The next morning after returning from Houston, with the world’s most expensive electric motor, I was filled with elation at the thought of finally getting the water system fixed after almost a month of waiting for the elusive part.
I carefully unwrapped the motor like it was my first Christmas present and marveled at the shiny black paint and virginal red and black wires. I laid out all my tools and prepared my workspace. I knelt on the floor as if in prayer, disconnected the existing water pump, put it on the workbench, and very carefully wired the motor (red wire to red wire and black wire to black wire) exactly like the old motor had been wired (those who are really perceptive may sense a change of mood coming up).
Being aware there could be other issues, I carefully examined the plumbing runs, which were basically one line into the pump from the water tank and one line out to the faucets. Pretty simple stuff. I found that the incoming water line (supply side) was delaminating and had flattened out, so I replaced both the incoming and outgoing ¾” plastic tubing. They were different lengths and running them under the bulkhead and connecting the hose clamps was very laborious given the zero clearance under the sink floor.
I double checked all my work, then the moment of truth: I had Meryl flip the breaker switch. The motor sprang to life and ran like a champ. I was elated. No smoke and no sparks equals a good wiring job in my mind.
Unfortunately, no water was coming out the faucet. I was watching the pressure gauge on the accumulator tank (a small 1 gal. tank to buffer the flow of water to the faucet). It should slowly rise as the pump pressurizes the tank. But nada. I got that slow sinking feeling again.
I double checked everything, but couldn’t figure out what was wrong. My only assumption was the pump side was bad, although it was pumping perfectly when the motor failed a month ago. I did have a rebuild kit for the pump, but without a vise and a shop it would be a difficult job.
Plan Five (or is it now Six?) was to call the go-to guys at Dynamite Marine again. I found, however, that Mark was down with Chikungunya fever and his assistant Ray had almost bleed to death when a grinder sliced into his arm while he was working inside a boat. He was still convalescing, but both said they’d try to make it down to the boat that day (they didn’t come which is probably good as they were both in no shape to be working).
Having had such high hopes for the new motor, I mentally gave up for a while, sinking into a deepening depression. Also, Meryl and I were not relating well to each other, as they say in marriage counseling circles. Laying in bed I continued to think about the problem. If the guys from Dynamite didn’t show up the next day my plan (are we up to Plan 7 now?) was to take the whole assembly back out of the boat and try to rebuild the pump.
That night we needed cheering up so we went to a jam session with local cruiser musicians at Coral Cove Marina. Our good friends Albert and Josie were there and Albert commiserated with my situation (having been there many times himself). His advice: “Why don’t you just totally isolate the pump. Run the inlet hose to a bucket of water and see what happens.” As always, good advice.
It was a plan (Plan 8?) so next morning I isolated the pump and found it was pumping in reverse. Unfortunately it isn’t designed to do that and quickly broke the cog belt that drives the pump (I actually have spares of this very hard to find belt). Plan 9 was to simply reverse the “in” and “out” water lines, but that didn’t sit well with the Zen Gods of plumbing as water came pouring out of the hand pump faucet (don’t ask).
Plan 10 was to suck it up and call the Groco factory for advice. Amazing I got right through to “a good ol’ boy” (they are always from the South and they know their stuff) who calmly told me, “Oh yea, years ago we switched the wires on the motors so red is now negative and black is positive.” Well, I thought, how about communicating that little bon mot to the public by putting a note in the box or marking the wires or putting a wiring diagram on the box or any of a hundred other suggestions that came to mind? Bottom line: I had the motor wired in reverse. I went to bed that night with renewed enthusiasm for Plan 11.
The next morning I removed the pump for the third time (I’m actually getting good at this), very, very carefully rewired the black to the red wire and vice versa, then reinstalled new inlet and outline hoses (remember they were slightly different lengths so I had to rerun them and connect them again). For the seminal moment I had Meryl flip the breaker switch and this time water came gushing out the outlet pipe and the pressure gauge slowly started to climb. I would like to say I was as happy as during the birth of my first child, but that wouldn’t be right so let’s just say I was elated. It was like New Year’s Eve at Times Square when the ball dropped with Meryl and I dancing around and high five-ing each other. Apparently her faith in her husband’s mechanical skills was somewhat restored.
Other cruisers who have holed their boats on reefs with waves breaking over the side and repaired them with chewing gum and kelp will laugh at our efforts, but it was a big deal to us at the time. And it only took 10 different Plans!
That left only one small problem before we could escape from Trinidad: the outboard. It’s also worth of a full blog post but I will spare you the agony. I kept calling the guy who had originally fixed (and broke it) but in three days he never responded.
My other go-to guy was blonde-haired, dreadlocked Ragnor, the dock master superb at Peakes. He knows everybody and everybody knows him. When I told him who fixed the motor, he just rolled his eyes. He gave me the name of his guy, Jonathan, who was down at the boat in 20 minutes. We took the dingy out for a test run, during which he diagnosed about three separate problems and said he knew exactly what had caused the original problem.
