I spent most of last week back in Sarasota getting a few things squared away with the boat. Snead finished working on it while I was there on Thursday and put it back in the water after lunch. But not before I had a chance to walk around it and check out the new bottom job.
What’s all this “bottom job” talk, you ask? When you have a boat that stays in the water (especially salt water) for long periods of time, you have to paint it with a special paint (read: expensive) that keeps barnacles and other growth off of the boat. If you keep the boat moving or swim underneath and scrap it fairly regularly, a good bottom job will last several years.
I also got to see the Max Prop in action for the first time…it’s pretty cool how it swivels based on which direction the shaft is turning.
[Video should appear below. If not, click here]
I did end up having an issue with the alternator on the way back to the marina…it was pumping 16 volts into my batteries, which is not a good thing. The maximum voltage should be closer to 14. Saturday I rounded up a multimeter and think that I’ve isolated the problem…I’m pretty sure it’s the voltage regulator.
I’m going to order a new one and give it a shot. If that doesn’t work, there’s a guy up at Snead that is supposedly an expert on the high-output Balmar alternators like the one I have.
For now though, I’m on the west coast beginning a whirlwind 4-city, 10-day work trip.