I'm Back

I know, it has been a VERY long time since I've posted anything. There are numerous reasons behind that, but mostly I haven't had much sailing/cruising/live-aboard or "escaping the rat race" related to write about and, essentially, that is what this blog is all about. It had been just over a year since we left the boat and put her up for sale. So, why am I posting now...well...I have returned to the boat.

I'd like to say that I was here to prep the boat for a trip to the islands or some other warm and picturesque destination, but that is not the primary task.  The person taking care of our boat had identified a few minor issues that started popping up, so the main purpose of the trip is to check up on the boat, perform some maintenance and repairs. I'm also here to try and figure out what to do about the sale of the boat, the broker and the listing company. That whole mess has become quite a disappointment to us, however, that is a story for another time.

Snow along the side of I-95 in South Carolina

I arrived at the boat last Monday, just as the unusual winter weather was releasing its grip on the east coast.  It was rather bizarre to see snow on the side of the roads here while there was no snow in Colorado or much of the drive out.  Driving along I-95 in South Carolina there was snow on the side of the highways.  There was also evidence that it had been plowed since all the lane reflectors were neatly piled along the side of the road with the last remnants of the snow.

While it had been several days since the snow fell, there was still a fair amount on the boat.  Snow covered much of the deck and the trampolines. Under the snow was a good inch thick layer of ice. It took about half a day just to clean it up so I felt safe loading my stuff on the boat.

Snow just doesn't look right here.

Of course, only a couple days later I was in shorts and a t-shirt performing a much needed wash of the hull (that is, after the marina turned the water back on at the docks). It seems that a few weeks around November or December, all the birds along the east coast congregate in the area for the sole purpose of making a mess of the local boats.  It took about 6 hours for me to do a basic wash of the boat. Finally, the boat is looking respectable again.

Over the next few weeks I'll be continuing my efforts to get her back into a travel-ready state and deal with the brokerage issues.  Hopefully the weather will continue to stay warm.

Finally Putting the Sailrite to Work

One of the bigger tasks (ok, two) that we needed to get done was upholstery on the boat. We bought a memory foam mattress with the intention of modifying it to fit the "owners" berth and that requires a new mattress cover. The salon cushions are the original blue-green vinyl and, as vinyl tends to do with age, is cracking and needs to be replaced.  So, one of my bigger tasks recently was to resolve these two issues.

The mattress required an angle be cut in the foam so it would fit and then a new mattress cover be created to fit the modified foam.  Cutting foam is a relatively straight-forward process.  Sailrite and other outlets sell a special cutter for foam that is a bit pricey, but a simple electric kitchen knife does exactly the same thing. Going to the local thrift store, we found an electric knife for $4...saving over $100 for that tool. Carefully measuring the angle and marking lines on both sides (adding just a bit of size for a better fit once in the cover), it was an easy matter for the two of us to cut the foam by guiding the knife along the line. The result is a nice fitting memory foam block for the cushion.

Cutting the new mattress to size

For the cover we found a nice charcoal gray Sunbrella material.  It is recommended that, to prevent raveling, Sunbrella be cut with a hot knife.  Just like cutting synthetic rope, a hot knife fuses the edges of the cut fabric to prevent it from coming apart. Naturally, Sailrite sells a hot knife for this purpose and, naturally, it is a $100+ tool. Not wanting to spend that much money and since Sailrite even mentioned this alternative in their videos, I bought a wood burning tool at the local big-box hardware store at a savings of over $80. The wood burning tool is essentially a soldering iron with a flat blade tip. Using this tool and a metal ruler (for straight lines) or freehand (for curves) the knife does a great job of cutting the material. It is a bit slower than using scissors, but not having to worry about the fabric coming apart at the edges is worth the effort. I used a large metal ruler as a backing to cut against and it worked well.  Sewing up the edges and adding the zipper were very straight forward when using the tricks outlined in several of the Sailrite how-to videos.  We are very happy with the result and now the boat has a nice, new, comfortable master berth mattress.

New owners berth mattress in place

I'm working on the salon cushions now. It started by copying some patterns that a fellow Leopard 38 owner had.  Unfortunately, these patterns didn't quite fit our boat (I would have thought that the boats would be the same but these patterns would have left a couple inch gap in a couple places) so I had to modify the patterns to improve the fit. I again used techniques outlined in the Sailrite videos, except I used normal brown paper instead of the fancy fiber-reinforced plastic sold by Sailrite. With the seat cushion patterns complete, we cut new foam for the seats and did a test fit and they look good.  We found another Sunbrella upholstery material that looks good and I'm now in the process of cutting the pieces to make the seat cushions.

Bad Boat Day

Some people have bad hair days.  When you are living on a boat you can have bad boat days (after all, we generally don't worry much about our hair).  Today was one of those days.  I guess I should have expected it having just had a nice positive with the move and partial installation of the hardtop...you know, yin and yang.

It all started when I got up this morning.  I usually make coffee before my wife gets up.  I grind some beans and put them in my AeroPress.  Then I proceeded to knock the AeroPress over, and the freshly ground coffee landed on the galley floor.  I'm a little grumpy before my first cup-o-joe, so this mess didn't help. I drag out the little shop vac and dispense with the coffee on the floor and grind some more. Fortunately there are no other mishaps, and I drink my coffee while checking the weather on the computer.

What?  Where did this 90% chance of rain in the morning come from?  Yesterday evening the forecast said nothing about rain.  I look out the window and sure enough, it's the one time the meteorologists got it right. Guess I won't be installing the window in the top today.  The forecast also showed that winds up to 15 mph were likely.  Now that the top is bolted on in the back, it probably won't just blow away; however, the front end is only resting on jack stands sitting in my cockpit.  After all the work we have put in on the thing, I figure the prudent thing to do would be to lash it down to the deck so it is held onto the stands just in case some stronger gusts make an appearance between now and when the front supports are complete.

I find some line and determine the D rings on the deck are a perfect place to tie it down as the line would be right across the front quarter of the top.  Then I remember that one of the D rings is a little loose.  Guess I had better fix that first. I wonder if I will need to make a backing plate for the D ring as I've found the backing plates on much of the hardware on this boat to be a little lacking. I open up the access panel to access the nuts on the back of the screws holding the D ring. Imagine my surprise when I find that not only was there no backing plate, there were no fender washers or nuts either. The screws were just dangling through the fiberglass like little sealant-coated metal stalactites. I look around and see no evidence of nuts or washers below them.  No metal, no rust, nothing. Apparently, the only thing holding this D ring in place was the failing sealant.  The only explanation I can come up with for the lack of retaining hardware is that I think the boat had been repaired in that area in the past.  I could see a worker going to install the D ring, getting the sealant down and then being distracted and forgetting to install the hardware.

