Trojan Boat Forum

I appreciate the concern about the cinder blocks but my marina has taken excellent care of my boat so far. And I am a Builder/Contractor/Project Manager and you do point out an easy mistake anyone could make. Cinderblocks are only meant to stack in one direction. With that being said if someone stacked them with the hollow face showing then you will have serious problems. If stacked the way they are designed to stack the will not crumble... As are the ones supporting my boat are stacked correctly I'm not concerned at all... My boat was stored on proper cribbing all winter just FYI

The issue with concrete masonry units is one of point loading, assuming orientation is correct as noted by OP. Theyre great for carrying distributed loads. Concentrated loads, as would be the case if a pebble got between two blocks, not so much.

Good point P-Dogg very good point. Well hopefully it will hold for another few days. I'm getting her put in the water on Monday. To start the first season as a Trojan owner. So excited to get her floating again. I do need to run a hot wire to the forward bilge pump so I can have it operating on the automatic mode. Currently its just hooked up to the bilge switch above the lower helm and its just working in manual override mode. I like that I can turn it on easily to double check the bilge for water. So I think running another hot wire is what I need.

If you are working on your bilge pumps and need a new project idea (LOL!), you might see if this applies to you.

My tricab has three bilge pumps: forward, middle, aft. Boat sits bow-down at rest, so any bilge water heads there. Underway, physics still applies, and water moves aft. The point is, underway or at rest, the middle (engine room) pump should never turn on. Ever.

Thus, I wired it such that whenever it runs, it also turns-on a piezoelectric buzzer/flashing light at the helm, i.e., where passers-by would have a chance of being alerted. I believed that this is the device that I used: https://www.floydbell.com/products/twin-turbo.php. Many piezo devices require a driver circuit, so watch out. You want something that operates continuously whenever 12V is applied.

I have a guarded switch next to it to turn it off, should it ever turn on. True the buzzer is powered by the emergency mains, and thus by the same battery that would otherwise be supplying juice to the pump, but it has a low current draw, and I feel that the chance to alert someone to a sinking boat provides greater benefit. No boat will be saved from sinking because the bilge pump was able to run another minute.

I once saw a tricab with a separate high water alarm placed at least a foot above the engine room bilge pump switch. If there is that much water in the boat, then you are already, well this is a "G" rated forum, but it starts with F.

Oh, I guess I can come out with it -- you are already foundering.....

LOL, I like the idea P-Dogg. But my to do list is still at 42 items, really it is. But I'm making this a higher priority. Thanks, again you made me think about cruising around and not being able to see the bilge easily to know if there is a problem. This I'm sure gives one the piece of mind knowing that the bilge is staying dry... Bilge located midship as forward as possible I would guess?

BradZ wrote: ↑Fri May 10, 2019 11:08 am Bilge located midship as forward as possible I would guess?

Whut?

LOL My bad. Where exactly should the engine bay bilge pump be located?

In an accessible location, closeset to where any bilge water is when boat is at rest, since most boats that sink do so while unattended in a slip.

Mine is adjacent to engine room fwd bulkhead.

Had a productive weekend. Finished the non skid on the cockpit deck and installed the recovered combing panels around the cockpit. Also checked out the trim tab pump and topped off the fluid and low and behold the lower helm switches are reversed. Is there an easy fix? Swap wires at the switches or at the pump? Anyone ever had to do it before. And we got her in the water this afternoon and she started up and ran like a dream. Due to cold weather we didn't venture out to far but it seems all is well.

Swap at switches.

Are you sure they are reversed ? Normaly The port switch works the starboard tab and the starboard switch works the port tab .

http://insta-trim.com/heavy-duty-trim-t ... rs-manual/








FWIW , Mine are back wards from the norm because I want them that way

prowlersfish wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2019 10:15 pm Are you sure they are reversed ? Normaly The port switch works the starboard tab and the starboard switch works the port tab .

http://insta-trim.com/heavy-duty-trim-t ... rs-manual/








FWIW , Mine are back wards from the norm because I want them that way

Yea that's the way they are operating so I guess mine are Ok then. Thanks Prowlerfish.

Ok been busy with a bunch of little projects and also enjoying being on the boat in the water. I changed all the light fixtures to LED lights, WOW what a big improvement. Doesn't feel so gloomy at night... Pulled up the galley floor for a quick look and all is good under there, then screwed the panels back down. Still trying to work out some electrical gremlins but I think I have it narrowed down to the hot water tank and Princess stove/oven. Anyone else having trouble using there stove? It works for about 5 minutes then the shore breaker kicks off. And I only used one stove top burner. I also ran hot and cold water to a faucet in the cockpit for washdown of the cockpit floor and so I can get a quick rinse off when I'm working on the boat.

Nice job. Ive got nothing but headaces with mine at the moment. Glad to see your enjoying it so far.

We have hot water!!! After some blood and sweat I was finally able to loosen the hot water heating element. When I pulled it out you could see visible cracks in the element. Wish I would have taken a picture but it was pretty obvious that it was part of my AC leak. Also checked the ground wires from the thermostat to the tank case witched seemed loose so I tightened them up. Installed the new element and wala everything works great now. Also brought a portable air conditioning unit on board temporarily to cool the boat at night when needed. At one point I had the water heater and AC unit running and no tripped breakers. I also changed all the AC outlets in the boat and made them GFCI protected. Mine were so loose that plugs would literally fall out of the outlet. So I think my AC leaks have been solved.