After doing various upgrades to the wiring I wanted to do a test sail. Also the Nina and Pinta were in town. I thought it would be really cool to sail past them to the City Docks for lunch.
I removed theh old 8 guage wiring and installed 4 guage wiring. This needed to carry up to 50 amps a distance of 10 feet. For this amount of current I wanted to be sure the connections were up to snuff.
Here is a proper trolling motor plug. It replaced the old, improvised method of threading the wires below decks and screwing in with wing nuts.
The wires are threaded through holders about every 6 inches.
More holders on the inside.
I built a nice case for the two ammeters. The top is what the trolling motor is taking. The bottom measures how much the solar panel is producing.
As I pulled out I heard a squeeking noise from the back. I later figured out that it was the fender coming loose. The aft weld broke, leaving the fender to swing up and down as I went along. This put a lot of stress on the forward weld which means the fender would fall off soon. Here I lashed it down so I could carry on today.
It was a great day to sail. The winds were good in the morning on the way over.
Here we are approaching the eastern shore of Lake Guntersville.
This is the very first time that I have sailed the Elver under the US 431 bridge.
We are sailing past the Nina and Pinta.
Sailing over was slower but I was able to use the motor as necessary. We were getting hungry for the Brick.
All three wooden boats in view.
On the way back I was able to sail to the bridge. But then the wind died. I turned on the motor. For the next hour I ran at 2 to 3 knots. The motor drew 10 amps to go at 2 knots and 20 amps to go at 3 knots. The motor did not shut down at any time. I now think that the shut downs in Cedar Key were due to under voltage because of the inadequate wiring.
Toward the end the motor developed a loud vibration. I looked and saw that a wad of seaweed had caught on the motor. I shut it down. The boat stopped and the wad drifted away. I then carried on.
As it was hotter than the blue blazes I was eager to finish up. I got to the dock and took the boat out. I got everything unrigged in just over an hour. I got home just after sunset.
The next day it was necessary to recharge the battery. I remembered that big solar panel that I originally used on the Elver. I discontinued using it there since it was ugly and flopped dangerously while sailing. I realized that it now had a new purpose - i to recharge the battery at home after a trip. This panel is portable so it could be carried on longer trips.