Mariner II: Maintenance Blog

Head Cabinets

2011-08-28T13:40:00.003-04:00

Winter 2010/2011

More carpentry, courtesy of Courtney. This dresses up the head quite a bit, although the enclosed space is less usable than we had hoped. Behind the sink, the sliders don't open very far and there's isn't a lot of room behind them. Behind the toilet, there's a decent amount of space, but I think we need to put a shelf in there to really make it useful. That said, looks much nicer!

Old:

New:

Early to Bed

2011-05-05T13:11:00.000-04:00

November, 2010

Generally, we wait until after Thanksgiving to call it quits on the season.

Last fall, we winterized and hauled out early. I had been dealing with a back injury for over a year, and finally concluded that I needed surgery. The full recovery time for the surgery is 3 months. I wanted to get it out of the way in December, so I could use the holiday time for recovery, and be fully recovered and strong again for spring.

Both the winterization and the surgery went smoothly.

Carpentry

2011-05-04T12:53:00.005-04:00

Summer 2010

We hired Courtney for a few more carpentry projects.

First up: repairs to our wheelhouse door due to more water intrusion issues (sigh... water, water, everywhere...). Water was getting inside the door, presumably via the glass bedding, but possibly through the latch/lock plate. The interior veneer was becoming stained and buckled. Courtney did a little refinishing work, and replaced the heavily clouded and scratched plexiglass with safety glass. It sure looks nicer and provides a clearer view. (We've subsequently discovered that the water problem isn't solved, so more effort forthcoming).

Then, one of our nicer additions... The storage area openings in the v-berth were just oval cutouts. It was pretty messy looking with all our belongings stuffed in there (not to mention, rough seas had a habit of dumping our stuff out on the bed).

Here's a picture of the original openings (along with our cat Lola):

Courtney built new rectangular doors, and cut out the openings to fit. The new doors trim it out nicely. When closed, they sit flush. Out of pure serendipity, we found nice little pearl and tarnished-bronze handles in an antique shop. (I'll probably swap the hinges out for tarnished versions instead of polished.)

When opened, they're held up by a friction-based arm which can be locked into place to secure the door open. This is, of course, very important to Lola.

One issue: the existing light fixtures blocked the aft doors. They were in terrible shape anyway, so we replaced them with fixtures that have flexible goose-necks. Now we can move the lights out the way when opening the doors.

Port Gaskets and Screens

2011-05-04T11:38:00.003-04:00

Summer 2010

Last summer, I finally got around to replacing the gaskets and screens on the ports in the v-berth, head, and galley. We were getting small amounts of water dripping through, and a couple of the screens had small tears around the perimeter that were letting insects in. It wasn't clear whether the water was getting through the gasket or around the frame, but before rebedding them I thought I'd try the gaskets. It mostly helped, though we'll need to rebed the frames sometime in the not-too-distant future.

We have Beckson ports, size "512" (where the opening is roughly 5" x 12"), and the part numbers are:

Gasket: GK-512
Screen: SCR-512

I ordered the parts from Defender.com. Pulling out the old gaskets was easy; they were hard and brittle, and coming out on their own already. Installing the new gaskets required some effort, but it wasn't too bad. It probably took me about 90 minutes to do all four. Beckson has a great overview page with part numbers, along with specific instructions for fitting the new gasket into the frame. Really nice to see that kind of help on their site.

When we do the rebedding, I might actually replace the lenses too (LNZ-512), which have become fogged and scratched over time.

Dock Lines

2011-04-30T09:14:00.004-04:00

Summer 2010

New set of docklines. Hardly worth a post, but I just love the look and feel of brand new lines, so I'm sharing a picture here :-)

I added the whipping to the bitter end (see inset). I like doing that, it's fun and it looks nice.

Nameboards

2011-04-30T09:03:00.003-04:00

Summer, 2010

We hired Courtney (who did our anchor roller) to make nameboards for Mariner II. She's a great carpenter, and I think this has to be some of her finest work! Particularly the transom nameboard, which is curved in two directions to an exact fit of the transom curve. Just beautiful! In addition to the boards pictured here, there's a smaller nameboard on each side of the flybridge. Here's a picture just after the initial mounting while Mariner II was out of the water.

The nameboard is thru-bolted to the transom. Mark helped me drill 4" access ports on the inside of the cockpit fiberglass liner, to allow access to the structural transom and back side of the bolts. The fiberglass liner is about 1/4" thick, and there's about a 1" gap between the liner and the transom, which is just enough to slip a wrench in and put a washer and nut on the back of the bolts. The transom itself appears to be about an inch thick! The board for the hailing port is small and light, so it's just screwed in, not thru-bolted.

Bedding Deck Fittings

2011-04-30T08:55:00.004-04:00

March 2010

After last year's deck leak, we realized we better take care of rebedding our remaining deck fittings, before it happens again. Michele and I rebedded nearly everything on deck: stanchion bases, cleats, anchor chain locks, ladder base - basically everything but the teak handrails, which seem to be in good shape... for now.

I also made new, larger backing plates for the cleats and the chain locks. I'd been concerned particularly about using our forward cleat to break the anchor free when weighing anchor. That should be ok now.

We also raised each of the flybridge attachment screws, and put sealant under them. We had a few little water leaks through the wheelhouse ceiling, probably from these screws. No more leaks, so I guess we got it.

Pre-launch

2011-04-30T08:48:00.003-04:00

March, 2010

John came down from PA in his 911 to help us wax. First time we've ever had the entire boat waxed, pre-launch... Thanks, John!

Hanging Straps

2011-04-26T22:16:00.004-04:00

Our aft mooring cover doubles as a cockpit bimini. We have a stainless frame that attaches to the cockpit gunwale to support it. When we're not using it, the frame sits around the perimeter on the cockpit sole, where I often stub my toes on it.

I made some hangers out of some webbing/straps to hang it from the gunwale. They're attached to the underside of the gunwale with a bolt and nylon locknut. On the inside, there's a hidden post for a "lift-the-dot" type snap. There are four straps: one port, one starboard, and two along the transom. The frame sits in the loop when the strap is snapped in place.

Engine Maintenance

2011-04-24T10:38:00.003-04:00

Winter 2009-2010

In the past, I've had moderate success extracting the oil via the dipstick. I've never been able to extract it via the extraction tube. While winterizing this year, I had no success, period. I tried my electric oil change pump, a Jabsco hand pump, and a vacuum pump -- no luck. I started inquiring of other Cape Dory 28 owners, and learned that it should be much easier. In particular, I watched Mark extract the oil from Brandywine's Volvo engine (via the extraction tube), and I was astonished at how quickly and easily it was done! Clearly, there was something wrong with the extraction tube on ours. I soon concluded that it was clogged, but was not able to unclog it using a wire.

My next strategy was to worm my way underneath the engine and remove the drain plug, planning to replace it with a drain kit to make future oil changes easier. No go: I could get a large wrench on it, but the plug wouldn't move, at least not with the limited leverage I could get in the tight space. (And, sadly, I think I injured my back trying.)

We were planning some professional maintenance anyway, so I added the extraction tube to the list. During the winter, we had Dick Vosbury come down to do a few things:

Removed and clean the heat exchanger.
Remove and clean and oil cooler.
Replace the alarm unit on the bridge.
Clear the oil extraction tube.

Voila! Oil changes are a snap, now! I'm using the tall vacuum-style pump from West Marine in the picture above, basically the same as Mark's. Big enough to get all the oil in two trips, and it does it very quickly (10 minutes).

Sea Strainer Gasket

2011-04-24T10:14:00.003-04:00

July, 2009

Uuuuuuuuugh. On our way back from DC, we anchored overnight in an area with lots of weeds on the surface. Before getting underway, I opened the sea strainer to clean it out. When I closed it back down, I apparently crushed the old (and brittle) gasket, which broke into a couple pieces. The result was that the sea water intake was drawing air through the lid, rather than drawing water from the thru-hull. The engine overheated, and we were towed in to Colonial Beach. One symptom here worth noting: We were running fine for several hours at low RPMs (7-8 knots), as it seemed there was enough water flow like that. Overheat occurred within a minute or two of cranking up to 10 knots.

I was disappointed in myself for not having a spare gasket. A package of gasket material from Napa took care of it. I used the strainer lid as a template, and cut a new gasket out of cork material. A little waterproof grease (Morey's Red) also helps keep the gasket in place, and helps seal it down.

The gasket kit stays on board all the time, now. A hole punch also comes in handy, for punching holes in the gasket where screws pass through.

Screened

2011-04-24T09:44:00.004-04:00

June, 2009

I despise mosquitoes. Seriously. We inherited some window screens from the prior owner that have mostly kept the bugs at bay (pun?), but they haven't been doing the job lately.

The old screens were pretty simple - just fabric screening with velcro borders sewn in, and self-adhesive velcro strips attached to the inside of the window frames. The velcro was no longer staying attached, and whenever we took the screens down, the velcro on the frames wasn't very pretty.

The window frames on Mariner II have a recessed track on the exterior, so I decided to try to fit real screens in that track. I had my local hardware store fabricate one aluminum-framed screen as a test. The trick is to have the screen large enough that it will sit in the track without coming out, but small enough that I could wiggle and flex it into place. My test on the starboard side worked out ok, though I reduced the measurements just a bit for the port and aft windows.

For the side windows, it helped to unscrew the vertical support, which allowed me to pivot that support outward while slipping the screen into place (see last picture). The aft window was more difficult because there was no way to pivot the vertical section; I had to flex the screen frame quite a bit to bend it in, but I managed to do it without breaking it. If I were to do it again, I'd reduce the size even further, maybe another 1/4 or 1/2 inch. The only real downside that I see here is that we can't easily get to the opening section of glass from the outside, so there's no good way to clean it. We just hose it down aggressively, and that seems to keep it reasonably clean.

It was tricky getting them in place, but it worked and they look nice. They were cheap, too -- only about $20 per screen. You can say that about very many boat improvements!

Anchor Roller

2011-04-23T18:00:00.004-04:00

May 16, 2009

We had an anchor roller installed, which should give my back some much needed relief! It was fashioned after Mark's aboard Brandywine. A small starboard pulpit thru-bolted to the deck and bedded with sealant, a stainless "universal" roller, and a chain lock (which isn't visible in the picture). We actually have two chain locks (don't ask): one is directly behind the roller on the rode locker door/lid, and one off to the side. It actually works out pretty well, as I can just move the chain off to the side when I want to get in there.

Looks like I might need a nicer anchor now....

Sanitation

2011-04-23T14:13:00.005-04:00

April 25, 2009

Stinky job, but needed to be done. We were noticing more and more head odor in the boat, so we replaced all of the sanitation hose. The hose ain't cheap. I think we paid $8/foot, for Trident 101/102 premium hose (white) from Defender. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

Holding tank under the v-berth. The outlet from the tank is forward. Note the "T": The vertical hose goes up to the deck pumpout fitting, and the hose heading off to the left (port) goes to the pump, the vented loop, and then to the thru-hull.

The tank's intake hose (discharge from the toilet) is on the aft side. The discharge hose along the port side connected through the whale pump, through the port side of the v-berth, to a vented loop in the hanging locker, and finally to the thru-hull / seacock.

Here's the overboard discharge on the port side. Discharging untreated waste is illegal almost everywhere now.

New sanitation hose in place. We eliminated the "T" for the overboard discharge. This had the added benefit of reducing cost, because we would have needed another 15' or so of hose.

No more overboard pumpout. I temporarily capped off the seacock. Long term plan is to use the seacock for a washdown pump.

Job complete, panel back in place. The panel shown here is about 8" below the v-berth surface, providing some storage beneath the v-berth. This panel was the hardest part of the job: the screws holding it in place were painted over and countersunk, so they stripped very easily. I had to drill the heads off a few of them.

Access Door

2011-04-23T14:05:00.004-04:00

April 23, 2009

A nice little addition. Our PFDs are in the aft bench, which is a little difficult to access because you have to pull up the cushions and panel of the bench seat, while working around the table. We wanted an access door in the side. Mark (of Brandywine) referred us to Courtney Murphy, who does "freelance" marine work and carpentry. She put a nice access door in place on the side of the aft bench, right by the wheelhouse door. Here's a picture of the opening... I'll have to take a picture of the door as well - it looks good.

Update: here's a picture with the door in place:

Windscreen

2011-04-23T13:52:00.003-04:00

April 23, 2009

Our flybridge windscreen has had a crack through it ever since we bought the boat. Having mostly completed the higher-priority issues, I finally had a new windscreen fabricated by Total Plastics in Baltimore.

I brought them the old windscreen (in two pieces), and they used it as a template. One interesting point... The old one was hard, inflexible, and curved to fit the shape of the bridge. They explained that the inflexibility was likely due to age, and that the new one would not be curved when I came to pick it up. It would need to be "cold-fitted", drilled, and mounted. This was concerning to me, but all turned out well. It was a perfect fit. They did a great job, and I'd certainly recommend them.

Ready or Not

2011-04-23T13:43:00.002-04:00

April 4-6, 2009

In past years, we had Mariner II hauled at our home marina, Shipwright Harbor. It's a relatively small marina with limited yard space, so the boats are crowded, making off-season work difficult. In winter 2008/2009, we were hauled and stored by Herrington Harbour North, because we had heard that they not only have a much more organized yard with power and water close by every boat, but also that they stay on time with their haul/launch schedule.

Well, the strict schedule came back to haunt us! We had been hoping for a little more prep time this year, but we had to finish up in a hurry, or miss our launch date and go to the end of the line. My sister Melanie and her daughter Adara, visiting from NY, helped us get the cover off, get some Cetol on the swim platform, etc. I did the bottom paint the next day.

Ready or not, she went in the water during the week of April 6. Once launched, we finished some of the remaining upkeep and recommissioning work over the next few weekends, including more Cetol work on the rest of the teak, general cleaning, etc. Waxing the topsides took us through May 16, as we worked it in between trips.

More Cetol work

Incoming!

2011-04-23T13:31:00.002-04:00

Tons of updates coming shortly... We've made a lot of repairs, updates, and improvements since mid-2009, and I finally want to get them documented. Some of these will be posted out of order, but it's the only way I'll get this done.

Handrail Covers

2009-09-14T18:13:00.002-04:00

More canvas! Pretty soon, our entire boat will be wrapped in blue canvas ;-) Mark made the two for the flybridge, and Michele made the two for the foredeck. These may seem a little silly or overkill to anyone who hasn't cared for teak... but these will probably save us a world of hurt when it comes to brightwork.

Hmm, I've probably lost track of how much we owe Mark for all his help getting Mariner II and her tender looking nice...

