Propeller is off

Jose showed up 10 minutes early and got to work while I finished the varnishing.  He used a hookah supplied by an electric compressor.  The job took more time and effort than I had anticipated, principally to force the propeller off the tapered shaft using pulling equipment.

He had been confident that he would be able to find markings identifying the propeller diameter and pitch.  I showed him "Australia" and "17LRX" stamped on the hub.  The 17 represents the diameter, the "R" must indicate that it is a right handed propeller.  He thought that the position of the letter L in the alphabet might indicate its pitch, which would suggest a 12 inch pitch which we both agreed was too low.  On the other hand, the letter X would suggest a 24 inch pitch, which seems much too high.  Tantalizingly, the letter R would suggest an 18" pitch.  The rule of thumb is that to gain the required 600 rpm we should drop the existing pitch by 6 inches, which if we accept the 18" pitch would suggest a requirement for a 12 inch pitch which as pretty close to what has been proposed.

Jose showed me nicks in the propeller due to electrolysis.  I asked him if the propeller was still OK and worth re pitching so he passed a rope through the hub, tied a knot, held the propeller up by the rope, and hit each blade which rang like a bell.  He pronounced the propeller as good.  A dead sound would have indicated a problem.

He told me that the two anodes on the propeller shaft need replacement.  WHAT??? I asked - the anodes are only a couple of months old.  The good old La Paz Bay gumbo has struck again.

That's Ib looking at the propeller, then a happy Jose.

The last photo shows the companion way landing with its second coat of varnish.

More Brush Work and Propeller Removal

On Saturday I began the projects of painting the companion way landing (i.e. top of engine cover) and the cockpit fold-out table.

The companion way landing has been on the agenda from the beginning.  I held it to last because I needed fast passage through the companion way for the work that I did inside of the cabin.  I plan to lay down at least 5 coats of varnish on that landing, then leave it in peace for at least a week to give the varnish time to cure and harden.  During this time my primary access will be via the front hatch (HO HO HO!), though it is possible to pass through the companionway by climbing along the side of the galley sink.  Part of the preparation involved punching down and filling over 30 nails that I must admit were not very visible but nevertheless had to be done right.

The cockpit table is a new project, given that I still have 11 days up my sleeve before departing for Seattle.  The table is well designed and constructed from a good blond wood out of Tasmania.  However, it is varnished and over the years the lower edge of the table has turned black due to anaerobic bacteria, according to Ib.  I have decided to paint the table white using the 2-part Dupont Imron paint rather than staining and re varnishing it.  I figure that the paint will last much longer than varnish in the harsh conditions of the cockpit.  This required my borrowing of Ib's sander yet again and using it for two hours to remove all of the old varnish.

Following Ib's advice yesterday I knocked out the fiddle (lip) at the end of the table to expose the end grain and soaked it for over 30 minutes in a weak solution of bleach in an attempt to kill the bacteria.  I then rinsed it off an put it on the deck to dry.  Today I will re-mount the fiddles (with pins and glue) then apply the white primer, and tomorrow I should be able to lay down both coats of Imron.  The following day I will reassemble the table and its fittings.

At 9 AM Jose is to dive and remove Pachuca's propeller.  He is charging me a hefty $60 even though I showed him that the propeller is clean, accessible, and was mounted on the new shaft about 2 months ago.   Nevertheless he will have to use pulling equipment and besides, I couldn't be bothered to shop around and try to save $10.

No Linkage, No Sail

When I went to start the engine to warm it up 20 minutes before departure on today's sail I found that the gear lever was firmly stuck on "forward".  I could not understand it because the lever had worked as recently as 3 weeks ago with no hint of trouble.  The problem seemed to be at the control lever rather than at the transmission.  Soon Bob and Ib were on board and Ib proceeded to dismantle the control box.  We got to the point where either there was something wrong with the gear lever mechanism that we could not understand or the cable had seized up.   I felt that I needed Joel's advice, given that he had made the installation.  Bob had seen Joel in the area and 15 minutes later had him on board Pachuca.

Joel had a look at the control levers then removed the cable at the transmission end and confirmed that there was no problem with the transmission.  He pronounced it a cable problem, possibly due to it having kinked up inside of the sheath. 

