Using a Shop Smith Mark V on a Chris Craft Roamer refit

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roamer46
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Re: Using a Shop Smith Mark V on a Chris Craft Roamer refit

Post by roamer46 »

One of the engineers at Bridgeport Magnetics confirmed that the orange wire is the 208v tap. Also, "Some customers install a drum switch or other type switch to hook up to the red-striped or orange wire dependent on the location. Most do not consider it necessary and cap it off."

The only equipment on my boat that might theoretically be affected by 208 input is my air conditioner compressors. But for quite a while they've all been built for use with a range of 208-230. I suspect that's why most boaters don't use the orange tap. If you have older, piston-style compressors that have YUGE startup draw and were made specifically for 240, using the orange wire would probably be necessary.
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Re: Using a Shop Smith Mark V on a Chris Craft Roamer refit

Post by JPG »

How about the clothes dryer?

And is the panel voltmeter properly zeroed? I ask that as the panel ammeter appears to not be so.
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roamer46
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Re: Using a Shop Smith Mark V on a Chris Craft Roamer refit

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Per the Bridgeport Magnetics' engineer, pretty much all modern "240" volt appliances are built to work fine with 208-230VAC. Resistive heating appliances, like dryers, aren't harmed by low voltage, they just work slower. Here's an article he wrote on the topic that he sent me:
Shore Power: “To Boost or Not to Boost”.

In most North American marinas AC power is delivered at 120 and 240 volts but in some marinas it is 120 and 208 volts. The values are nominal, and actual voltage at the pedestals is often lower due to drop in lines feeding power to the docks. When many boats are hooked up and drawing power the voltage at the outermost pedestals may drop as much as 15-20%

Voltage fluctuations may seem annoying, but they rarely cause damage to appliances and electrical equipment because NEMA (National Electric Manufacturers Association) recommends that all appliances should operate at nameplate voltage plus or minus 10%. Typically for 120/240V appliances nameplate voltage is 115/230V. TV and audio equipment allow even larger variations, and navigation equipment is fed by low voltage DC, unaffected by shore power voltage.

So though there little real risk of equipment damage from voltage fluctuations the trend towards perfection led to the development by various parties of voltage boost systems, and in 2019 Bridgeport Magnetics went along with an automatic boost system as a part of the Marine-Puck Program.

In the meantime, Marine-Puck transformers have attained UL marine and ABYC compliance and become increasingly popular among boat owners and manufacturers, but because, since its introduction only about 5% of customers have includer automatic boost in Marine-Puck installations we have decided to discontinue the system with immediate effect.

However, transient boats with 50A shore power systems often have appliances rated for 230/240V. so while staying at a 208V marina a brownout or even small voltage drop may represent a problem. For that reason, we are keeping the 208V primary tap as a feature of Marine-Pucks, enabling transient boaters to install a simple selector switch for use when plugging in at a 208V marina.

At the same time, moving forward all Marine-Pucks will feature 125V or 250V secondary windings an inherent 4% mitigation against extreme drop on a crowded pier. For example, in case of a 20% drop from 240V nominal, the pedestal voltage will remain above 200V, not a borderline 192V.
So while it looks like 208v can, in theory, be a problem, in real life most boaters aren't having issues. If it becomes an issue for me, it's not that hard to loosen the center support bolt, push the Pucks away from the mounting panel, and tie the orange wire to a switch.
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Re: Using a Shop Smith Mark V on a Chris Craft Roamer refit

Post by roamer46 »

Oh, and no...I haven't adjusted the meters. And I need to flip the donut current transformers for the ammeters. They're not reading anything right now. I was just happy to energize the system and not have smoke jump out of a bunch of things! lol
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Re: Using a Shop Smith Mark V on a Chris Craft Roamer refit

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I'm still having trouble with my NOS Simpson AC ammeters. I confirmed that the donut current transformers were oriented properly, swapped the wiring to every possible configuration, and even wound the secondary through the donut to try and boost the signal...nothing changed. The needle moves just a bit when I turn on my miter saw but then returns to zero. Turning on multiple heaters doesn't move the needle at all, near as I can tell.

Anyway, I've been recommissioning the AC electrical system in order, from the shore power inlet and cables, to the main breaker, to Marine Pucks. The main electrical panel was next up, including selectively activating breakers so I have power available in each space from the onboard wiring. That allowed me to stop using the extension cords I've had strung all over the boat for the last ten years.