Deck Rot

2009-09-14T17:32:00.004-04:00

During the rainy weekend of 8/22/2009, Michele and I discovered (to our deep dismay) that we had water coming into the cabin through the aft-most stanchion base on the port side. A lot of water. We woke on Sunday morning to drier weather, so we prepared to pull the stanchion base to rebed it.

The first problem was access to the underside of the bolts -- tucked behind a bulkhead between the hanging locker and the v-berth. It's a good thing Michele is petite! Even still, we found evidence of a prior repair effort: We removed the nut and washer from one bolt, only to find another nut behind the washer, firmly embedded in the underside of the deck, with no way for us to put a wrench on it. Ugh... We ended up using a hack saw to cut the head of the bolt off, and then pushed it through the bottom.

Once we lifted the stanchion, the news got worse: soaked balsa core. I used a pick and dug out as much wet core as I could. I was able to remove a circle of core several inches in diameter, leaving nothing but the fragile glass on each surface (upper and lower). Two estimates from Osprey Marine Composites at Herrington Harbor North offered two drastically different repairs: 1) cut open a section of the deck, replace the core, and reglass/gelcoat ($2600.00), vs. 2) plug the underside of the bolt holes, and back fill the deck with epoxy ($400). We went with the less aggressive repair, as much because we didn't want mismatched gelcoat as because of price. If this doesn't address the problem, I think we'll know within a year or two, at which point we'll go with the more aggressive repair. Aside from the initial shock of a $2600 estimate, I was very pleased with Osprey. Despite it being a small job, they did exactly what they proposed, on time, and under the estimated cost, and they communicated with me the whole time.

Here's a picture of the epoxy-filled void. It's a mess from the work, but the deck area cleaned up and doesn't look too bad, though we still have some cosmetic work to do on the gelcoat.

Michele and I both took September 4th off from work (to extend the holiday weekend), and used some of that time to redrill the holes for the stanchion base and rebed it. While we were at it, we did the #3 base on the port side as well, so the two aft stanchion bases are done. We had done the complementary two on the starboard side a while back, but we're now much more motivated to do the remaining stanchion bases, water & fuel fills, and the ladder bases!

Pram Canvas

2009-09-14T06:59:00.000-04:00

The canvas cover for the dinghy is done! Mark, as usual, served as inspiration. We more-or-less copied his, except that ours doesn't come down the hull-sides as far as his. Our pram's hull is painted rather than varnished, so it doesn't need the same protection.

Most of the work was done at Mark's house over the weekend of 8/15, leaving just a few details for us to finish up the next week. Mark very generously helped with the whole process, and no doubt was as tired as we were after all the davit installation and canvas work!

Outlining the canvas:

Michele, on Mark's Pfaff, sewing the line into the channel around the edge:

The nearly-finished canvas:

Michele and I finished off the rest, which just involved adding a few grommets to tie down the canvas, and cutting/reinforcing holes in for the slings.

Windshield Canvas

2009-09-01T08:32:00.003-04:00

Our windshield canvas is done! Something like, oh, maybe a year or two ago, we got an estimate for a new windshield canvas. $600. Uh, no. It's just a rectangle, right? Well, it turned out to be a bit more difficult than we thought (not a rectangle!). Anyway, it finally percolated up to the top of the to-do list, so Michele finished it last week. It looks perfect!

Dinghy on Davits!

2009-09-01T07:11:00.003-04:00

Happy birthday to me!

On Wednesday the 19th, Mark picked me up at work (we both work near New Carrollton), we picked up the pram at his place, and took it down to Shipwright. Michele met us there, and a short time later, we had the pram on the davits. Canvas cover forthcoming!

Dinghy Davits

2009-08-24T13:06:00.011-04:00

Some time ago, Michele and I bought a Chesapeake Light Craft sailing pram, intending to carry it as our dinghy. Well, it took quite a bit of time, but we finally got the sail kit, had the kit finished, and had the pram modified to accomodate it (thanks, David!). With the pram ready, it was time to get davits installed on the boat.

I spent lots of time investigating options: Kato, Ocean Marine, Hurley, Forespar, St. Croix, and some others. I even went so far as to purchase and return Hurley davits; I liked the swim platform mount (no transom modifications), but in the end, decided the dinghy needed to be up higher to avoid swamping in rough seas. I finally settled on St. Croix removable davits, for a couple reasons:

they're removable, leaving only the shoe on the transom, which is great when we don't want to take the dinghy with us,
the swim platform is relatively unobstructed when the dinghy is launched, vs. rotating styles that have cross-supports,
they're less expensive than most rotating styles.

Installation, however, is a bit of a concern. The transom top is not big enough to accomodate the shoes -- they'll hang off the back by about an inch. Plus, it is unsupported, so the weight of the dinghy will have a tendency to twist the transom top upward. St. Croix offers a "Sportfish" mount, which installs under the transom top, and connects down to the cockpit sole. However, because our transom top isn't big enough, it would not fit underneath. We'll need to find another way to reinforce it.

Mark Cline has the same davits on his Cape Dory, Brandywine. I studied his installation, and then with his help, did a similar install on Mariner II. Here's a series of pictures, along with my comments.

This is "before":

Holes drilled for the mounting shoes:

We fabricated a base for each of the shoes out of 1/4" starboard. This was both to give the shoe extra support where it will hang off the back of the transom, and to dress up the appearance. We cut the starboard plates on a table saw, with a 30° angle on the edges, and sanded them smooth:

Backing plate made out of 1/2" thick starboard. This is a temporary plate -- I made templates for much bigger backing plates that will extend from the hawse to the first stanchion on each side. The inside bolt from the hawse and all three stanchion bolts will also go through the backing plate. (Update: the permanent bigger plates are now installed.)

Me:

Here are the mounted shoes. It took some time to get the angle just right before we started drilling. We put the davit arms in the shoes, and tied a string to end of the arms to keep them at the right distance. It took three of us to manage this -- one person holding each davit arm and shoe, and one keeping the end of the arms spaced apart and marking the positions.

This is "after":

Mark's feeling, based on his experience, is that this is sufficient in the short term, but that I'll want to either glass in some reinforcement under the transom top, or find some other reinforcement. I'm considering running a shroud cable from the underside of the transom cap down to the deck. That would be an easy installation: I could attach an eye directly to the center bolt of the plate, attach the turnbuckle & cable, and run it to a pad eye (through-bolted and backed) on the deck by the scuppers.

Now we just need to get the davit rigged, and hang the dinghy.

Exhausted

2009-08-17T10:12:00.004-04:00

Replaced exhaust elbow
Replaced belts

Dick Vosbury had been to the boat during the week to replace the exhaust elbow and the belts, following last week's assessment. Take a look at the old elbow -- wow -- I'm glad we didn't wait any longer on that! The inside actually looks ok, but the outside is in rough shape.

The bridge alarms are still not working though. I'll need to call him to see if that repair is still pending, or if he just forgot about them.

Inverted

2009-08-05T18:06:00.006-04:00

Last winter, while visiting Michele's parents, we went to the Grove City outlets north of Pittsburgh. I found a phenomenal deal at the Black & Decker outlet on a new-in-box 1000 watt inverter (model #VEC049DCB): $45. I could not resist. I finally finished installing it today, after Dick Vosbury left.

The inverter is under the bench seat, just above the house batteries. Inverters draw a lot of current for continuous periods, so they must be mounted very close to the batteries. Ours is close enough that I could use the 3' long #6 AWG cables that came with the inverter. The installation included a terminal fuse block on the postive battery post (including a 200 amp fuse), and a new 250 amp bus bar for the boat's main DC ground cables.

I actually had all of this in place last week. One problem: We would need to tear up the bench seat every time we wanted to turn it on or off. Plus, I'm certain we'd forget at some point to turn it off -- out of sight, out of mind. Fortunately, this inverter includes a jack for a remote on/off switch (model #VEC003). I ordered one online for about $20, and finished installing it today. I put it on the side of the helm just below the A/C control, where we can reach it from the galley or the main cabin area. I had to cut a 1.5" x 1.5" square hole in the wood to recess the control circuit. I always have a little nervous breakdown when I make permanent changes like this, but I think it came out ok.

Michele already bought a little crockpot for making dinners underway. Next purchase: electric blender. Anyone want to buy a slightly used hand crank blender??

A Visit from Dick Vosbury

2009-08-05T17:33:00.002-04:00

Word on the Bay is that Dick Vosbury (of Vosbury Marine) is the man to call if you have an old Volvo engine. I've been trying for quite a while to figure out a time to have him look over our engine in Mariner II. Lately, my concerns have been increasing as I've noticed a few new problems: rust in a few areas, weeping injectors, and continuing shaft movement at the stern tube that I've never really liked.

For the most part, he didn't see any serious problems.

Rust and corrosion on the exhaust elbow is a concern, he recommended replacing it. New elbow is on order, and he'll put it in next week.
He considers the shaft movement well within tolerable range, and thinks we don't need to do anything further with it. This surprised me, but that's what Hartge said too, so maybe I'll convince myself to believe it.
Rust around the water pump can just be sanded and repainted. The pump was leaking at some point, but it appears that I stopped the leak when I replaced the gasket.
Injectors were leaking. He put washers on them (they were missing), tightened them down, and said that probably will take care of it.
Need to have the heat exchanger and oil cooler removed and cleaned, but we can wait until winter to do that.
The engine warning buzzer on the bridge isn't working. He checked it, and seems to need a new alarm circuit. He's going to replace it next week, when he returns to do the exhaust elbow.
Finally, he's going to replace the belts next week as well.

Overall, not bad.

Gasket Replacements

2009-07-24T07:32:00.000-04:00

Sea Strainer Gasket, Impeller Gasket
7/8/2009

With Mark's help, we spent some time diagnosing the overheat during our trip from Mattawoman Creek to Colonial Beach. Neat trick: stuck a garden hose in the engine water intake, wrapped it with duct tape to seal it up, and turned it on. Water immediately blasted out of the sea strainer lid! As I feared, the gasket under the lid was shot. The consequence is that, as the water demand increased when I throttled up, the impeller began sucking in air through the bad gasket instead of sucking sea water.

We made a quick trip to Napa (in Mark's rented golf-cart!) where I bought a pack of gasket material, including various types and thicknesses. I had read somewhere (the Trawlers and Trawlering mailing list, I think) that cork was a good material for sea strainer lids, so I cut a new gasket out of the thinnest cork in the pack. In addition, I replaced the water pump gasket. I had opened the pump to inspect the impeller, and the old gasket looked like it was in pretty rough shape. I had several spare paper gaskets, but it turned out that the bolt pattern was different. I punch holes in the right spots using a paper punch, and put it in place.

After installing the new gaskets, the hose test looked good. We cleaned up, and ran out for a test underway, which showed a steady 170° for 30 minutes at a high cruise speed. Simple gasket failure -- should have had a spare on board! Actually, should have replaced it long ago. Oh well, lesson learned, but at least we're good to go for tomorrow morning.

Waxed, Repacked Rudder

2009-03-31T17:19:00.000-04:00

Clean, Wax, Repack Rudder, 3/28/2009

Washed and waxed the hull (below the rubrail) over the weekend. Black streaks from rain run-off continue to plague me. A simple wash and wax didn't really do a very good job of removing the streaks. I'm not really keen on doing another cleaner/restorer pass, so this will have to do for this season. In the future, I think I'll try a more aggressive cleaner in these areas. Another guy in the yard used softscrub to remove the streaks, and it looked good. I'm sure it removes wax, but I'd follow with wax again anyway. I didn't bother washing and waxing the transom at this point, since I didn't want to get the unfinished swim platform wet.

I also repacked the rudder stuffing box, again, since it's still leaking. I was new at that chore last time, so maybe I messed it up. Or maybe the bearing needs replacing... but thought I'd give the repacking another try first.

Platform Scrubbed Clean

2009-03-31T17:18:00.001-04:00

Scrubbed Swim Platform, 3/16/2009

We plan to be away over the weekend, so I wanted to finish cleaning the swim platform before then, so it would have nearly two weeks to completely dry before we start coating it with Cetol.

I mixed up TSP and bleach in a bucket with water (gloves are a must), and thoroughly scrubbed the platform: top, bottom, sides, and in the slats. I used a scrubby pad with a little abrasiveness and really worked in the cleanser, thoroughly rinsed, and recovered with our winter cover. It looked really good -- very clean, mildew free. I'm optimistic it will hold up better.

Sanded Swim Platform (Again)

2009-03-31T17:17:00.000-04:00

Sanded Swim Platform, March 2009

One of the more difficult, labor intensive jobs we've tackled was refinishing the swim platform. Sanding it to bare wood was very difficult work, mainly because of the slats. Michele put a lot of effort into this last year, so we were especially sad to see the finish failing after such a short time. Within months, we noticed black spots spreading throughout the finish. The spots are mildew, growing beneath the Cetol. In addition, the Cetol was peeling off in various places.

My guess is it failed for two reasons: 1) we didn't adequately prep the wood, and 2) we didn't apply enough Cetol. Ducks using our platform as their toilet probably doesn't help, either!

I took two weekends in early March and began the process again. I sanded the entire top surface to bare wood, and did a light sanding over the rest of it (inside the slats, and the underside). I plan to do a more serious cleaning of the top surface, and let it thoroughly dry before starting again with Cetol.

New Winter Cover

2008-12-20T08:14:00.003-05:00

Covered for Winter, 12/15/2008

We had the boat hauled out at Herrington Harbor North this year, instead of at Shipwright. I once again have a few projects planned for the winter, and my understanding is that HHN provides much easier access to the boat, to water, and to electricity while the boat is on the hard.

This year, instead of paying for more shrinkwrap that we'd just throw away again in the spring, we invested in a winter cover from Fisher Canvas. It's expensive -- almost $1800 delivered -- but assuming it lasts (and it should), we'll recover the cost in 3 to 4 seasons. It's not all about cost, of course, but with that size investment, cost is certainly a factor. The cover is much nicer than shrinkwrap, and we put it on at our convenience.

It is, however, very heavy, so having an extra set of hands is helpful. Mark has a similar cover for Brandywine, so we helped each other get the covers on.

Before covering Mariner II, we removed our flybridge windshield. It is cracked, and I'm finally planning to have a replacement made for it this winter.

Winterized

2008-12-06T17:14:00.000-05:00

Winterized, 12/6/2008

The usual:

Pumped the holding tank
Emptied water tank
Bypassed and drained water heater
Filled fuel tank
Changed engine oil & filter
Changed transmission oil
Drain raw water from engine
Replaced engine zincs
Cleaned seawater strainer, refilled with pink antifreeze
Poured pink antifreeze in potable water tank, ran through all lines and faucets
Ran pink antifreeze through engine raw water system
Ran pink antifreeze through air conditioner
Pumped pink antifreeze through toilet to holding tank
Light general cleaning of engine
Sprayed Corrosion-x on electrical connections, fittings, etc.

