Pachuca Progress

Donnie and Peter from DeGroot completed their work today (Saturday) at noon. Thanks to them:
* Every thru-hull valve has been replaced with a stainless steel ballcock valve
* All associated hoses and clamps have been replaced
* The gear-shift cable has been replaced
* The stern gland has been repacked and rubber boot replaced
I estimate that 6 man-days of effort were put into this. It will be worth every cent. Donnie and Peter did first-class, A-1, highest standard work and Pachuca is now a safe boat ready to go over the horizon.

I watched, asked questions, and learned a lot. Stern glands are no longer a frightening mystery to me. The packing should last for years but when the time comes I'll know what to do. I also no how to keep the packing greased.

On another front we had an unnecessary flap about location of the AIS antenna: I wanted it on top of the mast with the other antenna in order to maximize the range. I was given advice that this could and should be done. But Greg Hansen paid me a visit and said that the two antennas would be too close together at the top of the mast. However, he came up with a brilliant solution. He'll put a switch at the navigation station by which I will be able to switch the VHF antenna between the transceiver and the AIS. This is fine because I can do without the AIS during the short times when I'm using the transceiver. However, he advised that I go ahead and put up that second antenna at the stern as a spare.

I used my time to set up a sub switch panel near the mast. The main panel is crowded to the extent that there was a toggle switch behind the door leading to the forward section for switching between steaming and deck light. With the new setup all mast lighting will be controlled by the panel near the mast, which is a natural thing to do. This will free up switch positions in the main board and will make any future electrical fixtures in the forward section very simple because I won't have to cable all the way back to the navigation station. The panel is on one of my trademark jarrah bases. I'm using two bus bars (pos & neg), connected to the main switch with a dual core 6 sq mm cable.

So next week will be devoted to the mast: steps, new lights, and re-wiring toward the end of the week. Hopefully Maritime would have refurbished the wind vane/anemometer by then. I'm hoping too that Scottie will get time to put up those three new antenna bases at the stern. I did the leg work and got the fittings he needed, and he has the specifications (e.g. 260mm high). It is so much more efficient to do the work while Pachuca is on the hard stand that I would be reluctant to put her back in the water before those stands are in place.

My main tasks will be to (1) raise the lower anchor well drain holes and (2) polish the hull.

Looking farther ahead, I did some reading on the rack and pinion steering system on Pachuca, and in the next 2 or 3 months I'll have a look at three bearings in the system. Another thing I did was to figure out how to earth the mast and chain plates to the keel. The trick was finding a path with lazy rather than sharp bends. I'll draw up specs for the four cables required (2 for the mast, one for each chain plate) and have them made up.

Attached are photos of the panel, the two new cockpit drain valves, and the mast with its new radar bracket.


I sent out the following report 4 days ago:

It was another jam-packed and productive day. I started off by finishing some painting that I had begun the day before. It was a good call because it was not until about noon when Peter and "Donnie" from DeGroot engineering showed up.

We discussed the job and I asked Peter if they could do some work on the stern gland, i.e. repack it and replace the watertight boot that fits over the the coupling. The boot is important to me. Friends of mine, Peter Austin and Stewart came very close to losing their newly-purchased Spacesailer 27 the first time that they took it out. They revved the engine more than it was used to, the boot ruptured, water started gushing in at a serious rate, and they to cut their anchor rode and head for shore while pumping like mad to keep the boat afloat. The beached the boat near the ramp of the yacht club at Rockingham and had to join the club to get their help to haul it up. The thought of having a failure like that on the high seas sends shivers up my spine.

While looking the stern gland Peter noticed that the gear-shift cable has split and the innards very rusty. He asked me if I was having trouble with it. Funny you should ask. I had difficulty shifting gears when ferrying the boat to the works jetty. The cable was on its last legs and I'm lucky that he spotted it. The stern gland work will be done and the cable will be replaced. I'll be very attentive during the operation because I've got to get familiar with managing the stern gland ( i.e. greasing and repacking).

Then Donnie spent about 3 hours working to remove the original brass cockpit drain gate valves. The work area was very cramped and we had to spend quite a bit of time moving hosing and removing the engine exhaust system. Then he had to use the oxyacetylene torch to heat the valves to crack the thread seals amidst the self steering, batteries, wiring, hosing, etc. Then he had to use great force with a stilsen from an awkward angle. The hard work along with some nifty angle grinding got the required results. We were amazed at the thickness of the hull at that point: 20mm of fiberglass.Scotty says that the new generation of boats have ultra-thin hulls, particularly at the transom - so thin (5mm in parts) that he cannot fix stainless steel framing to it. I was of some assistance to Donne by fetching and handing tools, removing debris, lending him my set of imperial allen keys, etc. My first hack work of the day was to bail out and clean the bilge in preparation for the cable and stern gland work - a really nasty job.

Donnie will be back at 7AM tomorrow to finish the job. He will replace a valve in the head and possibly the engine seawater intake valve.

Then Edgar visited me. The aluminium folding steps that we had agreed on would not be available for 2 or more weeks. The folding steps made of composite material were available. But they had been available for only two weeks and had not proven themselves. The last thing I need if for a plastic step to give way while I'm 50 ft up the mast. The traditional non-folding steps were available. He says that they are powder coated white and look very nice. I could not take a chance on prolonging the hardstanding so I elected to go for the traditional steps as I had originally intended. The have disadvantages: measures must be taken to prevent halyards from snarling up on them, and they howl like hell in a blow. However, they have advantages: they are stronger, completely enclose the foot in a stirrup, enhance the boat's radar signature, and are $5.00 cheaper which is not trivial over 37 steps.

Then he gave me the really bad news. The second-hand headsail roller furler that he had in mind was too short and in any event would not be able to carry my sails. The options were (1) he would try to repair the existing one or (2) I purchase a new one for about $3,000. The forestay has the hardest life of all of the standing rigging, given that it constantly whips back and force when carrying a sail. I told him that to try to repair the existing furler was not fair to either him or me. So a new furler it is.

I left a message with Debbie that the screws through the main hatch turtle holding the track for the new spray dodger were too long - I was encountering resistance and a grinding noise whenever I slid the main hatch. A few hours later she visited, went away, then returned with shorter screws. Problem fixed. She says that she has finished the new dodger and is working on the cockpit canvas.

I touched base with Steve Hartley. He will visit tomorrow and make a template for the trysail track. Locating the track will be tricky because now that the radar cable has been fitted there is conduit on both sides of the mast.

Then Scotty surfaced. He had the worst case of gastro enteritis ever over the weekend. He literally thought that he would die. Picked it up at the nursing home, visiting his mother who had gastro enteritis and was not expected to live. (She lived.) He said that the plan of putting the AIS VHF antenna at the stern sucks: it should be at the top of the mast for greater range. It could mean the difference between a ship detecting me at something like 15 miles and more like 30. He said that two VHF antennas can coexist at the top of the mast. Tomorrow I will phone Peter Turner with the news. I doubt that there is enough room in the existing conduit to accommodate another VHF cable. The radar conduit has plenty of room. I'll suggest that they add another section of conduit from the radar dome to the top of the mast.

During the day I had time to purchase and install a 15mm galvanised swivel on the plow working anchor.

At 5.30 PM when things went quiet I had a beer in the cockpit of the boat overlooking the fishing boat harbour in the setting sun. Felt like a million dollars.