CHANGES

With reports this month on Silver Lining's clever methodology for identifying and fixing problems; Azimuth's passage through Panama and baptism into Caribbean cruising; OutRun's ideas for how to integrate working remotely into the cruising lifestyle; Magnum's return to cruising after a long hiatus; a few more updates from 2022 contributors in our annual Where Are They Now? feature — and a forepeak full of Cruise Notes

The Big Three

Oxnard

Silver Linings returned to Channel Islands Harbor in late December, after her third Baja-Ha-Ha-and-beyond adventure. We were very happy once again with the experience, and happier still to have no big mechanical issues to contend with. We attribute this at least in part to paying attention during radio communications with other boats having mechanical issues, some of which had also tripped us up in the past. Here's a quick review of the "big three" — fuel, electrical and night sailing — and the fixes we used to prevent trouble this time around.

For our first Ha-Ha in 2019, just months after purchasing our 18-year-old boat, we managed to slam just enough repairs and upgrades together to feel confident enough to go, knowing issues would develop underway. The big one on that trip was fuel related. We were fine until deep following seas kicked up by Tropical Storm Raymond got us hobby horsing hard enough to dislodge blobs of algae that had been stuck to the bottom of the tank. As we quickly learned, any debris in the fuel tank larger than the intake tube will eventually get sucked into it, blocking the flow and causing the engine to stall. If the debris makes it through the intake, enough of it will eventually clog the fuel filter, with the same result.

That was the bad news. The worse news was that we didn't have access ports in the top of the tank, so there was no way to remove the culprit(s), and they were too big to get to the filter where cleanout would be easy. One skipper on the '22 Rally solved this same problem by using a jerry can as his fuel tank — a better option than risking sudden shutdown at the most inopportune time. Our issue in 2019 happened as we were leaving Cabo for the bash back. We just lived with intermittent engine shutdowns until returning to home port. Once there, our long-term fix involved:

1. Installing inspection ports in the top of the aluminum tank, which allows easy access to mop the tank clean. SeaBuilt makes ports with gaskets that anyone with reasonable skills can install. (Note that fuel polishing can pick up floating debris, but may miss debris stuck to the tank walls and bottom.)

2 . Installing a second Racor filter, plumbed to a second pickup tube already installed in the tank, and valving them to be able to isolate and change filters on the fly. It's possible to pick up a load of dirty fuel anywhere; this eliminates that worry because I can switch to the second filter if the first one loads up and the engine starts starving for fuel.

3. Installing a remote filter vacuum gauge in a location where it can be easily monitored underway. This lets me keep an eye on any restriction developing at the fuel filter, warning of an approaching "no run" situation. It also lets me run filters longer, until they actually need changing, not just timed out on a preventive maintenance schedule.

4. Installing an on board fuel-polishing system lets me remove debris from the tank without opening the access ports. Using the two top access ports to add 1-inch suction and return lines, fuel is drawn through a clear Goldenrod filter body by a 13-gpm diesel transfer pump. Running it for a few minutes occasionally lets me visually check that no debris is being caught by the screen, and if there is, it can easily be removed by cleaning the filter bowl during a cruise, not left for another project upon returning to port.

Electrical issues are the second big concern we had. One Rally boat suffered the extreme end of that spectrum as their alternator caught fire when it overloaded trying to catch up to an overnight battery drain.

Cruising loads on the electrical system, particularly if you have batteries that will tolerate a very high rate of charge, make demands that an OEM (original equipment) alternator will not be happy trying to meet. Most OEM alternators are really designed to charge a single starting battery with brief loads. The smell of hot varnish should not be your first indication of an imbalance.

We addressed this issue by:

1. Upgrading to a Balmar alternator matched to our electical needs, and a Balmar Smart Voltage Regulator. The alternator is a marine-grade unit designed to carry extended heavy loads. The regulator, which is programmable, has a temperature sensor that tells the alternator to dial back the output when it gets hot. However, it does not display the alternator temperature where it can be monitored. My training as a heavy-equipment operator makes me twitch when I don't