Ready for winter haul-out!

Clean

2008-09-03T08:30:00.002-04:00

Full exterior cleaning, 9/1/2008

Yuck - Toilet Repair

2008-09-03T08:29:00.006-04:00

Toilet Repair, 8/30/2008

Our Groco HF toilet stopped working. On Labor Day weekend, of course. The pump plunger would no longer move up or down -- it was stuck, and it didn't matter whether the valve was set to pump water or pump dry.

I figured it needed it needed a rebuild kit, which is considered regular maintenance, but I wasn't sure what kit I needed: the "Master Head" kit, the "Regular Service" kit, or the whole pump assembly. A called Groco (410-712-4242), and they put a tech person on the line right away. He spent a few minutes asking questions, and recommended with certainty that I just needed the regular service kit. Fantastic service!

When we got to Solomons, I disassembled the pump, and the problem was immediately clear: The joker valve was destroyed. And disgusting.

There are a handful of little parts that need to be assembled carefully, but the instructions from Groco were clear, and we had it back together pretty quickly.

Weepy

2008-08-16T08:28:00.004-04:00

Cleared weep holes in engine room, 8/16/2008

Bingo! Finally solved a problem that has been driving me crazy for a long time. Since day 1 when we bought this boat, we've had an intermittent problem with water collecting between the two stringers along the starboard side of the engine, and collecting forward.

On some trips, we'd end up with a lot of water there. Other trips, none. Some weeks we'd leave it dry on Sunday night, and return Friday to find water there. Other times, we'd be gone for weeks, and it would be bone dry. Sometimes it tasted salty; other times it didn't. It has been a real puzzle for me to figure out where the water was coming from. But I knew it shouldn't be collecting and stagnating there. Here are pictures of the area I'm referring to:

Starboard side, looking forward: water collects around transducer

Starboard side, looking aft

A few possibilities I considered:

Engine cooling water leak, possibly through a zinc
Water pump leak
Sea spray through engine room vents during rough seas
Air conditioning through-hull leak
Depth transducer through-hull leak

It was not simply an annoyance of having to shop-vac out the water on a regular basis. The water would stagnate and start to smell, and even more importantly, it collected around the fairing block for the depth sounder, and was starting to deteriorate that wood.

Well, I finally crawled down in there to get a good look around. Lo-and-behold: There are weep holes in both the forward- and aft-ends of that area. The forward weep hole runs to the bilge, , and it was completely plugged with debris! I hadn't considered the possibility that the water was running to that spot by design; I had been stuck on the idea that, if water were supposed to be there, it would run aft, not forward. So, it turns out that water from the lazarette under the cockpit area was running through the aft weep hole, and collecting forward. Once I unplugged the forward weep hole, it disappeared into the bilge as it should.

Forward weep hole, drains to bilge

Aft weep hole, below muffler, lets water in from lazarette

There are at least three sources of the water, none of which were possibilities that I had previously considered.

Rain water through the cockpit deck hatches
Sea spray through the cockpit deck hatches
Sea water coming in through our ever-leaking rudder post

That explains both the intermittent nature, and the mix of fresh- and salt-water.

Water through the deck hatches theoretically should drain out the transom. There's a small weep hole in the hatch channels that runs into a tube that goes aft. Unfortunately, those channels collect debris so fast that the hole often plugs, allowing some water into the lazarette. The rudder stuffing box is a work in progress. But now, at least, the water in the engine compartment finally disappears on its own.

As for the depth-sounder fairing block: I made a cardboard mold that fit around it, and filled it with penetrating epoxy, effectively soaking and encasing the entire block in epoxy. It's in good shape now, probably stronger than it ever was.

General Maintenance

2008-08-09T08:27:00.001-04:00

General maintenance checks, 8/9/2008

Headed out with Laura today for Michele's birthday, with plans to meet Mark (Brandywine) at Knapps Narrows. Did some general maintenance checks (oil, transmission, fuel filters, batteries), and found the water level in the batteries was low. Added distilled water to each.

Stereo speakers

2008-06-26T14:19:00.000-04:00

Stereo Speakers, 6/26/2008

The stereo speakers in the cockpit were shot -- lots of buzzing, not much that sounded like music. They are mounted just above the cockpit step on each side. I found the exact match: Polyplanar MA-4054. I ordered them from Defender.com, and had them ready to install when Chris arrived on Friday. We went straight to the boat, and when we settled in at our anchorage, I swapped out the speakers. Easy job, 4 screws and two wires each; done in 15 minutes, no drilling, no cutting.

Wax, Polish

2008-06-22T22:16:00.000-04:00

Waxed Wheelhouse, Polished Bimini Frame, 6/21/2008

Our new bimini for the flybridge is almost ready. While I cleaned and waxed the wheelhouse, Michele cleaned and polished the bimini frame. Not sure who had the harder work; the frame is in somewhat rough shape. It's an aluminum frame, not stainless, so it has some corrosion and pitting. Michele scrubbed it down with Bon Ami, and then polished it with Nevr-Dull. Looks much better, probably as good as we'll get it. Looking forward to the canvas arrival!

Wax, Wood, and Window

2008-06-01T19:24:00.003-04:00

Washed, Cleaned, and Waxed Flybridge, Worked on Exterior Wood, Rebedded Port Windshield, 5/31/2008 - 6/1/2008.

Weather was iffy this weekend, so we got busy on some of our remaining tasks. Michele lightly sanded the flybridge steps and the bench on bridge and put a coat of Cetol Light on each. The bench needs one more coat, then all the exterior wood will be done! She also tackled the interior wood in and around the galley (a major taks, since it involved hauling out everything from galley storage areas), as well as the stainless in the stove area. Looks fantastic.

We rebedded the port windshield. That was the last one. No signs of leaks, and they all look great.

I washed, cleaned, and waxed the exterior of the flybridge, using the same 3-step process we used on the hull: wash, 3M Cleaner and Wax, and 3M ultra performance paste wax. Definitely looks much improved, though some of it was in pretty tough shape so I certainly wouldn't call it new looking, even now. Sides of the wheelhouse and the deck are all that's left.

A few other miscellaneous tasks: I cleaned the racor bowl, which was packed with sludge after our Memorial Day trip; I installed a toilet paper holder inside the vanity in the head compartment -- no more ruined rolls of TP when we forget to close the porthole; I also replaced some of the worn-out velcro for our window screens; and finally, I hung our new Weems and Plath "Endurance" clock above the v-berth.

No pictures -- too tired!

Quickie

2008-05-11T23:40:00.003-04:00

Rebedded Starboard Windshield,
Recoated Flybridge Steps and Pilothouse Door,
5/11/2008

Michele and I were away most of the weekend, but we squeezed in a couple quick hours of work this afternoon. I worked on removing the starboard windshield glass, while she applied a new coat of Cetol to the flybridge steps and the pilothouse door. We finished reinstalling the glass just before the raindrops started.

It was a cool afternoon, and we found that cleaning out the old caulk was much easier in the cooler temperature. Handling the bedding material was easier as well. That's a good tip to remember.

Windshield Bedding

2008-05-06T17:52:00.003-04:00

Rebedded Center Windshield, 5/4/2008

Well, this is a project I had put off for some time because the planning and preparation seemed daunting. Our center windshield has leaked, sometimes badly, since we bought the boat. In the picture on the right, the damage to the lower-right corner of the wood window frame is evident, and there was comparable damage to the other side. I sorted out most of the planning over the winter, so Michele and I decided it was time to tackle the project.

Learning how the glass seals in the frame to prevent water intrusion was the first challenge. Applying caulk around the glass might seem like an obvious fix, but it doesn't hold up. It also makes later repairs more difficult, as we soon found out. The Cape Dory 28 chat board proved very helpful: other owners had already done the job, and provided lots of guidance. The glass sits against a bedding material to seal against water intrusion. An exterior gasket then holds the glass tightly in place against the bedding. In our case, the bedding had dried, cracked, and shrunk over time, so it was no longer providing a seal. In addition, the exterior gasket was brittle and loose.

Finding the right material was the next challenge. Recent reports were that Florida Marine Tanks carried all of it, but they insisted otherwise when I called them. Ultimately, I found the bedding material at Napa Auto parts: 3M "Windo Weld" ribbon sealer. I used the 1/8" by 1/4" size. Other Cape Dory owners used a slightly larger size, but this seemed to match our old sealer almost exactly. I found the exterior gasket, again with the help of another owner on the CapeDory 28 board, at American Marine Products: "TP-139" was right on. It comes in black or white -- we used white, which matched the old gasket.

The picture below shows what we found after removing the exterior gasket and working the glass free from the bedding and frame. Most of the black bedding material was so dry it fell right out. A little remains in the upper right side of the picture. In addition, there was plenty of caulk (also visible), presumably from a prior repair attempt. The caulk filled the frame almost all the way around. It was a real bear to scrape out of the groove where the exterior gasket lip inserts in the frame, and it had to come out or the gasket wouldn't fit right. Without all that caulk, we'd have been done probably in 30 minutes per pane.

Below, the glass is back in the frame. You can see the black, spongy bedding along the top and bottom perimeters. It is extremely sticky, so it was difficult to set the bedding into the frame in a straight line. No matter -- it will be hidden. Once the bedding was in the frame, we gently set the glass into place, and firmly pressed the edges against the bedding. The outer gasket is already in place on the left.

The lower pane is finished. You can see the old exterior gasket in the edge of the upper frame.

We did the upper pane next, so it is complete now as well. The port and starboard panes will be done soon.

Clean and Polished

2008-05-05T07:36:00.003-04:00

Restored Wood Finish in V-berth, 5/3/2008

Preparing for our shakedown cruise and first overnight (just in our marina), I did some general exterior cleaning, and attached our new registration stickers. Meanwhile, Michele went to work on the dry, faded interior wood.

She applied Howard Restor-A-Finish (mahogany), followed by Howard Feed-n-Wax. What an incredible job! The wood looks amazing. Before long, we may have all the interior wood restored!

Check. Check. Check.

2008-04-27T21:01:00.005-04:00

Replaced Bilge Pump, Replaced Impeller, 4/27/2008

Today was a good day. All the problems of yesterday are solved:

The bilge pump replacement was the most interesting. The pump is way down the keel, and I couldn't imagine how I would possibly reach it to swap in a new one. Well, I don't know whether it was Cape Dory or the prior owner, but somebody did a really kind thing. The pump and float switch were mounted to the lower side of an "L" shaped panel. The upright portion of the "L" was screwed into the engine platform. Even so, it was barely reachable; Michele had to crawl down where I couldn't fit, and unscrew it. Once the panel was unscrewed, everything lifted out in once piece! The picture below shows the whole structure. I didn't have my camera, so I used the one on my phone. Not great quality, but I couldn't let this interesting piece go by without a picture. Anyway, West Marine had an identical pump, so swapping it out was easy.

The hot water is working now -- just needed to purge the air.
As for the impeller, I have no idea why it didn't prime. I got a brand new one today which came with some lubricant, and it slid right in. I poured water into the intake hose to help it prime, and it worked fine. The Jabsco impeller kit part number is 836-0001. I found the corresponding replacement kit at West Marine. I think the Jabsco part number for the impeller alone is 17935-0001.
The new windshield wipers are working great!
I tested the GPS/VHF wiring, and the VHF is getting and displaying position information. Can't wait to try a DSC call!
Last but not least, Michele did her usual incredible job cleaning the cabin, despite my tearing it up to do engine work almost as fast as she was cleaning.

Looking forward to getting out on the water...

Broke and Broken

2008-04-27T07:47:00.001-04:00

Spring recommissioning is not going so well! The boat went in the water on Friday. Michele and I spent part of Saturday cleaning and recommissioning, hoping to get out on the water today. Had a few problems:

Broken wire connector on the fuse panel. No biggie. Difficult to reach, but easy to fix. It's one of those two-handed jobs that I could barely reach with one hand, but I managed to get it done.
Bilge pump not working. Scares the hell out of me to have the boat in the water with no bilge pump, so I'm going to try to replace it today. The worst part will be squeezing down into the bilge to reach it.
Cooked the new impeller. Very disappointing: I replaced the impeller earlier this year, and the new one didn't prime. It burned up quickly, so now I need to replace it again and figure out why it's not getting water. Not sure if the intake is blocked or what, but tracking down the problem should be pretty systematic. On the bright side, the engine turned right over on the first try.
Hot water side of the water system is not running. It's probably just airlocked, but this is a pretty minor problem compared to the others. The cold side is working fine. Unfortunately, I'm not thrilled by the performance of our new pump -- the pressure is kind of weak.

Back to the repairs today... sigh.

Refinish Unfinished

2008-04-20T09:00:00.004-04:00

Refinished Swim Platform, Washed & Waxed Hull, 4/19/2008

On Saturday, Michele nearly completed her work on the swim platform. It's looking terrific -- a stunning difference compared to how it looked earlier. After sanding it to bare wood earlier this spring, she put two coats of Cetol Light on it over the past two days. Unfortunately, we're stymied by the weather again: rain for the next three days. I'll try to get out there on Wednesday and get another coat on before launch.

We also cleaned and waxed the hull. Topsides can be done when the boat is in the water, but the hull really needs to be done pre-launch. I had hoped it would be a simple, quick wash and wax this year, but it needed a bit more than that to bring back the shine:

Washed thoroughly with mild boat soap and water, using a soft brush and a terry-cloth pad.
Applied 3M Cleaner and Wax, working it in with a 6" random-orbital machine and terry-cloth bonnet, first going back and forth, then up and down. Wiped off the remaining light haze with a clean cloth.
Waxed with 3M Ultra-Performance Paste Wax, applied by hand, and buffed with the random-orbital machine and terry-cloth bonnet. In a few spots where rain water runs down the hull leaving black streaks, we used some Starbrite Teflon over the wax, in hopes that it would help prevent the streaking (or at least make it easier to clean).
A quick buffing pass over the entire surface with a lambswool bonnet. This goes super fast, and really helps bring out the shine.

Bottom Job

2008-04-19T19:36:00.003-04:00

Bottom Paint, 4/18/2008

A very damp, cool, spring left us feeling anxious about getting the exterior work finished, so Michele and I took Friday off from work to get started. The weather was beautiful, and we both muttered a bit about how it nice it would be to have the work done already and be out on the bay.

