1st Haul Out - Part 3

We have been balancing working on the boat and spending quality time with our Grand Daughter and with trying to avoid sitting in going nowhere traffic at 5pm each day. So progress is not as fast as originally planned, but then I'm always the optimistic.

Today's big project was getting the Rudder re-installed, it went well but with a minor delay.

The marina team re-positioned the boat stands before we got down to the boat today around 10:45, so we quickly set to work sanding the bare patches previously covered by the stands, ground out the blisters we found and washed them out. We'll let them dry out overnight and apply resin tomorrow.

Around 1:30 today, the Marina crew stopped by and asked if we could be ready to re-install the rudder early, like in the next 20mins! I was confident that we had everything ready, even if we had just painted the parts of the rudder that would be difficult to reach once the rudder was back in place.

We quickly cleared up our tool bags and boxes around the boat so that the boat lift could surround our boat. I moved the truck out of the way and just as promised, they arrived to pick the boat up.

Plan was to raise the boat high enough in order to get the rudder post inserted into the rudder post tube in the bottom of the boat. As it would be inserted, they would have to pause to allow me to put the Steering quadrant over the rudder post inside the boat before the rudder was fully inserted.

That went perfectly to plan! then, as quickly as they arrived and put the straps around the boat's belly to lift her up, they lowered her back down and re-positioned the boat stands before removing the straps and driving the crane away.

Then I realized that I had not put the Rudder Post Stuffing cap onto the post prior to the Steering quadrant! Dang!!!!

Solution? I lowered the rudder to the ground, that left enough gap at the top of the rudder post to remove the steering quadrant and install the rudder post stuffing cap.

Deep Breath! all is ok.

Having fixed that little issue, I set about reconnecting the steering cables to the steering quadrant and securing the Emergency Tiller Cap at the top of the rudder post which actually stops the rudder falling out of the boat.

Phew!

Planing to get the rudder re-installed was a stressful process, so getting it taken care of was a big relief. I spent a short while re-connecting the steering cables to the quadrant and bolting the emergency tiller cap in place. Then a quick cleanup of the cockpit and around the boat, we were ready to head home and avoid the 5pm traffic

Well! Nearly! It seems that the Turnpike and I95 both get blocked every day around 4:30, patience ruled the day and we made it home safely. Time for a Shower, Dinner and a glass of wine!

Making progress.

See you on the water - next week!

Paul

Whole Boat Filter

The fresh water plumbing on Eximius is old. If it were copper pipe, that would not be an issue, but it's plastic hose, aged, can't see through it even though it's supposed to be transparent, and the Filter is from the dark ages. Time to re-plumb the Water works.

We installed a new Galley Sink Faucet, but in the process had to change out the fittings where the faucet attached to the Hot & Cold water hoses. It seemed that every connection that I touched started to leak!

And that water strainer! Yuk!

Looking for a replacement water filter online it cost $47.99 and I could buy a pretty decent water filter for the same price.

I decided to go with this product. It's an Under sink filter but is actually $10 less than the strainer, I guess it's because it does not have the word 'Marine' or 'Boat' in the product title.

The guys at Lowes were really helpful and we figured out what fittings to use to convert the filter to the 1/2" hose barbs that will connect to the boat plumbing.

While in there, I also replaced those awful water tank selector valves with Ball Valves.

1st Step was to cut out all of the hoses from the existing system, leaving just the Tank Supply lines from the Midships and Aft Water tanks.

Next, time to install the filter housing. It fits just behind the outboard edge of the Hot Water Tank on the bulkhead between the galley and the salon dinning seating.

Here you can see the Drinking Water Filtration system covered in an earlier blog post.

I know, it looks grotty down there.

The hose that goes off to the right connects the Midships Fresh Water Tank to the Vent Stanchion on the Starboard side deck.

The Yellow foam on the right is additional Fridge/Freezer insulation applied by a previous owner of Eximius

The ply board on the lower right is dirty, it cleaned up a bit, not much, really needs a paint job - one day when I have a can of white paint open!

Here's a schematic of the Fresh Water System.

The physical installation is pretty much similar.

There's a 3 port Cold water manifold made from 3 Nylon T connectors and hose clamps. The Selector Ball Valves are connected to a Nylon T Connector.

