Happy April Fool's Day! ! ! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

      Taking the time to celebrate Holy Week meant that work on ABISHAG wouldn't begin until today. That is, it would if today was not "Opening Day."  It is Red Sox vs the Yankees down at the awful "new" Yankee Stadium. As much as I "hate" the Yankees, I was really disappointed when they trashed the "sacred baseball ground" that was the original "house that Ruth Built," for the pale imitation known as the "House that George Built," and did it all for "money."  And this year they seem to be a bit older and more banged up and it is quite possible that they will not make the playoffs and could, hopefully, simply because I would enjoy it so, end up last.  Even if they don't, it always remains a matter of A.B.T. Y.  - "Anyone But The Yankees."

      Back to boating . . . .I discovered that it is difficult to make repairs and correct problems if you don't have the right tools or if the tools that you have don't work, and so we come to the adventures of me and my multimeter. I have had several of these very useful tools but they do not seem well equipped for residing on water craft. A multimeter is an electronic device that reads the flow of current(AC/DC), continuity, resistance, voltage, amperage and other assorted electrical stuff that basically tell you that the electrical system on your boat is fine or that it is not. If it is not, it can help you find the reason why, especially if you love a good mystery. Last year, it took me a week to find out why the GPS at the helm stopped working -  it turned out to be a fuse - the problem was simple to solve once I was able to track do the location of the fuse (not simple).

     No to accomplish such feats of electrical legerdemain, one must have a multimeter of some kind. It can be really simple, such as a "continuity tester" - which is simply a wire attached to a probe that has a small light on it. If there is "continuity" between the point where you place the probe and where you touch the wire, the light lights! If not, you don't and you can begin to investigate further. Even with the best meter made by FLUKE - the Ferrari of electrical multimeters -  it can be a long process because you have to examine every part of a circuit, and I mean every part of a circuit, to find your problem. And of course, one a boat you have the additional problem of "getting at" the entire circuit/ run of wire.

    Now I mention all this because late last year, I discovered that my "primary" - I have two(2) - multimeter had cease to function.  My secondary, back-up, much more limited in scope and function multimeter had turned green and white, that is it was a block of corrosion. I asked Friend Fred to pick me up another secondary meter so that i could figure out what was wrong with the primary. Ascribing to the philosophy that one should always put off to tomorrow what you can do today, I only got around to it on Saturday last. I took it to Radio Shack because I had a sneaking suspicion that I had blown the fuse in the meter and that was the problem. I knew it wasn't the battery as I had replaced it last fall when trying to get the bloody thing to work so that was relatively "new" and should still be good. The new ceramic fuse, which I actually good for free as the clerk must have been filled with pre-Easter joy didn't solve the problem, as the meter would  boot up. I took the meter back to the residence and was about to trash it, figuring I had cook the entire thing, when I decided to check it out again.  It took me a few minutes to figure it out - read the instructions -  but I eventually used the secondary meter to check out the "old" fuse that the clerk return to me. According to the meter, the fuse was blown. I had to assume that "new fuse", inserted in the Primary meter, was good as it was brand new, just out of the package. I checked the battery in the meter and it read "nothing." I don't mean that it read "low voltage dead," I mean that\, according to the secondary meter, there was no voltage in the battery whatsoever. Actually, I had never seen that but I figured it might be s\possible so I got another 9bolt battery from a stash I have and put it into the meter and got . . . ZIPPO! BUPKIS! NADA!

      That confirmed for me the meter was "cooked' and I was about to trash it when I considered the possibility that the "new" battery was bad, after all the battery stash was from the boat and was a few years old. I metered the "new" battery and it measured 6.3 volts. Basically it was dead, so I trucked out to the store and bought a brand new, fresh in the package9 volt battery. Back at the residence, I checked the voltage - 9.6 volts - and inserted it into the primary multimeter. Holding it in place as the cover to the battery compartment  was not in place - the back of the multimeter had several screws including four to get at the battery compartment -  I turned it on and it went on! It meant that it wasn't cooked and that it didn't work because the fuse was blown and the battery was deader than dead. I screwed everything back in place and turned it on and NOTHING! I unscrewed everything and took the battery out - it was good. Took the new fuse out, it was good. Put everything back in place and again holding the battery hit the power button and it lit up like Broadway. It turns out that the battery compartment is just a tad to big to hold the battery firmly against the connectors and so I had to fashion a little shim to press it firm in place and keep it there.

AH, "Sold By Sears, Made In China!" That explains it all!