The cable is non standard to say the least.  It is a steering cable because that is the only type that will fit the strong but antiquated controls that probably date to when the boat was built in 1983.  Bob asked if it were better to replace the controls with modern standard ones rather than replacing the steering cable and Joel replied that yes, it would be better.

Bob and I then tried several suppliers in the area but non had controls suitable for a sailboat. 

My plan is to try to get standard Volvo controls while I am in the Port Townsend area.  That means that the boat will remain in this slip until I return to La Pa on 5 January.  However, I will still exercise the engine in the slip, managing the propeller direction directly at the transmission.

Once again Pachuca has tested my character.  Today's events remind me of a similar incident in New Zealand where two days before we were due to depart for French Polynesia I went to start the engine and discovered that the steering wheel was frozen and would not move.  That turned out to be the autopilot linear drive that had seized up and had to be replaced.  And as in New Zealand I can see the bright side: at least we discovered this problem in the safety of this slip, with supporting friends on board, Joel close at hand, and no urgent sailing plans.  Better yet, it has manifested itself before my visit to the Port Townsend area.

It's all a great shame because today's winds were splendid and we would have had a great day out. 

I owe Bob and Ib a sail and Pachuca owes me Big Time!

Zodiac Ready, Boat Ready, Sailing Tomorrow

I pressure tested the latest two patches on the Zodiac and they were fine.  I then spent an hour scrubbing the inflatable with a solution of gentle (biodegradable) degreaser and a hard brush.  This was the first time that I had properly scrubbed down the Zodiac and it came up well.

I then bundled it up and sought a place to stow it.  The normal place when cruising is in the cockpit in front of the binnacle.  However, I was determined to keep the cockpit unencumbered for tomorrow's sail.  The natural place would normally be in front of the cockpit spray dodger, on top of the sliding hatch cover (aka "turtle", "garage").  Unfortunately I have learned the hard way that if I put any pressure on that cover the sliding hatch develops a scratching drag as I slide it in and out, as though there are screws a bit to proud and cut across a static surface.  Investigating this requires dismantling of the entire area, a job for my home port Fremantle.  In the meantime, I have to avoid putting any weight on this area.

Happily, I found a new place that may work out very well.  I have placed the Zodiac on top of the life raft, tied down to the three sturdy padeyes that I bolted through the deck to hold down the life raft.  This setup will not do for blue water cruising, since the life raft must be free and unencumbered for fast deployment either by myself or by itself if the boat has sunk to 3 meters below the surface.  Besides, it would be vulnerable to heavy breaking seas.  But for gentle sailing in local waters the arrangement may work out well.  We should find out tomorrow.

If you enlarge today's photo of the port side of the boat you will see the Zodiac strapped down on the life raft, just forward of the mast.  Note, by the way, that I have cleaned the unsightly grease marks from the hull.  

Tomorrow.

Well, it looks like Ib, Bob Carroll, and myself are taking Pachuca out tomorrow for a sail.  (Yay!  Yippee!  Cartwheels!!!)  I have also invited Dave, owner of the legendary Kialoa III, berthed at the end of this jetty.  Kialoa III is an S&S 80 that has a pedigree a mile long, including setting a course record in the Sydney-Hobart race that stood for 20 years.  (http://www.arvelgentry.com/k3donated.htm)

One of the requirements was to ensure that the propeller and hull were clean enough for the sail.  That started off badly but ended well.  At the beginning the hull looked very bad, in spite of it having been antifouled only a couple of months ago.  I could see that the propeller was very furred up with growth.  My dive to the propeller yesterday confirmed my worst fears: marine growth at least 1/2 inch thick which meant that we would not have been able to even back out of the slip.  After 30 minutes of work with a hard brush the growth was gone then it was time to switch to hand-to-barnacle fighting with a paint scraper.  There were enough barnacles to upset the laminar flow of the propeller surface, greatly hampering its performance - and how could I show off the power and versatility of my new Volvo engine with an inefficient propeller?  After another 30 minutes of hacking away at the propeller I cleaned shaft, skeg, and anodes.  Then I turned my attention to the "beard" along the waterline of the boat.  At this point things looked grim.  I expected heavy and tenacious growth along the waterline and plenty of barnacles further down.

But to my surprise and delight the beard came off very easily.  That job went quickly and my biggest problem didn't turn out to be the risk of being crushed between the hull and the jetty (because the movement of the boat was minimal and the fenders did their work well) but rather scratching myself on the veritable reef of growth on the jetty pontoons.