Oh, and the sealant was failing.  Below the stalactites is a recess in the fiberglass.  This recess apparently has no where to drain and is full of water.  Hmm...wonder how long this has been leaking.  I go back up on deck and give the D ring a pull and out it pops with the bolts.  This is where I discover that the manufacturer didn't bother to seal the holes in the cored deck.  The result of this is that the balsa core (the deck is made of two layers of fiberglass with a core of end-grain balsa) is quite wet.  Actually, around the holes it passed wet a while ago and was more decaying now.

Cleaning up the D-ring mount.

I spend most of the rest of the day digging out wet and/or rotting balsa from three 10 mm holes using a bent piece of safety wire.  There is a trick for getting wet balsa core out of a hole where you can take an alan wrench or bent piece of safety wire, put it in a drill, and use that to dig out wet core from a hole.  But not in this case. The balsa core appears to be sealed into small-ish sections, with fiberglass dividing them and the D ring was mounted right over one of these dividers.  The wrench couldn't turn full circle without hitting the divider.  All I was left with was taking a bent piece of safety wire and tediously coaxing each little bit of balsa out of its hiding place. I did reach clean looking balsa about the time the sun was setting so now I need to let it air out and dry for a few days. Once dry, I'll do one last sweep to clean out any remaining loose bits and then fill the void with epoxy to make a permanent repair to the core and seal the core material so this won't happen again.

There was another little discovery while dealing with the D ring.  Remember that recess I mentioned that was holding water.  It sits at the top of the bulkhead that separates the hall and the shower.  While inspecting the bulkhead to make sure there weren't any other surprises, I found one.  The only saving grace is that it isn't too serious of a problem.  As I was "percussion testing" (a.k.a knocking on) the bulkhead wall in the shower, I hit one spot near the top and heard a slosh.  Not the click of solid fiberglass nor the dull thud of a delaminating fiberglass core, but the sound of water. The bulkhead wall appears to be fine, but water apparently made its way between the bulkhead wall and the plastic panel that lines the shower.  Looking across the surface of the panel, you could just barely see the slight bulge. Obviously the water needed to be let out.  The only solution I could think of, short of ripping down the whole panel, was to drill a small hole at the low spot of the bubble and let the water drain.

We have a fountain on our boat.

Not yet sure how to repair the panel or hole, but it does look like a nice place for a towel hook.

So, no work on the project at hand was done today.  Instead, it was spent preparing to repair other "discoveries".  Of course, I guess I can't complain too much.  If these problems weren't discovered, the issues might have become much worse, requiring much more extensive repairs. Such is life living on a boat.

Oh, and the welder I found did drop by to make a wood template for the supports so that was a tick in the positive column.  Guess I lied, a little work was done on the top after all.

Almost Sank The Boat

Ok, not really...but we did let a bit more seawater in than we wanted to.  But let me back up a bit...

Today is the day we are supposed to launch the boat.  Finally, we could be off of "the hard" (what us sailors call it when a boat is intentionally put on land...where it obviously isn't supposed to be) where the boat sits in the air, acting as a solar oven while surrounded by trees that block even the slightest of breeze.

Where Rover started the day.

But first, we needed to touch up a bit more bottom paint.  When a boat is put on the hard, it is sitting in the air on blocks or stands.  When the bottom paint is as thick as it is on our boat (yes, at some point we need to do a full strip and repaint...but I'd like to get another year or two out of it first), the blocking can actually stick to chips of the paint and pull them off of the hull. This may also have something to do with the original surface prep, but in any case, it seems to happen.

So, early this morning the Travelift operator showed up to pick the boat up off the blocks so we could touch up those areas.  Hanging in the Travelift slings, we cleaned and touched up areas under the blocks and bottom of the keel. Now, the Petit Hydrocoat paint we are using typically wants 12 hours or more to dry, but we were scheduled to go in between two and three...so hopefully it will dry enough in time. Thus far I've liked the Petit Hydrocoat paint, the boat has remained pretty clean and there are no noxious fumes from the paint.  The only negative I've found so far is that it takes a while to dry, and getting the yard to give me enough time to allow the paint to dry while off the blocks (they prefer hanging in the Travelift slings to re-blocking a catamaran it seems) is near impossible.

With the paint applied and drying, we headed out to breakfast.  Since the boat was swinging in the lift, we figured we should probably limit any time on board to only absolutely necessary...and going out for breakfast seemed like a good option.  After breakfast and taking the dogs for a walk at a nearby park, we returned to the boat.

We decided to apply some wax to the hull at the waterline (we started waxing the whole hull a day or two ago, but ran out of time after one side of one hull), since it is easier to do on land than floating in a dinghy.  We hand applied wax to the bottom 8 inches or so of bare fiberglass.  By the time we were done, it was almost time to go back into the water.

We quickly went around the boat, removed the tarps we had put up to help shade us from the sun, and set up dock lines and fenders so we could be moved out of the haul-out slip and over to the slip we will call home while I work on the hard top.  The lift operator arrived while we were getting the tarps put away, so we felt a bit rushed.  This turned out to be a bad thing.

The boat made its slow roll from the yard to the haul out pit.  The boat was slowly lowered into the water and as soon as I was allowed, I hopped on board and started inspecting the through hulls to make sure none were leaking.  I started with the starboard engine room as there were two down there and the access is through the hatch in the sugar scoop.  They looked good when closed, so I opened them up and there were no leaks.

Then I went inside.  As soon as I got through the door I could hear running water.  Oh crap.  I quickly followed the sound to the starboard holding tank cabinet and I knew what the problem was.  I opened the cabinet door and found the valve in the half-opened position that I left it in when I installed it. In our hurry to get the boat going, I forgot to go through and check each of the through hulls. Since we had two through hulls that were not connected to hoses yet, we basically had two big potential holes in the bottom of the boat.  I quickly shut off the valve and the leak was stopped, but not until about three buckets full of water made its way into the bilge.  Good thing it didn't take too long to find.

Fortunately, after shutting off the valve, no other leaks were found. I burped the prop shaft seals to remove the air and allow water to cool the seals and then it was time to start the engines.  The engines fired right up.  We made our way out of the haul-out pit and over to the narrow fairway leading to the slip. It was a tight fit but we made it into the slip without incident and are finally back in the water.

Rover at the end of the day.  Much better.

In the slip there was even a nice evening breeze so we were able to open up the boat.  It is soooooo nice to be back on the water and not stuck in the hot, dusty, breeze-less boatyard.  So, maybe tomorrow I'll go back to the yard and set up my work area for the top...or maybe I'll take a day off.

Note: The last two posts were a day or so behind due to internet access issues...yes, in the marina/yard. Seems marinas are difficult places to implement WiFi with all the boats that have repeaters blasting away at full power.

Almost Ready To Splash

Whew.  Yeah, that is about the best word to describe the last few days for both my wife and I.  But the good news is that, barring any unforeseen issues (ahem...yeah, we are talking about a boat) we should be back in the water tomorrow.