Ragnor lifted the 105 lb. motor off my dingy like a toy and put in the bag of Jonathan’s pick up and off we went to his nearby shop. In ten minutes the bottom unit was off and Jonathan was having me look up the housing to where the original corrosion had started. He said he could fix everything and have it back within three days, precisely. Sounds like a plan to me.
With luck (there’s a strong tropical storm moving into Trinidad tonight) we could be out of here by the weekend. Yea!
Note: According to Meryl all future blog posts will be about us lazing under palm trees in bikinis (her, not me) drinking rum punches and getting sunburned.
I carefully unwrapped the motor like it was my first Christmas present and marveled at the shiny black paint and virginal red and black wires. I laid out all my tools and prepared my workspace. I knelt on the floor as if in prayer, disconnected the existing water pump, put it on the workbench, and very carefully wired the motor (red wire to red wire and black wire to black wire) exactly like the old motor had been wired (those who are really perceptive may sense a change of mood coming up).
Being aware there could be other issues, I carefully examined the plumbing runs, which were basically one line into the pump from the water tank and one line out to the faucets. Pretty simple stuff. I found that the incoming water line (supply side) was delaminating and had flattened out, so I replaced both the incoming and outgoing ¾” plastic tubing. They were different lengths and running them under the bulkhead and connecting the hose clamps was very laborious given the zero clearance under the sink floor.
 |
| That tiny black motor just to left of center is source of all my woes. |
Unfortunately, no water was coming out the faucet. I was watching the pressure gauge on the accumulator tank (a small 1 gal. tank to buffer the flow of water to the faucet). It should slowly rise as the pump pressurizes the tank. But nada. I got that slow sinking feeling again.
I double checked everything, but couldn’t figure out what was wrong. My only assumption was the pump side was bad, although it was pumping perfectly when the motor failed a month ago. I did have a rebuild kit for the pump, but without a vise and a shop it would be a difficult job.
Plan Five (or is it now Six?) was to call the go-to guys at Dynamite Marine again. I found, however, that Mark was down with Chikungunya fever and his assistant Ray had almost bleed to death when a grinder sliced into his arm while he was working inside a boat. He was still convalescing, but both said they’d try to make it down to the boat that day (they didn’t come which is probably good as they were both in no shape to be working).
Having had such high hopes for the new motor, I mentally gave up for a while, sinking into a deepening depression. Also, Meryl and I were not relating well to each other, as they say in marriage counseling circles. Laying in bed I continued to think about the problem. If the guys from Dynamite didn’t show up the next day my plan (are we up to Plan 7 now?) was to take the whole assembly back out of the boat and try to rebuild the pump.
That night we needed cheering up so we went to a jam session with local cruiser musicians at Coral Cove Marina. Our good friends Albert and Josie were there and Albert commiserated with my situation (having been there many times himself). His advice: “Why don’t you just totally isolate the pump. Run the inlet hose to a bucket of water and see what happens.” As always, good advice.
It was a plan (Plan 8?) so next morning I isolated the pump and found it was pumping in reverse. Unfortunately it isn’t designed to do that and quickly broke the cog belt that drives the pump (I actually have spares of this very hard to find belt). Plan 9 was to simply reverse the “in” and “out” water lines, but that didn’t sit well with the Zen Gods of plumbing as water came pouring out of the hand pump faucet (don’t ask).
Plan 10 was to suck it up and call the Groco factory for advice. Amazing I got right through to “a good ol’ boy” (they are always from the South and they know their stuff) who calmly told me, “Oh yea, years ago we switched the wires on the motors so red is now negative and black is positive.” Well, I thought, how about communicating that little bon mot to the public by putting a note in the box or marking the wires or putting a wiring diagram on the box or any of a hundred other suggestions that came to mind? Bottom line: I had the motor wired in reverse. I went to bed that night with renewed enthusiasm for Plan 11.
 |
| The $1,000 motor with that red negative wire. Who'd a thunk? |
Other cruisers who have holed their boats on reefs with waves breaking over the side and repaired them with chewing gum and kelp will laugh at our efforts, but it was a big deal to us at the time. And it only took 10 different Plans!
That left only one small problem before we could escape from Trinidad: the outboard. It’s also worth of a full blog post but I will spare you the agony. I kept calling the guy who had originally fixed (and broke it) but in three days he never responded.
My other go-to guy was blonde-haired, dreadlocked Ragnor, the dock master superb at Peakes. He knows everybody and everybody knows him. When I told him who fixed the motor, he just rolled his eyes. He gave me the name of his guy, Jonathan, who was down at the boat in 20 minutes. We took the dingy out for a test run, during which he diagnosed about three separate problems and said he knew exactly what had caused the original problem.
Ragnor lifted the 105 lb. motor off my dingy like a toy and put in the bag of Jonathan’s pick up and off we went to his nearby shop. In ten minutes the bottom unit was off and Jonathan was having me look up the housing to where the original corrosion had started. He said he could fix everything and have it back within three days, precisely. Sounds like a plan to me.
With luck (there’s a strong tropical storm moving into Trinidad tonight) we could be out of here by the weekend. Yea!
Note: According to Meryl all future blog posts will be about us lazing under palm trees in bikinis (her, not me) drinking rum punches and getting sunburned.
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