Ben Okopnik wrote: > On Mon, Jun 01, 2009 at 01:31:02PM -0400, Skip Gundlach wrote: > >> Hi, Ben, >> >> I thought you'd sourced motors in Saint Simons Island?? >> > > Unfortunately, that didn't work out. I ended up trying to salvage one of > the old motors by replacing the "lay-down" style brushes in it; buying > and modifying alternator brushes, which have a similar composition and > shape worked for a while but failed eventually. > > Today, with extensive help from a very knowledgeable fellow named Hoyt > at a HobbyTown here in Charleston, I did manage to find some motors of a > similar size and correct voltage, as well as gears that actually fit > both the shafts on those motors _and_ the gears in the autopilot > housing. The only possible problem, oddly enough, is that the motors > these days are of much better quality than they used to be: the original > ones put out about 150gf/cm, which was about maximum for this size of > motor back then, whereas the new ones put out about 3 times that much > (finger-in-the-wind estimate based on perceived torque while holding > the motor as it cranks up.) The run current on both is about the same, > perhaps a little higher on the new one... but the starting current may > be a problem. I can only hope that the driver transistors in the head > unit survive the testing phase; I'm not a big fan of replacing those > things. :) > > >> Hand steering aside, I hope your trip was fun. Still I NGA but >> leaving to be back at the boat next week... >> > > Oh, it was fun indeed; it's all good fun, although it may not seem like > it while it's actually happening. ;-> Kat learned to steer downwind at > night - quite an achievement, that! - although the constant gybing while > she was learning wasn't a particularly relaxing experience for me. Good > thing that it wasn't blowing any more than a steady 10kt, and that we > have a fairly strong boom. By morning, she was steering like a pro, > catching it as soon as the jib started to luff and skating off to > windward immediately. > > Baby Michael contributed his share during the day by staying underfoot > as much as possible, squealing with delight at the waves, and in all > other ways acting like a perfectly normal boat kid. This being his > second passage, he's getting to be quite the old hand at this offshore > sailing business; even during the first one, which was quite a bit > rougher, he filed no complaints or formal protests with either the > captain or the first mate (the Super Sekrit Capn's Log for the day reads > "Still keeping all firearms under lock and a strong guard, but the > possibility of mutiny by our junior crew now seems less imminent and > perhaps avoidable.") > > Tomorrow, there will be much installation, repair, and maintenance, all > liberally lubricated by grumbling, muttering, and an occasional "Ouch!" > Much like computers, boats demand a regular blood sacrifice, and will > refuse to work properly unless they get it. > > Our supply of Band-Aids and NuSkin dwindles, but we shall persevere. > > > Ben would it be possible to add another heavier duty transistor outboard? Let the one in the head act as a driver? There are some really great MOSFETs out there. Also a resistor might limit the startup current too, since you have much more torque than you need, it may not cause any problems.
Jim. _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
