After Hurricane Irene

Bock Marine came through without any damage to any of their boats.  Prestissimo had a few leaves and pine needles but no damage.  The guys at Bock wrapped my canvas dodger as I asked them too, and cleaned most of the debris off the boat  before I got here.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011 - I ran into a lot of roadblocks today...

• The new winch drums that are supposed to reduce wear on the keel lift line were the wrong size.  In fact all along I thought I had 1:52 winches, but they are 1:46 size.  So they have to be returned.  
• All the "Signal Light" lights that I have installed either quit working or have condensation in them.  They were quick to replace the failed light, but sent the wrong replacement for the fogged ones.  So they have to be sent back.
• The ring on the rear utility mast that supports the dingy lift line is cracking, so I wanted to replace it with a much stronger design.  I got the new part, but discovered that there is no way to install it because I can't put the backing plate and nuts on because they need to be installed inside the mast.  So I'm going to get the same one I have and replace it.  I think I install a safety line to it in case it fails.

I  did make some progress...

• I installed the new thru-hull for the transducer that has a working flapper valve.  I had to cut the old one out, but it went pretty smoothly since I had done it once before.  The new one went in without difficulty.
• I installed the replacement stern light, and it worked the first time, and I even found the diagonal cutters that I lost (and already replaced).

Thursday, September 1, 2011 - 

• I got the wire out of the top of the mast for the tricolor replacement and spoke the the Signal Light guy who wants me to send the light and the bracket I made to him so he can be sure that the replacement fits.  After pulling the wire out I discovered that the mounting screws for the wind transducer bracket extend into the mast and have been abrading on the wire support line and the wire.  It isn't to bad yet, so I shortened the screws and protected the line with electric tape.
• I replaced the steaming light which also had condensation in it, but the new steaming light is larger and the bracket holes are in a different location, so I had to drill new holes in the bracket, and thankfully the shield I made to protect the light from the jib fits the larger light (just barely)
• I got the fiberglass epoxied to the sides of the keel.

Friday, September 2, 2011

• I sanded down the lumps on the protective layer I added to the keel and discovered that folding peal-ply is a bad idea in that it holds the folds and imparts them to the epoxy, so I have a good bit of fairing to do on my next trip.
• I removed the wind transducer so I will be ready to check it out on the mast head when I get the support brackets and the new tri-color.  Which brings up a new problem.  RayMarine just purchased TackTick and they shut down TackTick's website before moving it over to their own, and they can't find documentation to determine the part number of the bracket I need.  This is depressing because I was switching over to TackTick to get away from RayMarine.
• I took apart the winches and they all looked in good condition, still well covered with grease.  That is except the main sheet winch.   My main sheet winch is mounted horizontally, and the screws that hold the self tailer in place protrude into the main body of the winch just above the large bearing races.  I suspect that because the winch isn't vertical the upper plastic race is rubbing against those screws and there was a pile of plastic shavings.

I have three ideas as to how to solve the problem:

1. add another white plastic spacer like the one between the races on top if there is room. (easiest)
2. add washers to the screws so they sit up a bit higher and don't protrude into the body of the winch.  Washers small enough to fit in the slots below the screws may be hard to find - possibly lock washers will work.
3. grind down the screws to make them shorter, or find shorter screws.  They look to be about 3 threads too long.

 This picture shows the way the winch is mounted and the pile of shavings just as I found them when I dissembled the winch.

 

This image shows the four screws that are causing the problem.

Here is a close-up of the shavings.  I can feel the scaring on the race, but it doesn't show up in a picture.  In spite of the appearance of the large pile of shavings, the race is intact with a relatively small amount of scaring on the top.  The texture in the background is my non-skid surface.

It is astounding how boats always have another trick up their sheaves to hand you an unexpected problem.