The Cape Dory Board

If you do decide to go that route there are some cautions so bring it up for discussions. Charlie

All is not lost Lee. You got some good dc electric system hands-on knowledge albeit pretty expensive. Another possible thought is to install a switch that selects either battery or outboard generator, fused of course, to drive lights and/or accessaries when powered up. That would save the battery wh...

Lee, since there is no regulated output on your outboard engine now may be a good time to think about using solar power trickle charger to keep your battery up. Just a suggestion/thought. Charlie

I'm getting the feeling that what Lee has is not designed to charge a battery at all. According to his maintenance manual drawing there is a diode but no voltage regulator. Marilou mentioned this earlier. It looks like when the motor quits the running lights or what ever go out. There is just not mu...

Ok, Were on to it now! I did find the manual and electrical drawing for your motor. The specs say the rectifier out is 12V @60W. then amps out = 60/12 = 5 amps. There should be a rise in voltage at the battery with the motor in gear but it probably won't be much. For example with a standard inboard ...

I understood you to say in your first post that motor output voltage in neutral was 14v and just by shifting the motor in gear the voltage dropped to 10v and this all with nothing connected to the output of the alternator. Maybe the alternator needs a load to function correctly. Marilou mentioned co...

You have certaintly isolated the problem to the outboard motor/alternator system. Without knowing exactly whats going on inside the outboard/alternator combo it is hard to proceed with the troubleshooting. If it were me I would try to locate a maintenance manual for the outboard to get an internal e...

After reading your post Lee a couple of question came to mind. Could the outboard motor alternator (+) and (-) polarity be reversed? Does the alternator and (-) lead to the battery have a common ground? Are you measuring alternator output voltage with the battery connected in circuit? I am not famil...

Guest makes battery chargers and it is possible that it could be for an external charger. See West Marine current catalog p. 385. Charlie.

Thank you for your very helpful post Derek. In case someone else is referencing this post the check valve should be rated to 1000 psi for a diesel engine. Thanks again, Charlie.

Even though the little diesel is running good I would like to do a compression test annually as part of a tune-up. I have an adapter that replaces the injector and the gauge and hose. The hose ends in 1/4 npt threads and the adapter has 1/4 npt threads. The problem is there needs to be a check valve...

Carter, You mentioned an Interlux system for underwater metals in your post about a year ago. I tried that system and it worked very well here in the Gulf. It is somewhat tedious but the prop was perfectly clean after 6 months when I hauled! In fact, the only change to the bronze prop that I could s...

Was the engine run after the oil & filter change? It takes some oil to saturate the new filter. Otherwise next spring I would pull a little oil out just to be safe.

If I remember correctly the 2000+ only needs power and ground to function. If you start running new wires and moving stuff arround you may drive the problem into remission only to raise its ugly head later. When it is failing if you can read the voltage at the AP connector the plus side and the grou...

Does that engine have a speed govenor? just a thought to add to the pile.