1977 Seafari 2006 Etec 150

[McGillicuddy]

Glad your enjoying the sled. Good to hear the previous owner is so helpful.
Sounds like you might have a bad solenoid on the starboard side of pump motor...or a loose/bad contact on back of control switch.

Good luck with troubleshooting.

[Bushwacker]

Originally Posted by Vezo, Part II

. . . Only thing I've lost is the starboard trim tab. Switch activates pump but no fluid making it to the piston actuator. Hope I didn't flood contacts while rinsing bilge with fresh water. All I can figure. . .

Part II

The solenoid valve (Item 9 in parts list) for the starboard tab may be stuck or dead or the dash switch is acting up. Have someone activate the dash switch and check to see if you're getting voltage at the solenoid. If you're getting voltage (I assume you have a VOHM meter in your tool box? I never leave home without one!) then you need to replace the solenoid, which is easy to do. Bennett sells individual solenoids. You should also be able to download/print installation instructions and wiring diagrams from their web site.

If your cylinder is about 11 inches long, you have the same system I had, but if bolt connecting cylinder bracket to tiller arm is not installed in the aft most hole (of 3) in tiller arm it's not installed properly, so motor travel will be even less than mine! I switched to the older style/longer stroke slider type cylinder but only picked up about 4% in travel because it's installed in center hole of tiller arm. Not enough room to use the aft most hole due to thickness of slider bracket. Pics below show how far I could rotate motor after disconnecting cylinder. Note there is a bolt hole in tiller arm aft of the 2 existing bolts. Denny

[Bushwacker]

Originally Posted by McGillicuddy

You need this:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/boat...clickid=3x2988

Kind of a get out of jail free card. Best darn boat owners book out there...this one is old but the basic lessons remain true.

Cheers

I took a 2-day Diesel Engine course at Trawler Fest last year taught by 'ol Nigel and Steve Zimmerman. Nigel is a British chap and quite original at coming up with ways to trouble shoot and prevent problems, possibly due to a lifetime of contending with the vagaries of British engines on old sailboats, etc.! The course included one ~ 2hr exercise involving use of a VHOM meter to measure voltage drops and troubleshoot a simple DC circuit board. Although I've used such meters for years, it seemed to be a pretty useful exercise for the newbies in the class.

I wished I had taken the course a year earlier, when it was taught by Bob Smith, the engineer who lead the marinization of the legendary old English Ford tractor engine that's used on many old trawlers. His course was much more hands on and involved stuff like changing fuel pump and injectors on a Ford-Lehman engine! Attended a seminar he gave in 2014, and he's probably FORGOTTEN more about engines than most "Experts" will ever know! I chatted with him at length and found him to be a real nice down-to-earth guy that has a condo in NPB.

BTW Gillie, that's a screaming bargain on Calder's book . . . they were selling it at Trawlerfest for about $50! If I ever get myself a trawler, I'll probably buy one!

[Vezo, Part II]

Gremlin has moved out of starboard trim tab pump and she ran nicely. However, I'm coming up two holes to top and researching props.

Bought this sled from a gentleman last named Bennet but he went with Lemco's.

Part II

[TomParis]

lol Vezo, thats hilarious!

I married a woman whose last name was Hoover, needless to say we have a Hoover vacuum in our house = )

[Bushwacker]

If you have Lenco trim tabs, there is no hydraulic pump . . . they're all electric! So problem is either in switch or actuator.

Somehow I've never understood the rationale for putting electric motors below the waterline in salt water and expecting a couple of o-rings to keep 'em dry!

[DonV]

I'm with ya 'ol Pappy on electricity and salt water, I had Lencos on my Pathfinder. I had one actuator go bad, bought two as replacements just in case. Only good thing about the Lencos, easy to replace the actuator. Not sure how easy it is to replace my Bennett tabs on my 'ol clunker SeaCraft, they have never failed. I guess after 30+ years of perfect service tells you all you need to know.

[Bushwacker]

Don, I finally had to replace my Bennett actuators after almost 40 years, so you've probably got another few years to go! Might be worth periodically checking hydraulic fluid color. If it looks like a strawberry milkshake, it's time to change actuators! I had a solenoid valve fail, evidently due to saltwater in the hydraulic fluid. Don't know how long it had water in it but the 40 year old hydraulic pump was still working fine! The actuators were easy to replace - just disconnect hydraulic lines and brass nipples inside transom and then remove a few screws. Denny

[Fr. Frank]

As far as your bilge pump automatic activation goes, your automatic switch MUST be wired directly to 12v BEFORE the battery switch. You can wire directly to the battery, or you can wire it to the input side of the battery switch. The idea is to have 12v going to your automatic bilge switch even when both the batteries are turned off.

Far too may boats have sunk because the automatic bilge switch was wired to 12v AFTER the battery switch, resulting in completely disabling the automatic bilge pump function every time the batteries were turned off.

Similarly, I have TWO automatic bilge pumps in my bilge.
One is the original 1971 Rule Master 1750 gph with a new Rule Super Switch mounted at the bottom of the bilge below the motor and connected directly to battery #1.
The other is a Johnson 1100 gph automatic pump with magnetic switch mounted 5" up on the center stringer, and connected directly to battery #2.

[DonV]

Thanks Denny, I had the tabs off when I re-did the transom, pretty easy, I did go with a 1" longer brass nipple through the transom, easier to work with. I do have a spare cylinder I bought at a nautical flea market for like $5 many years ago. I figured what the heck for $5, thankfully never had to use it.