The New Alarms Panel - It works!!!

When we re-engined, we repurposed the old engine instrument panel to house various gages, switches and alarms to create an Alarms Panel. 

Old Engine Instruments Panel - Instruments removed

New Alarms Panel

The new Alarms Panel houses the Racor Vacuum gage, in the upper left, to let us know when the diesel filter is clogging up and the Racor water sensor alarm, in the lower left to let us know if water finds its way into the diesel. A clogged filter and/or water in the diesel will stall the engine, and water in the diesel will also cause damage to the engine. The panel also houses the anchor windlass Up/Down switch, in the upper part of the panel, and an digital ammeter, in the upper right, to let us know how hard the windlass is working. This is important as we do not want to burn out our new windlass motor and have to raise the anchor and chain by hand! Lastly, the panel lets us know if there is any water in the aft or engine room bilge. If there is water in one of the bilges, an alarm will sound and an LED light will let us know which bilge has the water. By depressing the switch (the switches have built in LED lights) we can silence the alarm; however, the LED will remain lit as long as the bilge pump is dewatering. In the middle of the panel there is an insulated cup holder (it fit perfectly in the old tachometer hole!). We use it to store pens, a grease pencil (handy on waterproof charts), and magic markers.  

On Rosalind, we have the option to divert the cockpit drains overboard or into the aft bilge. In the event the cockpit fills with water, the boat will sit lower on the water due to the extra water weight and this could potentially submerge the drains. If that is the case, the cockpit will not drain and water could start filling the boat! As a precaution/remedy, we can divert the water to the aft bilge and safely remove it with various pumps.

Over the winter I rewired the aft bilge pump, connected it to our Alarms Panel, and installed a new float switch to replace the old one. We now have a selector switch in the aft cabin to let us turn on the pump manually or connect it to the new float switch which automatically activates the pump when there is any water in the aft bilge. 

Aft Cabin, Looking Aft - Bilge Pump Auto/Manual Selector Switch (in black) Located on Starboard Side above Yellow Life Raft

During spring commissioning, before we moved onboard, we got a call from the Harbormaster at Hartge Yacht Harbor where Rosalind is moored. Our bilge alarm for the aft bilge was buzzing. The Harbormaster heard the alarm from shore and used his launch to inspect Rosalind  All was well. There was no water finding its way onboard, but there was just a little water in the bilge. We immediately drove to the marina and got onboard to figure out what happened. We found that we had left the cockpit drain valves to the bilge position. We had also removed the sides of the cockpit enclosure and as a result, some water got in the cockpit from a strong thunderstorm that passed through Galesville.  The pump worked, the alarm system worked, and even the new float switch worked perfectly. I had just installed the new float switch 1/2 inch (1 cm) too low, and the pump could not get the last bit of water out of the bilge! It took but a minute to re-adjust the pump switch elevation. 

I have always wanted to install an alarms panel and I am very happy that we have one on Rosalind.  When putting it all together, a year ago, I remember testing the buzzer at home and thinking, "Boy, this is loud!" That loudness sure came in handy!  It took eight coats of varnish and lots of work to wire it all but in the end it was all well worth it!

Thanks for visiting,
Alex and Cheryl