The New Filter is connected before the Pump so that all of the Fresh Water supply to all of the faucets is filtered.

Installation complete.

The left hand selector valve controls water flow from the Midships Tank, the right hand selector valve controls the water flow from the Aft Tank

The new ball valves make turning the water supply on and off a breeze, much easier than the old mis-matched valves.

The Blue and White ring wrenches are for the two filter types.

Spare filters are kept in the under seat locker in the Aft Berth.

The Cold water supply manifold is simply Barbed Hose T Connectors with a really short piece of hose between each.

The white hose on the lower right is the cold water supply for the bathroom.

It took about 2 hours to re-plumb the fresh water system. I did not replace the hoses to the bathroom or from Midships and Aft fresh water tanks.

And here's the final result!

We replaced both the Drinking Water faucet and the Galley Sink Water Faucet - they were only about $30 each from Amazon.

Very pleased with the result of this plumbing re-work, the flow has increased at all of the faucets, including the Sink Faucet in the bathroom. So having more, easy control of the galley sink water flow will help save water.
And they look really good!


See you on the water!

Paul

1st Haul Out - Part 2

Made progress on several fronts.

We started the Sanding of the below water line paint, found several hundred tiny blisters, most less than the size of a pinky fingernail. They should just sand out and get painted.

Biggest issue was finding a crack above and just forward of the cutlass bearing support, the crack appears on both sides of the skeg but I think it's easily solved.

Plan is to grind away the area each side of the crack, and layer in several stranded glass sheets with epoxy resin before priming and painting.

Here's the Port Side of the crack with the surrounding area ground away.

There's signs of an earlier repair (that white strip from the underside of the skeg up along the crack.

There are voids where the area was not filled correctly, could have been during manufacture, but the crack looks very recent.

Here's a view from underneath. The crack is clearly visible and the voids also.

Plan is still the same, fill the voids with epoxy resin, then build up the surface with glass fiber cloth spanning the crack.

I dug in a bit further to make it easier to fill the voids. I used the West System epoxy and really forced the resin inside the open crack and into the voids.

Voids filled as best I could, I then ground away the excess resin & filler so that I could layup the glass fiber.
Once ground down, I cleaned the area again with dewaxer and then layed up 6 layers of glass cloth. That pretty well brought the surface close to the normal surface level.
 I used my glass roller to squish out any air bubbles in the glass cloth/resin.

Once the resin was set, I sanded again to smooth out the area, then cleaned and applied some more filler to bring the surface back to it's correct profile. The glass cloth and resin spanned the crack on both the sides and underside.

Primed and ready for AntiFouling paint. Notice that I tied terry cloth towels around both ends of the cutlass bearing and kept them in place during all of the sanding and painting, I just did not want to get any dust, resin drips or paint onto the ends of the cutlass bearing.

It's ready for paint, and end of Day 7

So far:

• Skeg Crack repaired
• New Air Conditioning Raw Water Thru Hull installed
• Hull blisters opened, dried, sealed, faired, and primed.
• Rub Rail extrusion removed
• Rudder damage repaired & Primed
• Starboard side hull 1st Poly Strip application
• Prop & Shaft Polished.
• New Shaft Zinc installed.

Still to do:

• Replace damaged Aluminum Rub Rail by Stbd Gate Stanchion
• Complete the A/C Raw water plumbing upgrade (connect to new Thru Hull)
• Re-position the Galley sink drain Sea Cock (to make it easier to operate)
• Prep the Rudder post tube for the Rudder Bearing Repair Kit install 
• Replace the Rudder
• Paint below the waterline with Pettit Ultima SR 60 Coat #1
• Paint below the waterline with Pettit Ultima SR 60 Coat #2
• Install the new Rub Rail rubber extruision
• Remove the damaged White Waterline Vinyl stripe
• Apply new White Waterline Vinyl stripe
• Rebuild the Rudder control steering quadrant and setup Rudder & Wheel for correct Center.
• Install New Dry Bilge System
• Buff & Polish hull above the waterline
• Prep the boat for splash, Wednesday Jan 31st at 07:30 

Phew!

See you on the water.

Paul

Dropping the Rudder

If you own a sailboat, then you know how big the rudder is, it's always bigger when you take it off the boat!

