locker under the starboard bench seat to make room for a 20 gallon holding tank, so we lost that space, and the smaller locker under the port side bench and the space to port of the engine where many boats have icebox/refrigerators installed we use for storage of engine spares and things like the shore power cord, a 12 volt vacuum cleaner, fender boards, extra dock lines, water hose & a bucket, etc. You can also stash stuff in the aft cabin in that space between the quarter berths, just forward of the footwell & in the bilge area by the aft cabin door, plus a deep storage bin under the center of forward cabin seats just aft of the water tank.

Our usual routine for breakfast was coffee (s/s percolator stove top pot) & mostly cold cereal & bananas or occasional bacon, eggs & hashbrowns. For the hashbrowns we found freeze dried hashbrowns in pint milk type cartons at Costco that you reconstitute with hot water but otherwise store on the shelf until needed. For milk on our cereal we got Almond milk in quart cartons that can be stored at room temperature until opened. For bacon we'd get the pre-cooked bacon that can also be stored at room temp until open. Then you have to put any unused portion in the cooler.

For lunches on board we'd make sandwiches & wraps, PB & J, lunch meat, cheese, canned meat chicken, tuna, or salmon salad, plus chips & cookies.

For dinners on board we'd do BBQ with our stern rail Magma grill, or do spaghetti or mac & cheese. We'd eat out in restaurants now and then when in port towns like Roche Harbor, Friday Harbor in the San Juans, Sidney, Ladysmith, Nanaimo, Pender Harbour in BC to name a few.

We carried two coolers, a 48 qt West Marine "5 day" cooler (extra insulated) plus a smaller Coleman 12V cooler that came with the boat. The 12V cooler takes 4 amps to run, so we'd only plug that in when the engine was running or we had shore power. We'd get block ice whenever possible, but one could also use dry ice as well. We like box wine (doesn't need to be chilled, takes up less space & not breakable). Normally we drink red wine, but we do white wine only on the boat to avoid stains from spills, plus we take other types of liquor like rum and tequila for rum & cokes and on-the-rocks Margaritas.

In the event we ended up with half or more of our canned goods left over, since we'd be in port and eat out at restaurants and have access to grocery stores for fresh meats, fish, fruit & veggies every few days.

Booze is especially expensive in Canada, even taking into account the favorable exchange rate, and the import quota is very limited.

Bottom line, with a little creative planning one can cruise quite comfortably for extended periods on a A25, especially if it's just two people, with or without pets. We just set a new personal record for consecutive days afloat.

For example, here's spaghetti dinner for four, on board our boat with our cruise flotilla mate Sally at left, and wife Helen out of frame at right, Sally's husband Charles not shown, and of course me behind the camera. With the exception of ground beef & fresh zucchini added, this meal was all made from canned/shelf stored ingredients

[Sunsetrider]

Thanks for the fulsome report! Lots of good ideas there and really helps me to develop a plan. I think that I can make some i,improvements to the various storage areas. In particular there is a huge amount of unused storage under the aft bunks.

[Sunsetrider]

I asked this -----> in the trawler forum as well, despite the lack of windlass enthusiasm: I am not in the greatest condition ( I am a youthful 67) and when weeds need to be hauled up by hand my heart and lungs leave me panting. I am concerned about being caught in an emergency situation with the need for a quick anchoring or weighing, sometimes repeatedly, and wishing for the assist of a windlass.

With the A25 running about 6-7000 lbs I am looking at something like the Powerwinch Powerwinch - http://goo.gl/1RjIoo which has 450 lbs pulling power.

Features:
Aluminum finish with powder coat finish
Water tight seals
One-piece motor plate
Heat-treated, oil-impregnated gear system
Stainless steel drive shafts
Helm operated one-touch control
Protect-A-deck™ rubber gasket
Stainless steel fasteners
Stainless steel rope and chain guide
25 amp thermal circuit breaker
Dimensions: 10-9/16" L x 7" W x 6-5/16" H

Would this be an appropriate set-up? Here is the competition:
http://goo.gl/0slFcn (Lewmar)
Features:
Low power consumption/current draw
Dual direction powered operation
Manual freefall
1/4" chain, gypsy size
Rope size: 1/2" 3-strand and 8 plait
Maximum pulling power: 225kg (500 lbs.)
Convenient above deck installation
3 year warranty
Kit includes: windlass, toggle switch & circuit breaker