Joel,

I checked in my boat and as you mention, there is no draining tube out of the bow thruster compartment and that explain why we have been frustrated drying up with a sponge the water that regularly collects from the leaking bow thruster seals 

Since I bought my boat, I have serviced the bow thruster and replaced all seals in my SM278 several times (5 in 6 years) .   In all cases a leak developed around the lip seal soon after service. In fact, just after I bought the boat, the previous owner told me he had just serviced the thruster.  I was really shocked when I found the the compartment filled with water after just one overnight from Florida to Savanna.  I proceeded to replace all seals following AMEL instructions and the leak stopped for about a year.  That was the longest period without a leak and the start of my saga.

For the second to last service I spoke with AMEL in France and was reco mmended to add a third foam seal to the thruster assembly but that only eliminated the leak for a few weeks.  As I was about to cross the Atlantic, I developed a system with a clamp that I secured around the shaft and pushed down to create a good seal.  That worked well for the one year trip from Boston to Spain, Caribe, Santa Marta, Fort Lauderdale and back to Boston.  Although my solution is good and I recommend it to anybody doing long crossings,  as I returned to Boston it became a nuisance to have to clamp and unclamp the thruster every time we left the marina.  

So, taking advantage that I was  giving Ipanema a new bottom paint las week, I  serviced the bow thruster system for the last time and carefully cleaned the surfaces and changed again all the foam and lip seals and I added two extra turns to the top screw to bring the motor up as much as It was possible. 

Sadly, on my return trip from Glaucester to Boston unde r moderate waves I noted again a leak around the lip seal (brand new) in spite of the fact that I had to add manually quite a bit of extra tension to the cable in order to align the holes to pass the securing pin.  

Do you or anybody in this group have an idea of why is this leak persisting in my boat? 

I believe that the bottom two foam seals should be enough to completely seal the system and the lip seal should only work during the short period of time deploying or retracting the bow thruster.  So if they are not preventing a leak, it must be that in my boat poor alignment between the sealing surfaces may have developed or becomes important when tension is added to the cable to increase the sealing force.

Any suggestion about how to fix this problem.  It must not be very common as few people complain about it in this forum, but it may have been enough of a nuisance for Amel to add the tu bbing/valve to isolate and send the leaking water  to the main bilge. 

Has any one retrofitted such a tubbing/valve in SM2K earlier than the redlined version? 

Jose Venegas

Ipanema SM2K 278 

Constitution Marina, Boston MA

 

Eric,

The vendor I have been using for seals and bearings is Motion Industries, national distributors of parts for machinery that moves. Distributors throughout the US. While they do channel Leroy Somers parts, our gearbox is not a stock item and they sourced it back as a special order to France. Hence the 14 week lead time. As a side note, they offer the service of rebuilding gearboxes, which would have been an option had I not destroyed the top plate.

I have not run across Spirit in the Upper Chesapeake. We have been on the Sassafras and now Rock Hall, MD for 10 years.

Regards,

Mike

ALETES SM#240

Rock Hall, MD

From: amelyachtowners@... [mailto:amelyachtowners@...]
Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2016 10:05 PM
To: amelyachtowners@...
Subject: RE: [Amel Yacht Owners] Leroy Somers main outhaul gearbox

Mike,

Who was the gearbox vendor?

My friend has his Amel 54 near Philly the name of the boat is Spirit.

He liked Kimberlite so much he bought a 54.

Fair Winds

Eric

Kimberlite Amel Super Maramu #376

From: amelyachtowners@... [mailto:amelyachtowners@...]
Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2016 9:58 PM
To: amelyachtowners@...
Subject: Re: [Amel Yacht Owners] Leroy Somers main outhaul gearbox

Eric. I am near Philadelphia.

Mike Ondra

ALETES SM240

Rock Hall, MD

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID

"kimberlite@... [amelyachtowners] kimberlite@...%20[amelyachtowners]> " <amelyachtowners@...> wrote:

Mike,

Where are you located.

Eric

Kimberlite sm 376

----- Original Message -----
From: "'Mike Ondra' mdondra@... [amelyachtowners]"
Date: Tuesday, June 14, 2016 2:39 pm
Subject: [Amel Yacht Owners] Leroy Somers main outhaul gearbox
To: amelyachtowners@...

> I just received a quote from our local Leroy Somers rep for a
> new main
> outhaul gearbox for $460. Problem is about a 14 week lead time between
> production in France, summer vacation, and ocean shipping. What
> has been the
> cost and time when purchasing direct from Amel?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mike
>
> ALETES SM#240
>
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

 

Hi Kent.

We stayed at the Curacao Yacht Club.

Very nice place and Nice people.

Fair Winds

Eric

Kimberlite Amel Super Maramu #376

 

 

From: amelyachtowners@... [mailto:amelyachtowners@...]
Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2016 3:51 PM
To: amelyachtowners@...
Subject: Re: [Amel Yacht Owners] Batteries - What type house batteries to use & what voltage charge from Solar/Wind?

