New Owner CP-27

[djweir]

I just purchased a CP-27 located in Washington NC.  Have spent the last ten years sailing a Tanzer 22 in the Great Lakes.
I'm a bit overwhelmed at the amount of stuff to deal with on the CP-27.  Not so concerned about the actual sailing but more with the electrical and mechanical.
Does anybody has a pre-sail check list they would be willing to share with me?
Things like positions of electrical switched, positions of thru-hulls, ectra.

Thank you in advance.

Don Weir

[bmiller]

Welcome to the forum Don.

First off don't feel overwhelmed, you've got the right boat and she will take care of you.

You probably have two thru hulls, one for the engine raw water and one for the head discharge. Leave the head in a normally closed position and only open when you need to discharge, unless you are able to use a pump out. I normally leave the engine intake open, many people leave it closed until ready to sail. The proper thing to do is leave it closed and open it prior to sailing, well actually, motoring. The thought being that if a leak develops and you are away from the boat disaster will follow. I know of many peopl who place the engine start key on the thru hull. That way they have to access and look at the thru hull in order to get the key.

As for which switches to turn on that depends. Do you have two battery banks, one for the house and one for the engine? Do they have individual switches or a single large switch with OFF/1/2/BOTH? Usually people use one or the other to start the engine, but using both is OK also. The engine start has nothing to do with the 12V panel. All you shoul need to do is preheat for 10 seconds or so and fire it up. Then make darn sure cooling water is coming out the exhaust.

As for the 12V panel, that could be labeled in any manner. How is yours labeled? The boat will sail and motor no matter what is turned on/off. Of course turn on the VHF, after that it's up to you. Are there any navigation electronics? That would be good and maybe the tunes.

The bilge pump should be wired direct to a battery, the bilge pump switch is to activate the pump manually.

I hope that helps.

Send some photos of your new boat, we like that.

Bill

[djweir]

Bill thank you for your response.  We are very pleased with the new boat.

We do have a battery switch with OFF/1/1/Both.  Is it OK to start with 2 and switch to 1 with the motoring running.  This is what the surveyor did during the sea trial?

Will send pictures soon.

Don and Linda Weir
Washington NC

[bmiller]

Yes it is OK to switch between 1/2. The switch is (should be) a make before break. Just don't turn the batts off with the engine running!