Louise abandoned Eevee and I at the Port of Orillia.
Her sister Micheline picked her up and the two of them set off for Toronto. Louise plays Pokemon Go, and there was an "event" happening this weekend. Apparently, these events work best in large cities, so they set off for T.O. for a girl's weekend.
I think she caught 'em all.
I was left behind on the boat with a list of boat projects. YES! (Don't kid yourself - Bill was in heaven)
One of them was laundry. Nooooo.
First on the list was our alternator replacement. When the boat was launched in the spring in Albany, the alternator was mis-behaving. The mechanic at the marina told us he could get it rebuilt in a couple of days. I took the alternator out to speed the process (he had to get it to the repair shop by noon to be able to get a quick turnaround), and off it went to be rebuilt. At the time I had discussed with him the idea of just replacing it with a new one, but he assured me it would be much cheaper to rebuild than buy new. Unfortunately, I forgot the golden rule, and did not ask the magic question "how much cheaper?". Anyways, it got put back in the boat, and we were able to leave Albany on time to get the boat back to Ottawa. All this happened last year.
Fast forward to this year. When we had our 2000 hour service done on the engine, the mechanic told me that the alternator appeared to be too big for the engine. Physically too big. He said that after he adjusted the belt tension, that the alternator was too close to the motor mount. This could be problematic because if we ever had to put a big load on the engine, the engine would twist on the motor mounts (which is normal) but when it was done twisting the alternator could rebound and strike the engine mount. This would be bad for not only the alternator, but for the engine mounts, and various other components on the front of the engine ($$$$).
The alternator is the big object on the left, attached to the engine. Looked like it came from a Soviet tractor. The bottom flat part is about 1/32" from the motor mount. Danger!
To make a long story shorter, we decided to replace the alternator with a new, smaller one. I decided to do it right and go with a Balmar alternator with an external regulator. I did some research over a couple of days, and then we ordered the stuff we needed from Amazon of all places (much cheaper than boat stores and way faster delivery). Got pissed when we realized that the new Balmar, with all the trimmings, was going to be cheaper than our Albany dinosaur rebuild. Break Out Another Thousand.
We received all of the parts except the alternator itself within 3 days, before we left Ottawa. The alternator was delivered to Donna, Louise's sister, just before we arrived in Kingston a couple of weeks ago. Mike and Suzie were kind enough to drive it down to us, and so we had all the parts we needed in Kingston.
I had never replaced something like this on an engine before, so decided to do it in a place with nearby mechanics in case I got in over my head, so we carried the parts around with us for a week or so. During this time, I was careful to throttle up and throttle down very slowly so as to limit any twisting of the engine on the mounts. I also took time to study the install, and also prepared to program the regulator. To the uninitiated, a regulator is a small computer that controls how much power the alternator puts into the batteries. On a car, these devices are pretty simple, because you just need to refill the starter battery as you drive and power the car's equipment. The battery bank on our boat is large and somewhat expensive, so the regulator we were using controlled various things on the system, including battery and alternator temperature, voltages, and belt wear to maintain the correct voltage and amperage to the batteries. For all of this, the website MARINE HOW TO was invaluable. There were 4 or 5 really good articles about the topic on the site, and I read all of them several times, making notes as I went so that when the time came, I could do the install properly. Now was that time.
I started out the project by programming the regulator. This turned out the be pretty easy if tedious, thanks to the excellent tutorials, cheat sheet and videos on the above website. Took just under an hour to program the regulator and install it. The interface was kind of like programming an old calculator, or perhaps the guidance computer on Apollo 13. For this I had a checklist and even a script so I would know the correct sequence. You program it using a magnet on a stick!
Now the wiring. I had to run 3 wires from the regulator to various components of the charging system. This took almost 7 hours. Part of the time was spent walking to Canadian Tire to pick up a fuse block (I did not want to use inline fuses for various reasons), which was 4 km away from the boat. The rest of the time was spent in various boat-yoga positions trying to get the wire loom secured on its route. I actually ran the wires twice, as the first route I chose turned out to be 1 foot too long for the battery temperature sensor, which I discovered when I was almost done. Love my job so much I do it twice.
Once the wires were all in place it was time to take out the old and put in the new. This part of the job scared me the most, as I had never done anything like it before, and was worried that my measurements would be off and I would screw up the engine. Turned out that the new alternator slid right into place. The only glitch I had was one of the mount holes on the new alternator was slightly out of round. This I fixed with some careful drill-bit-action.