 

 

Thank you Hanspeter,

My email is karkauai "at" yahoo "dot" com

The 8 100Ah series 27 lead acid batteries are set up as 4 pairs in series.  Each of these pairs is connected in parallel to two posts at the port side of the battery compartment.  The positive pole of each pair to the positive post, and the negative pole of each pair to the negative post (i.e. in parallel).  I have looked at this twice to confirm that I didn't connect one pair wrong.  A large cable goes from each post to the double pole switch on the foreward end of the battery compartment (marked "Service").

When I charge tonight, I will let it run longer than normal until I am only charging at about 1 Amp and see what the voltage is.  That's when you say it should be at 27.2-27.3V, correct?  In the interim I will look at the charging characteristics of my charger, and the discharge characteristics of the batteries.  I am sailing tomorrow, when I get to Curacao and get internet access again, I will let you know what I found.

Thanks again

Kent

SM 243

Kristy

 

On Jun 14, 2016, at 12:02 PM, 'hanspeter.baettig@...' hanspeter.baettig@... [amelyachtowners] <amelyachtowners@...> wrote:

 

Hi Kent

do you have the original Amel set up for your 8 115 AH Batteries Bank?

The floating Voltage should be 27.2 -27.3 V when Engine, Genset or Landpower or with the 24 V Alternator when motoring after lets say 6-8 hours or less depending on the charge level of the batteries.

Send a picture how the Batteries are connected to the charger; that means from what point of the batterie bank the two big cabels goes to the main batterie switches in the engine room. Unfortunately there are a lot of non professional info about batteries in this forum. I keep the ball down but I'm a Electric Engineer with quite a lot of know how about this subject. If you whish I can send you my email to support you.

regards

Hanspeter

Von meinem iPhone gesendet

Am 14.06.2016 um 17:19 schrieb Kent Robertson karkauai@... [amelyachtowners] <amelyachtowners@...>:

 

Hi all, thank you for your replies.

 

I have non-sealed batteries.  The water level is fine...I added less than a liter to all 8 batteries.  (that was Derick who added 2 gallons of water).  

The charger is set for flooded lead-acid batteries.  When the voltage is 24V, the charger voltage goes up to 26 v+/- and charges at 50-53 A for a short time, then amps slowly drop and the voltage increases as the batteries fill up. At float charge it reads 26v.  It acts like it is working properly, but I will look up the advertised charging characteristics for the lead-acid setting to see if it matches what I am seeing.

 

I don't have solar or wind yet.

 

The voltage and amperage I measure is the same as I am reading on my 24v monitor, but as I said earlier, when I look at the amperage going into each battery pair, one pair seems to be getting an amp more than the other pairs early in the charging cycle.

 

To me, it seems that the system acts like there is a much smaller Ah battery bank than the 400 Ah I should have.  I have checked all connections,  confirmed that all batteries in the bank are at the same voltage, and tested for CCA with my Solar (TM) battery tester.  The only anomalies I find are that one pair is charging at a higher rate than the others early in the charging cycle, and during discharge (charger off) two pairs are discharging at 1.6A, and two pairs at 0.6A.  That makes me think that either the connections are not all good (they all test No Resistance), or I have a bad battery or two (they all test the same with the battery tester).

 

During all phases of charging, there are no batteries that feel warm to the touch.

 

Thanks again

Kent

 

On Jun 14, 2016, at 10:33 AM, Bill Kinney greatketch@... [amelyachtowners] <amelyachtowners@...> wrote:

 

Kent,

 

I’ll elaborate a bit on Bill R’s questions…  

 

The amount of water you are adding to your batteries is above normal.  Water does not leave a battery by evaporation, no matter how hot it is in the Caribbean! It leaves by being converted to hydrogen gas during the charging process.  The amount of water your batteries are using would lead me (and Bill R.  to guess your batteries are being overcharged.

 

Do all the individual batteries take the same amount of water?

 

Do you know what the acceptance and float voltages are for your charging system?

 

How are your solar panels controlled?

 

Bill Kinney

SM#160 Harmonie

 

On Jun 14, 2016, at 10:02, 'Bill & Judy Rouse' yahoogroups@... [amelyachtowners] <amelyachtowners@...> wrote:

 

 

Kent,

Is the charger switched to match the charging characteristics of your batteries? Didn't you switch the type of batteries and the charger? Has a qualified person checked the charging characteristics...and, did he determine that the charger is actually outputting the correct charging characteristics?