We had to drop the rudder in order to fix the rudder bearings that cause a small amount of rudder wobble.

While the boat was out of the water during the Survey, 31 months ago, the Surveyor commented that we had a bit of slop in the rudder but nothing serious. I decided to fix that during the next haul out (now).


The Rudder is taller than the gap between the hull and the ground when the boat is on blocks, and I did not know the dimensions.

Here's the rudder dimensions. I'm guessing the rudder weighs about 50-60lbs it could be more if I'm boasting.

We had to have the boat yard leave the boat hanging in the crane straps while I freed the bolts that held the rudder in place, that took over an hour, but with the help of an impact driver I was able to get them out with a few minutes of hang time left.


The pic shows the rudder after repairing the lower edge that was damaged during a recent grounding and after it's 1st of 3 coats of primer.

Here are the rudder details.

1987 Catalina 34
Tall Rig Fin Keel  #463
Rudder Dimensions

Total Height of Rudder from Post top to lower tip of rudder: 87.25”

Top of Post  to upper surface of Rudder: 36”

Top of Post to forward most edge of Rudder: 44.5”

Post center to Aft Top Edge of Rudder:16.5”

Post center to Fwd top edge of Rudder:8”

With boat on Blocks

Height of Fin from Ground: 8.5”

Height of bottom edge of Rudder Post Tube to Ground: 68.5”

Fin Clearance from Ground required to remove rudder : 87.25-68.5-8.5=27.25”

So, in order to drop the rudder,  the Keel has to be 27.25” inches above the ground  - or – about a 30” hole beneath the Rudder.


Paul

1st Haul out Day 1

Getting to the Marina

We had planned on getting Eximius hauled out for various jobs that needed the boat high and dry. Our choice of Marina was made after asking many of the HISC club members about their experience at the various DIY marinas in South Florida. IMHO Playboy Marina came out tops, and it had the advantage that it's located only 90minutes from our dock.

We visited the Marina several weeks ago to find out the details of what's allowed to be done and what protocols needed observing. Most of the protocols involve keeping the Marina clean and environmentally healthy.

We left our truck at the house where we keep the boat,  and headed down at 8:30am. We had forgotten that the bridges would not lock down as it is Martin Luther King's day. We made a leisurely motor down to Port Everglades and had to slow down due to arrival too early. Lisa from the Marina called my mobile phone and advised that we could get there early as they were ready and waiting. So we pushed the throttle forward as we were 20 minutes away and opposite the Port Everglades Port Authority building. We got to the marina at 10:25.

The arrival team easily guided us into the crane slings. FYI, if you're going to get hauled there, have Stern lines ready, they won't use bow or center lines, just stern lines. We had a fender out on each side, but the crane out point is very protected from North and West Winds like today.

As they hauled the boat out, Peggy watched while I completed paperwork in the office.

Top on my list of projects was the drop the rudder so that we could install the Catalina Direct Rudder bearing that would eliminate the slop in the rudder post. I spent 75 minutes working inside the aft locker taking out the bolts that secured the rudder post into the rudder post tubes. Most of that time was spent removing a single bolt that had corroded into the lower part of the Steering Quadrant wheel. Steel bolts in Aluminium castings never go well. By the time they were ready to lower the boat onto the blocks, I had released the rudder.

While I was up top, Peggy secured our canvas bag over the lower end of the rudder, my plan was to release the bolts and catch the rudder in the bag which was secured to the aft cleats.

It worked exactly as planned although I had issued several expletive deletives while pounding out that stubborn bolt despite that fact that I had multiple applications of PB Blaster to all of the bolts that secure the rudder post.

Relieved that I was able to drop the rudder before they blocked the boat and that saved about $200 for a reblocking fee.

Cleaning up the tools used to get the rudder out, we left the boat around 13:20 and called a Uber ride to take us back to the truck. Once back at the truck we ate our lunch sandwiches (home baked bread and turkey/salad sandwiches) and some hot thermos coffee. Then back to the Marina.

In the past, we have taken I 95 down to Griffin road and then Griffin all the way East as far it goes. But the Uber driver returned us to the dock via I595, I95 Broward Blvd. A much better route. So we took that route back to Playboy Marina.

