December 3, 2010

I got a call from Scott on Wednesday telling me that the crane would be at the marina the next day to step someone's mast and I could use it to remove the big old genset that was now sitting in my cockpit. I took the day off on Thursday so I could bring the boat over to a corner of the marina known as "Bill's Boatyard" for the operation. The "boatyard" is nothing more than spot next to the bathrooms that's close enough to the bank for the crane to reach out to boats squeezed into the corner. While waiting for the crane to arrive Thursday morning, I installed the polished stainless heat shield for the bulkhead by the cook stove and started work on a cover for the windlass motor hanging down from the ceiling in the v-berth. About noon we got the boat moved and tied up at the "boat yard."I removed the teak doors from the aft cabin companionway so they wouldn't get damaged as the monster genset swung around. We padded other vulnerable areas with plywood, carpeting and blankets. Dennis, who was paying for the crane to re-step his mast, helped Scott and me prep for the big hoist. We rigged tackles to control the position of the big genset as it was eased up and around the overhanging aft end of the doghouse. Once the crane arrived, it only took a few minutes to hoist the monster out and set it on the back of Scott's flatbed truck.It all went without a hitch...until I started Circadian's engine to bring her back to her berth.

The oil pressure warning buzzer continued to blare after the engine started, even though the idiot light was not on and the gauge showed 75lbs. Not wanting to risk destroying a nearly new engine, I immediately shut it down. Turning the key to the "run" position without starting the engine got the same indications: buzzer blaring, no idiot lights on, and 75lbs of pressure showing on the gauge. Very odd. I tried starting the engine again just long enough to see if I could tell if oil was circulating normally by looking in the fill hole on top of the valve cover while it ran. I couldn't tell, so I shut her down immediately again. By this time we had to get Circadian out of the way so Dennis could get his boat in position to re-step the mast. Scott's brother Jeff ended up towing me back to my slip using the marina's little work boat while Scott helped Dennis re-step his mast. It didn't help that it had begun raining; I was now cold and wet as well as disheartened. I spent some time escaping from the rain by perusing the troubleshooting section in the engine manual. It advised that the symptoms indicated a faulty ground. That might also explain the intermittent failure of the electronic engine hour meter (although that was still working fine). While that's a whole lot better than oil pump failure or something worse, it's still a pain in the ass to find the fault. I checked all the connections under the instrument panel by sight and feel, and everything seemed clean and snug. The connection to the sender appeared solid as well. I tried cleaning and re-securing the ground connections I had messed with when I installed the radar ground originally. No luck. To add to my woes, I discovered the newly rebuilt and re-bedded skylight in the doghouse roof had developed a new leak.

I was out of time and enthusiasm, so I put things away and called it a day. In the next few days I'll study the engine wiring diagrams and see if I can sort out the grounding circuits. Based on my previous unrewarding experiences trying to solve ground fault problems, it will probably be easier and more successful to just add a new ground circuit. As for the skylight leak, hopefully all that will be required to staunch it will be tightening the mounting bolts. Sigh. Always something!

November 15, 2010

This post may be a little late, since I'm still dragging from a pretty intense weekend. During the week I fabricated some teak blocks to mount new latches for the teak hatches, which had none to secure them. I also did a bit more finishing work on the table parts and mast post cover.

The main mission for the weekend was to remove the big old Westerbeke 4.4 kw genset which had never been completely installed and whose operability was dubious. I don't need or want a big monster like that, and I had previously struck a deal with Bill, the itinerant master diesel mechanic, that he could have it if he removed it. Once out, I can use the space for something better like a work bench with organized tool storage and a vise.

Friday was the big day, so I took the day off to lend a hand and keep an eye on things. I was there early, and so spent a couple of hours working on the forward hatch that still had a bit of a leak despite rebedding with butyl and a new gasket. I relied on the wisdom of Sherlock Holmes to solve the mystery: "When you have eliminated the impossible, what remains, no matter how unlikely, must be so." In this case, although unlikely, the leak had to be around the butyl between the metal hatch frame and the teak mounting base. Because of the way the base is constructed and where the water was entering, it was impossible to be leaking elsewhere. I concluded I needed to compress the seal more using the clamping method that had recently proven effective on the portlight installation. I removed the hatch's mounting screws and clamped and squeezed and clamped and squeezed until I had gone entirely around the perimeter. I replaced the screws tightly and set the hose running water over the hatch to test the seal. About this time Bill arrived, along with Scott, one of the two brothers who own and manage the marina. The two of them spent the better part of the day on the big hoist.

The first step was to remove a panel from the cockpit lazarette so the genset would clear. That entailed removing some teak trim strips that hid a seam and then cutting through a single layer of fiberglass along the seam on the inside. Next, a beam and support posts were set up using pre-fabricated lumber components that Bill had made earlier. The rest was basically nervous pulling on the chain hoist and tugging on the genset while I tried to keep the wobbling post and beam stable (... to the accompaniment of a great deal of gratuitous grunting, groaning, complaining and cursing) until the heavy genset was resting on the cockpit engine cover I had built back in May. It was reassuring to see that it could hold an estimated 800-900 lbs without protest (genset plus two big guys).