Bill Rouse
BeBe Amel 53 #387
Sent from my tablet
+1832-380-4970 USA Voice Mail

 

Kent,

 

Did you get sealed batteries?  If not, have you checked the fluid levels?  I just replaced my batteries with 12 Trojan SCS200 batteries (115AH) in January in Martinique.  Unlike my previous sealed batteries, I am able to/need to open the vents and add distilled water.  I found that even when new, water needed to be added to several of the cells.  In the last 5 months, I have checked the fluid levels twice and have added a total of about 2 gallons of distilled water!  The Caribbean is one hot place!!  I also have an indoor/outdoor thermometer installed in the battery compartment to monitor the temperature when the batteries are charging (thanks for the suggestion Bill Rouse).  The battery compartment usually stays a couple of degrees above ambient.

 

I will check them one more time before putting Brava up on the hard for hurricane season, leaving the solar power on to keep them topped up i n voltage but with only the freshwater pump and the bilge pump left in the on position.  The former will rinse the Dessalator membranes once a week for three minutes with fresh water from the tank.

 

It seems early in the life of your batteries to have to desulfate them, but maybe that would be worth a try.

 

Derick

SM2K#400 Brava

 

 

 

 

Hi Bill;

Your advise was right on the money. While I was trying to re-prime the pump by pouring water in the intake while holding it above the pump, I noticed some water leaking from the side of the pipe at the pump connection that I had not noticed before. In closer inspection, I found a hair line crack in the pipe. 

I cut the pipe a couple of inches to get past the hairline crack, greased the barbed connection at the pump and the inside of the pipe, used some duct tape on the outside of the pipe for protection and double clamped the connection. While I was at it, I did the same at the pipe to intake connection. 

Surprisingly the pump started pumping without even priming it. It also sounded a lot quieter than I remember. I think the hairline air intake made the pump work harder to empty out the bilge.

You definitely helped to avoid a lot of extra unnecessary work that wou ld not have solved the issue.

Thank you

Mohammad and Aty
Amel 54 #099
B&B Kokomo 

Dom,

Olivier ia absolutely correct.  If you cannot hear the electric fuel pump when you are priming (pressing the switch down), or when starting, the pump needs to be replaced.

I carried a spare pump with me around the world and the original pump failed when I was in Athens about 2 miles from an Onan dealer...oh well!

Do you have a spare pump?

Bill Rouse
BeBe Amel 53 #387
Sent from my tablet
+1832-380-4970 USA Voice Mail

On Jun 15, 2016 4:05 AM, "Beaute Olivier atlanticyachtsurvey@... [amelyachtowners]" <amelyachtowners@...> wrote:

 

Hello Dominique,

if you cannot hear the priming pump, or cannot feel it vibrating when you put your fingers on it while priming or starting, this means the pump is out of order.

The generator's engine will not start if this pump is out of order. You need a new priming pump...

Bon courage.

Olivier

On Wednesday, June 15, 2016 9:54 AM, "songhui_ma@... [amelyachtowners]" <amelyachtowners@...> wrote:

 

Hello, 

I have tried the following to no avail: 

- prime up to 5 min

- unmount the new filter - no air;  full of diesel fuel

- open the pipes going to the injectors, then crank; no fuel appears [?!] but the injectors seem full of fuel

Oil and coolant are at appropriate level. 

Fuel Pump. I checked and the pump is receiving 12V during priming. 

However I am not hearing it but the fuel filter was fuller than when we mounted it, so I infer it is working.

The fuel tank level is above 250 liters, So it should not be the security that disconnect the genset and give priority to the main engine. 

 

This genset is from 2012, has 720 hours and has been maintained. 

The reference is 7MDKBL-5871F 

< br clear="none">

Any idea or suggestion will be greatly appreciated. 

Many thanks in advance 

Dominique Guenot 

+1 917 826 0945 

S/V Viva Currently in Hiva Oa, Marquesas, French Polynesia

 

Hello Dominique,

if you cannot hear the priming pump, or cannot feel it vibrating when you put your fingers on it while priming or starting, this means the pump is out of order.

The generator's engine will not start if this pump is out of order. You need a new priming pump...

Bon courage.

Olivier

On Wednesday, June 15, 2016 9:54 AM, "songhui_ma@... [amelyachtowners]" <amelyachtowners@...> wrote:

 

Hello, 

I have tried the following to no avail: 

- prime up to 5 min

- unmount the new filter - no air;  full of diesel fuel

- open the pipes going to the injectors, then crank; no fuel appears [?!] but the injectors seem full of fuel

Oil and coolant are at appropriate level. 

Fuel Pump. I checked and the pump is receiving 12V during priming. 

However I am not hearing it but the fuel filter was fuller than when we mounted it, so I infer it is working.

The fuel tank level is above 250 liters, So it should not be the security that disconnect the genset and give priority to the main engine. 

 

This genset is from 2012, has 720 hours and has been maintained. 

The reference is 7MDKBL-5871F 

< br clear="none">

Any idea or suggestion will be greatly appreciated. 

Many thanks in advance 

Dominique Guenot 

+1 917 826 0945 

S/V Viva Currently in Hiva Oa, Marquesas, French Polynesia