After pulling the cutlass bearing sleeve the other day, I needed to wait for the yard shop to open up so we could press out the old bearing and press in the new one. I have to admit, I do like the fact that the bearing holder unbolts from the boat and slides can be pulled out.  Being able to take the sleeve holding the bearing to the shop and use a press to pop out the old bearing makes that a breeze.

Old cutlass bearing removed and new in the holder.

Once the old bearing was pressed out, I cleaned up and inspected the holder.  The previous bearing wasn't the phenolic sleeve bearing that is called out for in the manual but was a bronze sleeved bearing. There was some corrosion in the holder, but thankfully it was still in pretty good shape.  We pressed in the new phenolic sleeve bearing and I headed back to the boat. I then used a drill to create a dimple in the bearing for the set screw and then installed the set screws with some Locktite.  The assembly was now ready to install.

Installation of the bearing holder was surprisingly easy.  I thought, given how difficult it was to extract, putting it back in would be similar. But, after cleaning the holder as well as the shaft log where it resides, it slid into place with only minimal resistance.  There was a fair amount of debate on the use of any sealant during the install, but I decided to put a small amount on the back of the flange just as it was when I removed it. I also used a rubber mallet to make sure the holder was seated properly along the bottom edge since there was a possibility that using the bolt alone to seat the holder (or some combination of it and the sealant) might cause a slight mis-alignment. At least theoretically this could have contributed to the encountered wear, so the mallet seemed like an easy solution to a problem that might or might not have existed.

Propeller installation was very straight forward.  I cleaned all the metal contact surfaces to ensure that the prop zinc takes the corrosion before the bronze propeller or stainless steel shaft does.  I'm actually a bit surprised about all the bronze and stainless touching as I would think that would lead to dissimilar metal issues.  A stainless steel prop shaft, stainless steel key, bronze prop, stainless steel locking washer, bronze prop nut, and a stainless steel screw that holds on the zinc. I guess that zinc must work well.

Everything back together.

With the through hulls, cutlass bearing, and propeller installed, there were only two tasks left.  First, I needed to reconnect all the hoses to the through hulls.  It had been several days since the sealant was applied so everything should be about as cured as it was ever going to be.  I ended up buying two boxes of AWAB stainless steel hose clamps to replace a bunch of the cheaper, rusting, hose clamps that were removed.  I like these clamps because they are high-quality stainless, seem to be well constructed, and are designed so they don't cut into hoses like standard clamps do.  Unfortunately the down side is they are a bit pricey compared to standard hose clamps...but I think well worth the difference. I also needed to replace one hose as the new valve required the hose to be about an inch longer. So, other than a couple of the black water hoses (a system we still need to investigate a couple issues with...thanks to the last boatyard), the "plumbing" should be back in working order.

The last task is to touch up the bottom paint.  Pulling through hulls out required the hull be cleaned around the through hull location on the hull so the sealant will do what it is supposed to do (unlike what was done with the air conditioner through hulls).  This results in the need to repaint around the areas. Of course, the smallest amount of bottom paint you can get is a quart, and after using about a half-pint to touch up the areas, we ended up touching up the keels and the waterline since they can usually use a little help. Interesting thing about bottom paint is that it apparently fades in the water.  I bought the same paint as I applied last year and the new paint was noticeably darker than what was currently on the hull.  Oh well, I guess the fish won't mind and I'm not going to spend another $400 or more in paint plus a few extra days in the yard to repaint the whole thing when most of the bottom paint is in good shape and was working well.

So, I think we are ready.  Hopefully come tomorrow, we will be back in the water.

Do It Right

Ok, I'll admit, I'm a bit of a perfectionist.  Always have been.  Guess I've always believed in the tired phrase of "you can do it right, or you can do it over".  Unfortunately much of the work that has been done on my boat prior to my stewardship didn't follow along those lines.  Some of it might have been prior owners not knowing the right way to do things (and I know I certainly don't...but that is what the internet is for these days), but a lot of it seems to be the work of marine "professionals".

This through hull replacement project has turned into another case of discovering things done wrong.  When you have a composite cored hull, it is important to keep water from being able to get to the core. When water penetrates, it can cause the core material to separate from the fiberglass skins, and that significantly weakens the structure. As I previously mentioned, some people with Leopards have reported that they have found through hulls where the core was not properly sealed.  So, needless to say, I was a bit worried about this project, despite the pre-purchase survey finding no indications of moisture around the fittings.

Well, the good news is that all the factory through hulls are in solid fiberglass, no core material visible.  Unfortunately, it appears that a couple of my through hulls were not done at the factory.  The two through hulls that feed raw water to cool the air conditioners were not installed properly.  The holes were drilled through the cored hull, and no measures were taken, other than the bedding sealant used, to seal off the core.  In addition, they didn't even bother to remove the bottom paint from the area before the through hulls were installed.  It was a ticking time bomb.

Fortunately, we seem to have caught it in time. The sealant that managed to stick to the through hulls and the small amounts of exposed gel coat that weren't covered in bottom paint had just started to fail, and there was only a very small amount of moisture in the cores right at the holes.

The proper way to put a hole through a cored hull is to drill a hole larger than the one you need, fill it with epoxy fiberglass, and then drill the smaller size hole you need in the new fiberglass.  This results in a solid fiberglass sleeve that not only seals the core material from any potential water leaks, but also provides a surface with higher compression resistance for the clamping of the through hull.  Since I already have a hole and drilling a larger hole isn't really an option at this point, the repair technique I will be using consists of digging out some of the core material around the hole (this will also get rid of any wet core material) and then filling the created gap with a thickened epoxy to create the solid sleeve and seal off the remaining core.

Cleaned up holes packed with silica gel.

Most of yesterday was spent cleaning off the old bottom paint that was found underneath the through hull (how does pressure washing take this stuff off and yet a scraper and sandpaper have such a tough time with it) and digging out the old core material to about the diameter of the through hull head (3/4" deep or more).  It took quite a while to chip out the balsa with a Dremel tool, screwdriver, and hex wrench (think bent piece of wire).

Once I had the groove cut out and could see good balsa all the way around the holes, I decided I really wanted to make sure that all the moisture was gone.  I started with a heat gun, but wasn't making any real progress...and I didn't want to sit there for a day or more waving the heat gun back and forth across the holes.  Then I remembered I had a bunch of extra silica gel from making those desiccant packs for my tool storage containers.  We took some tape and sealed over the bottom of the holes, then filled the holes up with silica gel, working it into the areas where I removed the core and taped off the top to prevent atmospheric moisture from interfering with the gel.  Hopefully, leaving this stuff in there until we are ready to fill it with epoxy will extract any latent moisture.

