Annus Horibillis

[DesertAlbin736]

Yes it has been one of those years. First our summer cruise plans were scratched due to COVID. Then the five year old Blue Sea Systems master battery switch failed. Luckily we haven't done anything with the boat since February so we weren't stranded anywhere with total loss of DC power.

The problem: the two major parts of the switch, the red plastic outer housing and the white plastic back terminal plate are fastened together with four small Torx sheet metal screws about #6 or #8 size. They screw into small posts on the inside of the plastic outer body & hold the moving parts in place. Well, those posts failed and the switch basically fell apart & the selector knob would just spin & not turn anything on.

OK, simple fix, just remove the switch, send back to Blue Sea Systems for lifetime warranty replacement. Except removing the switch from the location where I installed it is no simple matter. First off, up until just this week it's been too hot in the boat to work for more than a few minutes with feeling an imminent heat stroke coming on (over 100 to 120 degrees). Finally the mornings have started cooling off into the 60s instead of high 80s & temps jumping over 90 within an hour of sunrise. Add 10 to 15 degrees, even 20 over outside ambient & that's what the cabin & cockpit temps reach, like the inside of a car on a hot day. Ambient temperatures have been over 100 until just the last couple days, and over 110 to 115 most of the this summer from hell. Total rainfall in Phoenix from April to now is just 0.26 inch and no rain at all in the months of April, June, and this month so far. The highest amount in any one month since April was 0.15 inch in August.

This is the set up, switch mounted on the side wall under the driver seat in order to be close to the batteries where I relocated them to the bench seat locker to make room for a larger holding tank. Except in order to access the back side of the switch & get a wrench on the mounting screws the plywood end panel has to be removed. Except to remove the end panel the holding tank has to be removed. In order to remove the holding tank the toilet plumbing has to be removed to allow the tank to come out since it's a tight fit.

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I just managed to pull the switch yesterday so I have to wait until tomorrow to call Blue Sea Systems customer service.

[ssrig]

I guess its too late now but I have some need to get into those areas too and I am going to install an opening hatch into the seat back area, I use two round porthole or inspection panels in a water tank I made and they just screw off and on and are waterproof, work well and are economical to buy. Install is simple too.
I have seen many people put in a locking hatches in these areas if price is no object, I guess I feel like it would be easier to install a hole than to pull all that stuff out of there, especially a holding tank!

[WillieC]

Oh, my! I read that topic line incorrectly at first. Whew! Just a bad year...

[DesertAlbin736]

Oh, my! I read that topic line incorrectly at first. Whew! Just a bad year..

We're just coming into our fall/winter boating season so by next month we'll be able to get out on the local lake some. Besides this switch issue I need to install an upgraded replacement external voltage reg from Mark Grasser's DC Solutions after the first one failed. That gets mounted on the DC distribution panel in the head & wires run from there so it's just as well the holding tank is out now so I can more easily route the wires which include the field control wire to the alternator and several temperature sensor wires to the batteries and alternator. The sensor wires on the new reg are different than the old one so the old wires can't be reused, have to fish new ones that came with the kit. This is the longest stretch that we haven't taken the boat out in the six and a half years since we first took ownership. We're supposed to hit 100 degrees on Wednesday and then low to mid 90s all the way out to the 20th. At least mornings are cool in the low to mid 60s. Some crisp fall weather would nice. We're still in shorts & T shirts.

[Burton]

Yes, I misread the title as well. I know hemorrhoids can be horrible, and thought maybe this was a posting about the seat failing or something of that nature.

Our battery selector switch is in the head compartment near the floor on the bulkhead. As the boat sat for 18 years, I had to disassemble our selector switch and clean and grease the contacts. It was very easy to access and work on. As it is inside the cabin, it is locked up and the DC panel is handy just above it.

We are at the end of our season for boating and most the boats are now hauled out of the harbor. Too bad we can't exchange some temperature a bit.

[Ambler27FC]

As compensation for that heat, I’ll bet your boat does not see much rust or rot! I was curious how the fiberglass holds up in an AZ sun. Starting to believe a cold winter can be much more damaging.

Hope you find some safe travels to improve your year.

[Norseman]

Yes, Annus Horibillis, not anus.
Bad Year but glad we are healthy and surviving.
Much better next Annus...

[DesertAlbin736]

Update on switch issue:

I called Blue Sea Systems about lifetime warranty replacement. Their website said bad parts under warranty needed to be returned for verification but when I talked the the tech rep he said no problem don't worry, doesn't have to be sent back, they'd just ship a replacement free of charge since it's a known issue. Only catch is that it'll take a couple weeks to get here which is no biggy. I'm busy with other non boating stuff for the next few weeks anyway, plus in the meantime when I get a chance I can work on installing a replacement DC Solutions external voltage reg after the first one went bad which is the other repair issue. They have an improved version out now anyway. So the problem with the Blue Sea Systems switch is not uncommon. The problem is an inherent weakness in those skinny screw hole posts that secure the terminal back plate to the housing that can be exacerbated by the twisting force of over tightening the cable connections & the recommendation is torqueing the cable terminal nuts to just 100 inch lbs. Naturally one would think tighter is better with 12 volt connections but in this case not so. They use serrated flange nuts rather than lock nuts so adding some LocTite to the threads may help, since once the switch is installed the back side is pretty much inaccessible. Perhaps I should modify that wood end panel into two hinged pieces to make the top half removable for access? Still unseasonably hot here, hit 100 again today halfway though October. Ugh. The house A/C is still running 24/7 as it has since May.