Shakedown sail and wrinkles...

First/shakedown cruise

Tides still not optimal (now 3 in the morning, 3 in the afternoon), the next weekend it was finally time at last to get out for the first sail. Saturday was chosen..

Glorious is the only word for it - I'd forgotten everything of course, so it was hardly what you would call a text book effort, but I got away from the mooring, sailed, and got back to the mooring - so good result..

The roller furler operation just puts a  smile on your face, a clean bottom, and a tide underneath, and a broad reach, had us clocking upper 5's and lower 6's across the ground. The depth gauge is fantastic for extending the tacks so that better overall progress was made - I'm now not so tied to channel markers/withy's and can tack later, when I have to.

On the downside the tiller pilot wasn't working - the dreaded code "1000" which my reading would indicate is a boot sequence code, and generally means the device is not getting enough power..  😐

Autopilot power problem determination

Sunday then saw me with a bag full of 12v bits and pieces and a volt meter, hopefully to get to the bottom of the problems... the sun shone all afternoon, and to be honest I quite enjoyed it..

1. Before I left, I tested the autopilot on the car's battery (which I knew was good) and it worked OK, so the pilot was not at fault
2. When I arrived, I plugged it into the 12v socket that worked OK all last year, and same problem.
3. So I connected it direct to the boat battery and it worked OK - which lead me to start removing parts of the connection between battery and 12v socket. The end to end is in several parts..  connectivity is 
1. battery - negative directly attached, positive to the master 12v switch, to
   
2. wire (over spec for use), to
   
3. switch in the locker (so I can turn it off without having to switch off the whole boat's power), to
   
4. in line fuse, to
   
5. dri plug socket
   
4. First I removed the switch - it was stiff, and is supposed to move 360', but was only moving 90' - removed it and connected the positive direct to the inline fuse - tested, still not working
   



5. Next I removed the fuse - tested, still not working...  pffft...
   
6. Next I removed and checked the connectivity on the socket - stripped the wire ends and reconnected - tested, still not working - bugger'ation...
   
7. Next I stripped out all the wire, and replaced it with new - this time wired directly into the switch box (neater, and means I don't need the separate switch and in line fuse) - connected everything up - tested, still not working - bugger'ation!
8. Well and truly confused now, so connected it direct to the battery again, and this time that also failed...  💩💩💩

The battery is 6 years old, and like most boat battery's has a hard life - in it's entire life it has only ever been recharged from the solar, and has lived on the boat throughout, so my assumption is that the intermittent results are down to it failing - voltage looks OK (if a little high), but I don't think it is holding a charge - so it will work for a little while (as I found) and then fail.. in normal mode there's enough power to power up the pilot, but not enough amp'age to sustain the auto facility.

 

To test my theory, I have ordered a new battery, which at the time of writing I hope to fit tomorrow (Thursday 12th)

Log:

Shake down sail..

Distance: 6.3 miles (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F3 gusting 4; SE/SSE
Sail Plan: Full main and genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 6 kts/3 kts (estimated)