The Polar Power Generator is Here

12/28/2010

Snow on the boat and dock

It was exciting watching the genset travel to Wilson NC with the huge snow storm not causing a delay.  I picked it up from the R+L Carrier depot and brought it to the boat.  The roads were clear, but the boat and dock were still covered with about 4" of snow, and the boat was down about an inch in the water.


 Paul and I opened the crate, and the genset looks beautiful... then I opened the box with the controllers in it -- It looks like Medusa's head.  Most of the cables were plugged in at both ends.  The few loose ends I guessed what they were for and when I spoke to Richard at Polar Power I had guesses correctly.

The back side of the rack that holds the 3 main panels

Three of the five housings are mounted on a rack that will  not fit anywhere.  The rack is designed so all the connections are behind the housing.  The housings are designed to be mounted in a rack.  I'll have to use rails or posts or something.  This is going to be as difficult as I had feared.  I'm no longer optimistic about getting this done quickly.  This is more the way I expected it but didn't want to dwell on.  I need to come up with some good ideas for tomorrow.

12/29/2010
I came up with the ideas.  I mounted plywood sides and fiberglass angles to secure them to the bulkheads.

The housings with the brackets attached and tape
protecting the sockets from shavings.

I was able to mount the control panel in the old hole from the previous panel.  Since the Polar Power panel was smaller I had to make a frame to cover the edges of the existing hole.

 Bill Richards, one of my dedicated crew showed up to help get the genset installed.  The work went much faster.  I designed and he fabricated.  We got all the brackets and the genset base done by 4pm, and then the snow had melted as much as it was going to for the day, so we slid the genset onto a dolly and hosted it onto the boat, down the companionway, through the quarterberth and into position.

Bill is steadying the genset as it it being lowered into the companionway.

This is a hard picture to figure out.  It is the genset half in the quarter berth and half in the engine room.  The black thing in the upper left is the fuel tank.  It is still fully attached to all the fuel hoses and is suspended by the main halyard so we have room to work under it.

 This is the inside of the sound shield, and unfortunately it has a long razor cut.  It was inside a plastic bag in the crate with the engine, and the plastic bag didn't have any cuts in it.

12/30/2010
This day went quite well.  I got all the housings mounted and the wires between the housing all attached.  The main thing left is to attach the genset, fuel tank, battery and muffler to the boat.  They are just sitting there now.

Here is the original rats nest of wires now mounted and attached

The genset with its sound shield on and the mounted housings tucked in the corner behind it.