Back at the boat I started to make progress on the various projects. 1st was to clean the hull where the Crane Slings had prevented the arrival team from pressure washing the hull, then clean out the gap between the rudder and the keel stub, not sure if there's a special name for that part of the hull. Then drill the hole for the new Thru Hull in the bow.

On the inside of the boat, I prepared the inside area around the new thru hull hole using my Vibro tool and a carbide tip. It took about 15 minutes to get a nice clean surface that the new Thru Hull backing plate will be glassed to. Next it was onto the old raw water hose from the old thru hull under the bathroom sink. The middle of the 3 old thru hulls supply the drain for the Shower Sump, the Raw salt water for the head flush system (which we do not use, we flush with fresh water) and the Air Conditioning raw water. By removing the A/C raw water hose it simplifies the plumbing substantially. The new thru hull will supply raw water to the A/C pump.

It was nearly 15:30, and seemed like a long day, but I'm really pleased with Day 1 Progress. 

Day 2 will be focused on hull prep if it's dry (no rain please) otherwise it will be focused on interior projects, there's a few!

Really pleased with how things went, no nasty surprises, and the previous bottom paint held up incredibly well, no barnacles except in the gap between the rudder post and the stub keel.

Before we left the marina to head home, we met with the owners of Blown Away, fellow members from the HISC that are having several jobs done to the boat.

All set for going back down to the marina around 07:30 / 08:00 tomorrow.

Have to back my bread now!

See you on the water.

Paul

Baking Bread on the Boat

This is a long time personal goal.

I took a hiatus from baking bread, failure was part of the reason, the rest ... well, check out my blog, we've been busy and I don't even mention the other loves of my life - Peggy & our 4yr old grand daughter.

But it was time, our local store changed their bread supplies and, sorry, but their new bread sucks.

We have Kindle Unlimited, so I scraped my way through several books and came across a winner: My No-Knead Bread Cookbook: From the Kitchen of Artisan Bread with Steve

by Steve Gamelin (author), Taylor Olson (editor)

Steve's descriptions, recipes and videos are easy to follow and my first loaf was a total success (at least, in my eyes.) It lasted 4 days and was good to eat down to the very last slice. That's a huge improvement on my previous attempts, every one of them turned into a rock within 24 hours - made great toast even if they did look like a Flatbread.

 

Apparently that 'split' in the side was caused by 'Oven Spring' but I'll have to figure out what that is and how to reduce it, I kinda like the split.

It cuts nicely, is soft and fluffy all the way through, just enough crust although I would be happy with a bit more crunch to the crust. The white/brown swirls in the loaf are due to the recipe using both regular Bread Flour and Whole Wheat Flour, and because they are mixed in the bowl and this is a No Knead Bread, the two flours are not completely blended. In my next loaf, I'll blend the flours before adding them to the mixing bowl.

The recipe is Steve's Honey Whole Wheat Bread (Bread Pan) and requires the oven to get up to 400ºF and I'm not sure if my boat's oven can do that. It only needs to bake for 40 minutes, just enough time to enjoy a tot of rum.





For my next attempt, I'll use his Honey Whole Wheat Bread (PMDO) (Poor Man's Dutch Oven)

If you see me on the water, I might have some bread to share.

Paul

Alternate Drive

The Wrong Drive Belt

We missed the 2017-2018 New years Eve Cruise due to a squeal from our Alternator (Here's the article about that) Short version was that we were towed from the Lake Boca Anchorage back to our Dock in Fort Lauderdale.

This post will hopefully be helpful for others that have little experience with Boat Diesel Engines, like us, even though we are climbing up that learning curve rapidly.

Background to the problem.

Over the past few months we have noticed a few odities when the engine on Eximius is running, here's some of them:

• Engine hunting - RPM change briefly
• Alternator shutting down - charge rate drops to zero
• Digital Alternator charging indicator shows charging rate changing rapidly, varying by as much as 30Amps.

And the most recent:

• Horrendous Squeal from the Alternator
• Alternator Drive pulley too hot to handle.

