Boat Works

The following is a list of the current maintenance and repair tasks.

1.Rigging. I have dealt with this in earlier blog entries. The headstay and inner forestay have been replaced. We also plan to replace the intermediate, so-called “D2” shrouds.
2.Winches. I have serviced 5 of the 6 winches and they are now in good order. The sixth winch, the port jib Maxwell 28, has been giving a lot of trouble. The screw cap which is step 1 of the dismantling process will not budge. Something has jammed up the works, possibly a fusion of the metals on each side of the thread. Lenny has made me a special tool out of stainless steel shown in the accompanying photo. When I get a visit from Ron or Jeff or anybody else I'll have another go at loosening the cap with the new tool. One of us will stand on it to hold it in the slot, and the other will apply the torque. If the tool jumps out of the slots (the main problem so far) we will either apply heat to the cap or drill and tap holes in the cap so that we can screw the tool down. Winches that size are very expensive so I must do everything that I can to save it. One good outcome so far is that I've located a source for parts for these out-of-production Maxwell winches.
3.LPG Gas. When I arrived in Honolulu I was convinced that the Australian cylinders I have were incompatible with USA fittings. I took the empty cylinder to a large gas supplier and was surprised to learn that the Aussie threads are identical to the USA ones. However, Carey at The Fuel Dock could not refill the cylinder because it was out of date, the gas company would not certify or refill a non-USA cylinder, and after a discussion with Arnold we decided to rely on Carey refilling the nearly-new cylinder that I am using now just before we depart for Seattle. However, I did have one big win. I managed to find two flexible hoses to replace the rigid copper lines connected the selector valve to the cylinders. This means that if I am forced to purchase a USA cylinder I can connect it with little problem. And regardless of whether I have Aussie or USA cylinders I'll be able to connect them up much easier with the flexible hosing.
4.Boarding Ladder. The stainless steel caps welded to the end of the tubes that rest on the transom when the ladder is in the “up” position have come off, with the result that the edge of the tube ends have been digging into the fiberglass. Lenny has the ladder now for repairs.
5.Galley Pump. Brenda brought a replacement salt water pump for the galley from Australia, and I am in the process of fitting it. As with (2) above, I must wait for a visitor who will be able to work on top of the counter with a screw drive while I am below the counter with a wrench.
6.Stanchion Rebedding. I was disappointed to find one bolt on one of the stanchions that I rebedded on the port side dripping one drop every 30 seconds or so during rain. This and all of the stanchions on the starboard side must be rebedded. This project awaits the arrival of Arnold because for some reason I cannot work on the nuts below deck with one hand while working on the bolts above deck with the other.
7.Raymarine ST60 Wind Instrument. I worked with Raymarine Technical Support on this. Under their instruction I ran some really cool diagnostics and fine tuning which was always available to me but not revealed by the unbelievable shallow user's manual. (Example: The “Troubleshooting” section merely tells you how to contact Raymarine for help.) I was asked to ship the components to England which I did at considerable trouble and expense. The unit was returned with the statement that everything was working fine and the unit was calibrated. Ron reinstalled the windvane at the top of the mast and yesterday I checked the wiring once again and installed the display. The wind speed is good, as before, but the wind direction is about 160 degrees out. The good news is that both the ST60 display and the C120 chart plotter (they are connected by the “Seatalk” network) are now reporting the same wind direction. Raymarine's note was ambiguous on whether the components were OK when they got them or they did something to make them OK. I re-ran the diagnostics and all was well. I also exercised the facility of adjusting the indicator by 160 degrees so that both the ST60 and C120 were both reporting the wind direction pretty accurately. However, that facility is designed to be used when the wind is from dead ahead, so I played it very safe and eliminated the adjustment pending a visit by Ron who can go up the mast and hold the wind indicator dead ahead while I make the adjustment. Otherwise I'll wait until Arnold arrives and I can go up the mast while he makes the adjustment.
8.Leaks. There is a pesky leak over the port settee that really pi**es me off. With the slightest rain the water drops onto the ceiling and works its way to the corner of the cabin where it drops just where a sleeper's head would be. Before Arnold arrives (because the cabin will be a mess) I plan to drop as much of the ceiling is required to identify the source of this and another leak over the galley. I am tired of guess work and it will be of great assistance to be able to see the underside of the cabin top
9.Companionway Spray Dodger. Some minor repair work must be done on this. I have the telephone number of a sail maker.
10.The refrigerator has quit working. Arnold and I had shut it down near the equator because it seemed to be running all of the time but the beer was not very cold. A few weeks ago Brenda and I turned it on for a day and it did not do even a hint of cooling. My friend on the next boat has loaned me an excellent book on boat refrigeration Like with everything else there are tradoffs between costs, complexity, efficiency, etc. At the moment I am leaning to a similar simple system that I have now. (12V, constant cycle, air cooled condenser, hermetic compressor – no engine-driven, cold plate, water cooling, etc.) I'm pretty sure that Arnold will be OK with deferring replacement of the refrigeration until we get to Seattle, where it will be cheaper.

At this point I cannot think of any other jobs, given that the expensive and time-consuming work on the chain locker was completed weeks ago.