We made short work of removing the shrink wrap, and then started in on the real work. I donned a painter's suit, mask, and gloves to tackle the bottom paint, while Michele continued her work on the swim platform.

I used exactly 1 gallon of West Marine PCA Gold, which was enough for a full bottom coat plus an extra pass at the waterline. Last time, we had the marina use Micron Extra, but the West Marine brand was substantially less expensive, so we gave it a try. A nice suprise: the marina responded promptly when Michele asked if they'd move the stands for us. They took care of it within minutes, and we were able to paint the spots where the boat had been sitting on them.

In the meantime, Michele put the first coat of Cetol Light on the swim platform. It looks great already! Pictures to come later, when the last coat is done.

...And Wait...

2008-04-07T22:16:00.000-04:00

Grrr... STILL waiting for clear weather. Is it too much to ask to have a few clear days and nights above 50 degrees, so I can bottom paint? I feel like I'm back in Seattle!

Hurry Up and Wait

2008-03-22T17:57:00.006-04:00

Impeller, 3/22/2008

Despite the cool weather, I prepped for bottom painting today. The dock water was still not turned on at the marina, but I filled a bucket and scrubbed the bottom with a stiff deck brush to scuff it up and remove any residual slime and growth. I taped off the water line, so I'm ready to paint as soon as the weather is clear. Tomorrow's forecast looks good, so I'm hoping to finish this weekend.

I also replaced the water pump impeller today. Some people recommend doing it every year. Volvo says an impeller is good for 500 hours. I hadn't changed ours yet since we bought the boat in 2006, and I had no idea when it was done last (not to mention a little mishap last summer). So, either way, it was time.

My main concern was that it would be difficult to remove the old impeller. It wouldn't budge at first, but I cranked the engine for a second or two to get it turning, and after that, I pulled it out fairly easily by grabbing vanes on each side with channel lock pliers. It wasn't in very good shape: there were a couple pieces broken off and sitting free in the water pump housing. Very glad I changed it out. I put a little dish soap on the new one, and it slid into place fairly easily. I had one fairly serious issue, though. When replacing the cover, I stripped one of the machine screw holes in the housing. I was being gentle, I swear, but a mild turn of the wrench stripped it out. I'll need to tap it for a new screw.

Note: For our Volvo TAMD40B, the impeller part number I ordered is #875736, from Marine Parts Express. Despite their claim that it would be a genuine Volvo part, the impeller had a Jabsco stamp on it. Hmm.

More Brightwork

2008-03-16T12:52:00.006-04:00

Swim Platform, 3/15/2008

Finally we got some weather that is clear and warm enough to start some exterior work! The water is still not yet turned on at the marina, but Michele and I spent most of the day there anyway.

We started the brightwork last fall, but left the swim platform for spring. While I took care of some inside work, Michele took the palm sander to the platform. My tasks included finishing off the water pump installation, which went fairly quickly, and coating the fairing block for the depth transducer with penetrating epoxy. The paint had worn off the block, and water collecting in that area had subsequently starting deteriorating the wood.

Once I finished inside, I helped out with some of the swim platform sanding. Michele really did 90% of it, and she did a great job, too. It was in rough shape: badly flaking and weather-worn gray. It is supposed to rain today (Sunday), so the rest will have to wait.

Next Saturday, we hope to do the bottom paint and put the first coat of Cetol Light on the platform. With luck, we'll get that done in one day. Then we can return on Sunday to apply another coat or two of Cetol to the platform, remove the shrinkwrap, and wax the hull. That will complete our pre-launch work!

Maintenance and...upgrades!

2008-03-09T19:26:00.003-04:00

Rudder Stuffing Box, Seacock Maintenance, Battery Charger Outlet, Potable Water Pump, 3/8/2008

On Saturday, I started tackling some pre-launch maintenance. Most of those tasks have to wait for warmer temperatures, though, so in the meantime I'm working on a few upgrades as well.

Maintenance items:

Tightened the rudder stuffing box. I repacked it last year, but never adjusted it after some use. We continually had a small amount of water collecting in that area, so I got out the packing nut wrenches and tightened the stuffing box. It was pretty loose, so I hope this will take care of the water ingress.

Greased engine intake seacock. My understanding is that Spartan seacocks don't really need yearly disassembly despite Spartan's recommendation. But, our engine seacock was really getting difficult to move, so I took it apart again this year and regreased it. The head intake seacock seems to be fine.

Upgrades:

AC outlet. On Saturday, I finished installing a new outlet under the port bench. I put in a new GFCI outlet using the existing wiring for the outlet on the outside of the bench, and then wired it to feed the old outlet downstream. This will allow us to plug in the battery charger inside the bench, and at the same time, protect the existing outlet with a GFCI.

Potable water pump. Our old water pump cycles incessantly when we run the water, provides weak pressure, and is very loud. Modern pumps, like our new Jabsco Sensor-Max 14, allegedly are quieter and have continuous pressure switches that prevent on-off cycling. This was by no means an urgent upgrade, but I hope it will eliminate a minor but frequent annoyance. Unfortunately, it's also a difficult upgrade due mainly to the difficult to reach location of the pump (down low on the forward bulkhead in the engine compartment). I nearly completed the installation, but I broke one of the Qest plumbing fittings while reassembling. I'll have to complete the job next time.

Getting Ready

2008-03-08T09:10:00.001-05:00

I've been slacking lately when it comes to posting updates here. With boating season almost upon us, soon I'll no doubt have more to say, more often.

I'm eagerly awaiting spring launch, which is scheduled for the week of April 1. There are several mandatory pre-launch maintenance tasks that are causing me a bit of anxiety, however, so we're likely to be delayed a couple weeks. Not that it matters, we were ready to go in on April 1 last year, but the yard didn't get to us until April 20 anyway.

"Must-do" pre-launch maintenance work on the agenda:

Refinish swim platform
Bottom paint
Wash and wax hull
Grease seacock for engine-intake
Tighten rudder stuffing box
Epoxy/paint fairing block for depth sounder

Connections

2008-02-11T19:01:00.000-05:00

GPS/VHF Wiring, 2/9/2008

I installed new electronics last spring, but to date had not yet completed the wiring for the GPS. That means our DSC capability for the radio wasn't complete. We could make an automated digital distress call, but it would not include our coordinates. That would certainly complicate a search and rescue should we ever be unfortunate enough to need it.

On Saturday, I finally finished off the wiring. The instructions for the Standard Horizon radio indicate three connections: data in(+), data in(-), and data out. The GPS instructions only indicated data in and data out (no polarity on the data out). Standard Horizon tech support was very helpful, and advised me to make connections as follows:

VHF blue (in+) to GPS blue (out)
VHF gray (out) to GPS yellow (in)
VHF green (in-) to ground

I ran a power/data cable for the GPS to both helms, and joined them at the lower helm. From there, I ran the red and black wires to the switch and ground bus, and the signal cables to a new 4-post block. I then ran a length of signal wire up to the radio, and attached it to a quick connect so that I can easily disconnect the radio when I want to remove it from the boat. The worst part of this project was handling the very fine signal wires, which are difficult to strip and separate without cutting them.

Looking forward to trying out a ship-to-ship DSC call this summer!

Isolated

2008-02-10T18:52:00.000-05:00

Galvanic Isolator, 2/9/2008

As I mentioned earlier, one of my planned projects was installing a galvanic isolator. This was recommended, but not required, by both our surveyor and BoatU.S.

Although Mariner II wasn't showing any serious problems with corrosion, zinc loss during the summer is difficult to address, as it involves diving under the boat (which I did once this past year). Diving under to replace a zinc isn't that bad as long as the sea nettles aren't there keeping me company, but usually they are. A galvanic isolator should, minimally, slow our zinc loss enough so that it can be replaced once per year, during winter haulout.

I considered several brands, including Guest, Yandina, and ProMariner. Ultimately, I installed the ProSafe 30, without a monitoring system. ABYC recommends that galvanic isolators be self-tested and monitored to ensure that the AC ground wire is uninterrupted. The isolator alone does not meet this recommendation, but thousands have been installed this way without problems long before ABYC made their recommendation. Since the monitoring system costs more than the isolator itself and complicates installation considerably, I opted to skip it for now. The ProSafe 30 does allow me to add the monitor later, but for now I will just plan to test it routinely (spring and fall) with a diode tester. The test is easy: with shorepower disconnected, attach one lead of a multimeter (in "diode test" setting) to each side of the isolator and get a reading. Switch, and test again. Both readings should be the same (within 10%), and both between approximately .7 and 1.5 volts.

On our boat, the isolator fit nicely in the starboard storage area below the helm. I was able to simply cut the ground wire, attach insulated ring terminals, and connect them.

Updates

2008-02-10T15:29:00.000-05:00

I spent most of yesterday doing some work on the boat, so I'll have some updates shortly. In the meantime, a long-overdue update on the Jabsco oil-change pump issue: I received a replacement unit, free of charge, in 2-3 weeks as promised by Jabsco. Outstanding customer service -- no hassle, no question, they stood behind their product.

More on boat maintenance to come soon...

Wipers

2008-01-11T21:08:00.000-05:00

Wiper Motor Wiring, 1/6/2008

We had a beautiful day on Sunday, temps in the 50's, so I got a little work done on the boat.

The shrink wrap zipper door arrived Friday, so I put that on to gain access to the inside of the boat. Piece of cake -- tape it on, unzip, cut a hole in the shrink wrap. The inside of the boat seemed in fine shape, no condensation or mildew problems.

I went to work immediately on the windshield wiper situation. Over the summer, I bought replacement motors which appear identical to the old motors, but when I connected them up, they didn't turn on. I bench tested them with a 12-volt battery, and they work fine like that, so I knew it was a wiring problem on the boat. Both the old and new motors have an identical set of connections:

"s": switched wire, runs to the switch at the helm
"-": the ground wire
"+": always-on wire, so the motor can self-park after the switch is turned off

Simple, yet the new motors didn't work. Some investigating with a multimeter revealed the problem: in the original wiring, the "s" connection ran through a switch to the ground, rather than to the positive feed. Sure enough, the owner's manual has it diagrammed exactly that way. I'm not an electrician, so I don't really understand why it would be wired that way.

No matter, I just rewired according to the instructions with the new motor. It was a fairly straightforward change: reroute the wire from the switched terminal to the positive feed instead of the ground bus. Now the positive feed comes off the fuse panel and splits to the "s" and "+" terminals, and the ground wire simply runs directly from the ground bus to the "-" terminal. I attempted a Visio diagram (below) of the change, so I can update the owner's manual to show the new configuration.

I attached one of the new motors, and it now works exactly like it should. In the spring, when I can access the bow of the boat again (under shrinkwrap now), I'll finish installing the motors in the windshield frame.

Corrosion Protection

2008-01-03T17:40:00.000-05:00

Oops, forgot one:

Galvanic Isolator. When the boat is connected to shore power (as ours always is), stray current flows through the AC ground and the DC bonding system. This current can really cause the zinc anodes to dissolve away quickly. An isolator blocks low voltage in the green AC ground wire, but passes higher voltages through if there's an electrical fault.

Shrinkage

2007-12-30T13:08:00.000-05:00

I visited the boat yesterday, intending mainly just to check on it after a full unattended month. I had hoped the shrink wrap would be finished (with a zippered access door), so I could climb aboard and make sure there were no moisture problems inside. Shrink wrap sometimes results in condensation, which can lead to mildew and other problems.

The shrink wrap is done, and appears well-ventilated, but they didn't include an access door. I'm not sure if I forgot to request one, or if they missed it on the work order. No big deal, I'll add one myself. It will be cheaper that way anyway: I just ordered one from Dr. Shrink for $14.00.

I had also hoped to do a quick assessment of what I will need in order to complete some winter projects, but I guess I will have to wait until the zipper door arrives. As always, I have a list of projects a mile long. Some are important and will be done before spring launch. Some are just "nice-to-have" and can wait indefinitely if need be. On my project list, roughly in priority order:

Wiper motors. This is at the top of the list because, after last season, I consider it an important safety item. On several occasions (mainly head seas), visibility from the lower helm was seriously impaired by the broken port wiper. The starboard wiper, while functional, wasn't completely reliable either.
Electronics wiring. The GPS and VHF radio connections are not complete, which means our DSC capability is limited. Plus, although our GPS runs fine on it's rechargeable batteries, a constant connection to the on board batteries will be helpful in keeping it charged.
Impeller. I have no idea when the raw water impeller was last done. We've had the boat two seasons, so it's probably past due.
Exterior teak. The swim platform desperately needs refinishing. I think it will require complete sanding and three or four coats of Cetol Light. The remaining teak (the cabin door, flybridge steps, and flybridge seat) are in good shape, and just need a maintenance coat or two.
Bottom paint. As you can see in the picture below, the old paint is in decent condition, but it has worn worn off in some areas. A new coat or two in the spring should keep the bottom in good shape over the next season.
Starting battery. I initially purchased a single group 27 deep-cycle battery for the house, and group 27 dual-purpose for a starting battery. I've since concluded that this configuration is woefully inadequate. I plan to combine the two existing batteries for the house needs, and add a single group 31 for a new starting battery.
Battery charger outlet. Our battery charger currently plugs in to an outlet outside the port bench, and the cord gets in the way. I want to add an outlet inside the bench.
Backup bilge pump. One could argue that this should be higher on the list. We have a single bilge pump. If it ever fails, or if we have a catastrophic leak, we'll need a high-capacity backup.
Rebed windshield. Our center windshield leaks, so it needs to be removed and rebedded. Might be a major project, so I'm not sure it will get done this year.
Anchor roller. My back would thank me, but again, I'm not sure this will get done this year.
Chafe guards. Some of our lines are chafing where they run through chocks or around cleats.
Replace life jackets. Some of our life jackets still say "Cuanna", the boat's prior name.
Dri-dek for anchor locker. I want put down dri-dek panels in the anchor locker to protect the surface from the anchor, chain, etc.
Galley water filter. A water filter might improve the taste enough that we can skip the gallon jugs of drinking water.
Toilet paper holder. Inside the vanity in the head, where it won't get wet from showers.
Drink holders. For the flybridge.
FM antenna. Mostly we listen to our iRiver Clix anyway, but we have a nice new stereo, so it seems like it should have an antenna!

See what I mean? I always have an endless list. Anyway, the boat is shrinkwrapped. Boats look gigantic when out of the water, don't they?

Ready For Winter

2007-11-26T20:17:00.000-05:00

Winterization, 11/25/2007

I was distracted by responsibilities at home last weekend, so I hadn't yet finished winterizing. I returned on Sunday with my father and Anthony (visiting for the holiday) for a quick cruise and to complete the remaining tasks. They were a big help, providing extra hands along the way.

