TIPS FROM AN ELECTRIC SAILOR: BELT TENSION

As I mentioned earlier this year I had my first major maintenance on my electric propulsion system in five years with the change out of the steel shaft coupling with a stainless steel one. In order to accomplish this I removed the motor for better access to the shaft coupling:

After re-installing the motor I needed to tighten the belt that drives the prop. The Lynch electric motor is pretty small and only weighs about forty five pounds. It is easily carried by one person. But, to try and hold it while trying to keep good  tension on the belt for adjustment was a little awkward. Then I came on a perfect and fast solution using one of the   Ratcheting Tie-Downs   I carry on board.

After wrapping the tie down strap around the motor case and then placing the hooks in the companionway.

 I was then able to ratchet the motor up to have the proper tension on the belt and tighten down the bolts and screws holding the motor to the frame at my leisure. It was a simple elegant solution that makes adjusting the tension on the belt a very easy job.

EASY ELECTRIC BOAT MAINTENANCE PART ONE: REMOVING THE MOTOR

It's been five years since I pulled out BIANKA's 27 horsepower diesel engine and converted to electric propulsion. One of the reasons for the conversion was my belief that it would require less maintenance than the diesel engine it replaced. Happily, I've found this is the case as the only real maintenance I've had to do in five years is replace the oil in the Honda 2000 generator once a year.

 I'm usually a "if it ain't broke don't fix it" sailor. But, this year I decided to tackle replacing the shaft coupling which did not require urgent replacement but, since nothing else was pressing I decided to swap it out. More on that in a later post.

Truth is I've never had to touch the motor since I installed it five years ago but, to make for easier access to the shaft coupling I decided it would be a good idea to remove it. It turned out to be extremely easy something I did not often say when I had to do some type of maintenance on the diesel. First, I removed the stainless steel cover that enclosed the belt and pulleys:

The removal of four small cover screws accomplished this. I then removed power from the system by taking off the 48 volt battery lead. I then marked the motor case, terminals and motor cables with colored tape so I would be sure to connect them back up to the correct terminals.

 If I were reconnect them wrong it would not be disastrous but, the motor would just operate in reverse of what I was use to. Better to reconnect the cables right the first time. With power disconnected and the cables marked it was time to loosen the motor to take off the belt. This is easily done by loosening four screws and two bolts as shown below:

Once the screws and bolts were loosened the motor is easily slid down the bracket and the belt was easily removed:

This is also how I would change the belt too. I think it would only take about ten minutes. As I inspected  the belt I could see it was still in very good shape even after five years of operation. So there was really no need to change it. I'll show how easy it was to remove the motor in the next post.

EAST ELECTRIC BOAT MAINTENANCE PART TWO