Luck?

This morning on the cruisers VHF net, Rich asked if anyone had a fuel pump they would trade for coconuts (you are not allowed to 'sell' items over the radio). Robert of SV I'O responded. We agreed to stop by his boat in an hour. Another boat, SV Gia, called Robert afterwards, also seeking a fuel pump. Robert pointed him to the local AutoZone store. Maybe we do have some luck.

Before leaving the boat, Rich tried to start the engine but no luck. There is definitely a problem and it may be bigger than just the fuel pump.

We got a ride to SV IO from Guillermo. Robert and Bobbie have two large, friendly dogs. A few years ago Robert replaced his engine and has lots of spares from the previous one, hence a spare fuel pump. This pump also has a pressure sensor, which the latest one that Rich installed does not. More good luck. We traded for the pump and Bobbie noticed that she had two copies of "Pacific Mexico, A Cruiser's Guidebook" by the same authors as our Sea of Cortez guidebook. Would we like a copy? Yes, more good luck.

We got a ride back, stopped by the marina office to let them know we had not left, bought a week's worth of internet access at the yacht club, got lunch at Subway and headed back to Windarra. We decided that instead of just replacing the fuel pump and seeing if that worked and head out that we should take a step back and a serious look at the electrical mysteries and try and solve them. This might take a bit of time but it is a lot easier to get parts here than at some anchorage down the coast. Besides, this is Paradise...

Rich got out his manuals and started to work up a plan.

I tried to start up the computer but the monitor would not stay on. The power connection at the monitor was melted and the fuse was blown. So we disconnected the monitor, removed if from the attachment arm and took it apart. The connector on the inside was a little melted. Rich removed the connector and put new connectors on. We put it back together and now it is up and running. This was definitely an unplanned event.

As we had the navigation station apart to fix the monitor I looked into the Simrad autopilot network connections and tried to figure out why the NMEA 0183 from the autopilot to the DMK transmitter was not working. Lo and behold there were no connections to the AT10 from the autopilot, this is what translates the NMEA 2000 to NMEA 0183. So I fixed the connections and verified that the autopilot is still working and that I am getting voltage on the NMEA 0183 output. Tomorrow I will look into connecting it to the DMK and draw out the autopilot wiring for future reference.

Rich now has a plan for working the engine, batteries and electrical. It will be a lot of work the next couple of days but we hope to get rid of some of the mysteries.

So maybe we do have some good luck after all.