It felt very good coiling them up and taking them home. But I'm going to have to have a garage sale for all these extension cords and other stuff I won't be needing anymore as the project winds down. lol

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Salon Electrical Panel

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Re: Using a Shop Smith Mark V on a Chris Craft Roamer refit

Post by roamer46 »

Ever since I installed the Cummins 6CTA engines, I've been keeping in the back of my head what I should do about the Isspro Turbocator (dual read-out boost/exhaust temp) gauges. I had a few ideas about replicating the OEM tachometer housings, but the more I thought about it that just didn't seem feasible. Then I decided I also want to know what my gear oil pressures are, so that's another two gauges I needed to find homes for. The helm station radio box is full, and having them down below the dashboard makes them fairly out of sight, which also means out of mind.

I was also keeping in mind that somebody prior to 1985, when the boat was moved to Purgatory Row, had drilled and cut an ugly rectangular hole right in the top of the dashboard, between the two tachometer housings. What if I could make a housing that fit all four gauges AND covered that big hole?!?

So I took some scrap 1/8" aluminum plate from when I cut up an old but unused holding tank that I bought for cheap and made a custom instrument panel. I also tossed in some LED telltale lights for the forward and aft bilge pumps. Don't stare too closely at the TIG welds...or if you do, please be gentle with the comments. Saying I'm a weekend warrior welder is a gross overstatement, and I taught myself how at a fairly advanced age, so I just don't have the robotic muscle memory of some pros I've seen.

On the other hand, I'd put my welds up against many of the so-called pros in my neck of the woods.

Anyway, I think it turned out pretty good, all things considered.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Making a Custom Instrument Panel

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Re: Using a Shop Smith Mark V on a Chris Craft Roamer refit

Post by roamer46 »

While I was running the wires and boost tubing for the new instrument panel I made, I also cleaned up and labeled the OEM wiring. If you've got a schematic to look at, I'm sure numerical wire identifiers make sense. But intuitive labels so you can know what you're looking at with a glance is a lot better. Once that was done, I installed the instrument panel, turned both keys to RUN so the gauges had power, and switched the bilge pumps to CONSTANT, which means they're manually switched on. Up at the helm station, the gear oil gauge needles dropped to zero, which is where they should be with ignition on, and the bilge pump telltales were on.

It works!

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Custom Instrument Panel

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Q

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Re: Using a Shop Smith Mark V on a Chris Craft Roamer refit

Post by roamer46 »

With all but three holes buttoned up below the waterline, it was time to roll on some new bottom paint. While sanding in preparation for paint, we found another crack in that very expensive Interlux epoxy filler used by the first "marine craftsman" I had work on the boat. Once again, we don't know if it was faulty product or bad mixing, but the crack happened in a low-stress area with no welds in the region. My painter fixed the crack just fine, and I'm glad we found it; it was 95% below the waterline, so splashing would have allowed water to get under the paint and filler and spread havoc.

Anyway, two coats later (three from the chine up), it looks great!

To make space to paint the transom, and since we don't need it anymore, I removed all of the scaffolding behind the transom. This is all good progress toward splashing before long.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Bottom Paint

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Re: Using a Shop Smith Mark V on a Chris Craft Roamer refit

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The one thing that's absolutely got to be done before the boat can splash is to close up all of the holes below the waterline. The only holes remaining are the biggest ones: the raw water intakes for the Cummins 6CTA main propulsion engines. I had the new 2" intake pipes threaded by an incompetent and expensive dude a couple years ago. I recently realized he machined them with National Pipe Tapered threads, when the valve that threads onto them is NP Straight. So I took them to another machinist and had them rethreaded to NPS. I cut them to match the angle of the hull, then used my Miller Trailblazer 280NT and Spoolmatic to weld them from the outside. On the inside, I used my AlphaTIG and the homemade torch cooler I wrote about recently. After wire brushing the pipes inside and out, I applied two coats of Bar Rust 235 barrier coat and topped that with two coats of Pettit Vivid bottom paint, including inside the standpipes.

This is a big step toward getting the boat back in the water.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Main Engine Raw Water Intakes

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Q

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Re: Using a Shop Smith Mark V on a Chris Craft Roamer refit

Post by roamer46 »

With the main propulsion engine raw water intakes finally welded in, next I installed the valves, strainers, and hoses. And that seals up the last of the holes below the waterline. With the exception of small details, like hose clamps and a few nuts and bolts, the boat could be splashed right now if I had to. But it's forecast to be 9°F for a low tonight and very cold through the end of 2022, so I plan to keep it in the tent and continue knocking out other priority parts of the project.

I did have a couple of hitches I ran into while installing the strainers (how could I not?!?!?) that I go into in more detail in the linked article. The worst were manufacturing defects in a brand new acrylic sight glass that resulted in cracks. Worse still is that the manufacturer, Buck Algonquin, is no longer in business. So I'm hoping my MacGyver solution will hold up for at least a few years.

In any case, this is great progress.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing Raw Water Intake Valves and Strainers

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Q

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