As part of the install, I got a belt-buddy. This is a turnbuckle-type gadget that helps you set belt tension. Was I ever glad I bought this, made tensioning the belt super-simple. By the time I finished, it was getting late, I had worked from 7 am to 8 pm, so I decided to get some sleep before test running it.
Got up the next morning, and checked all the connections, then did a "pre-flight" test on the regulator to check voltages and program settings. Started up the engine. ITS ALIVE. Worked perfectly, and lots of clearance Clarence.
Spent the rest of the morning adding a second drain to our air conditioner. Normally these drain at the aft end, but our boat has a slight port list, and so condensation water was accumulating on the port side of the pan and overflowing. Adding a drain to this side would prevent this, and it did.
Rest of my day was spent cleaning up and having a nap. Louise made it back to the boat after supper, and we turned in for the night.
Next morning we were up bright and early. We were hoping to make it close to the Big Chute railway that day, and Louise wanted to get some laundry done before we left. She went off to do laundry and shower, while I enjoyed my second coffee of the day. Got a text from Louise, she had forgotten her towel. I texted back that I was on the way, but she told me not to bother as she had taken the access key and I could not get in the marina building. Did I mention that she discovered she had no towel AFTER she had showered? Turns out she had also forgotten her soap. She showered using hand soap from the bathroom dispenser, and dried herself with her shorts. Ahhh, boating life.
Back on the boat we got secured and set off across lake Couchiching to start our adventure for the day. The plan was to get to the Washago CNR swing bridge by about 9:30 to get the first opening. While we were in the middle of the lake on autopilot, I made some checks on the alternator voltage and amperage. Everything looked great.
We arrived right on time to see a line-up of about 6 boats. Apparently, there was heavy train traffic, and the first opening would not be until 11-ish. A few of the boats were turning around to wait in more open water, and we decided to do so as well. Turned out there was a marina nearby, and 3 of us opted to wait on their gas dock. Each boat got fuel to compensate the marina, while we got a pumpout. We wanted to get fuel as well, but events intervened.
While we were on the dock we visited with the other two boats, both loopers. Just after the dock staff moved us up to the fuel station, a thunderstorm hit, so the dock staff had to run for cover. I rushed upstairs to close up the canvas on the flybridge, and Louise went in to pay. It was getting closer to 11 by that time, and we did not think there would be time to get fuel before the bridge, so we apologized to the dock staff, and told them we would forgo the fuel-up.
You can see us on weather radar in this image. We are under the red dot.
The three boats set off. The first boat went ahead, while we were third in line out of the marina. Turned out we got shut out at the bridge. It had opened at about 10:45, and the boats hovering there made it through, including the first boat that had left the marina we were at! We had gone slower behind the boat in front of us and were now stuck here for a while (sign flashed next opening at 12:30). We hovered for about 45 minutes before a train went by. Then waited some more. Finally the bridge opened around 12, no warning lights or bells or anything, just swung. I put the hammer down to make sure we made it through before they closed the bridge behind us.
Made it to the next lock in time for another thunder storm. The lock staff told us to tie up (we were four boats by this time) and wait out the thunder. When the storm eased, the lockmaster came out to give us instructions, and in we went. We were the second boat in the lock.
Locking was uneventful, and as second in we were second out. The boat in front of was going slow through a narrow zone with lots of cottages, so good idea to not make a wake, however he overdid it a bit. We were in a following current, which added about 2 kmph to our speed. If using a GPS as a speedometer (which I do and I assumed so did the guy in front) this means you can go a little faster than normal before you start making a wake. But anyway.
The boat behind us lost patience and passed us in the narrow channel. He was starting to pull a big wake to get past, so I throttled down to idle to let him pass. Once past us, he was stuck behind the first boat, and at that point I think he realized he was stuck following slower boats.
Our little flotilla meandered along until we got to the next obstacle of the day, the Hamlet swing bridge. The approach was around a curve, and there was a sign saying to sound horn 3 times to request bridge opening. No horn from first boat. No horn from second boat. As we came around the corner, I hit the horn 3 times to make sure the bridge knew we were coming. Glad I did.
As we rounded the corner we could see the bridge was closed, and the two boats in front of us were stopped and hovering. I shifted into reverse to stop, but we didn't stop! Turns out this was a heavy current zone! Our stern was pulled sideways in the narrow channel with visible rocks on both sides. Bit of throttle to get control, and eventually we made it through the current and got straightened out, but were now very close to the boat in front. The boat behind us saw this and put on the brakes before the really bad current, but he got caught in a swirl and shoved right over against one of the banks. At this point, the bridge started to open, so we could move forward out of the swirling water but holy cow! I hit pucker factor 10 on that one, even made a couple of diamonds I think.