We were lucky.  The poor practices of the original installer were caught before any significant damage was done.  If it weren't for the need to replace a couple through hulls and the decision to replace them all, we might not have found this issue until much more extensive and costly delamination repairs would be required.  And getting things done right is how we ended up in a boatyard doing work ourselves in the first place...well that and the cost of getting things done by "professionals".  Now is my chance to do it over and do it right.

Finally a Nice Day

Since arriving in Brunswick Georgia, the weather hasn't been all that cooperative. Lots of colder days and rain and wind...great for finding leaks on your boat, but not so good for getting any work done outside. Today it finally dried out and warmed up, so no more excuses, time to get some work done that has been on my list for a while.

First task was to wash the boat. There is still dirt, pine needles, and a few other things left over from Deltaville that really needed to go. So, around 10am it was warm enough to start playing with water outside. In addition to my biodegradable wash soap, I added a little bleach in hopes it would help cut through the "Deltaville stains" and started washing.

This is one time I definitely don't like owning a catamaran. All that interior space equates to a lot of exterior surface to wash...and wash...and wash. I scrubbed every nook and cranny on the deck of the boat and didn't finish until around 2:30pm.  4.5 hours to wash the deck...and while it looks better, it still needs more work to get rid of some of the stains that seem to have soaked deep into the gel coat. Once I get that resolved, then I need to wax. Guess it takes 2 to 3 days to thoroughly clean and wax our new home.

Since there was a little more daylight left, and I wasn't completely exhausted yet (ok, I was pretty tired after all that scrubbing), and since I had a couple people available to help, I decided to go up the mast and see what I could figure out about the nonfunctional anchor light. I gather up the supplies (screwdriver, pliers, multi-tester, wire brush, Scotchbrite pad, best guess at the bulbs that might be used, etc.) and get the chair and rig setup to go up the mast. And, naturally, while I was doing this, some bird decided my boat looked too clean and left his mark on my clean hull. I remember when I used to like birds.

I again used the block and tackle system that I borrowed from my boat neighbor Bill (more on this setup in this post). Unfortunately, this proved to be a mistake. The added blocks in the setup cost an additional foot or so of lifting ability. The result is that I was about a foot short of being able to reach the anchor light that sits at the very top of the mast. It wasn't a complete loss though, I did manage to get a picture of my first trip up to (almost) the top of the mast.

It was too late in the day to remove the block and tackle system and try again, so I guess I'll be heading back up there tomorrow...if the weather cooperates.

A Better Hook

The anchor that came with our boat when we bought her was a 45 lb. CQR which I believe was the standard anchor they outfitted the boat with when they were new.  While the anchor was still in OK shape, I wanted to beef up our main ground tackle since we intend to spend a fair amount of time at anchor.  I definitely don't want to be up at night when the wind blows worrying if our anchor would drag.  That would be...you know...a drag!  (sorry, couldn't resist)

In my research on anchor recommendations, many of the older style anchors such as the CQR or Delta (plow), Bruce (claw), Spade, or Danforth are good for one or two particular bottom types (sand, mud, rocks, grass, etc.), but not others. I'd like my primary to work in a wide variety of conditions as I don't want to carry an abundance of anchors or have to switch them out depending on what I'm floating over at the time. This led me to some newer design anchors that seem to be getting favorable reviews in tests and in real life with varying bottom conditions.  These newer style anchors are more of a scooping spade design with a roll bar to aid in orientation so it digs in. I decided this style of anchor is what we should be looking for.

So, after a bunch of online research, one of our missions at the boat show was to check out these newer style anchors from Rocna, Mantus, and Manson and see if we could find one that we liked and would fit our boat (the anchor locker sits behind the trampolines and I had some concern about the anchor fitting in the available space). Most cruisers also say to figure out the recommended anchor for your boat and then go one size larger, which added complication to the already difficult fit issue. We found displays at the show that included each of the anchors and compared the various designs, sizes, and (of course) price.

We had narrowed the decision down to either a Rocna or Mantus.  In the end, we chose a 65 lb. galvanized Mantus for our primary hook.  The reason for choosing the Mantus over the others boiled down to a few key considerations.  First, I knew of several other boats that have recently taken the plunge with Mantus and have been happy with their decision.  Watching the test videos from Mantus as well as independent comparisons of anchors from other sources indicated the anchor set, and reset, well in a variety of conditions.  The people at Mantus were very helpful and friendly when we were asking questions and did their best to help determine fit and assured us they would work with us if there were any fit issues.  And finally, the price of the Mantus anchor is just a bit more friendly on the cruiser's pocketbook.

Mantus at the Annapolis Boat Show

As my wife and I were leaving the boat show, I realized I had once again forgotten to take some pictures for the blog and so I ran back in to take pictures. I stopped back by the Mantus booth to get a picture and we started talking again.  The result is that I now have my first official "sponsor".^* If you have noticed, thus far I have avoided advertisements or sponsors on the blog. I didn't want to get into a situation where I felt obligated to write anything other than how I felt about a product.  But I also realized that I often use the recommendations and sponsor lists from other blogs when making decisions, so it did make sense that I should provide that same help to others.  And if it is a product I want anyway, getting a little compensation for all the time spent blog writing and providing thoughts on various products is something I needed to consider.  But don't worry dear reader, I fully intend to continue to tell you how I really feel about the various products we use,

Anchor Packaging...only 73 lbs.

Now back to the anchor.  Our anchor was shipped to the boatyard where I am currently busy working on the boat.  When it arrived, it didn't take me long to decide to assemble and install our new hook (can you say kid at Christmas).  The anchor arrived disassembled and attached via webbing to an open wooden box inside a cardboard box.  I assume it must have been a bit of a struggle for the delivery man to wrestle a 73 lb. anchor plus wooden box, based on the condition the box arrived in, but the anchor itself was in fine shape (I'll assume any anchor should be able to handle whatever a delivery man can throw at it).

New anchor assembled and sitting next to our old CQR

Assembly consists of bolting the shank and the roll bar to the fluke.  Mantus provides and instructs that you use a liberal amount of grease on the bolts and holes so assembly is a bit sticky.  While we plan to keep ours installed, the anchor does come apart so it could be a good spare for those with limited storage space...but you may need to bring some extra grease along for reassembly (I assume it is recommended for each assembly).  I then shackled the anchor to our chain rode (after buying a new anchor shakle) and manually cranked the anchor up into its new home on my bow.  The anchor fit like a glove with the roll bar just clearing the strut between the two trampolines.

Our new Mantus in its new home.

So, we now have a larger, newer style anchor on Rover...and I think my wife and I will be able to sleep better on the hook knowing it is there.  Can't wait to give it a try and let you know how it holds. Now the question is....what to do with the old CQR.  Do we replace our backup Bruce anchor?  Do we keep both?  Do we sell it?  Hmmm.

