[Rhodes22-list] Appropriate fuse for power lift winch (and Hello!)

Sat May 25 10:13:07 EDT 2024

Hi Rosie,

My Rhodes 22 has the manual 6:1 GBI motor mount.  SO, I don’t have the But, Murphy’s Law would argue against any exposed electrical terminals in the lazarette compartment.  Think about the sort of conditions it would take to make gear shift around enough to make a short circuit.  Then think about not being able to raise or lower your outboard! 

One of the things I really like about the GBI motor mount is the ability to run the outboard in any position from fully up to fully down.  The reality of small sailboat sailing in heavy weather is that to make any progress to windward, we must motor sail.  On port tack, I can lower the GBi mount all the way down to keep the lower unit submerged.  On starboard tack, I can raise the mount up to keep the power head out of the water.  This feature of the GBI motor mount gives the Rhodes 22 significantly more heavy weather capability vs similar sized sailboats.  You wouldn’t want to build in a crippling failure mode that would strike at just the moment wherein you need the ability to adjust the outboard’s vertical position.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium 
1978. Sanford, MI

Sent from my iPhone

> On May 25, 2024, at 9:53 AM, Rosie Krueger <rosie.krueger at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Thanks, Roger!  Yes, exactly.  It feels a bit silly to use the lift for
> such a small outboard, but since it’s there already it seems easier to add
> a fuse than switch out the lift for a manual one.  The 12v outlet is
> already there and has no labeling whatsoever.  I was thinking about adding
> a smaller fuse just after the terminal to protect that one, but maybe I
> should just remove it completely.  Trying to avoid doing too much actual
> rewiring until we have a chance to sail the boat and see how we use it!
> 
> Another question - the terminal in the lazerette is just a couple of bolts
> mounted to a plastic block, and doesn’t have any sort of cover.  That seems
> like it might have been built that way - if anyone has added a cover, I’d
> be interested to hear what worked.  I was thinking about getting some
> rubber battery terminal covers and trying to rig them up.  The second
> anchor lives down there and I can imagine it sliding over and making some
> exciting contact when heeling….but if everyone else’s are that way and have
> had no problems then I might leave it.
> 
> Best,
> Rosie
> 
>> On Sat, May 25, 2024 at 9:20 AM ROGER PIHLAJA <roger_pihlaja at msn.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi Rosie,
>> 
>> Assuming the wire runs, counting both + & - legs, are less than 5 meters
>> and the wire runs are not at elevated temperature or thermally insulated,
>> 10 AWG wire is rated for up to 30 amps in continuous service.  Your winch
>> is capable of drawing much more than that if heavily loaded.  You are
>> proposing to use the winch to lift an electric outboard?  Under normal
>> service, the current draw should not blow the 30 amp fuse.  But, if
>> something were to jam or seize up ... well that's what fuses are for.
>> Remember to use 10 AWG wire and a HD 12 VDC receptacle for your cockpit
>> power port.  It would actually be better practice to put the power port on
>> a smaller, more appropriately sized circuit.
>> 
>> Roger Pihlaja
>> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
>> 1978  Sanford, MI
>> ________________________________
>> From: Rhodes22-list <rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org> on behalf of
>> Rosie Krueger <rosie.krueger at gmail.com>
>> Sent: Saturday, May 25, 2024 8:49 AM
>> To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Appropriate fuse for power lift winch (and Hello!)
>> 
>> Hello all,
>> 
>> New owners of a 2007 Rhodes 22 (formerly "Last Mango" - about to be
>> renamed) in Vermont.  Thanks to the wonders of the archives and search
>> function, I haven't posted yet because all of my questions had already been
>> asked and answered sometime in the last 22 years - an amazing resource!
>> 
>> Here's one I couldn't find though:
>> 
>> The TLDR of my long explanation below is that I'm wondering if anyone has
>> any input on the appropriate size fuse to use for the wiring leading to
>> the power lift winch.  Will 30 Amps be too small?
>> 
>> I am doing some preliminary wiring fixes before we launch.  A prior owner
>> made some sloppy electrical additions, including a bunch of wire nut
>> connections and other funky things that I want to clean up.  Thanks to a
>> recommendation here, I got a copy of "Sailboat Electrics Simplified" and
>> have been working my way through understanding everything.  One major issue
>> seems to be that only a few of the (many!) wires leading out of the
>> positive battery terminals have fuses.  I'm planning to remedy this by
>> adding some terminal mount fuse blocks, with a separate fuse for each
>> outgoing wire.
>> 
>> One of the wires that is not fuse protected is the one that leads from the
>> starter battery to the terminal connection in the lazarette.
>> Previously, this terminal connection also powered the electric start
>> outboard, but we've removed the gas outboard and switched to a battery
>> powered epropulsion spirit - so we no longer need this terminal to do
>> anything except power the winch for the lift, and power a separate line to
>> an existing 12 v outlet in the cockpit.  I doubt we'll use the 12v outlet
>> at the same time as the power lift, but it's possible we could forget
>> something is plugged in.
>> 
>> The wire leading from the "starter" battery to this terminal appears to be
>> 10 AWG, although it's not actually labeled and is a little larger in
>> diameter than the labeled 10 AWG wire that runs from the terminal to the
>> winch. The winch is a Bad Land 2500 ATV winch and doesn't appear to have
>> any legible labeling about its power draw or fuse size.  The manual for a
>> similar winch has a chart showing a huge range in Amp draw from 10 - 132,
>> with 10 Amps when pulling 0 kg at 4.1 mph and 55 amps when pulling 1000kg
>> at 2.5 mph.  Based on that and the rule about sizing the fuse to save the
>> wire, I'm thinking about trying a 30 amp fuse.  The type of battery mount
>> terminal blocks available for 30 amps and below and 30 amps and above are
>> different, so it wouldn't be a matter of just changing out the fuse if I
>> initially go too small  (For those interested, I'm planning to use the Blue
>> Sea ST-Blade Battery Terminal Mount Fuse Block - 5023 for everything else.
>> For this use, would be choosing between that and Blue Sea Systems Single
>> MRBF Terminal Fuse Block - 5191).  The larger MRBF fuses also seem like a
>> specialty marine item that has to be special ordered - much less convenient
>> for potential future replacement than the blade fuses available at my
>> hardware store.
>> 
>> So, any thoughts or input on this?  Do others have fuses on this wire? If
>> so, what size?  If not, am I being overly cautious in installing a fuse
>> here?
>> 
>> Thanks, all!
>> Rosie
>> 