I borrowed an oil change pump (a Jabsco flat tank, just like mine) from a friend at work. After a quick cruise, we set it to work while finishing off a few other tasks. I cleaned the sea water strainer, drained the raw water from the heat exchanger, and pulled the engine zincs. For the most part, the zincs were in good shape (better than 50% remaining), but they're inexpensive and a PITA to reach, so I changed them anyway before putting them back.

Good news: the oil change went fairly easily. Once I was reasonably sure that all of the oil was out of the engine, I moved the pump to the transmission oil and let it work there while I changed the main oil filter. Last time I changed the filter, I made quite a mess. This time, I took a layered approach: I set down an oil absorbent cloth, spread an opened trash bag over that, set a foil tray in the bag, and wrapped a 1-gallon ziploc around the filter while unscrewing it. The ziploc caught most of the oil, and the bit that I missed spilled fairly neatly into the foil pan. When it finished dripping, I installed the new filter and simply picked up the trash bag, letting the filter and foil pan fall right inside. Barely any spilled, so a few shop towels cleaned it right up.

After refilling the oil in the engine and transmission, I sucked 6 gallons of pink RV antifreeze through the raw water side, and then we called it a day.

One And... Not Done

2007-11-11T21:39:00.000-05:00

Winterization, 11/11/2007

We set out today to winterize the boat, hoping to finish in one day. Things didn't quite work out that way.

The fuel dock was first up. We filled the tank with diesel, and added biocide plus 32 oz. of Stabil. One interesting point here: our deck fitting for the fuel tank is narrow, and we usually look for fuel docks with a narrow nozzle to fit. Our normal fuel dock had only the wider high-capacity nozzle working this time, so we gave it a try. I just held it tightly against the opening, and it worked fine. Good to know. We then pumped out the holding tank, and returned to the dock.

While Michele put the final coat of Cetol on the toe rail and hand rails, I started winterizing the systems. We have a Jabsco Flat Tank 12-volt oil pump (see picture) for changing the engine oil. It has a nice 3.5 gallon tank, perfect for our 11 quart engine capacity, plus 2 quart transmission oil capacity. I set the oil pump running so that it could extract the warmed-up motor oil while I worked on other tasks. While it was pumping, I drained the water tank, bypassed the water heater, and ran pink RV antifreeze through the water system, the head, and the A/C.

When I returned to the oil pump, I was dismayed to find it nearly empty. It has worked ok (albeit slowly) in the past, but this time it failed. The oil just came through at a drip, and after more than an hour, it had extracted only about 1 quart of oil. Unfortunately, I'll need to return next weekend with another pump to finish the job. The good news: the unit is just a year old, and has a 3-year warranty. Kudos to Jabsco: I called them, and they're sending a new pump, no questions asked. Outstanding! I hope they follow through; I'll be sure to post an update.

Next weekend: Finish the oil change, drain the raw water from the engine, change the engine zincs, and run pink antifreeze through.

Finished Brightwork

2007-11-11T19:08:00.000-05:00

Teak Maintenance, 11/11/2007
Michele finished the toe rail and hand rails today while I worked on winterization chores. They look great. There's a bit of bleed onto the gel coat, but not so noticeable in person. I might try cleaning it up with acetone.

The starboard hand rail looks just a bit lighter than the port hand rail due to the sanding. Again, not very noticeable in person.

Brightwork: Second Coat

2007-11-06T07:52:00.000-05:00

Teak Maintenance, 11/4/2007

We returned on Sunday to apply the second coat of Cetol to the toe rail, hand rails, and cockpit steps. The second coat took the two of us just 90 minutes. There definitely appears to be some variation in color between the areas that were bare and those that still had original coatings. It doesn't look bad, but I certainly can notice it. Eh, probably I'm the only one who will care. Maybe a third coat next weekend will reduce the contrast. I'll take pictures of the finished areas next week.

The upper hand rails were in good shape, so they are done. After two coats, they really look nice! Applying a maintenance coat to sections that were already in good shape was easy. So easy, in fact, that we wish we hadn't put it off, despite the extensive list of more important work. The penalty for delay is just too high. We won't make that mistake again.

Still to do: flybridge steps, flybridge bench seat, wheelhouse door, and swim platform. That seems like a lot, but it really shouldn't be too bad. Everything except the swim platform is in good shape and should just require a maintenance coat or two. The platform will need a full sanding, so we may take it off and bring it home for the winter.

Brightwork

2007-11-05T23:18:00.000-05:00

Teak Maintenance, 11/3/2007

"Bright it should be, and work it is." -- unknown

I'm not sure of the origin of that expression, but it aptly describes the dreaded task of maintaining teak on a boat. Often, other boaters look at the brightwork on a boat with mixture of admiration and pity. Teak is beautiful, but it also brings visions of endless sanding and varnishing. The finished product, of course, is quite rewarding. Or so I've heard.

Nowadays, pigmented coatings like Sikkens Cetol are a common compromise. The application and maintenance process is much easier, and the pigment protects the wood from UV. But, it lends a somewhat less appealing color than the mile-deep shine of traditional varnish. In our case, the decision to do it the easy way was made for us: The prior owner had already started with Cetol in 2004. Unfortunately, even with Cetol, we have our work cut out for us because we put off the project for too long, allowing the the finish to deteriorate quite badly in some areas. In those areas, bare teak has been exposed all year, and it has weathered gray. We really should have addressed the situation sooner, but we were otherwise occupied.

We started Saturday morning with the worst of it: the toe rail, hand rails, and cockpit steps. The hand rails were in mostly decent shape except for the forward-starboard rail, which was chipping and peeling pretty badly. The toe rail was moderately deteriorated all the way around. The deterioration increases the prep work substantially, since it requires sanding in addition to general cleaning. We followed these steps on all the deteriorated wood:

Scrub thoroughly with a scouring pad, mild boat soap, and water
Towel-dry
Sand with 150-180 grit sanding pads to remove any flaking, and to take weathered areas down to clean wood
Vacuum the dust
Wipe with acetone to clean any remaining dust or oils
Allow to air dry
Brush on first coat of Cetol Light with a natural bristle brush

We freehanded the Cetol application, rather than taping off all of the surrounding area. That seemed to be the unanimous recommendation from others, given the time and difficulty involved with taping. A shop towel dampened with acetone works great for cleaning up any mistakes.

The process took the two of us about four hours. Teak is pretty soft, so sanding was easier than I expected. We only sanded to the point where all the flaking areas of Cetol were removed, which left the wood partly coated, and partly bare (click the pictures for closeups). My hope is that this will be adequate, but I'm concerned that the bare areas will show lighter than the other areas when we're finished. I expect that we'll need three coats minimum on the bare areas.

Fuel Issues

2007-10-26T07:55:00.000-04:00

Changed Racor Fuel Filter
Changed Secondary Fuel Filter
Changed Crankcase Breather
Changed Air Filter
10/13/2006

Replacing the shift cables went very smoothly, so my father-in-law and I finished that job faster than I had anticipated. That left time for a little more maintenance before Michele and her mother arrived for our trip over to Cambridge.

I've had some concerns about our engine recently. There was a noticeable power loss and an increasing amount of grayish smoke at cruising speed. That could be a sign of serious trouble (worn rings, bad or dirty injectors), or possibly just a fuel problem. I was considering calling a Volvo diesel mechanic, but wanted to get all the filters changed out first, to determine whether it was just a fuel problem.

We quickly changed out each of the filters: the Racor primary fuel filter, the secondary fuel filter on the engine, the crankcase breather, and the air filter. During this process, I also discovered that my prior difficulty bleeding the fuel lines wasn't a problem with the lift pump after all. Instead, it was "operator error" -- i.e., I wasn't doing it right. The pump lever has some play, and I was only moving it within that range. To actually work, it needs to be pushed down beyond that range, at which point it springs back up. I was very pleased to learn this and gain the peace-of-mind that comes with now fully understanding the bleed process in case I ever need to do it while out on the water.

I'm happy to report that this effort made a huge difference in engine performance. Our speed was back up, the engine ran smoothly, and the smoke was virtually gone. We're still only hitting ~3400 RPM instead of our rated 3600 at wide-open-throttle, but that may just be a result of marine growth on the hull, so I'll wait until we launch in spring with fresh bottom paint to determine whether there's a problem.

Shift

2007-10-26T07:43:00.000-04:00

Replaced Flybridge Cables, 10/13/2007

On my trip with Chris, the flybridge shift cable broke during our anchoring maneuvers. It broke in forward gear, with the anchor plus 20' of chain and 30' of rope in the water off the bow. It was an exciting few minutes, and an important lesson not to postpone maintenance. The flybridge shift and throttle cables had been a little stiff for quite a while, and I was planning to do the replacement during the off-season. Surprise! This project is getting done ahead of schedule!

The cables are 3300-universal type, 10' long, and run from the flybridge controls to the lower controls. They are threaded on both ends, making attachment/adjustment fairly easy. I replaced them with new TFXtreme #CC63310 cables, from Teleflex Marine. People rave about these cables, and I found them at BoatFix.com for just $30 each.

My father-in-law, who is a whiz with all things mechanical, helped me install them. It was fairly straightforward job:

Removed the cover plates on the engine controls at both stations. There are set screws on each side, just above where the handles attach, that hold the cover in place.
Detached the throttle cable by removing the cotter pin and spinning off the threaded fitting that holds the cable at each station. (Chris and I removed the shift cable the prior week, so I could take it home and find a new one.)
Taped the new cables to the throttle cable and snaked them through from the lower helm up to the flybridge.
Attached the new cables. On this boat, the fittings on the flybridge are not adjustable. Once threaded on and attached, they do not turn, whereas the lower helm fittings turn with a screwdriver.
Adjusted the cable travel so that the shift and throttle levers hit their stops in both forward and backward positions, and so that the shift control is in its neutral detent at both helms.
Lubricated the controls with WD-40.
Reattached covers.

What an amazing difference! The TFXtreme cables allow a 4" bend radius, whereas other cables support only an 8" bend radius. Ours required a pretty tight bend at the lower station, so I think these cables were a great choice.

More Gunk

2007-09-30T19:56:00.000-04:00

Cleaned Racor Bowl, 9/30/2007

AGAIN. I just did this in August (see post below). We logged about 33 hours since then, which seems not unreasonable, but I'd still like to reduce or eliminate the buildup of sludge.

This time, I tried just draining the gunk from the bowl. I only managed to get a tiny bit to come out before the drain hole clogged, so I had to disassemble it again. At least that's getting easier each time. I now keep a box of disposable rubber gloves on board, and I just put a quart-size ziploc around the whole filter/bowl assembly, remove it, take it apart, clean the bowl, reassemble, top it off with fresh diesel, and reinstall. The ziploc catches the old diesel, and I just dispose of it at the marina waste oil collection.

It seems I really need to address this problem. The fuel tank may be dirty, or I might be taking on dirty fuel at the fuel pump. I ordered a Racor fuel funnel (RFF15C), which handles 12-15 gallons-per-minute and filters to 74 microns, so I plan to filter all diesel as it enters the tank from now on. I would assume that if the supply is clean, eventually the filters will clean out most of the gunk from the tank.

Gunk In Racor Bowl

2007-08-20T18:42:00.000-04:00

Cleaned Racor Bowl, 8/14/2007

The racor bowl was full of gunk again. While we were in Crisfield during our vacation, I disassembled it and cleaned it out. Michele provided extra hands, which helped tremendously in avoiding the mess I created last time I did this in June. Fortunately, I was able to reassemble everything this time without replacing the cartridge. The o-ring and the gasket were a bit stretched, but everything went back together ok. Next time I may try draining the gunk through the bottom instead, but I'm not sure the gunk will come out that way. Hopefully, that won't be soon!

Oil Change

2007-08-19T21:33:00.000-04:00

Changed Engine Oil,
Changed Air Filter,
Topped Off Battery Water
8/9/2007

Used roughly 11 quarts of Chevron Delo multigrade 15w-40.

Stuff It

2007-07-11T22:14:00.000-04:00

Repacked Stuffing Box
Replaced Racor Fuel Filter
6/30/2007

After the recent repair work, I'd been having trouble getting the stuffing box adjusted properly. I had just repacked it over the winter while the boat was on the hard, but I was concerned that the packing may have been compromised by the repairs. It's a cheap fix, so I repacked it again. This time, however, I changed the packing while the boat was in the water. Since the packing is what keeps the water out, that seems like a scary task, but it really wasn't bad. Having done the job before, I was confident that I'd be able to complete the job quickly and easily, with a little preparation. I laid out everything I needed near my workspace:

Gore GFO packing material, cut into rings in advance
Stuffing box wrenches
A rag and Simple Green for cleaning the shaft
A pick, a long screw, and a screwdriver (for removing the old packing)
An allen wrench for pushing the new packing into the box

I unscrewed the packing nut and slid it up the shaft. Water starting flowing in immediately, but not at an alarming rate. Working quickly, I cleaned the residue from the old packing material off of the shaft, and then tied the rag around the shaft to slow the water. The pick was not very helpful in removing the old packing, so I used the long screw instead. I screwed it into the old material until it gripped, and then used it to pull out the ring, repeating this step for each of the four rings of old packing material. Once all of it was removed, I wrapped each new ring around the shaft and slid it into the packing nut, using the allen wrench to push it all the way in. Once all four new rings were pushed in, I removed the rag and screwed the packing nut back down. I tightened it by hand until it no longer dripped, and then used the stuffing box wrenches to set the stop nut tightly against the packing nut. The whole thing went very smoothly, and the bilge pump easily kept up with the inflow of water (it only turned on twice).

Now, about the Racor filter... I just changed the filter in April when recommissioning for spring. The bowl, however, had collected a fair amount of debris or sludge since then, so I drained the filter and cleaned the bowl. I wouldn't have changed the filter, but the o-ring between the filter and the bowl was shot. Next time I'll see if I can buy a spare o-ring at the hardware store, since the filters are expensive, and it probably didn't really need to be replaced. I reassembled the bowl and filter, filled them with filtered diesel, and put them back on. The engine fired right up, with no need to purge air from the lines.

Bad Vibrations?

2007-06-27T21:37:00.000-04:00

The repair took care of almost all of the shaft wobble. There is still a bit of movement (more like vibration), particularly in the 1200-1400 RPM range, but the problem is much improved. I'd like to get rid of the vibration too, but at least the situation is tolerable for now. If you look closely at this video, you can see what I mean. There is some vibration, but it's far better than what you see in the video in my last post. For now, I'll probably just monitor the problem and consider taking care of it in the off-season. If it worsens, maybe I'll reconsider.