^*Sponsor Disclosure: In the interest of full disclosure, the company mentioned in this article has graciously provided free or discounted products or services to help support our effort to sail away from the rat race. The opinions expressed in this blog are still our own and not indicative of the opinions or positions of the company. We do encourage you to check out the products or services provided by this, or any, company that supports the cruising community.

Bottom Paint

After patching the hole left when the through-hull was removed and finding and fixing a few other defects in the bottom of the boat, I needed to get some bottom paint back on those spots so the sea life that likes to make itself home on boat hulls would be deterred.  With all the patches, and since the boat is already out of the water, we decided that I should put a coat of paint on the entire boat.

While we were at the boat show, we checked out a few vendors of boat bottom paints trying to decide what we really need.  There are a variety of paints out there.  There are hard bottom paints as well as ablative varieties.  If you already have paint on the boat, you also need to determine compatability of the new paint with the existing paint.  For instance, you can't put a hard paint over an ablative paint.

Since we already had an ablative paint on the boat and we didn't want to strip off all the existing paint, we needed to choose an ablative paint.  Most ablative paints have copper oxides as one ingredient to deter marine life.  Some also have other chemicals that deter algae and grass growth.  Yet others have additional biocide chemicals.  Recently, new water based paints have appeared on the market that tout easier cleanup with lower VOC content.  It can get rather confusing.

I liked the idea of the water based options due to their easier handling, thinning, and cleanup.  We also liked the more "eco friendly" (if you can call a bottom paint that) concepts of some of the non-copper based paints.  Unfortunately, at $200 a gallon or more, some of these paints I felt were just too expensive for my first foray into bottom painting.  In the end, we decided on Pettit Hydrocoat.  It is water based, claims it can be applied to just about any other bottom paint (and we didn't know what had been previously used), and was the cheaper of the water based paints on sale at the local hardware store for about $150 a gallon.

The lightly sanded and taped off bottom

The preparation instructions on the can said to lightly sand the bottom before application.  The yard claims they just power wash, scrape off any growth and loose paint, and then paint the boat.  I decided I would go with the manufacturers recommendation and lightly sand.  I bought a pole sander, some 80 grit sandpaper, sanding sponges, goggles and a respirator.  Let me just say, in hindsight, I should have picked up a Tyvek suit as well.  The result of sanding is very fine particulates of the old bottom paint and the stuff sticks to everything.  After sanding, I rinsed off the boat to get rid of as much of the dust as possible.

Painting isn't that difficult.  One of the keys is to have the paint well shaken before application and then keep it stirred during application.  Apparently the copper tends to settle so you need to make sure it stays mixed.  First, I took some painters tape to mask off the waterline so the bottom paint only goes where it is supposed to. After using a brush to paint the corners and hard to reach places, the rest of the paint is rolled on with a short nap paint roller.  The Pettit Hydrocoat didn't have any obnoxious fumes and really reminded me of exterior home paint during application...other than the need to keep stirring it.

I applied a couple coats over the patched areas and then put a coat over the entire boat.  The result wasn't perfect (it would probably look better if I did a second coat) but it accomplished the goal.  The patched areas are well coated and everything looks fairly uniform now.  Hopefully this paint will work out OK.

The (almost) finished paint job

I'll need to paint the spots covered by the stands just before we launch the boat, but it is otherwise done.  The new paint is slightly darker than the old paint, so I'm glad we painted the whole bottom.  It does look a bit better now.  It took about a gallon and a half of paint to cover what I've done so far.  Looks like it would take about 3 gallons to do the whole boat with the proper two coats.  Hopefully that, and the sanded paint below it, will keep the barnacles away for a while.

And I definitely learned one thing...if I ever want to strip all the old paint off the boat, I think I'll hire someone to do it.

Hurricane Arthur

Shortly after purchasing Rover last December, I had to leave our future home in Hammock Beach Florida and return to Colorado.  I would be coming back in about a month to start living aboard and fixing up the boat.  Well, while I was gone a tornado hit the Palm Coast and Hammock beach area.  There was a bit of stress after I heard about the tornado, but it was a short lived event and didn't take very long for me to find out that our future home was OK.  Fortunately for us, the tornado didn't come all that close to the marina and our boat remained safe.

Fast Forward about 6 months and now there is a hurricane that has the possibility of making a pass over or near our boat.  And again, I am not near the boat.  Of course this time I hear about the hurricane well before it could become an issue so I have much more time to worry about it.  I did my best to clean up the boat before I left it, however, for expediency I was having a local sail loft come retrieve the sails, sail pack, and trampoline to do a little work while I am gone.  I did confirm a few days ago that the sail loft did retrieve the "hanging canvas", so I can only hope that the boat is in as good a condition as possible to weather any potential storms.

Hurricane Arthur Track from Weather Underground

I watch as Arthur passes by each of the places were Rover and I had stayed and takes a path similar to the path I took to move the boat north (ironically to adhere to my insurance policies requirement of where I needed to be during hurricane season).  From Hammock Beach through Jacksonville Florida and on to Brunswick Georgia all seem safe and pretty far west of the storms path.

The storm starts coming closer to the east coast and the eye of the storm passes near Southport, NC. where I spent a little over a week.  It officially made landfall near Beaufort/Morehead City NC. where I made landfall after departing Southport weeks before.  The storm crosses the Pamlico Sound and passes over Cape Hattaras, the "magic point" my insurance required that I be north of during the June 1 to November 1 hurricane season.

The storm path wobbles and veers west and then back east and finally the outer bands of the hurricane pass over where Rover sits on land in Deltaville while the eye heads back out into the Atlantic.

Arthur passing "near" our boat (red circle).

I haven't heard any reports from the yard, but presume my boat is safe.  It sounds like the winds in the area probably topped out around 30 knots.  If anything, I suspect the storms were worse than the winds but I probably won't know for sure until folks return from the US independence day holiday.

Flying Boat to Land-based Home.

In the past few days, I've watched my boat become a land-based home.  In Deltaville, I had one of the local yards haul it for a couple reasons.  First, there have been a couple through-hulls that need attention and they are notoriously difficult to replace while in the water (you know, that whole water rushing in through a hole in the bottom of the boat thing).  I also planned to head back to Colorado to help my wife with purging our house and the other unnecessary belongings we had acquired as good little American consumers.  Since we needed to haul the boat anyway, might as well store it on the hard while I am gone.

The Travellift raising Rover from the water.

Hovering over land ready to pressure wash.

The haul out and blocking of the boat makes me a bit nervous.  Other than the brief haul-outs for surveys (I feel more experienced at that with 3 surveys under my belt), I've never hauled and blocked a boat for storage on land.  Of course, the owners manual has little useful information on the subject.  I looked through pictures online and made sure that the boat stands were positioned under bulkheads and that load is spread out as much as possible on the stands.