This afternoon I went for a second dive and confirmed that below the waterline there is only a thin film of slimy growth that is easily removed with a brush - and no barnacles.  Because the water is so murky I cleaned only an arm's length down, breathing through my snorkel, and will rely on the rushing water as we sail to clean the rest of the hull.

So I am feeling much better about the hull.  Next week I will engage a diver to remove the propeller for shipment to Mazatlan via Ib on Aeolus for re-pitching, so a fouling prop will not be an issue during my absence to the USA.  Ill give the hull one last scrub in 10 days and hope for the best while I am away.

And finally a post script on my cucaracha problem.  Bob Carroll read about my problem on the blog and gave me the solution: boric acid.  Today at the Palapa of Wisdom, Knowledge, and Truth (the morning kaffeeklatsch that includes healthy-living Bob, big Al, smoking Rick, computer-nerdy Dave, and  striving Ken who has taken over my apartment) I got an expansive explanation of the solution to my problem and later Bob delivered to my boat the boric acid as well as a liquid application that I can paint up bulkheads.  The universal opinion is that my cucaracha problems are solved. Ya Gotta Have Friends, Folks.  Why oh why don't I always consult first with the Palapa for all of my problems?

More Leaks, Microphones Are Up

When I spoke with Brenda yesterday evening I told her that the leak that I had repaired on the Zodiac was bigger and higher up out of the water - on top of the pontoon, actually - than the one I recall finding months ago.  Brenda described her recollection (port pontoon aft, just above the water line) and then I remembered too.  This morning I found it almost immediately with the help of a running hose.  I checked the entire bottom of the Zodiac with the running hose and found nothing else, but as I was orientating it to allow the sun to reach the area of the leak I heard a faint telltale sssss sound.  There was a pinprick of a hole on the starboard side that was so small that it did not show bubbles when I played the hose on it.  I began to think that I had a systemic problem due to the age of the Zodiac.  It is about 6 years old but has spent the overwhelming amount of its life in its bag protected from chafe and UV rays.

I was telling Bob about these leaks this morning and when he mentioned barnacles I realized the probable cause of the leaks.  There is a blog entry from a few months back where I describe (including photographs) the scraping off of many tiny barnacles off the bottom of the Zodiac.  They had developed during the many weeks in which I left the Zodiac in the water while Pachuca was riding on anchor.  This is a mistake that I will not make again. 

In the photograph you can easily see one of the leaks circled in red on the right side.  You should be able to make out the other leak in the blue part of the left side.  Early this morning I applied the patches and will pressure test them tomorrow.  Which reminds me to add that the patch that I applied yesterday pressure tested OK this morning.

Then I mounted the radio microphones onto the new panel.  That panel looks amazingly good given that it was cut from a piece of locally-purchased exterior grade ply that I happened to have on the boat.  As I clipped on the white VHF microphone I noticed that it was labelled "submersible". To the right you can see the aperture for the HF transceiver (Micom IC-M700PRO) badly in need of trimming.

I plan a trip to the Walmart-Home Depot area today with insect spray as my top priority.  Last night I saw on the galley counter what an appearance close enough to a tiny cockroach to spook me. I want to nip possibility this in the bud, so I will move out my kitchen equipment and vulnerable food stores then fumigate the boat.

Zodiac, Fenders, Sailing Again, and Shaft Stub

I patched a pair of holes on the Zodiac this morning.  The process started with a little help from my friends - Bob Carroll loaned to me an excellent article with step-by-step instructions on how to patch an inflatable boat.  He also gave to me the 2-part glue that I would need.

I couldn't find the patch material provided with the Zodiac so yesterday I bicycled over to Lopez marine and the first question that Hamish asked was whether the material was PVC or Hypalon.  (Huh?)  Back at the boat the Zodiac manual didn't say so I went on the internet and found out the the Zodiac is made of PVC (expected life 5 years) rather than Hypalon (expected life 20 years).  I went back to Lopez and the assistant took me to the large roll of PVC material.  "Is it expensive?" I asked.  Well, it was priced by the square inch (gulp!) - 20 US cents per square inch.  I purchased 50 square inches, enough for two good sized patches.

