ST21 'Skinnydip' build, and boating adventures, Noosa, Australia

[glossieblack]

I’ve been finding dialectic grease is my savior. It’s messy but any splice, terminal or other connection gets a dab a grease at the junction then either heat shrink or taped. Heat shrink takes two rounds… one over the joint and grease, second over the first. Since I started doing that nothing done with that method has failed. Some of those connections are “wet” in saltwater (bilge). Might be worth a try.

Thanks Jaysen, I've now got Great Sandy's windlass working again, but occasionally it struggles into life. Feels like an electrical supply problem. I'll buy some dielectric grease this morning and apply to all electrical connections between battery and windlass. Hopefully this will do the trick.

[glossieblack]

I purchased a tube of dielectric grease this morning and proceeded to apply it to each connection between battery and windlass, in order to get the windlass performing 'up to speed'. Pleasant work, until I discovered what I suspect was the fundamental problem. The electrical cable between the deck foot switch and the windlass motor was all be stuffed.

When I started applying the dielectic grease to the cable -windlass connection at the windlass end, the connectrion lug broke off! It had been hanging on by a few copper strands! See first pic below.

On closer examination, the connecting cable itself was already failing - see second pic below, taken after the cable has been twisted. Not many strands of copper still on the job.

No wonder the windlass has been struggling!

The replacement connecting cable I organised this afternoon is shown in the first pic.

I now believe the original cable was too long, had been forced into a tight u-bend and cable tied to tidy things up, from then on the u-bend generated destructive heat at the bend, and that since I purchased Great Sandy fifteen plus years ago, I've unwittingly let the the failure manifest.

[Jaysen]

That is definitely beyond grease’s ability to prevent!

That is one of my horror scenarios. Finding that after so many years makes me think that my fire fear is a bit over exaggerated. Are there other lines in that section?

[glossieblack]

Thanks Jaysen, do you think my explanation as posted above and reproduced below, is plausible?

'I now believe the original cable was too long, had been forced into a tight u-bend and cable tied to tidy things up, from then on the u-bend generated destructive heat at the bend'.

[Jaysen]

Not sure heat alone and likely not use generated heat alone. The two things that could have contributed greatly…
1. Contact of the bend with another surface resulting in rubbing (wave action)
2. Environmental heat (hot air).

Add those two to operational heat and you would soften then wear away the insulation. Drop a little salty humidity and instant corrosion. Now you have increased resistance which increases heat speeding up further decay if the insulation.

I’ve seen this happen in chase tubes with bends that get warm due to engine bay heat. The tell taupe sign was the “melted” look to the insulation in the bend.

Glad you found this.

Edit to add: my experience was as a day labor crew add for repairs on “big boats” as my marina doesn’t have yard techs. Folk would ask for help and dock hands we permitted to assist if the captain would sign a waiver acknowledging that we were not representing the marina. Learned a lot about how not to do things from those days. Miss it a lot. Best. Job. Ever. (For a wannabe pie-rat)

[cape man]

Could have been a tiny knick in the insulation at both points of failure letting water in. Good catch and repair!

[jonnymac]

the lug connection point is always a risk, its the mechanical vibration of the wire, but the lug stays still. salt water corrosion accelerates it. when I dress wires in, i try to avoid a sharp bend at the lug, better to have a loop if there is extra wire. Also the wire harness is held steady with either zip ties or some sort of lacing.

[glossieblack]

Thanks Jaysen, cape man, and jonnymac. Your insights will influence the installation of the new connection cable, and ongoing annual inspection and maintenance.

This morning the child bride and I braved shopping mall world and sundry specialist suppliers to bulk purchase provisions for our pending Great Sandy cruise. Necessary but not sufficiently enjoyable to prevent me becomng increasingly grumpy..

This afternoon I regained my composure be constructing a 'thing' to wrap over Feather Pram's stern transom to protect it from the clamps of a 2hp outboard motor.

The idea is that a sheet of rubber wraps over the transom, providing a base for three marine ply panels which absorb the impacts of the outboard clamping.

Time will tell if it works .....

[cape man]

genuis! You come up with that on your own?

[glossieblack]

genuis! You come up with that on your own?

The idea came to me reflecting on my earlier use of sheet rubber backing as a hinge on Skinnydip's scupper transom flaps - see first two pics.

The third pic shows Feather Pram's finished hinged transom protector for use when clamping on a small outboard.