The past couple days I have lived on the boat while it sat out in the boatyard.  This is much less pleasant than sitting at anchor.  In the boatyard the scenery isn't quite as nice (although the Deltaville area is pretty, it just isn't the same as being surrounded by the sea). The worst part is the temperature though.  When we were at anchor, the boat would point into the wind and the airflow would keep the boat fairly cool without the need for air conditioning or fans.  In the yard, the surrounding trees prevent most of the breezes, and the few that do make it to the boat are from random angles that even make the breeze boosters useless.

And, since you are not sitting in the water and the A/C units require raw water to operate, that isn't an option.  Throw in the dust and dirt of the yard, and it just isn't the most comfortable way to live on a boat.  I'm not knocking the yard though, for as far as yards go, this one seems pretty nice.  The folks that work there are friendly and helpful and seem to know what they are doing (guess I'll know for sure after they've completed some work on my boat).  They do have a bathhouse and, although small with only a single shower, it is clean and nicer than some marinas I've stayed at.

It feels a bit weird leaving the boat on land.  It just looks so out of place.  And adding that this is the first time I've hauled and blocked a boat and the first time that I'll be leaving it for any extended period, I guess I'm a little nervous.  I've cleaned up, done laundry, thrown away all open food, defrosted the refrigerator, opened all cabinets so there is some airflow, setup a dehumidifier to help keep it reasonably dry, and the list continues. Hope I've done everything I need to do to keep her clean and safe until our return.

Rover sitting on land...just doesn't look right.

Of course, as I'm writing part of this I'm actually on board a plane heading back to Colorado.  Nothing goes to windward like a 747 (or in my case an A319) and Colorado is roughly windward of Virginia.  Interesting to think I was happy traveling along at 5 knots a few days ago and am now going closer to 500 knots. Of course Rover couldn't make it to Colorado so it really isn't a choice.

We arrive in Denver along with the usual summer evening thunderstorms.  In fact, after we landed we had to sit for about 45 minutes waiting for a gate.  Apparently lightning hit concourse A and knocked out all the communications with the gates.  This resulted in planes not being able to come and go on schedule.  The fun of commercial airline travel...wish I could sail to Colorado.

Vessel Safety Check

Did you know that the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary would come out to your boat and perform a free safety check?  I didn't until my friend and fellow cruiser Doug clued me in when I was in Brunswick.

The safety check is basically an inspection of your boat to see that it is in compliance with all the coast guard rules.  Since this is an inspection designed to help people be in compliance, there are no penalties for any discrepancies...unlike if the Coast Guard stops you and finds a problem while you are out on the water.

So, I decided to get an inspection done before I left Brunswick.  Requested the inspection online here.  The next day had several USCG auxiliary members contact me offering to do the check and scheduling the check was painless.  The inspector arrived and performed the inspection and it took maybe an hour or so.  He went through and checked for all the needed safety equipment (fire extinguishers, flares, horn, lights, life jackets, placards, etc.), checked the vessel hull ID and USCG documentation number, checked to make sure our sanitation systems were in compliance (overboard valves wired shut), and gave me some tips and hints on a variety of subjects including the upcoming trip north.

The boat passed, and I was awarded my safety inspection sticker.

I don't know if it is true, but I've heard that the USCG may be less likely to stop you on the water, board your boat and perform an inspection if they see a current sticker on your boat.  In addition to knowing you are in compliance and not likely to be faced with a fine if you are boarded and inspected, having the sticker may save you some time and hassle by not getting stopped for inspection as often.

So, for free, it seems like a pretty good thing to do.  I'll certainly continue to have them done just to make sure I'm in compliance and safe on the water.

Go Climb A Mast

When I was last in Denver, I picked up a rock climbing harness in lieu of a Bosuns chair so I could climb the mast.  At that time I mentioned I had a couple lights that needed to be checked out.  The weather finally improved this week so it was time to go check on those lights.

What I used to climb the mast.

I tried finding some people at the docks that would help winch me up, but it seemed most people decided to go take advantage of the nice weather (I can't blame them) and I was unable to find help. So, I decided to give climbing with ascenders a try.

I constructed a couple foot loops out of some line I had with bowline loops tied to the ends (see...those knots come in handy) and tied them to one ascender.  The climbing harness was attached to the other ascender with a carabiner.  Since I've never done this before, I decided I would just try getting up to the deck light that is about 1/3 of the way up the mast.

My boat is rigged with a halyard for a spinnaker, and that was the line I decided to use.  I rigged the halyard so I could pull it tight and then attached the ascenders to the line.  I put on the climbing harness, hooked the bag containing my tools and a tube of dielectric grease to one of the gear loops, and attached the harness to the topmost ascender. It didn't take very long to figure out that I had made the leg loops a little too long, so I retied the bowline loops (twice) in the process of getting things where it seemed comfortable.

Then began the long process of inching my way up the line.  I stood up in the leg loops, slid the upper ascender up the rope, sat back in the harness and slid the foot loop ascender up.  After doing this once or twice, I stopped and just hung there for a bit.  Figured when I was only a couple feet above the deck was a good time to make sure everything would indeed hold.  A couple minutes looking like I was a new attachment to the boat and I continued my trek up the mast.

After a little time doing my impression of an inchworm, I was at the deck light.  I released the light clips and it didn't take much time to figure out the problem with the light.  Nope, not a burned out light bulb or bad connection...well...guess I could call it a bad connection...a wire corroded through is bad, right?  Of course, I didn't have crimp on terminals or crimpers with me (I didn't know what type of connection I would find on the back of the bulb), so no way I could fix it while I was up there.  Oh well, at least now I know what the problem is...and I also know I can climb the mast by myself if I ever need to.

I also learned that people spend way too much money on gym memberships.  For the money spent, you could probably get a sailboat and have all the exercise equipment you need.  Or just go hang out at a marina and you could probably find someone to pay you to exercise...while fixing their boat.

Sorry I didn't get any pictures of the climb...maybe next time...when I can get someone to help winch me up the mast.  In my earlier post about getting the harness, someone suggested that the climbing harnesses are not very comfortable...honestly I didn't feel uncomfortable during all of this, but that may have something to do with being able to distribute weight into the foot loops or just the adrenaline of the whole thing.  I did feel secure in the harness...and that was the primary reason I chose the harness over a chair.

In any case, in the next few days I'll need to go back up the mast with the right tools and see if I can get the deck light working and well as make my way the rest of the way up to check on the anchor light.

Please Service Your Winch

Over the past several days, I've been servicing most of the remaining winches on my boat (I have one left to do).  You might recall from this post, I ran across some interesting things while cleaning and servicing that winch.

Well, the similar bad servicing was found on the other winches as well. I spent on average about 4 hours per winch disassembling and cleaning the assemblies.  Most of the problems have come from the fact that there was way too much grease used in the assembly.  This was compounded by the fact that the winches had apparently not been serviced in quite a while so some of the grease dried.

