[C320-list] DOWN: Windlass, ST 60s, ST4000+...UP:~12 V in rail...

[Chris Willems]

Thanks for the feeback, Scott.

Um, ahem... yes, I was trying to get at the windlass
through the upper panel, not the lower... Thankfully
Chris Burti solved that problem for me by suggesting
the obvious (futz with the circuit breaker).

I appreciate your (again, obvious) suggestion to
disconnect the lifelines and check to see if the
source is in the bow or stern.  I am getting the
voltage readings with battery 1, 2, both, and NONE!  I
get current between the stern rail and the backstay,
the stern rail and the wheel (NOT between the wheel
and the backstay - so I don't think the leak is from
the mast), between the bow pulpit and the forestay
deck plate, and between the bow pulpit and the
windlass.

Your tale of navigation light and oil pressure lamp is
instructive.  I will continue to work (and enjoy) this
puzzle.  I will get behind the circuit breaker
tomorrow and see if the speaker wires are hooked up. 
BTW, is this where they might have ended up?  Perhaps
they got hooked into the VHF (which is mounted to
starboard side of the circuit breakers, hmmmm, it is a
lousy VHF... maybe that's the source - can't wait to
hunt this down tomorrow!)

The weather cleared out beautifully today here in
Southern Connecticut, and we had a great sail!

Thanks,

Chris Willems, "Chrysalis" #828

****

I had to reinstall my windlass a few years ago (the
factory or dealer or
PO had installed it upside down!) and my recollection
is that removing the
wood panel was the hardest part.  You pull it back
into the V-berth, and
since it is a tight fit, getting one of the edges
loose to do this was the
hard part.  My recollection is that you had to pull
one particular edge
out first, but I don't remember which one.  After the
panel was out, all I
had to do was roll over on my back and stick my head
in the exposed space
below the fiberglass panel and I was then able to see
and reach the
Windlass.  This is not a pleasant place to be working
on a hot day.

By the way, you are removing the wood panel below the
V-berth shelf, not
the one above the shelf, right?  Access behind the
upper panel is blocked
by fiberglass but access behind the lower one is not. 
You have to go in
from below unless you want to start cutting panels for
better access.

I would not do anything with tools on the Windlass
unless you are certain
that the breaker is off.  You don't want to create an
accidental short on
those large cables going back to the battery.  Turn
off the main battery
switch before putting a wrench up there near the
terminals.

To that end, I would think about some preliminary
first steps to isolate
your electrical leak:

First, when you say that you are getting voltage on
the stern or bow
rails, how exactly are you measuring?  Between each
rail and what other
location?  Are you running a lead all the way back to
the batteries?  To
the windlass?  The chainplates?  This could matter.

Second, I would disconnect the lifelines from the bow
and stern pulpits,
remove anything else attached to the rails that might
carry a small
current, and then measure again in order to isolate
the source, assuming
that the source is a stray voltage to a single point
on the rail /
lifeline system.  (The lifelines could easily carry a
voltage from the bow
to stern or vice versa.)  This should help isolate the
problem.

Third, I think it far more likely that a voltage leak
into the rail would
be coming from something attached to the rail than
from the Windlass.  I
would be suspicious of the navigation light circuits. 
I'm not sure how
current to the Windlass would energize the rail. 
Maybe through the anchor
chain to the bow roller to ??? if you have chain on
the windlass?  Another
not so obvious path would be a connection through the
mast to a halyard to
the rail, or maybe some under the deck connection
between the forestay and
the bow rail.  These would seem to be longer shots.