[C320-list] muffler and electrical excitment

[pat reynolds]

Thanks Kit  I think that is what the electrician told me about the standards when he put the fuses on the wires at the batt switch.  I know less about this field than I do computers so I forgot to ask him if this affected the way the batteries are charged on shore power, ie both charged no matter what position the switch is on.

Pat

--- On Wed, 9/1/10, chester carson <cmkit10 at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: chester carson <cmkit10 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [C320-list] muffler and electrical excitment
> To: C320-List at catalina320.com
> Date: Wednesday, September 1, 2010, 10:07 AM
> Pat
> that is similar to the fire I had and the catalina solution
> is to fuse the
> battery charger wires at the battery. They have a diagram
> with specs that
> they can send you. I believe that ABYC now requires this on
> new boats.
> Kit Carson
> #223
> 
> On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 7:10 PM, pat reynolds <lorasalum at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
> 
> > As a religious follower of the wisdom imparted on this
> site since its'
> > inception, I have been fortunate to have avoided many
> of the problems cited,
> > ie; head odors (freshwater boat), charger problems,
> corrosion etc.  In the
> > 15 years we have owned the boat I have only had the
> muffler and the
> > electrical fuel pump replaced. ( I know, I just opened
> pandora's box).  I do
> > have a water under the liner problem which I have been
> meaning to address
> > for several of those 15 years (again freshwater
> only).  I think fortunately
> > however that that problem may have saved the boat.
> >
> > On a recent single handed return from a long distance
> race on Lake Michigan
> > (blessed freshwater) I was awaken at anchor at  3
> am by the bilge pump
> > cycling.  It seems that the year old replacement
> muffler I had gotten from
> > Catalina had developed two leaks in the bottom (worse
> than the 14 year old
> > one I replaced) and motoring that day had filled the
> bilges and assorted
> > pockets.  Tired and grumbling since I was still
> 100 miles from home, I
> > removed the floor boards and hand pumped for a couple
> of hours.  Some of the
> > water remained, as always, under the liner.
> >
> > I had the muffler reglassed at the next port and
> continued on.  Two nights
> > later while in a slip, again at 4 am during a bad
> electrical storm, I
> > smelled something burning.  I had a fan running
> off the shore power and
> > thought it had overheated but it was cool.  I
> turned on the cabin lights
> > which run off the batteries and noticed a faint wisp
> of smoke coming from
> > behind the electrical panel.  It was heavier when
> I opened the panel.
> >  Opening the battery compartment I could see that
> the charger wire
> > insulation had burned completely off and these wires
> had fused onto and
> > burned the battery cables.  These wires run under
> the liner through conduit
> > from the starboard to the port side.  Apparently
> a power surge at the marina
> > had come in thru the shore power cord, burned out the
> charger and started
> > the electrical fire.  When they pulled the wiring
> and conduit out I could
> > see that the conduit (pvc pipe) was burned completely
> thru under the liner.
> >  I am thinking
> >  that maybe the water underneath had helped keep
> the fire from spreading.
> >  Except for all of the wiring, charger and
> battery switch all else was ok.
> >
> > The electrician did not reconnect the charger wires
> directly to the
> > battery, but to the battery switch with fuses. 
> He said that would alleviate
> > some of the wiring running underneath the liner. 
> He also said that the
> > reason that the charger breaker did not pop was
> because the charge went thru
> > the negative side seeking ground.
> >
> > This was just a long way of saying that we should be
> aware of the wiring
> > which is run thru and under the liner from the engine,
> charger, panel etc.
> >  In additon to being inaccessible it may also be
> subject to chafe and
> > fraying.   If I am ever on the boat
> again during an electrical storm I will
> > immediately remove the shore power cord.
> >
> >
> >
> >
>