A Technical Day at Sea

Wednesday morning we left Channel Island Harbor with Sound Effect following us. Rick soon realized the chart plotter wasn’t receiving satellites from the GPS. Big problem. We couldn’t follow our course. We talked to Sound Effect and decided we would follow them. Rick worked on the chart plotter and talked to Garmin for at least an hour. They both finally pinpointed the problem to a bad GPS unit mounted at the helm. Garmin said they would ship a new one overnight to our next marina. The chart plotter worked off and on, so when Sound Effect put up their sails and slowed down we were able to continue ahead of them. We didn’t want to sail, we had more problems to contend with.



Next, Rick noticed the batteries weren’t accepting juice from the engine. He figured it must be a problem with the alternator. Right away, he was on the phone to Rob at Electromaax. Rob asked him a couple of questions and determined that the solenoid didn’t open to the house batteries, only to the starter battery. He had Rick turn off the boat and restart it and this time it worked. The problem was solved, but we do need to get a few new solenoids for spares. Electromaax is always a great help, even out at sea!


We’d been making water for 6 hours as we motored, but about a mile from Marina Del Rey entrance we noticed the water maker turning off and on every few minutes. Again, Rick was on the phone, this time to Spectra. Bud had Rick adjust the pressure switch on the high pressure pump. Another problem solved! I keep telling Rick he is just looking for things to tinker with, but I’m glad he can fix these things.

Following Sound Effect out of the harbor

Passing Sound Effect as they put up the sails