September 4, 2011

This week, most of the work done for Circadian was done at home in the shop. That was partly due to the nature of what had to be done, and partly because I needed to show the house. A pleasant surprise came midweek with a call from Clark Beek, who owns Condesa, the only other Salar 40 on the West Coast of the U.S., and perhaps the entire U.S. Clark spent nearly 10 years sailing Condesa around the world and is a regular contributor to Sail magazine. His blog is www.condesa.org. He, his new bride, and a couple of friends were doing a cruise of the Delta, and wanted to visit me and Circadian. While waiting for their arrival that afternoon, I had just enough time to install the new teak grate in the cockpit and see if the perforated deep tray I had gotten at a restaurant supply house would work as a guard for the cabin heater chimney cap. While not elegant, the stainless steel tray will work just fine, and at $25, a helluva lot cheaper than something custom or marine. I also added a teak grab handle between the companionway and the chimney cap to reduce the likelihood of someone grabbing the hot chimney cap by mistake.

About 1400, Condesa turned the corner into Hidden Harbor and we had the first raft-up of the Bay Area Salar Sailors or BASS. One hundred percent participation of the national membership-not bad for a first effort! I spent a delightful afternoon with Clark, his bride Allison, their friends, and Lulu, their rescued Mexican lab mix. It's hard to believe that nearly a year has passed since we last got together on Condesa (see September 24, 2010 post).




The rest of the week was spent laboring in shop. The big task was getting the outboard back together. Cleaning and reassembling the carburetor, while tedious, went fine with the help of the new manual. Hardly any extra parts leftover afterwards, either.
The biggest challenge was reconnecting the lower drive unit after replacing the impeller. It was frustratingly difficult, and I paused in the effort more than once to preserve my sanity and avoid permanent neck pain. The basic problem is that at the same time three different shafts must be aligned with corresponding holes deep inside the housing. Adding to the difficulties, the coupling for the transmission linkage shaft can rotate out of alignment or slide out of reach while trying to get it all together. Even the usually helpful manual warns you must be patient and not expect to get it on the first try. Reminded me of the classic British understatement in the manual for my old MGA: "To access the rear mounting bolt, remove the interior of the car." Ultimately, some sanding of the corroded end of the cooling water intake shaft, a little lube, and a few taps with a hammer got it done- after only about a dozen attempts.
That done, I noticed that the access hole for the transmission shift linkage connector was missing its plug. That would allow lots of salt water into the drive unit, not a good thing. Not wanting to negotiate the gauntlet of getting a genuine ancient Mariner part, I opted for modifying standard hardware store fare. A cut down rubber stopper of the correct size seemed to work fine. Time will tell.


At this point, the shop work on the outboard was done, and it was ready for the testing and tuning that has to be done in the water or in a water tank. To prepare for that, I emptied the old stale fuel out of the separate auxiliary tank and in the process discovered that the intake tube had broken off inside the tank. I was able to remove the fitting and get a 99-cent piece of 3/8 vinyl tubing to work as a replacement. If it doesn't stay in place, I'll have to bite the bullet and get a $20 genuine replacement part.

Next, I turned my attention to making some modifications to the refrigerator installation. When I bought Circadian I was skeptical about the limited ventilation for the frig compressor that was closed up in the cabinetry behind the frig. There was only a single four-inch hole for air circulation. While running the frig during a series of very hot days last week, my skepticism was validated. The compressor was overheating and the frig simply would not cool down enough. Removing the old ice box lid covering the frig and compressor pretty much cured the problem, but obviously was not a practical permanent solution as it left a big square hole in the galley counter. I decided to cut a vent hole in the old ice box lid to let the heat from the compressor escape and bought a 12 volt box fan to install in front of the original hole in the side of the cabinet to suck in cool external air and blow the hot air out the new top vent. If possible, I'll wire it in parallel with the compressor so that the new fan comes on only when the compressor is running. To finish it off as well as prevent things from dropping into the new vent hole, I added a teak fiddle around the hole. The hole will also be covered by a screen. Check future posts to see if it all works....