In the first winch, the dried grease glued in the collets so it was almost impossible to disassemble the winch without destroying the collets.  The next two winches came apart easier, the only problems encountered there were that dried grease in the teeth off the gears took a lot of work to clean out.  The following winch, the one I just finished and prompted this post, demonstrated yet another problem with failing to regularly and properly service a winch.

On this winch, the collets came out ok...well, they were gooey but they came out.  The problem was that the main spindle wouldn't slide out of the winch housing like it should.  I could pull it up maybe an eighth of an inch and then it would stop.  I tried using a locking winch handle to pull it up but it wouldn't budge.  Even banging on the handle with my hand wouldn't budge the spindle.

Given my recent experience with cleaning all the dried grease out of the other winches, I immediately grabbed some spray solvent and worked it into the mechanism.  After 30 minutes or so, I was finally able to free the spindle.  A few hours cleaning gobs of grease out of the mechanisms (sometimes using a pick to chip the dried grease out) and the winch is finally cleaned.  Assembled correctly according to the Lewmar instructions, and the winch now has much less drag and seems to be working much better.

So, do me a favor.  If you have a winch and can't remember when you last serviced it, please go do it.  The sanity you save may be your own.  If you aren't sure how to service your winch, there seem to be a number of videos available on Youtube to help.

Sails Kinda Look Like Mountains, Right?

Pointy at the top, wider at the base, right?  I mean if they can use mountains as the explanation for making an airport in Denver look like a giant, white, big top circus tent, I can surely use this explanation here.

D.I.A image found on the internet.

I own a sailboat.  It has a mast. When installed on the boat the mast sits just over 59 feet above the waterline of the boat.  At some point there will come a time that I will need to fix something at the top of the mast (I actually have an anchor light and a deck light that may need to be changed...but I haven't looked into it yet). There is a device known as a Bosun's Chair that is commonly used for "going up the mast".  In it's most simple form, it is a flat board with lines that give it the appearance of an old schoolyard swing.

A fancy Bosun's chair with safety strap and tool pockets

I didn't really like the idea of using that classic swing type of chair and when my surveyor used a harness to go up the mast on our survey, I decided that I preferred that option.  So, a little while back I started looking for a Bosun's harness.  Going to the trusty Defender web site, which usually has the best prices, I was able to find a harness for about $130.  A bit expensive, but what in boating isn't?  So I decided to do a little research on the harness and see if people liked it.

While I was researching I came across a thread in a forum where someone had asked the same question about the same harness.  One of the replies suggested that the poster should consider a rock climbing harness instead.  He had actually mentioned that he thought the harness was made by a rock climbing harness supplier. A quick Google search on prices of rock climbing harnesses, at around half the price, had me pretty well convinced that this was a good way to go. Hanging on a line attached to a rock just doesn't seem to be significantly different than hanging from a line attached to a mast.

Of course, there were no rock climbing outfitters in Palm Coast Florida that I could find.  I guess there just aren't that many rocks to climb in Florida. Since I would be making a trip to Colorado where rock climbing is a big sport, it seemed like that would be the chance to pick up a harness.

So, once back in Colorado, I went to a couple REI stores looking for harnesses.  Unable to find any help at either store, I was starting to wonder if I would be able to get this mission accomplished.  I was talking with a friend I met through this blog that still lives in Colorado and found out he was a rock climber and we agreed to meet at the big REI store in downtown Denver.  We met and he gave me some pointers on what to look for and we were able to get some help this time.  I tried on a few harnesses and I ended up finding a harness by Petzl that seems to fit the bill.

The Petzl Corax harness.

While most of the harnesses come in small, medium, large, extra large, and extra extra large, the Petzl Corax harness is more adjustable and only comes in two sizes.  This means that the same harness can be adjusted to fit both my wife and I and having one piece of equipment that both of us can use is a bonus. It was also the more comfortable of the harnesses that I tried at the store (REI had a line you could hook on to and try hanging from the harness).  Add in the fact that it was only $65, and it seems like the more sensible safe alternative to the standard Bosun's chair.

Practice, Frustration, Practice, Practice

Sorry about the sparse posts recently, but it has been a very busy week. My wife finally came back to Florida so we could move the boat on to Georgia before the Florida tax man (envision grim reaper with a bank vault) comes to pay us a visit.

If you've read much of my ramblings, you know that my wife and I have fairly limited experience when it comes to boats large enough to live aboard.  Quite frankly, maneuvering a 38 foot long by almost 21.5 foot wide boat (that I've sunk that much money in...no pun intended) has had me a bit nervous.  But as I've mentioned before, we need to move the boat.  Now that the engines are both finally back together, I scheduled a lesson with the sole intention of practicing docking.

I had the captain we hired to help us move the boat from Daytona to Palm Coast come over one morning so we could spend a couple hours practicing before I had to go to work.  We started off doing touch and goes against a face dock and that went very well.  I then practiced maneuvering into a slip at the far end of the marina and that went OK too.  Then, about the time we went to practice at my assigned slip, some wind kicked up a bit and everything went downhill pretty fast.

The wind would keep blowing the bow of the boat around while I was backing in and I just wasn't "getting" how to bring the boat up to the upwind dock.  I was getting rather frustrated. We ended up stopping the lesson about that point and I was feeling pretty down about the whole thing.  I can land a small airplane on a runway the locals call "the bike path" in a 15 knot cross wind, but I couldn't seem to get the boat where I wanted in half that amount of wind.

After thinking about it a bit, it donned on me that the physics of what I was trying to do was pretty much impossible.  I don't have bow thrusters on the boat so any cross wind will blow the bow and there isn't really anything I, or anyone else, can do to stop it. This made me feel a bit better...but in the end I still need to know how to put a boat on a dock in more challenging situations, so I scheduled another lesson. Unfortunately the first captain wasn't available, but he did hook me up with another captain that could help.  As it turned out, this was actually a good thing.  Getting a second perspective on the situation helped me realize the error in my approach to the problem. I think it helped that this new captain was also a pilot so he could put things in flying terms that made a couple concepts "click faster" for me.

During this second lesson, the wind even cooperated a bit.  It was blowing about the same speed but the opposite direction...which replicated the issue I had at my slip over at an empty slip at the far end of the marina.  So, I was able to spend a fair amount of time maneuvering the boat and overcoming what had frustrated me a few days earlier.

I now have a much better "feel" for how the boat will react in different conditions.  As with many things, all it takes is practice...and I'm working on it.  I feel much better about maneuvering the boat when we take off for Georgia in a few days.

Meet Patches...

One of the things I noticed during the engine fiasco (not discovered by the mechanic paid to look things over) was that the port side muffler had a very small leak.  In the following picture you can see the stains created by the leak on the left side of the hose.

