See The Light (Part 2)

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

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

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?

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

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?

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

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.

1. 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.
   
2. Remove old adhesive with a scraper and/or sandpaper. Scuff the surface to provide some grip for new adhesive.
3. Wipe up any dust or residue with acetone.
4. 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.
   
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
   
8. 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.
9. Remove tape from around the base, lifting any squeezed out sealant.
   
10. 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.
    
11. 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

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

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

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.