I'm probably going to repack the stuffing box (again) this weekend, just to bring that back to baseline. The packing material is cheap, and the job is easy. It will help me eliminate possible causes if any problems continue.

Shafted

2007-06-26T19:53:00.000-04:00

I was hoping I wouldn't have any maintenance or repairs to write about for a while. Our Rock Hall trip over Memorial Day, however, made it clear that I needed to address the shaft wobble immediately. Here's a video of the wobbling shaft at cruising speed.

I scheduled haul out and repair at Hartge Yacht Yard for June 11. My expectation was that the wobble was some combination of bad alignment, bent shaft, or worn cutless bearing. Luke Frey (the yard manager at Hartge) added bad engine mounts and prop damage to the possibilities.

You might be wondering why I scheduled the repair at Hartge instead of Bristol Marine, at my home marina. I've mentioned before that Bristol staff are slow to respond and rarely communicate. I asked them during the off season to do the prop work and inspect/replace the cutless bearing as needed. After considerable hounding, they finally did the prop in April, but not the cutless, which I stupidly took as indicating that the cutless bearing was ok. It looked real nice, too bad it wasn't done right. I actually called and emailed them about the shaft wobble, but didn't hear anything back for a full week, when I received a work order for a short haul to inspect the cutless bearing. Well, this wasn't what I asked for, and Hartge was already scheduled to do the work, so I cancelled the work order. The manager only acted annoyed, when he should have been concerned about a unsatisfied customer in his own marina.

Anyway, while anchored in the Rhode River prior to dropping the boat off at Hartge, I swam underneath to check out the running gear. I discovered the prop nut and new zinc were gone, strongly suggesting that the nut was not fastened correctly with a wire or cotter pin to keep it from spinning off. I was very fortunate that the prop itself wasn't lost. That was the last straw. In addition to the extra haulout expense and lost summer time, I'm now out $80 for a new prop nut. I am done with Bristol. If I get around to having a frank conversation with the yard manager at Bristol, maybe he can convince me to give them another try.

Stay tuned, I'll post an update soon on the outcome of the repair.

Blowing My Own Horn

2007-05-19T22:21:00.000-04:00

Flybridge Horn Switch, 5/19/2007

Our horn was connected only to the switch at the lower helm. We do most of our piloting from the flybridge, so I really needed to get a second switch wired in. There was a momentary (i.e., push-button) switch already in place on the panel, but it wasn't connected to anything.

To connect the switch, I ran another 16 AWG positive lead from the fuse panel in the wheelhouse up to the flybridge switch, and from the switch to the horn. At the horn, I used a 3-way butt connector to connect both switch wires to the horn's positive lead.

New Old Posts

2007-05-10T17:18:00.000-04:00

I'd like to turn this blog into a complete maintenance record, so soon I'm going to start adding new posts for the various restoration and repair work that I've done over the past year. I'm planning to backdate them to the actual completion dates, so if you're interested, come back and check the blog archive on the left for posts between 5/2006 and 4/2007.

HOT HOT HOT

2007-05-03T16:53:00.000-04:00

Water Heater, 4/29/2007

This tank and mess of hoses is our new water heater installation. We've never before had hot water on a boat, so we're thrilled!

The old tank was badly rusted and leaked when we tried to fill it. While we would have loved to have repaired that immediately, we had bigger fish to fry last season, so we just bypassed it and lived with cold water.

On our Cape Dory 28, the tank is installed under the aft part of the port side bench in the saloon. It's pretty tough to get down in there, particularly to the back side of the tank where the rear mounting screws are. So, Michele did the hard work, crawling into the deep recesses of the engine room where I couldn't fit, to remove the old mounting screws and fasten down the new tank. Fortunately, we were able to lift the tank up through the storage opening in the bench, and lower the new one through exactly the same way.

One cause of rusted water tank is that whenever water spills on the mounting surface, the metal casing sits in it, rusting away. We tried to combat that situation by getting a stainless steel tank, and by mounting it on rubber washers, eight total, to lift the tank slightly off the surface. If water spills or drips onto the surface, at least it won't be sitting directly in it.

The mess of hoses you see in the picture make for a complicated installation -- somewhat more complicated than necessary, as a matter of fact. Generally, there are four connections: water in, water out, engine coolant in, and engine coolant out. (The water heater is electric, but also has engine coolant connections that let coolant pump through a heat exchanger, heating the water whenever the engine is running.) We complicated the matter by including a permanent winter by-pass connection (the white hose). When winterizing the boat, we can just flip a valve on the bypass hose and drain the tank instead of filling it with non-toxic antifreeze.

This was definitely one of the more frustrating projects for me. First, some hoses needed re-routing, since the connections on new tank were in different position than those on the old tank. Some of the fittings were stripped or crossthreaded, so I needed to get new connectors. Then, I couldn't seem to get them all to stop leaking. Every time we tested the system, something leaked, requiring one of us to climb down there, disassemble it, and start again. Finally, we got advice from Michele's father, who suggested that we simply weren't using enough teflon tape on the connectors. He was right on, too. On our final attempt, we really layered it on thick, and that did the job.

Overall, it was a tough chore, but the reward has been well well worth it. We love having hot water on the boat!

Key Requirement

2007-05-01T21:06:00.000-04:00

Wheelhouse Key, 4/30/2007

You'd think that having keys duplicated would be the easiest task on the list. But when you're dealing with a 20-year-old skeleton key for a boat whose builder no longer exists, it gets a little more complicated.

The wheelhouse on our Cape Dory takes just such a key, and unfortunately, the prior owner had only one. The folks at the local hardware store looked at me kind of funny when I presented it and asked for a copy. The nice man at the key cutting machine kindly suggested consulting a locksmith. I did, and he looked at me kind of funny too.

I spoke with some other Cape Dory owners, and one identified the blank for me as an "Ilco 53B". I was able to buy a few (well, four) of these on Ebay, and returned to the locksmith. He was skeptical, and offered 2 things: 1) to try to cut it for me, and 2) no guarantee. It didn't work. The main problem was the key is thicker than the original, and won't fit in the lock.

Here's the original:

Other than that, it's not really a complicated looking key. I since found a drawer full of miscellaneous blanks at the hardware store as well, and one of them looked pretty close. I decided to have at it with a dremel tool, and see what I could do on my own. After a reasonable looking attempt, I took a grinding stone to one of the Ilco blanks, and worked that one down a bit as well.

The results:

The top one is the Ilco, and the bottom one is what I found at the hardware store (also shown above on the keyring). It only took a year. Let's hope they work!

Spring Is In The Air

2007-04-20T19:59:00.000-04:00

Recommission, 4/20/2007

Recommissioning for spring was a pretty smooth process. The bulk of the engine work was done in the fall, so spring only brought a few more chores.

The process began with shrinkwrap removal, a couple weeks before spring launch. It was just a matter of cutting the wrap down the center line with a carpet knife, and then cutting tie-down strings to release it. Michele and I cut the huge pieces of wrap into somewhat more manageable-sized pieces, rolled it up, and used the tie-down strings to tie the rolls. Carrying it to the recycle pile at the marina completed the job. Once unwrapped, we reattached a few things like the bimini frame and antennas, checked all the seacocks, hoses, etc, so the boat was ready to drop in the water. Shipwright finally launched the boat in mid-April, and we attended to the rest of the work almost immediately.

I started by draining the pink antifreeze from the potable water tank, adding a quart of bleach, and refilling with water. I ran some of the bleach/water solution through each of the taps to fill the pump and the lines with the solution, and then left it sitting until the next day.

The engine required the most work. The first task was making sure the engine would start. It fired right up and seemed to run smoothly, bringing a heavy sigh of relief! With that anxiety passed, it was time to change the fuel and air filters. Changing the filters was relatively quick, if a little messy. But diesel engines don't like air in the fuel lines, so whenever fuel filters are changed, the air must be purged. Having never done that, I was concerned that it would be a struggle, and it certainly was. To get the air out, one is supposed to loosen a vent screw on the fuel filter, and then operate a little mechanical "lift pump" until the air bubbles subside and fuel starts escaping from the vent. Well, I pumped. And pumped. And pumped. And pumped some more. This went on forever. I finally tried starting the engine, and although it fired up, it quickly died. My guess is that there is something wrong with the lift pump, because I never did succeed in purging the air. Ultimately, I ended up pouring filtered diesel into the filter itself and then reinstalling it. After that, a few cranks of the engine had it running again.

A quick test run of the air conditioner showed it working fine. Nothing else to do there.

The next day, Michele and I got an early start, cleaning and prepping, rehanging curtains, flushing the potable water system, etc. A few hours of this had us more than ready to set out on our first cruise of the year.

Keep The Water On The Outside, Part 4: Hatch Gasket

2007-04-14T12:00:00.000-04:00

Hatch Gasket, 4/14/2007

Hatches tend to develop leaks over time as gaskets get hardened or worn out. Such was the case with the Bomar hatch over our v-berth. The leak wasn't severe, but it was enough where we had to keep a towel over the cushions when away from the boat.

There are a number of ways hatches can leak. Ours, at first, appeared to be letting water underneath the rubber gasket on the hatch that presses against the hatch frame when it is closed. The old gasket, roughly 1/2" square, was hardened to where it didn't really compress at all.

The most difficult part of this repair was locating the right gasket, and the first step was identifying the brand and model of the hatch. Our owners manual identified it as a Bomar hatch, but did not provide a model number. Pompanette, the maker of Bomar hatches, was tremendously helpful in figuring out the model. Two phone calls plus an email with the attached pictures lead the representative there to conclude that this is a Bomar Hi-Profile hatch, requiring a "lip-gasket", part number p2000-26. I ordered 8 feet from a marine supply, and it was exactly the right stuff.

The old gasket pulled out easily, but left some glue-like residue behind that cleaned up pretty easily with a little WD-40 and Simple Green. I installed the new gasket following the included instructions, and it went in easily for the most part. The corners were tricky, but a small screwdriver helped in tucking the lip of the gasket into the notch between the frame and the glass. I found that it's important not to stretch the new gasket while installing it, or it will shrink back, pulling itself out of the groove when it does. The new gasket provided a much tighter seal.

Unfortunately, it seems that the extra pressure from the new gasket produced another leak, through the handles (called "hatch dogs") where they go through the glass. The handles are seated in o-rings, which are supposed to seal against water while still allowing them to turn. That is a straightforward fix: Unscrew and take apart the handles, replace o-ring, reinstall.

Now we have a dry bed!

Prop Nut Zinc

2007-04-08T20:02:00.000-04:00

Replaced Zinc, 4/8

Cape Dory 28' cruisers require only one sacrificial zinc anode to protect the underwater metals from corrosion. It's a "perry nut" type, on the end of the prop shaft. Last year's zinc was about 1/2 gone, so it needed to be replaced for the start of the season.

Our boat's shaft is 1 1/2" diameter, which takes a prop nut zinc size "F". I found it in a few places online, including Hamilton Marine and BoatZincs.com. The zinc is relatively inexpensive, at around $15. Generally, only the zinc needs replacing, not the entire bronze prop nut, which is much more costly at about $90.

See The Light (Part 2)

2007-04-08T18:54:00.000-04:00

Stern light, 4/8/2007

In the fall, I installed a new combination masthead / all-round light, so that I could illuminate only the forward-facing portion (the masthead) while piloting at night. This setup requires a separate stern light, which I finally installed just before spring launch.

I ran the wiring for the stern light back in December while working on the cockpit courtesy lights, so most of this project was already done. I picked up an Aqua-signal Series 20 stern light (which matches the currently installed sidelights), and installed it on the transom. The transom is solid fiberglass, not cored, so simple screws weren't going to work very well. I had to drill through the transom to run the wires anyway, so I thru-bolted the light with 2.5" #6 stainless machine screws. On the inside, the nuts are under the gunwale anyway, so they don't affect the interior appearance. For a change, I managed to drill the holes without any serious fiberglass chipping. I put painter's tape over both sides (inside and outside), and drilled through from the outside. I scored the holes with the drill in reverse first, and then ran it forward to finish the holes. The inside chipped slightly when the drill went through, but nothing serious.

To finish the navigation lights project, I inspected the sidelights which needed a little maintenance. Both lenses needed cleaning, and the teak fairing block on the port side was cracked, so I repaired it with epoxy. I also picked up a spare bulb and added it to my emergency kit.

Now I can hardly wait for an opportunity to be out on the bay after dark. It's a completely different experience, and one that I loved in Seattle, so I'm looking forward to the bay at night!

Bronze Is Beautiful

2007-04-08T17:32:00.000-04:00

Propellor, 4/8/2007

Throughout our first summer ('06), we were never able to get the engine RPM up into the recommended range. Usually, that's a sign that you're "overpropped". Before launching this year, I had Digital Prop Shop recondition the prop and reduce the pitch from 18 to 16, which should let the engine spin up to the rated RPM. Also replaced the "prop nut zinc", a large sacrificial zinc on the prop nut, which helps prevent corrosion of other under water metals.

Cover Me

2007-04-08T09:12:00.000-04:00

Canvas Repair, 1/6/2007

The Sailrite catalog arrived yesterday. I don't plan to do a lot of sail-making, but as I flipped through the catalog looking at all the interesting things in it, it occurred to me that what I like so much about doing our own maintenance is the freedom and independence it provides. We do whatever we want, with no worries about finding competent, affordable help.

Our aft canvas was in rough shape. First of all, it was filthy. But more importantly, it was leaking and the fasteners were no longer doing their job. The velcro was falling apart, and the "lift-the-dot" snaps were tearing through the canvas (these snaps take a tremendous amount of strain holding almost the entire weight of the canvas in the air). My plan had been to take the whole thing to a canvas repair shop and have them restore it, but as I considered it more, it seemed like a managable "DIY" project, especially now that Michele has her handed-down sewing machine.

I scrubbed the whole thing in the backyard and it cleaned up nicely. I found velcro and marine grade vinyl at Jo-Ann fabrics, and new lift-the-dot snaps at Sailrite. Michele had a little sewing tool that worked great for cutting the thread to remove the old velcro, and I just used a screwdriver and pliers to remove the old snaps. Michele did all the sewing work to attach the new velcro and little vinyl reinforcements for the snaps, and I put the new snaps on. We sprayed the whole thing with 303 Fabric Guard, and ta-da, the canvas is like new!

Emboldened by our success, we bought new canvas material and snaps so we can try to make a canvas cover for the windshield from scratch. Looking forward to that!

Launch?