My friend and broker Pete recommended a welder in St. Augustine that he thought could fix it. I gave Capo Welding a call and they thought they could but couldn't be sure without seeing it. So a few days ago I dropped off the muffler at the welder. I decided to take the rail with the broken stud that I discovered in this post as well to see if the welder could fix the stud. After seeing them both, the welder said they could take care of both and would try to squeeze it into their busy schedule.  I was very surprised to get a call from them the next day saying that they were able to fix both and it was only an hour of labor.  Total cost was $65...a lot cheaper than two new parts.

I think I'll call the muffler patches...because it seems to fit.

Shiny patched muffler

This past weekend it was time to install the repaired muffler.  You may have noticed in the first picture that the hose isn't in the best of shape, so I decided I should replace it as well.  While you can go to West Marine and get the hose, they tend to be a bit pricey.  There is a shop in St. Augustine that deals in overstock as well as used and trades called Sailors Exchange and I was able to pick up hose and good replacement hose clamps for about 1/3 the price of West Marine.

Installation was pretty straight forward.  Using a heat gun was helpful for getting the hose on as well as off.  The only snag was that the little piece of hose in the top picture has to be precisely the right size in order to be long enough to get the required dual hose clamps on each end and short enough so the muffler lines up with the mounting holes.  Fortunately I had some extra hose and got the hose right on the second try.

I now have an exhaust system that isn't leaking...a pretty good thing, especially for the engine under the rear berth.  I also installed the pushpit rail, rebedding it just as I did in this post.  The boat is operational and looking fully assembled again.

All are good things as we need to move the boat out of Florida waters pretty soon to avoid their exorbitant taxes.  It is too bad for Florida too, I could stay here and continue working on the boat and supporting their local businesses for another month or so, but since I'm not a resident, I don't see why I need to pay extra use taxes to them so I'll play by their rules and leave.  I'm sure Georgia businesses appreciate Florida sending customers to them.

Refrigerator Drip

Originally, the wet wood under the sink was attributed to the condensation from the refrigerator.  Later I found a leak in the pressure water system that was the primary culprit.  Unfortunately, it wasn't the only culprit.  The refrigerator does play a smaller role in the issue.

You see, there is a valve in this Sea Frost cold plate system that is mounted outside the refrigerator box itself.  It seems like an expansion valve and performs the same function, but someone told me it actually has another name...whatever...I think I'll name it Drippy.  After all, being mounted outside the refrigeration box and being the point where it starts to cool, it does condense water out of the air and drip.  It would make for a great dehumidifier if it would get rid of the water, but dripping it back into the cabinet where it can run down to the spot on the floor that was rotting.

Drippy - Note the frost and ice in the hole behind

After fixing the water leak a while back I noted the drip but have just been keeping a rag under it to keep the water in check while the floor dried.  Well, every once in a while I would forget (or maybe the dripping was getting worse) and it started producing just enough water that the floor wouldn't fully dry, so I decided it was time to deal with Drippy.

There is a gooey black tape with cork (or some other semi-insulative) material in it that is often used to insulate refrigeration lines.  It is pliable so I figured it would work well insulating this valve.  In fact, there was a small amount of it wrapped around the valve in a feeble attempt by the installer to insulate it (visible in the picture above...the black wet stuff).  Well, I found that this refrigerant line tape is rather difficult to find.  It is not available in any of the hardware or big box stores anywhere in the area.  I did, however, find a sticky foam rubber tape that should work at the local Lowes so I bought some in hopes it would work.

I also noted that the small refrigerant pipes running into the refrigeration box and cold plates pass through a hole that is over an inch in diameter and is completely un-insulated.  Well, by the time I found it the hole was actually filled with ice (also visible in above picture).  So I decided to pick up some spray foam and seal up that hole as well.  Should help make the refrigerator more efficient as well as stop the condensation.

So, I turned off the fridge, defrosted the pipes and used the spray foam to seal up the big hole.  Once the foam cured I trimmed it flush with the cabinet with a serrated steak knife (since I couldn't see the hole as I was filling, I overfilled it a bit and had a big blob to get rid of). I then wrapped the valve and exposed pipe with the foam tape, making sure there was at least 50% overlap per the instructions.

I turned the refrigerator back on and came back to check on it a day or so later.  Unfortunately, there was still some condensation on the valve.  It was far less than before, but there was still some.  So, since I still had half of the roll of rubber foam tape, I doubled up on all the wrapping.  I couldn't get the additional tape wrapped well when it got close to the cabinet and in a bit of frusteration, I got the can of spray foam out and sprayed that into the areas I couldn't wrap again. By the end, the valve looked a bit like a little black Michelin Man sitting on a yellow cloud of foam.

Drippy No Longer

After the second wrapping, I waited a day and checked again.  Still just a very tiny bit of condensation...drat. Well, it is far less than it was, it has been very humid lately, and the valve doesn't really seem to be dripping...just a few beads of water on the foam covering the valve.  So, I decided I will just let it be for now and see if it is "good enough".

Oh, and I have noted that the pipes inside the fridge are frosting up where they did not before...so I appear to have changed something.  And in the days since the floor has remained dry even without a towel under the valve...so definitely a good amount of progress was made on the dripping.  Now maybe the floor will dry the rest of the way and I can complete that repair.

How Are You Heating That Water, Mr. Heater?

In a previous post I mentioned that after the engine work, I noticed that the water heater was no longer working using shore power.  I thought maybe the mechanics had tripped a breaker or knocked something while they were down in the engine room where the heater is located.  Well, what I found was far more disturbing.  It seems the water heater was trying to heat water with fire...

Note the burned and corroded wires and char marks.

Definitely not a good thing on a boat. From what I can tell, apparently whoever installed the water heater didn't find much of a need to secure the power cable.  The result is the 120v wires rubbed against the metal casing of the water heater until the wire sheath was compromised.  Then the combination of corrosion and the chafing likely caused heating and arcing of the wires which resulted in the extensive char marks on the inside of the electrical cover and casing around the electrical connections.  Basically, the start of an electrical fire.  It is fortunate that the wires played like a fuse and cut the power before a full on fire developed.

I cut away the burned and corroded wire, connected the wires back together according to the wiring diagram using marine grade heat-shrink crimp connectors.  To help prevent further issues of this sort, I also used some electrical tape as added anti-chafe protection, added a rubber grommet to the bare metal hole the power wire runs through, and secured the wire so it should not move around and chafe in the future.  I tested the heater and it is once again working just fine.  After a couple heating cycles, I went back and checked the connections just to verify that the heater wasn't pulling too much current and melting the wires and I found no damage.

So, once again, I have hot water on board that works with shore power.  And in a complete surprise, I didn't even find another problem to fix while I was working on the heater...so maybe I can start making a dent in "the list".