The earlier issues were leading me to suspect the Alternator Regulator. When we purchased Eximius, it had two Regulators mounted in the Aft berth (very close to the engine) Both were by the same manufacturer and until I installed a new Alternator last May (2017) I thought that the smaller of the two Regulators was not connected. During the Alternator install, I found from tracing the wiring, that the Smaller regulator was in fact the one connected to the Alternator. The other is connected to the Digital Battery monitor at the Nav Station, but not to the Alternator. After some research, I discovered that the 2nd Regulator was actually a Stand by in case the main failed, however the Main was never attached to the Alternator so the system has been running off the Standby Alternator since we have owned the boat. Confused yet - think how I had been.

The Main Regulator is the one on the left. It's connected to the Digital Battery Monitor at the Nav Station but not connected to the Alternator

The 'Stand By' Regulator is the one on the right, it's not connected to the Digital Battery Monitor but is connected to the Alternator.

My guess is that when the system was installed, the installer connected the Stand By Regulator to test it (no point in having a spare if it does not work) but never completed the job and switch over to the Main Regulator.

We're hauling out the boat next week and I had planned to re-wire the Alternator to the Main Regulator and thus determine if the Stand By Regulator was causing those first few issues.

The more recent issues (Squeal from alternator and hot drive pulley) demanded sooner action, I certainly did not want to have an Alternator problem when we are motoring to the Boat Yard trying to keep on a schedule.

Getting the Alternator Tested

The day after we were towed back to the dock, we returned to the boat to pull the Alternator so that we could get it tested. I still had the old Balmar 75Amp Alternator sitting in my Garage, so I took both of them down to Lauderdale Battery & Electric to get them tested. In the meantime, I contacted 

Compass Marine, that's where I purchased the CMI 100Amp alternator and they were very confident that the bearings would be fine.

This video shows the testing of the CMI 100Amp Alternator. Greg, the tech, wound the load up and the Alternator pumped out 140Amps and as quiet as a mouse! Absolutely no squeal. I asked Greg if he would inspect the Belt for damage, as I pulled the Belt out of my bag and he immediately commented that 'That's the Wrong Belt!' 

When we purchased Eximius, I started to put together spares to carry on the boat, including spare Fuel Filters, Oil Filters, Air Filters, Zinc, and Alternator Belts - I took the info off of the original Belt and purchased two spares, yes, they were on the boat when we had the squeal, but I honestly thought that it was the bearings as the squeal was sooooo loud! But now I found that the belt was not the right size for the Alternator - It had a 1/2" Pulley and the Crankshaft & Coolant Pump pulleys are 13/32"

Ok, it looks like the culprit is the Drive Belt.

As I had the old Balmar Alternator with me, I had Greg test that too, plan is to carry it as a spare and I suspected that the bearings were going on that Alternator (that's why I changed it out last May)

This Video shows the Balmar 75Amp Alternator being tested. It's not so apparent in the video, but on-site it was obvious that the bearings were squealing. Greg commented that the bearings needed replacement and that the stator might also need replacement. That should be ready for pickup on Monday, we'll carry that unit as a spare.

Back at the boat, I re-installed the Alternator but could not get the belt tension right. Everyone that I have asked has indicated that the tension should be set so that the belt could only move 1/2" on it's longest leg (that's between the Alternator and the Crankshaft pulleys)

The problem was the Bolt that secures the upper end of the Alternator Support Arm, and the spring/lock washer that was between the bolt head and the Support Arm. The lock washer had deformed and damaged the bolt head. I decided to replace the bolt, washer and add a fender washer that could be bent over the side of the support arm to lock it in place. Guys from the C34 forum suggested that I use a longer bolt and nylock nut on the back of the bolt to secure it in place and prevent loosening with vibration.

The damaged bolt is shown above the new (but same length) bolt. I'll replace the new one with a longer bolt and and Nylock nut next week.

The Fender washer will be between the spring washer and the Alternator Support Arm, that should prevent vibration from loosening the bolt and thus

After installing the new Bolt, Spring Washer and Fender Washer, I was able to tension the belt sufficient to stop the Squeal, but the belt is still under tensioned! So time to buy/make a belt tensioner.

So, to recap:

• Charging rates change rapidly (Alternator output constantly changes)
• Engine Hunts (Alternator load changes)
• Squeals emit from front of alternator

It could be the drive shaft tension!