Scuba from Bert

photo finish · Post by **photo finish** » Thu Nov 04, 2010 7:26 pm

Will certainly try to. My son has a baseball tournament but will find some time at some point.

mikehedb · Post by **mikehedb** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 1:11 pm

Al: I think that I have two problems, but they may be related. The instrumentation for my port engine is erractic. At idle things work best, but sometimes I'm not getting an oil pressure reading. I hooked up a mechanical guage on the engine and it reads a solid 50-55 psi. When I run up over 1500Rpms my tach looks like is struggling to adavnce, then it will jump up to 3500rpms and I'm running around 3000rpms based on the other engines Rpms. My batteries will start dropping off to around 10.5vdc at cruise. I have checked voltage at the alternator output and I'm putting out good voltage to the batteries. I put a load checker on the batteries and they seem to be OK (they are only one year old. In addition, my stero works good when shore power is plugged in, but stopped working when I disconnect shore power. Engines start fine at the dock, and I went out last weekend anchoered for lunch and had no starting problem, but on the way back in the electric head stopped working. As soon as I plug back into shore power the stereo works and the head starts working properly. However, when I flush the head the stereo sounds like it is temporarily loosing power. I was thinking that I had a bad ground, but I haven't truly ruled out a bad battery. I still have the old original style fuses and switches. Keep in mind that I also had a direct lightning strike the summer. Any Thoughts???

photo finish · Post by **photo finish** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 2:27 pm

I think you are on the right track by thinking it is ground or a bad cell in a battery. Have you tried to determine if it isolated to the port or starboard battery?

photo finish · Post by **photo finish** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 2:29 pm

One more thought..... do you have a galvanic isolator? if so it might be bad.

smanni · Post by **smanni** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 4:26 pm

quote:Originally posted by buzzk I've never seen a Bertram 33 with a transom door. It would be nice. I wonder what would be involved? Buzz buzzk 1988 Bertram 33 FBC Cummins 6BTA's Buzz Off Morehead City, NC Wasnt there a guy on here, a few years back - whos Bert had a transom door retrofitted? I think the boat eventually had horrible storm damage and the only hull failure area was around the transom door that he added. I might be crazy - but I thought I remembered that story - anyone else?

lobsta1 · Post by **lobsta1** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 4:43 pm

Mike, If you had a strike, I would think Tim is right. Second, if you still have the old battery & ground cables, I would at least replace the ground cables. Next, take every engine > helm harness connection apart. Clean them out with electronic cleaner. An idea I came up with, but have not tried yet is to go to a welding supply house & pick up a set of tip cleaners like one of these set. http://www.airgas.com/browse/productDet ... AD64002384 Finally, I am assuming you have the same spade lug terminal strips for all the electrical connections. They are a horror show. Poke at one wire & another two strips away pops off. Have you read this thread about a similar voltage drop problem I was having. http://www.bertram33.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2269 Al P.S. Several times in the past, I would suddenly develop a similar no start problem. Always ended up being one of the spade spade lugs had popped loose. In that thread I finally crimped new lugs on.

lobsta1 · Post by **lobsta1** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 4:56 pm

Sean, That is the NITES OFF with the transom door. In the distant past some prior owner had the door added. Last February we had a Nor'easter with 90 mph winds. A couple of our boats ripped the cleats out of the docks & ended up pounding against the main cement docks all night. (The swim platform on NITES OFF was coming down on TOP of the dock) Since the original work involved a lot of Bondo type work without a lot of reinforcing, the transom > cockpit joint cracked loose. After her stay in the boat hospital, NITES OFF is much better now. Al

mikehedb · Post by **mikehedb** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 5:53 pm

No Galvanic isolator. I didn't replace the battery cables yet because they looked pretty good. I have a lot of old connections, and I think I'm just going to need to start at one end and work my way to the other. Thanks guys for all the help...I'll let everyone know about my progress.

photo finish · Post by **photo finish** » Tue Nov 09, 2010 8:47 am

Mike, I stopped by Sunday but must have missed you. I will catch up with you at some point, my wife and I walk by there all the time. My cell is 269-0910 if you ever need a hand tracking your electric problem.

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » Tue Nov 09, 2010 7:18 pm

Sean, Tom Ward had a transom door put in his B38, one of the yards there in NJ put it in. After it was done, I remember looking for several years to see if there was any stress cracks etc and didn't see any issue. I'm sure Charlie could put you in touch for opinions and maybe a contact on who did his. I would add one to my B35, but it's moving to the back burner now that I got a kid in middle-school and college around the corner.

mikehedb · Post by **mikehedb** » Wed Nov 10, 2010 5:28 pm

I hate to hijack this post, but I just wanted to say thanks for the help in dealing with my electrical issues. It just reassured me that I wasn't way out in left field. I believe the main culprit was the connections on one of the main grounding cables. I just started at one end and strarted cleaning and tightening connections. At the dock things seem to be fine, but I haven't had a chance to really run the boat yet. In regard to the original post...there is an old 35 Viking in our marina that has had a refit in which he installed a transom door. It looks good, but the owner had some prior work experience doing fiberglass and he told me that he spent a lot of time on it.

buzzk · Post by **buzzk** » Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:46 am

I thought someone posted that Bertram said the 33 stern wasn't designed for a transom door and not to install one. As thin as the fiberglass is on my stern. I would have to do a lot of reinforcing. I would want someone that knew what they where doing if I added one. If anyone has installed a door it would be interesting to know what was involved with reinforcing and if they had any problems after installing the door. Buzz

Aussie Syd · Post by **Aussie Syd** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 9:32 pm

Hi Here are some photos of my transom door and how it was constructed , if any of you are considering doing it I believe it is one of the best improvements for the boat. if done proffessionally. Sorry for the size of the photos. [img]http://www.bertram33.com/images/uploads/DSC00331.JPG[/img][img]http://www.bertram33.com/images/uploads/DSC00327.JPG[/img][img]http://www.bertram33.com/images/uploads/DSC00323.JPG[/img][img]http://www.bertram33.com/images/uploads/DSC00318.JPG[/img][img]http://www.bertram33.com/images/uploads/DSC00317.JPG[/img][img]http://www.bertram33.com/images/uploads/DSC00320.JPG[/img]http://www.bertram33.com/images/uploads/DSC00325.JPG[/img]

Aussie Syd · Post by **Aussie Syd** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 10:45 pm

Again Sorry for the size of photographs still learning how to post pictures here. In my humble opinion the transom door was one of the best up grades I have done on the boat, 2nd only to repowering. The construction of the door is very important and if it is done right I dont't believe there would be any negative issues later on with weaken or failure to the stern section of the boat, we have not experienced any issues at all in the past 18 months . We have a lot of older Bertram and Caribbean 35s over here with most have had transoms doors put in ,and have never seen a failure on any of them. Might be different if it was a Bayliner or some thing ? Can't remember how we managed without it before. Syd

Rick · Post by **Rick** » Mon Nov 15, 2010 3:17 am

Buzz, That was me that posted the message from Bertram stating "don't do it". But he did qualify it by saying "unless someone really knows what they're doing". Rick Ticket 85 SF Merc 454 MPI's Falmouth, MA