Re: [Amel Yacht Owners] electrolysis on jib furling gearbox?
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amelforme
As I recall, Moss landing has a great number of commercial fishing boats. A friend of mine who surveys a lot of commercial fishing boats once told me that the two most neglected things on these workhorse vessels are the grounding systems and the ground tackle. As fishing boats are either working or on the dock, the later factor is understandable. The first one, not so much. I would recommend you get a reputable marine electrician to install a galvanic isolater. The DC system on all Amel boats is a fully floating/full earth return system just like almost every metal boat afloat. The AC system has its own peculiarities and if your electrician condemns it, have him call Bill Rouse 832-380-4970 who will tell him why it is the way it is, and why it must stay that way. As a caution, I know of several boats where the propeller and/or the stainless gridwork inside of the rudder were destroyed over the period of a few days by improper modifications to the electrical systems.
The grease you saw beneath your jib furler is entirely normal. You will note that the headstay passes through the furler assembly. When first rigged at Amel or later by a knowledgeable rigger, the aluminum headfoil on the headstay is packed with grease to lubricate the headfoil from the harder stainless steel headstay. When you no longer see grease beneath the jib furler is more of a cause for alarm.
As a bit of history, I sold that boat when brand new to a good friend of mine who gave it his wife’s nickname, TOWOWIE. It’s a long story… Anyway, I was fortunate to have the exclusive use of the boat for a bit more than a year as my Amel demonstration/boat show boat after it crossed the Atlantic. I later sold it to an interesting couple from Reno who named it LIEBLING, thankfully , after also considering burdening it with the name MUNCHWINKLE. I could not be clever enough to make this up…
It was later sold to another couple who I presume sold it to you if you are the forth owner. It is a great boat that seemed to burn out anchor light bulbs faster than any other Amel Super Maramu’s I have known.
Good luck and enjoy your LA QUERIDA .
All The Best, Joel Joel F. Potter/Cruising Yacht Specialist LLC THE EXPERIENCED AMEL GUY 954 462 5869 office 954 812 2485 cell
From: amelyachtowners@... [mailto:amelyachtowners@...]
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2018 2:41 AM To: amelyachtowners@... Subject: RE: [Amel Yacht Owners] electrolysis on jib furling gearbox?
Hello and welcome to the group;
Sorry to not address you by your name but I did not see your name in the e-mail.
I cannot comment on the source of your particular issue. However if you are connected to shore power in a marina or harbor without a galvanic isolator, you are exposing the boat to a high risk of electrolysis depending on your particular location, wiring and boats surrounding you.
I would highly recommend the installation of a galvanic isolator to prevent creating an unintended electrical circuit. Olivier recommended the install on our 54 during the survey. The installation is fairly straight forward and it took us a couple of hours to get done.
Respectfully; Mohammad and Aty B&B Kokomo Amel 54 #099
From: amelyachtowners@... [mailto:amelyachtowners@...]
Greetings and Happy New Year, I’m new to the group having purchased “Liebling” SM hull #207 In June 2017. Now she is “La Querida” berthed in Moss Landing, California. Over the last several months I noticed something like grease dripping out from the jib furling gearbox and finally dismantled it last weekend. In general it was in reasonable shape for a 20 year old gearbox. However the aluminum disc on the out put shaft showed considerable pitting which I interpret as electrolysis. On my particular box, the aluminum is in contact with a bronze or brass bushing. I did some reading on line and was quite alarmed to learn that neighboring boats and poor grounding of the marina shore power apparently can accelerate electrolysis on a well designed and maintained boat such as our Amels. So two questions:
Thanks in advance. BTW our plans are to cruise to Mexicos west coast after retirement in about 3 years. Saludos a todas! |
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