Because I had been diverted and distracted from monitoring my testing of the seal on the forward hatch, the water had been running over the hatch for a loooooooooong time. No leaks !!

The plan for removing the genset was to move the boat at high tide on Saturday to a part of the marina where Scott's backhoe could be used to lift the genset out of the boat, then move the boat out from under it and back to her berth. I started up Circadian's engine to warm it up prior to the move. The electronic engine hour meter was now working!! Amazing! It must have been a computer glitch that 'rebooting' cured. Unfortunately, when the appointed hour for the move came, Scott couldn't get the backhoe started. A little impromptu exploratory surgery by Bill revealed a broken starter motor shaft. So much for plan A. Plan B: Do it next weekend if the backhoe is back in operation. Plan C: Use the crane that is supposed to be on site some time in the next week or two to restep someone's mast. I know...God is laughing! Perhaps that's why there is now three days of rain in the forecast for next weekend.

Since I wouldn't be spending Saturday getting this big white elephant of a genset the hell out of the middle of my cockpit, I went back to work on "the list:" sort out the forward lower spreaders and make sure all the turnbuckles are secured with cotter pins, get the anchor light working, wire up the steaming light, move the radar ground, complete the rebuild of the teak hatches, etc, etc, etc.

Solving the mystery of the non-functioning anchor light was the first task of the day, since I would likely need to climb the mast and it's best to do that in the calm of early morning. This time it was the wisdom of "Occam's Razor" (Look for the simplest solution.) that helped. I checked the breaker and current was getting through, which left the splice to the wire coming through the mast, the wire in the mast, and the new LED bulb I had installed when the mast was down months earlier. The splice seemed solid, and it would require re-doing it to check it. A bad wire through the mast was too horrible to contemplate, and besides, it had checked out fine when the mast was down. The simple thing: the bulb had worked loose during the process of restepping the mast. So, I turned on the breaker and climbed the mast to check the bulb. Sure enough, it was no longer properly twisted into the socket. A little twist and I had an anchor light. I rejoiced in my good fortune!

Since the electricity gods were looking upon me with favor, I next moved the radar gound from the engine to a small ground plate on the hull. That was routine, including the usual uncomfortable contortions. Encouraged by my success, I decided to tackle the mystery of the forward lower shrouds. When I restepped the mast, I carefully measured from the masthead to the port and starboard main shroud chainplates to make sure the mast was centered and vertical. As I snugged up the lowers, I sighted up the mast to make sure it remained straight. That theoretically should result in the lowers being centered as well. However, in the words of Yogi Berra, "In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is." The mystery was "Why is only the starboard lower apparently just enough too short to prevent the turnbuckle from screwing down enough to allow inserting a cotter pin through the shaft?" So, this time it was Yogi who provided the essential clue. I had to actually measure the distance from the lower shroud attachments on the mast to the chainplates. That, in theory, meant climbing up and down the mast three more times (once to secure the tape on one side, once to move it to the other side, and once to take it down). In practice, it required four round trips because the tape fell off once. It's amazing how the mast gets taller and the steps get further apart each time. So, I now had a total of 5 round trips up the mast. But I had my answer: The mast was perfectly centered, so the two shrouds were simply not exactly the same length. I had the answer, but what was the solution? The simplest solution would be slightly longer turnbuckles. Not cheap if I had to buy them, but simple. I now had another stroke of amazing good fortune: months before I had bought two turnbuckles to replace a couple that went missing after the move from South Carolina. They were the wrong size and I had intended to return them, but never did. Amazingly, they were just exactly what I needed to replace the slightly too short turnbuckles on the forward inner shrouds. I was a happy, but tired, sailor!

I had just enough energy left at the end of the day to lay a coat of Cetol on the bases of the teak hatches I had been rebuilding. I also coated the exposed 3M 5200 to protect it from UV radiation.

Sunday I faced up to the challenge of mounting the teak blocks to the underside of the teak hatches so I could mount the new latches. The tough part was drilling holes in the side of the hatch cover with less than 3/8 of an inch clearance from the plexiglass on top. I bought a 12-inch-long 1/8 inch drill bit in the hope that I could get the four required holes drilled before I broke the bit. The angle would be slightly off, but it would be close enough if it worked. It did. And, I didn't even break the drill bit!

But that was the last of my great string of good luck. Some of the old bronze hinge screws for the hatches had corroded away inside the teak and broken off when I tried to extract them. I tried drilling them out using a self-centering bit for drilling pilot holes for mounting hinges. It was a great idea in theory; in practice, it was a disaster. The drill bit broke off down in the teak next to the broken screw. Now I had a bigger problem. But, I couldn't deal with it now. So, I added some neoprene weather stripping to the hatch lids, and screwed them down as best I could. At least the new latches worked nicely. Next step will be trying screw extractors to saw a hole around the broken bit and screws, then plugging the hole with a piece of dowel, and finally drilling a new pilot hole in the dowel. Sounds good in theory. Stay tuned to see how it works in practice.