2007-04-07T09:54:00.000-04:00

April 7 and the forecast is... snow?! The boat was supposed to be launched this week, and I was planning to recommission the engine and other systems this weekend. Not sure if the yard actually got to it or not -- might still be on the hard. The freshwater system already has water in it. Hopefully the temps won't be cold enough to do any damage. I guess I'll be waiting until next weekend!

What's Done Is Done

2007-04-06T18:34:00.000-04:00

Here's the list of work I've done on the boat during the first year. If I think of anything I forgot, I'll update it later. Eventually, I'll probably make a separate post for most of the items, describing the work that each involved. Some of this is repair/restoration work. Some is basic maintenance. Some doesn't even qualify as maintenance, just routine tasks (like pumping out the holding tank) that I included because I needed to figure out how to do it. Michele helped with a lot of this list -- she's not afraid to get her hands dirty, that's for sure!

Had gelcoat damage along bootstripe repaired and bootstripe repainted
Had bottom painted with antifouling paint
Repaired frozen seacocks
Had deteriorated fuel hoses replaced
Had propellor repitched from 18 to 16
Replaced toilet
Replaced galley and head faucets
Replaced instrument bezel rings
Replaced engine room hatch gasket
Replaced door catches in v-berth storage
Repaired loose fiberglass along bulkhead in head compartment
Replaced hatch gasket
Found and fixed freshwater system leak
Repaired head compartment door latch
Mounted fire extinguisher
Replaced center windshield gasket
Cleaned and repaired aft canvas and applied waterproofing
Cleaned interior
Cleaned exterior, including mold and mildew on flybridge
Cleaned engine room, bilge, and keel
Cleaned A/C filter
Cleaned and scrubbed mildew from all curtains and fabric
Removed cockpit coaming
Bought new lines and fenders
Replaced anchor rode and shackles
Replaced missing screws in cockpit portside step and teak trim
Replaced gaskets on cockpit hatches
Tethered aft cockpit hatch
Pumped out holding tank
Removed name decal from transom
Washed, polished, and waxed hull sides
Touched up bottom-paint
Checked all fuses and bought spares
Duplicated ignition key
Found key blanks for wheelhouse door key
Duplicated wheelhouse door key
Replaced prop nut zinc
Changed oil and filter
Changed crankcase breather
Cleaned seawater strainer
Changed transmission fluid
Changed coolant/antifreeze
Replaced air filter
Replaced fuel filters and purged air from lines
Winterized air conditioner
Winterized fresh water system
Winterized head/holding tank
Checked battery water levels
Drained seawater, circulated antifreeze through raw water system
Replaced engine zincs
Replaced coolant/antifreeze cap
Replaced engine seawater intake hose and fixed chafe protection
Serviced seacocks
Repacked rudder stuffing box
Repack shaft stuffing box
Greased shift and throttle cables
Greased steering cable
Replaced A/C intake hose and plastic elbow fitting
Cleaned engine, sanded and repainted rusted areas
Cleaned corrosion from all brackets, bonding wires, engine mounts, etc, and sprayed with corrosion block
Primed and painted rudder mounting brackets.
Cleaned and assembled emergency tiller
Re-bedded leaking stanchion bases
Replaced batteries, battery cables, and battery switch
Replaced all-round light with new combination masthead/all-round light
Rewired Nav/Off/Anchor light switch for new light configuration
Installed new stern light
Repaired side navigation lights (upcoming shortly)
Replaced flybridge compass
Removed Loran and old VHF radio
Removed Loran antenna and extra VHF antenna
Installed new VHF with flybridge remote microphone
Installed GPS (upcoming shortly)
Installed blower
Replaced stereo and corrected speaker wire runs
Replaced galley and head outlets with GFCI outlets
Replaced shorepower cable
Replaced deteriorated electrical wire
Replaced household wire nut connectors with heat-shrink butt connectors in bilge
Rewired bilge pump directly to battery
Added chafe protection for wire runs to cockpit
Straightened and supported all electrical wire in engine room

Wow! I get tired each time I look at that. I'm pretty anal about getting the boat shipshape, so some of the work I brought upon myself. Lots of it, however, was required by BoatU.S. insurance. Gale Browning, the surveyor who did our pre-purchase survey, was very thorough and provided a laundry list of things like this that needed attention.

These are things I still plan to do. By no means a comprehensive list...

Reseal/regasket wheelhouse windows
Replace main VHF antenna
Replace hot water heater
Replace port wiper motor
Re-crimp battery cables
Connect flybridge horn switch
Caulk around galley and head sinks
Maintain exterior teak
Replace battery boxes
Chafe protect lines
Replace anchor locker latch
Wash and wax top sides

What's In A Name?

2007-03-25T20:03:00.000-04:00

Removed Old Name Decal, Waxed Hull, 3/25 - 3/25/2007

Renaming a boat is generally considered bad luck, but I'm not all that superstitious. The real hurdle to renaming, in my mind, is the work involved in removing the old name. In our case, the prior owner named the boat "Cuanna", and applied the name decal, in huge font, to the transom. In addition, the home port "Annapolis, MD" appeared below the name.

The low tech approach for removing vinyl decals is to heat with a hair dryer and scrape them off with a plastic scraper. I tried that (and it worked fine on our old boat), but it was painfully difficult and slow in this case. The fancy solution is a 3M stripe removal tool. The tool is essentially a wheel, made of layers of eraser-like material, that attaches to a drill (3M actually recommends a high-rpm air tool, but my 1200 RPM drill worked fine). It still took some time and effort to remove the decals, but for $20, this was definitely the way to go. It makes an unbelievable mess, so if you do something like this, I recommend a painters suit or at least long sleeves. Once the bulk of the decal was gone, wiping with acetone removed the rest of the adhesive.

Following that effort, Michele and I cleaned and waxed the hull for the first time since our purchase. What an exhausting chore! The hull was a bit oxidized, so we made three full passes: wash, 3M Cleaner & Wax, 3M High Performance Paste Wax. We applied the cleaner/wax with a terry cloth bonnet on a random orbital buffing tool, then applied the paste wax by hand, buffing it out with a clean terry cloth bonnet on the buffing tool, some touch-up buffing by hand, and a final pass with a lambswool bonnet. On the transom, I made one last pass with Starbrite Teflon, in hopes that the teflon coating would help prevent sooting from the diesel exhaust.

Here's a shot of the transom with the letters removed and the new stern light installed. It all turned out great, but wow were we sore on Monday.

Keep The Water On The Outside, Part 3: Stanchion Bases

2007-03-25T12:00:00.000-04:00

Rebed Stanchion Bases, 3/18 - 3/25/2007

I was absolutely dreading this project, concerned that it would be a disaster. The bow railing includes vertical supports (stanchions), mounted to the deck in 8 locations. The stanchion bases are attached with bolts into the cabin below, and sealed against water intrusion. Two of the bases on the starboard side were not sealed properly, so water was getting into the cabin in heavy rain or heavy seas. My main concern was whether I'd be able to break apart the bases from the deck to remove the old sealant. If the prior job was done with a permanent adhesive like 3M 5200, removal would be very difficult and likely to damage the deck. Fortunately, they came up easily, so it seems the prior seal was done with something more appropriate.

Rebedding deck hardware is not a trivial task, but it is a manageable two-person task. The hardware is through-bolted into the cabin, so removal and reassembly requires two people: one on the outside with a screwdriver, and one on the inside with a wrench.

Here's a description of the process Michele and I followed. Hopefully it will be helpful to others who have to tackle the same project.

Remove old fasteners, using a screwdriver on deck, and a wrench from below. Sometimes, just getting to the nuts on the underside is difficult, but Cape Dory provided reasonable access.
Remove old adhesive with a scraper and/or sandpaper. Scuff the surface to provide some grip for new adhesive.
Wipe up any dust or residue with acetone.
Examine deck for coring issues. If the deck is soft, the coring must be repaired. Otherwise, it's generally considered best to overdrill the fastener holes (or just dig out some of the wood core around them), fill with epoxy, and then drill new holes through the epoxy for the fasteners. This way, the epoxy prevents any intruding water from getting in the wood core. In our case, it appeared that this had already been done -- the wood core looked sealed already.
Place wide painter's tape over the area where the base will sit. Then place the base down on top of it, and score the tape (don't damage the fiberglass!) around the edge of the base. Lift the base, and remove the circle of tape from underneath the base, leaving an outline of the tape to protect the surrounding area.
Apply a polysulfide sealant, such as 3M 101. Using a putty knife, spread a layer of sealant on both the deck and the underside of the stanchion base. Apply a small amount to the underside of the bolt heads as well.
Gently set the base against the deck and insert the bolt. Be careful not to apply to much pressure, or all the sealant will squeeze out.
Have helper place a backing plate over the screws from the inside, and thread on nylon locknuts. (At minimum, use big fender washers for the backing plate.) Snug the locknuts, but do not tighten. It's best to turn the nuts, not the bolts, so that the sealant under the bolt heads does not come out.
Remove tape from around the base, lifting any squeezed out sealant.
Wait a minimum of one week for the sealant to cure. Protect from rain if possible, but a good sealant will cure even if wet.
Have one person hold the bolt heads firmly with the screwdriver, while the other person tightens the nuts from the inside. Again, turn the nuts, not the bolts. At this point, it is crucial not to break the seal under the bolt heads. The nuts should be tightened firmly and securely, but not so much that the deck compresses.

Once completed, there should be a nice layer of flexible, cured sealant squeezed down tightly between the base and deck.

Now Hear This

2007-03-18T19:58:00.000-04:00

Electronics, March/April 2007

Our boat, at the time of our purchase, included only basic electronics: depth sounder, VHF radio (lower helm only), and LORAN. This was enough to get us by for our limited use during the first season, but we had to do all our navigation by charts and compass, and step down to the lower helm any time we needed to use the radio. Upgrades were certainly in order.

Our adventures on the bay don't demand a whole lot, but minimally I wanted a new VHF with DSC capability, an extension microphone for the flybridge, and a GPS. Down the line, I'd like to add RADAR and another depth display (possibly on the GPS) for the flybridge. The GPS was a bit of a dilemma, though, as I wanted a display at both helms without having to program routes and waypoints on two separate machines. The only choices that meet those requirements are a networked system (big bucks), or a portable that can be moved between helms.

For the VHF radio, I chose a Standard Horizon Quest-X GX-1500S, with a RAM+ extension microphone. Some makers, like Uniden, offer a wireless extension microphone. That sounds great (easy to install, at any rate), but brings two drawbacks in my mind. First, you have to keep the remote charged somehow, which means some kind of wiring anyway. Second, wireless means it can be dropped overboard. That would be an expensive contribution to Davy Jones' locker!

For the GPS, I went with a Garmin 478. It includes a built in antenna, all coastal chart data, separate marine and auto mounts, and rechargeable batteries. The benefit of batteries is that it can be removed from the mount and transferred to the other helm without ever turning it off.

Installation raised only one serious issue. The old electronics, attached to the ceiling above the helm, had wires routed through the cabin headliner. Nightmare. I removed a molding strip, peeked above the vinyl headliner, and realized that the entire panel would have to come down to get at the wiring. With some trepidation, I went with an alternate plan: I drilled a hole (with a 1" holesaw) in the column used for routing wires to the bridge. This turned out to be a piece of cake, and vastly simplified installation. The only complication is ensuring that that, while drilling, no wires or cables already in the column are damaged. To protect them, I took several layers of heavy cardboard and inserted them into the column to shield the existing wires. A rubber grommet dressed up the hole, and all the new wires were routed easily. Removing old wires was as simple as cutting off the connectors and pulling them through; they pulled out easily without disturbing the headliner.

I installed the VHF right where the old one was. The LORAN is now in a box in my basement, destined to be a collector's item. The depth sounder moved to the right, where the LORAN was. Since the roof is curved, I added spacers to the left side of each so that they are more level. I kept the GPS down at the helm, where it would be more easily visible and have a clearer view of the satellites through the cabin windows. I expected to have to buy an additional marine mount, but as it turned out, the automotive mount worked perfectly well at the lower helm. It also came with a "beanbag" mount, which works perfectly fine in the car, so we can easily take it along for road trips as well.

I have two steps yet to do:

I have not connected the power cables for the GPS. For now, it will run on the rechargeables at both helms.

I want to connect the GPS and VHF together. Once done, the DSC automated distress signal from the VHF will include position data from the GPS. Likewise, any DSC calls that we receive will display position data on the GPS.

These, however, are projects for another day.

Sounds Good

2007-03-17T12:00:00.000-04:00

Replaced Stereo, 3/17/2007

The old stereo was dead. I swear it worked when the boat was surveyed, but we had to live without it for the first season.

The stereo is in the cabin, just above the galley area, well-protected from the weather. In general, a marine stereo would be a better choice to stand up to salt air and spray, but since this one is so well protected, I used a regular car stereo (a Sony CDX-GT310). I chose this one for three reasons: 1) it plays CDs, 2) it's satellite ready, and 3) it has a front aux input for an MP3 player. OK, four reasons: I got it for about $100.

I had to file the box opening just a little bit to make it fit. The speaker wiring was a bit of a mess, and it appeared that the old wire was split between the front (cabin) and rear (cockpit) speakers. Generally, that's not good for the amp, so I also ran new speaker wire to each of the speakers. Now I just need to spring for an MP3 player. I have my eye on an iRiver Clix2 -- can't wait for the 8GB model!

Keep The Water On The Outside, Part 2: Stuffing Box

2007-01-13T12:00:00.000-05:00

Repacked Stuffing Boxes, 1/13/07

Where the drive shaft and rudder shaft pass through the hull to the underside of the boat, there is a stuffing box that prevents water from entering. This is essentially just a hollow nut around the shaft, in which packing material is compressed to prevent water intrusion. Tightening down the nut compresses the packing. Typically, for a drive shaft, the nut is tightened to the point where the packing allows one or two drops of water per minute into the bilge. The water keeps the stuffing box cool and the packing material lubricated. Eventually, however, the packing material becomes old, hardened, and brittle to the point where it no longer does the job. At that point, new packing is in order.

The picture here is looking down on the rudder post. The reflection is the water that shouldn't be there. Over our first summer, I tried tightening the packing nut, but it didn't prevent the inflow of water. I repacked both the rudder and shaft stuffing boxes while the boat was out of the water for winter. It can be done in the water, but it's a bit more frantic, since water flows in at a pretty decent rate.

The best description of repacking I've ever seen is here: Re-Packing A Traditional Stuffing Box Unfortunately, this wasn't available when I did mine, but I muddled through anyway. I initially ordered the wrong size packing, but after exchanging for the right stuff, it wasn't bad. On some boats, the hardest part is being able to reach the stuffing box (particularly V-drives, where the engine is directly above it). Other than that, it's definitely easy DIY.