I was up at dawn this morning because I was anxious to get the work done before the sun shined on the work.  I assembled all of the required items, including 100 grit sand paper and acetone and got to work, doing everything by the book, including timing the 5-minute intervals between the 3 coats of glue.  Tomorrow I will pressure test the result but must not load test it for a minimum of 48 hours.

The spoon in the third photo is for working out any air bubbles. The last photo shows the new patch under some weight.

I then got to work on the three old fenders that I had cleaned with acetone.  Their surfaces were sticky, indicating to me that the PVC coatings are degenerating.  I took up Ib's suggestion of applying boat polish to them, which helped.  Then Bob came by and suggested, as Ib had, that I simply put old T-shirts over them.  Well, it so happens that after my recent marathon painting and varnishing effort most of my T-shirts are in such poor shape that I am ashamed to hand them in to the laundry.  So T-shirts it was, binding them tightly around the collar with plastic ties.  The photos shows one of the fenders, with the appropriate message "hang loose".

Bob will arrive at the boat at 9AM on Friday for a day sail on Pachuca.  I'll inform Ib, who is completely flexible on the matter.  That gives me an ample two full days to prepare the boat for sea.   Today I will clean the grease spots left by the boat fenders on both sides of the hull, then hose down and scrub the deck and cockpit.  Tomorrow I will scrub down the Zodiac and stow it on the deck in its proper cover. 

Yesterday morning I asked Joel if he would cut off a section of my old propeller shaft so that I'll have the exact pattern required for any future propeller acquisitions (good idea, Mark).  The shaft stub was waiting on my cockpit table when I returned from Lopez marine.

Settling Down

I'm steadily settling down after the fast pace of the last two months.  My awareness is expanding from minutiae such as whether or not that painted edge is dead straight or those screws are perfectly aligned to the environment around me. And I must say that I enjoy life at this marina.  There is always something interesting to see and I've gotten to know enough people that I can't walk anywhere without saying hello to somebody. 

And the weather is superb.  The season changed about 4 weeks ago and I now sleep under a blanket wearing track suit pants.  The days are sunny and crisp and the wind either low or gentle.  The current temperature at 8.30 AM is 63F (17C) with a predicted high of 89F (32C), which feels perfect to me after the torrid summer.  It's a great time to be in La Paz.  All of the Gringos and Canadian Snowbirds can come back.

After speaking with Roger I feel comfortable in uttering the "H" word that Bob Carroll banned me from using.  It looks like the danger of hurricanes in the Baja area has passed.  The temperature of the Sea of Cortez is dropping and the northerlies are starting to blow. One person told me that this has been one of the quietest hurricane seasons in the history of La Paz.  We got one tropical cyclone very early in the season that passed well to the left of the Baja peninsula and died.  Then there was a low pressure area heading this way that spooked Brenda and myself enough to interrupt our short cruise of the islands  for a couple of days to take shelter in the marina.  That threat faded too.  Otherwise nothing, and that suits me just fine.  This is in contrast to the other side, where the Gulf of Mexico has gotten its usual allotment of hurricanes.

Yesterday morning I finished the floor carpeting.  It looks and feels very good, though I may have to figure out a non-invasive way to hold it down. 

After lunch I prepared with great care a rectangle of ply board that I can screw onto the bulkhead behind the navigation table for my microphone brackets.  Today I will give it a second coat of varnish and tomorrow I will mount it.  This is a temporary measure because during my visit to Kingston I hope to find a nice piece of solid wood for the job.

I then spent 90 minutes cleaning the 3 old fenders that had once again become gummed up with a thick oily coat.  I grumbled to Ib that I suspected that their plastic coatings were degenerating but he suggested that I have a go with acetone and then possibly coat them with hull polish.  The acetone worked well.  I then scrubbed them with engine degreaser (biodegradable, would you believe).  Today I will polish them.  This is their last chance. 

This marked the beginning of turning my attention to Pachuca's deck and hull.  Today I will give the deck and cockpit a much needed scrubbing.  I am trying to prepare the boat for a day sail that I hope to take with Ib and possibly Bob Carroll later this week.  After that sail I will arrange for a diver to remove Pachuca's propeller.

As luck would have it Ib will be sailing his boat to Mazatlan for a short stay in order to get his new engine checked out.  He has offered to take the propeller to have it re pitched.  I have been in touch with the company, Total Yacht Works, and everything is arranged.  This will save me the practical and possibly bureaucratic hassle of taking the propeller with me to Port Townsend.