1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 refit

[q240z]

So this is an impressed current system, right?

Yes.

The Engelhard manual for the unit is linked from the blog article.

 

[Captain Ralph]

Relax
You have an epoxy sealed bottom beyond the technologies from when this equipment was originally designed.
And were not sure the meter is zeroed when not conducting.

You can always find a silver test plug and with a DVM (digital volt meter) to check current from your boat the old fashion way.

Oh, one more thought; Unplug your shore power cable. Any change in the system meter display?

 

[q240z]

Oh, I'm not in a panic or anything, and I wondered for a bit if perhaps the barrier coat is making it difficult for the system to find much bare metal to polarize. Then I remembered that, for example, the inside of the propeller shaft logs aren't coated beyond the point where I could apply epoxy, so roughly 3' of bare aluminum inside the log pipes. The inside of the OEM raw water standpipe inlets for the toilets were also inaccessible and almost certainly bare aluminum. Also, the system is ideally protecting metals in the raw water circuits of the main engines and (soon, hopefully) air conditioners. So I do want it to do the job it's intended for. I don't think it would be wise in the long term to rely on epoxy barrier coat alone.

With the 12vdc, anode, and reference cell disconnected, the meter drops to zero. With the reference cell attached, it climbs to 4.5-5 IRRC. With all wires attached and the breaker flipped on, it goes from 5.5 to 7.5 and fluctuates constantly, but spends most of its time at 6-6.5.

When we take the boat out for a cruise and come back, the meter doesn't change. The anode runs off the battery, and shore power is filtered through two Bridgeport Magnetics torroidal isolation transformers. The neutral and ground wires never enter the boat. My shore power system has no way to leak. But it's safe to say that disconnecting shore power makes no difference.

I've been giving the greasy eyeball to the blue wire that connects R4 and DR1 to R14 potentiometer. If I'm reading the theory of operation section of the manual linked from my blog correctly, that blue wire should be feeding constant 0.7v to R14. But I'm seeing 0.000v on my Fluke meter. A guy who reads my blog suggested that could mean DR1 died. So I'm going to pull one pin from the board tomorrow and see what my Fluke tells me about that diode.

 

[Dan Mapes]

Just curious if something like someone flushing a toilet (illegally) nearby could affect the salinity of the water around the transducer?

 

[q240z]

Interesting that you should mention changing salinity.

One of my early theories was that I'm in brackish water and the tide coming and going is why I'm seeing needle fluctuation. But, as to possible unsanctioned toilet flushers, I'm the only one on the dock from Monday to Thursdays, excluding holiday weekends, and most of the boats are pontoons that aren't even connected to shore power. I'm seeing this pattern every day that I'm there.

That blue wire that connects R4 and DR1 to R14 potentiometer showing 0.000v instead of 0.7v is my primary suspect now. I had a mere inkling before, but a retired Navy electronics specialist who kept lots of 1950s and '60s electronics alive reads my blog and he raised that issue, too.

Regardless, I appreciate all suggestions. If the blue wire turns out to be a dead end, I'll start paying more attention to who's onboard and possibly flushing illegally.

Q

 

[yachtsmanbill]

BOND BOND BOND. PERIOD. Smart "Y" work? Check these guys too...https://www.boatcorrosion.com/ This is the best bang for yer buck too! https://www.ebay.com/itm/4038624835...gciyTjzxlqrHOcMVSv6l|ampid:PL_CLK|clp:2047675

 

[q240z]

It's a welded aluminum hull. Everything that's welded together is bonded. But you know that, Bill.

The "smart Y" smoked itself the first time I plugged it in. I cut off the "smart" part and remade it into a dumb Y that works without getting so hot it smokes my deck paint.

I have Bridgeport Magnetics isolation transformers. There's no shore neutral or ground that comes aboard, so the magic boxes would serve no purpose on my boat.

 

[Captain Ralph]

Separate from your original concerns, but from your text, Neutral and fault current are always connected to your hull? None shunted to shore service?

 

[q240z]

Correct. The green and white shore power wires stop at the shore power cords. There's nothing to connect them to on the isolation transformers.

 

[q240z]

Back to the settee, I reused some of the mahogany and Douglas fir marine plywood that was original to the boat to make the HVAC duct top, with a removable sections for maintenance. It's turning out pretty well.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Remaking the Salon Settee III

Cheers,
Q

Before

After

 

[jim rosenthal]

Looks great. These are self-contained units, right? When I replace mine, I'll look at Flagship- everyone seems to like them.

 

[q240z]

Yup. The salon is 16k, the aft stateroom is 12k, and the v-berth is 9k, and all came with scroll compressors, so the start-up current draw is only 110% of normal running current. I think my total with all three running is ~15 amps at 220vac. All of the other big boats I've had came with the late-'60s era OEM split systems with piston compressors. The difference in amp draw and sound is incredible.

 

[yachtsmanbill]

It's a welded aluminum hull. Everything that's welded together is bonded. But you know that, Bill.

The "smart Y" smoked itself the first time I plugged it in. I cut off the "smart" part and remade it into a dumb Y that works without getting so hot it smokes my deck paint.

I have Bridgeport Magnetics isolation transformers. There's no shore neutral or ground that comes aboard, so the magic boxes would serve no purpose on my boat.

Whats up with that? I used it for 2 summers (a single zone 12K unit) and never had an issue. Is the supply at the dock split phase 110s? Sorry about the late reply. Dont come over here too often...

 

[q240z]

I don't know what's up with that, Bill. I plugged it in, went to the dock and turned on the breakers. Then I climbed aboard and smelled smoke. The "smart" box was black and sizzling on my white non-skid. I turned off the breakers, took it home, cut off the fried box and put it back together as a dumb reverse Y. It works fine, so the problem isn't the dock.

 

[Dan Mapes]

This is tough to do without opening the tower, but have you measured the voltage for each leg to neutral at the tower? Just wondering out loud here.

 

[q240z]

I appreciate the suggestion, Dan, but dock power didn't make the "smart" reverse-Y let the smoke out. The legs are balanced (I probed the shore power cords) and working fine once I cut off the smoked "smart" box and just made a stupid Y.

 

[q240z]

After cutting all of the major panels for the built-in salon settee, I had to make corner pieces to connect them all together. I wanted the same look as the nicely radiused corner pieces I used on the aft stateroom walls. But I didn't have any more 8/4 (~2") solid mahogany that was long enough. So I ended up making identical halves from a 4/4 board and bonded them together with epoxy, then rounded the outsides on my planer, and finished with a sander. They turned out very nice, and you can (hopefully) finally see the shape of the settee base.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Remaking the Salon Settee IV

Cheers,
Q

 

[q240z]

When you enter the salon on these boats, one of the first things you see is the settee. And one of the first parts of the settee you can see is a drawer that faces directly toward the salon entry door from the aft deck and aft cabin. I saved all of the original drawers, cabinet doors, etc, and this particular drawer was in rough shape. The varnish was 50+ years old, the solid mahogany front and moldings had cracks, and somebody had spilled blue paint inside. It was a mess. But I got it cleaned up pretty good, and now it has modern soft-close slides. You just have to push it within an inch of being closed and it pulls itself fully closed automatically. It's pretty slick.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Remaking the Salon Settee V

Cheers,
Q

Before

After (the camera flash makes the stain appear much redder than in real life)

 

[whoover]

I like your corner treatment of the setee. How did you attach the panels to the rabbets? I have a project of building a deck step/box and want to use that joinery.
Thanks
Walt Hoover

 

[jim rosenthal]

Nice work! Q, where was your Roamer built? Was the Roamer factory always in the same place or was it moved around?