Once we got out into Sparrow lake things opened up and all the boats increased to about 15 kmph. We were slightly faster than the boat that passed us, and so passed him back in the middle of the lake to retake second place.
Here and there we passed more heavy current zones. The water was high, and it was a following current, which tends to grab the stern and yank it to one side. Nasty. But now we had better spacing, so there were no more diamonds made.
At the approach to the lock we were passed by an express cruiser running on max plow. Got wobbled a bit with wake and some dishes went flying. Guess we have gotten complacent about putting things away before travelling. This boat is very stable, and we don't get slammed like our older boat, but we got slammed today. Learning experience.
Arrived at the lock, we were third in line, and they only took three of us. A huge boat had appeared from nowhere, and passed the boat behind us just as we approached the lock. Turns out he was too big to fit. We locked down and tied to the empty grey line. However, after sitting for a while we decided to move to the grey inside the lock apron. The dam spillway was dumping huge amounts of water, which created a very heavy turbulence. We did not mind the motion too much, but I did not want to sand the fenders on the concrete all night.
Huge lock, similar rise to the one in Smith's falls.
The spillway was just tunderin.
View from the top.
Just a few stairs to get to the top.
As the next down lockage came out we got waked by the huge mystery boat as he did not wait to crank up the RPMs until he was passed the tied up boats. WFT bro?
Had a nice spaghetti dinner and turned in for the night.
Woke up in the morning to a thunderstorm. This lock station was very isolated and dark. We were awake at 5 and I got up to watch the light show, thunderstorms have always been one of my favourite things. The view of the dam was also spooky. There were floodlights on the spillway, which was raging and full of mist. The photo does not capture the spooky part, but trust me, it was spooky.
Since we were up so early, we decided to get an early start. The forecast was for rain all morning, which often makes for good travel days since most other boats stay put. We got underway at 7 am, and made it to the next lock, the Big Chute, at 8 a.m. The blueline was empty, so we would be first in line for the day.
Interesting to watch the start-up sequence for the day. Only one operator got on the railroad, and they ran it all the way from one side of the railroad to the other to test it. When they put it into the water, they also tested each sling, and ran it a different speeds. Then, one of the lockmasters walked under the tram and inspected various components. Once the operator and lockmaster were satisfied, the tram returned to the side of the lock station and the rest of the lock staff got aboard.
They got on the loudspeaker and told us to move to the centre-rear of the tram. As we entered, they used the bow strap to stop the last of our forward motion. The lock master checked with me about the boat size, location of the engine and running gear. They used an underwater camera to check everything, and since we were relatively deep draft, told us our keel would be resting on the tram. We ended up with the stern of our boat hanging over the end of the car, I think Louise was a bit surprised to look over the stern. Once we were in place, one of the lock staff climbed down a ladder and inspected the bottom of our boat, and announced all was good.
Entering the tram. You can see the underwater camera screen to the lockmaster's left.
With all the exercise (boat yoga and walking) + hot weather boat diet, I'm losing my gut!
About 8 feet of our boat was overhanging the tram end.
Checking the keel.
So over we went. Very freaky. The boat did not stay perfectly level. Initially we were slightly bow up, then after the crest went slightly bow down. Very un-natural sensation.
Once we made it back to the water they told us to start up our engine. I checked the exhaust to make sure we were pumping water out, then we powered out and away. Wow! What an experience.
Departing the tram.
Travel to the next lock was pretty quiet. The Port Severn lock is the smallest we have seen anywhere. I guess they had budget cut-backs the year it was built. We locked down and out of the Trent. Again, a very heavy following current through the skinny channel and then we were in Georgian bay.
Last lock for a while.
Start of Georgian bay. The current was ripping past the buoys here.
The channel markers were interesting here, they changed three times in the space of about 5 km. As we were coming down the Trent, the red markers were on our left, as we were with the current. As we exited the last lock the reds were now on our right through the tug channel, but switched back to our left just south of Port Severn in Balise Chenal. Tricky. We increased RPMs and set off for Midland.
Got in around noon, got filled up with fuel, and docked in for the day. Had to clear an air-lock from our air conditioner pump. When they lifted us out of the water for the railway, our underwater plumbing all emptied out. The engine pump uses a rubber impeller and is self-priming, but air conditioner pumps are centrifugal, so sometimes get air-locked. Hung out in the pool, and did some chores, but basically took it easy for the rest of the day.
Supper required three cooking devices (induction, microwave and air fryer). The air fryer has been a great addition to the boat. We have not used the barbecue since we brought it onboard. Even makes julienne fries (does not slice or dice though).