Hosed

2006-12-31T12:00:00.001-05:00

Replace Hoses, 12/2006

Rubber hoses deteriorate over time. They become dried, cracked, or brittle, which can cause them to burst, which would be bad!

The surveyor called out our engine intake hose as needing replacement. The worst part of this replacement (aside from the cost of 10' of 1 5/8" wire-reinforced hose) was routing it through to the seacock. I have some plastic chafe protection surrounding the hole in the bulkhead to keep the edges of the wood from wearing through the hose.

The surveyor also suggested replacing the air conditioner intake hose and the plastic fitting on the pump. In this case, the hose and fitting were in fine shape, but not the right type for below the waterline. Regular plastic fittings shouldn't be used, so I replaced the elbow with marelon. And the hose, like the engine intake hose, is wire-reinforced and resists bursting and collapse.

Blower

2006-12-31T12:00:00.000-05:00

Blower, December 2006.

An upgrade required by BoatU.S. Insurance...

Blowers are generally used to evacuate gasoline vapors from the engine compartment before starting the engine, so that the vapors don't ignite and explode. Diesel powered boats don't require blowers, because diesel vapors aren't explosive. Nonetheless, BoatU.S. required that I install one.

Meh, blowers are cheap and easy to install, so I didn't bother fighting. I can use it to evacuate heat after shutting down the engine. I installed it inline in a vent hose close to the DC switch panel, and ran the wires to the panel. Piece of cake, compared to all the other wiring I was doing.

Wired

2006-12-30T12:00:00.000-05:00

Electrical Wiring, 12/2006

In general, the electrical wiring on this boat was done pretty well (well supported, chafe protected, etc), but in a few areas it was suffering from 20+ years of vibration and exposure to salt air. This was most obvious in the cockpit courtesy lighting, where exposure was the worst and the wire had become so brittle that the lights weren't even working consistently. In a few other areas, repairs were made with household wire and wire nuts, which (to me) are unacceptable on a boat, just begging for further deterioration. One such place was the bilge pump wiring. Wire nuts on bilge pump wiring? Yikes -- if there were ever a place for waterproof connections, it's the bilge!

I tore out the wires to the courtesy lights and ran new Ancor 16 GA duplex safety wire to the cockpit and wired in both cockpit lights in parallel. (At the same time, I ran a wire for the stern light that I plan to install in the spring, to complete the navigation lights.)

I also replaced the various wire nuts with waterproof heat-shrink butt connectors. While tackling that, I changed the bilge pump wiring a bit. It was set up so that the pump could be turned on manually or set to "automatic" with a switch at the helm. That setup required the main battery switch to be on all the time to provide power to the pump. I changed it so that the battery float switch is now wired directly to the deep-cycle battery (with its own inline fuse). Now I can turn off the main battery switch, and the pump will still have power if the float switch is activated. This is a much safer setup: the main battery switch is off, so nothing else is accidentally left on, possibly draining the battery, or possibly even starting a fire. The only downside is that you can't turn the bilge pump completely off; the float switch is always supplied with power unless disconnected from the battery.

Grease Is The Word

2006-11-26T17:14:00.000-05:00

Serviced Seacocks, 11/26/2006

The Spartan seacocks on our boat were frozen in place when we bought it. The boat was in the water almost immediately, so I couldn't disassemble them for complete service. I did just enough work to get them operational, postponing full service until haulout.

These seacocks are fairly easy to maintain. Spartan suggests annual maintenance, but word on the water has it that every two or three years is sufficient if they are operated frequently. Disassembly is straightforward: remove the lock nuts from the barrel, and slide the barrel out of the housing. Michele and I disassembled the three we have (engine intake, head intake, and head discharge), cleaned them thoroughly with paint thinner, and then gave them a light coating of waterproof grease before reassembly. We used Morey's Super Red waterproof grease (available at Napa), which came highly recommended by other Cape Dory owners. A light coating is sufficient: anything more just squeezes out during reassembly.

The only tricky part is getting the seacock adjusted properly during reassembly. The barrel is tapered, so if you tighten the nut too much, it becomes difficult or impossible to operate the seacock. I overtightened one, and we had a hard time getting it back out. Snug is best. The handle should move smoothly, but shouldn't be so loose that vibration will cause it to move.

Shocking

2006-11-26T12:00:00.000-05:00

GFCI outlets, 11/26/2006

Another suggestion by the surveyor, and one that makes sense: replace the galley and head outlets with GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupt) outlets. GFCI outlets have a breaker that shuts off the power if there is a ground fault. For instance, let's say you're standing in water and providing a ground path through your body, and you don't really like all that electricity passing through your body. Well, a GFCI will help you by interrupting the circuit.

I've installed these at home before, and it's easy, so I thought it would be easy on the boat. You see where this is going, don't you? Riiiiight. The back of a GFCI outlet is a bit bigger than that of a regular outlet, and the holes in the bulkhead on the boat were cut just to size for a regular outlet. No way to get a saw in there, so I used a grinding bit attached to a drill, and ground the edges of the holes until they were large enough.

I also needed a new outdoor-type water resistant outlet cover for the head compartment (we shower in there, so it's likely to get sprayed). Newer GFCI outlets have a square face, so the old cover did not fit. As usual, all more effort than expected, but a good upgrade for safety.

A Little Rusty

2006-11-12T12:00:00.000-05:00

Corrosion Cleanup, 11/12/2006

Rust... corrosion... it's everywhere. Well, it was everywhere. Seacocks, rudder mounting bracket, bonding wires, engine mounts, the engine itself. Salt air is such a hostile environment. It really takes a heavy toll, particularly on metals.

Michele and I went through everything on the boat, cleaning and removing the corrosion. For the most part, the job wasn't nearly as bad as it might seem. We attacked most of it with tooth brushes and a mixture of baking soda and water. In a few spots, we needed to add a wire brush to the arsenal, but we tried not to resort to that. Once we loosened everything up, we cleaned up the mess with the shop vac, and gave everything a good coat of Corrosion Block. That should keep the problem at bay for a while. What a difference!

Put Away Your Toys

2006-11-11T12:00:00.000-05:00

Winterization, 10/28-11/11/2006

Nothing fancy here. This was my first time winterizing a boat, so I was a little nervous about doing it right. Also, this was my first winter with this boat, so I don't know when a lot of things were last done. As a result, the whole process probably took a lot longer than it will in the future.

Pumped out the holding tank. Flushed a gallon of pink antifreeze through the toilet.
Ran the water system dry. Poured in two gallons of pink antifreeze, and opened the taps until pink flowed through the whole system.
Hot water tank was bypassed already, so nothing to do there.
Pulled the intake hose for the A/C off the seacock, held a funnel in it, and poured pink antifreeze in until it came out the discharge.
Filled the fuel tank with diesel, added stabilizer.
Changed oil and filter.
Changed crankcase breather.
Drained raw water from the cooling system. There are a handful of petcocks for draining off the water, and some are positioned such that the water won't drain directly to the bilge. I drained into a small flat basin that I could fit under them, and emptied the basin each time it filled. Definitely learned something here: Get a hose that fits over the petcocks and let the water drain into the bilge.
Drained and replaced coolant/antifreeze. Like with the raw water system, next time I'll get a hose for the petcocks so I can drain the antifreeze directly into disposal containers. Fortunately, the coolant doesn't need to be done every year.
Replaced engine zincs. The raw water cooling system has zinc anodes that screw into caps, that then screw into the side of the heat exchanger. There are a handful of these, and some went in easily, others not so much. Part of the problem here is that I think the pencil zincs available at the store do not match the original specs -- they are longer, so they don't quite go in all the way. I cut some of them with a hacksaw so they fit better.
Cleaned seawater strainer. Here's a tip, if you do this in the water make sure the intake seacock is closed. If the strainer is below the water line when you remove the cap, well, you can guess what would happen!
Circulated pink antifreeze through the raw water system. Basically this just involves pulling the engine intake hose from the seacock and sticking it in a bucket of antifreeze. Run the engine, and the antifreeze is sucked through. There are arguments about whether to use non-toxic pink, or toxic ethylene glycol. Apparently, many people are concerned that the pink stuff doesn't inhibit corrosion, but the stuff I used specifically says that it does. The advantage with pink stuff is that it's non-toxic, so in spring you just run the engine and blow all of it straight out the exhaust.
Changed antifreeze cap. Old cap was rusted badly, so I replaced it.
Greased steering cable.

I saved the fuel filter change for spring. It doesn't hurt them to sit over the winter, so I did this for one main reason: I wanted to make sure that when I first try to start the engine in the spring, I could be sure that any failure to start isn't just due to air in the fuel lines. I had never bled the air from the lines before, so I wanted to save this for spring, after I know the engines are ok.

So that's about it. There are various other miscellaneous things, like cleaning, taking down curtains, propping up cushions, etc, but the list above is the bulk of it. It was work, but it was interesting and educational. Shrinkwrap will be done soon, and then the boat is put to bed for winter.

See The Light (Part 1)

2006-10-15T12:00:00.000-04:00

Navigation Lights, 10/15/2006

This is a fun one. Powerboats under 12 meters in length are required to display navigation lights that include, as shown in the picture:

red and green sidelights
either a single all-round white light, or a separate masthead light and stern light

Our white light was a single all-round light like the one on the left, but it was in bad shape (shedding fiberglass -- ouch!) and our surveyor pointed out that it would shine directly in our eyes if we pilot from the flybridge.

So I planned to replace it with separate masthead and stern lights, as shown on the right. One hitch: At anchor, the vessel must display a single all-round light (and nothing else). There are special lights for this, called combination lights, which when wired properly will illuminate just the forward-facing masthead portion for navigation (to be used in conjunction with a stern light), and 360 degrees for anchoring (to be used by itself). I replaced our all-round light with one of these combination lights, and plan to install the stern light over the winter.

The light switch is a 3-position switch: NAV-OFF-ANCHOR. If you give some thought this, you'll soon discover a puzzle: The "nav" position must illuminate the masthead part of the combination light, plus the red, green, and stern light. The "anchor" position must illuminate both portions of the comination light (the masthead and aft-facing portions). So the forward-facing portion of the combination light must illuminate in either switch position. But you can't just connect it to both positions, because that would effectively connect the NAV and ANCHOR positions together, so that everything would turn on regardless of which way you flip the switch.

The solution to this puzzle is a "double-pole, double-throw" switch. Double-throw refers to the two "on" positions: on-off-on (nav-off-anchor). Double-pole refers to the ability to turn on two circuits in either position, rather than just one circuit each. The "nav" position circuits are set up so that the sidelights and stern light are on one circuit, and the masthead is on a separate circuit all by itself. The "anchor" position is set up with the aft-facing portion of the combination light on one circuit. The second circuit is then connected together with the masthead circuit from the "nav" side. In this way, the masthead light is kept on its own separate circuit, isolating it from all other lights, but that circuit is activated no matter which way you throw the switch.

Incidentally, the same situation arises even if you use an all-round light for navigation, rather than separate masthead and stern lights. The all-round circuit must turn on in either switch position, and must be separate from the red and green sidelights.

See? I told you this would be fun.

Directionless

2006-10-06T19:41:00.000-04:00

Compass, 10/6/2006

A barely functional compass makes navigation a bit... challenging. A compass has one job: point to Magnetic North. Our flybridge compass had virtually no fluid, so it didn't do it's job very well. A compass can be repaired, but ours was in pretty bad cosmetic shape too, so I installed a new one.

Installing a compass isn't as easy as you might think, either. The compass has to be aligned very carefully with the keel of the boat, or the "lubbers line" won't tell you your true (er... magnetic) course. Plus, a new compass requires compensation. No, you don't have to pay it a salary -- not that kind of compensation. I'm talking about making adjustments to the compass to compensate for ferrous metal on the boat that might cause inaccurate readings. It's a challenging problem. Ritchie Navigation has a good description of the compensation process, but if you're really interested in the amazing history of such a "simple" device, read Gurney's book, "Compass: A Story of Exploration and Innovation". Incredible!

Our 20-year-old compass was a Ritchie, model HF-72, no longer in production. The replacement model, HF-742, allegedly includes a retrofit adapter so it can be installed easily in the old location. Ah, but I should know better by now, it's never that easy. The adapter didn't quite fit either, so I ended up having to patch the original mounting holes and drill new holes in the right places. In the end, though, I successfully navigated my way through another project, and learned a lot about this magnificent instrument along the way.

Fuelish

2006-09-01T12:00:00.000-04:00

Fuel Hoses, 9/1/2006

Recommendations from our surveyor were divided into three groups: Essential for safety/seaworthiness, Required by USCG regulations and/or ABYC, and Desirable/Cosmetic. Following the survey, BoatU.S. insurance required that we repair most of the deficiencies, including (strangely) many of those on the Desirable/Cosmetic list. I fought back on most of those in the last category, not because I won't make the repairs, but because I don't want my insurance to be contingent on cosmetic repairs. They yielded on most of them.

Among the most serious of the problems on the "Essential" list, however, were deteriorated fuel hoses which needed to be replaced with "type-A USCG-approved flame-retardent hoses". The before/after picture below shows one of the fuel line connections, and you can see that the original hose and crimp fitting (on the left) were in pretty bad shape. Although this type of repair probably isn't difficult, it is pretty serious, even for diesel fuel (which is far less explosive than gasoline). So, I elected to have Bristol Marine (at Shipwright, our marina) do the repair.

Bristol hasn't steered us wrong yet. They seem to do good work, and my only complaint is that they sometimes need repeated prodding before they get around to doing the requested work. That's pretty common in busy service yards, and certainly worth tolerating if the work is done right.

Ground Tackle

2006-08-08T12:00:00.000-04:00

Anchor rode, August 2006

This is how you know the anchor rode (or at least the thimble) needs to be replaced. The thimble is so corroded that the shackle, which connects the thimble to the anchor chain, is stuck in one place and won't come off.

The double-braided line attached to the thimble is too old to be re-spliced on to a new thimble, so we've replaced the entire line with 200' of 1/2" three-strand line, new thimble, new shackle, and 20' of 1/4" chain. I'm partial to three-strand rather than double-braid; not quite as friendly on the hands, but I like how it looks and it has a bit more stretch, which is good for an anchor rode.

Cleanliness

2006-07-04T12:00:00.000-04:00

The interior is clean and looking good! Michele did most of the cleaning while I worked on other repairs, and she did an amazing job. There was mildew everywhere, particularly on the carpeting along the v-berth walls. We really didn't want to sleep on the boat until the mildew was gone, and Michele worked hard to get it all done for the holiday weekend. She spent lots of time on the wood as well. What a difference!