Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, Mexico
The downside of boating...
We were both feeling a lot better after a relaxing weekend of rest and recuperation, and decided we would make our break for points further south (or east as the case may be) today.
Yesterday we got everything stowed away in hopes that it would stay put for an overnight passage, then we went into town for a last supper in Zihuatanejo - settled for some so-so enchiladas. We watched a movie and got to bed early so we would be well rested this morning.
We could not leave too early because I had to check out with the port captain, who does not open until 9AM, and then we had to get the motor off the dinghy and get the dinghy on deck, operations that took us an extraordinary amount of time for some reason today. Nonetheless, by 10:30 we were on our way.
After motoring for a little over a mile, just leaving the bay, we could both smell something funny. After searching the boat, I opened the engine compartment and was greeted with billowing smoke pouring out. I quickly brought the engine down to an idle and took it out of gear, and tried to see where the problem was. Overheating transmission? Head gasket failure? Wiring all burning up? Lots of possibilities came to my mind but as I watched the engine, the smoke cleared away and everything appeared to be OK. Engine was running fine, not hot, good oil pressure, transmission was not even warm, etc. In order to find the problem, I cranked up the RPM again, put it in gear, and kept a watch on everything. Sure enough, it started smoking again. This time I was able to pin it down to the alternator - it had fooled me the first time because we were still charging due to the solar panels. When I shut the solar controller off, it confirmed that we were getting nothing from the alternator. In fact, the alternator was totally seized and the smoke was from the slipping belts.
We motored, at low RPM, back to our spot in the anchorage and dropped the hook. To say we were not impressed would be an understatement.
After the engine (and especially the alternator) had cooled off a bit, I started the extraction process. No easy task as this is one item on this engine that is very hard to reach at the best of times. In the attached picture, you can just see it (the white object just peeking through from down below). Getting access to the mounting bolts with both hands is an exercise in futility. Fortunately, I am the one who put this alternator in so I knew it could come out - thank goodness I have long arms! Eventually, I got it out and swapped in our spare. Of course, the spare is not the same fancy Balmar make, just a Leese Neville automotive alternator, and the wiring is somewhat different (uses a built-in regulator). Using a system of educated guesses, I had it hooked up, got the external Balmar regulator disabled, put on some new belts, and had the whole thing reassembled by 3PM.
Currently I am running the engine to test the installation - so far so good.
One has to wonder. If I had not done the installation of this alternator myself in the first place, would it have failed? On the other had, if I had not done the installation, would I have known how to go about fixing it?
As for leaving Zihautanejo, tomorrow we will make attempt number 2.
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