Cockpit Sole Paint and Exhaust Hose Replacement

The work list is growing shorter. I’ve ticked off most of the major projects on my pre-cruise list. The major items that remain are:

Finish/install new forehatch (I just applied the eighth coat of varnish today)

Inspect the rig, and do a few chores aloft

Install solar charge controller and complete wiring of solar panels

Fabricate new bug screen for companionway

Modify mainsail cover to fit new sail

There are a half dozen smaller jobs to do, but they won’t stop us from cruising. Things like cleaning (of course), installing USB ports, fans, reorganizing lockers. . .

But today’s post focuses on paint and exhaust. Last year, I removed six bolts from the cockpit sole that held the rudderstock bracket in place. I cleaned up and repainted the bracket with rust-resistant paint. Then I filled the bolt holes in the sole with epoxy, redrilled, and reinstalled the bracket while sealing the bolt holes with butyl tape. The cockpit sole, however, is still ugly from the surgery, so it got a coat of flat white paint. Here are before and after photos:

Dingy even after a good scrub and power wash. This time I had the foresight to include the caulking line in the paint area.

And. . . should have taken a photo after I pulled the tape, but you get the idea. While I had the paint out, I touched up a couple of areas on the bow where the while gel coat has begun to wear through. I looks a little splotchy because the hue of while isn’t the same, but it is an improvement, and not too noticeable.

My boat tech neighbor was looking around in my engine compartment and noticed that my exhaust hose was near the end of its life. That was a good catch. Springing a leak in that part of the hose means water and exhaust fumes in the bilge. I obtained six feet of exhaust hose and installed it. Where exhaust hose is concerned, the heat gun is your friend. Heating the end of the hose made it much more manageable, both to install, and to remove the old hose from the hose barbs.

That hose has been in place since I repowered the boat in 2007. It appears to have been the wrong size, now that I look at it. The hose was 1 7/8″, but should have been 2″. It’s the proper size now.

New hose installed, and worry for problems in that area set aside.

Project Updates 14 April

I’ve been at work with a lot of little projects. Ironic how after servicing the cooling system and the fuel system, I then had problems with both. I rediscovered a basic truth regarding cooling systems: the reservoir tank must actually have coolant in it to work! I had added about half the amount needed, then ran out of coolant. My test run of the engine revealed that it would run at idle just fine with no problems, but under load, the over-heat alarm would sound. Back at the pier, I checked the coolant level – aha! Ran to the store for coolant, finished filling the reservoir – cooling problems solved.

Fuel system glitch: I bled, rebled, rechecked all the hose fittings. . . still having problems. Engine would surge, especially under higher rpms, but even while maintaining a cruising speed, it would surge unaccountably. The one area of the system I hadn’t serviced yet was the Racor filter. I removed the old filter after draining old fuel and a little water from the separator, then installed the new filter and rebled the system. Problem solved. Yeah, it was pretty dirty.

While removing the sails last fall, I found a large section of leach on the jib that was separating at the seam line, so I knew that a repair was in the cards for this spring. Several weeks ago I spent a couple hours watching my favorite murder mystery while repairing the sail.

My repair material of choice is white Gorilla Tape. Very sticky, easy to apply to both sides of the material, very strong. I always sew down the edges with my Speedy Stitcher.

I also installed the two-speed winches my neighbor gifted me. Though not pretty and shiny, they work very well. The newly lubricated pawls and gears provide a satisfyingly sharp “click” as they turn.

Above is a fuzzy photo of the mounting from underneath. The tasked presented several access challenges. The first was accessing the port side winch fasteners through an access hatch. There was a fair amount of room to operate the tools, installation of the new pieces wasn’t hard. What made it difficult was the original fasteners were close to two inches too long. My painful arthritic hands needed multiple rest breaks to unscrew the nuts. It seemed like miles of thread! As you might be able to see, I replaced the fasteners with much more appropriately sized bolts. The starboard side wasn’t too difficult, even with the same ridiculously long bolts. Access was much easier.

I also stripped the interior cushion covers off the settees and washed them. I don’t have an “after” picture here, but I was very pleased with the result. The colors are bright and clean again.

Finally, i have just applied the sixth coat of varnish on the forehatch, although this photo was taken after the fourth coat. I’ve very pleased with how the grain is filling and how shiny the hatch is becoming.

Its actually a good bit nicer looking than this now.

Today’s main project will be to ascend the rig and check everything over, with my neighbor’s help. I will also install a new deck light and line cage over the deck light. I own a Mast Mate flexible ladder that I can hoist to the masthead, but as I experimented with it yesterday, I learned that it is still quite difficult climb. The steps are flexible, of course, and it takes a good bit of strength, flexibility, and stamina to use it. I don’t have any of those attributes anymore, so a bosun’s chair is going to be my vehicle.

Projects Progress

Spring is in full cry and warmer temperatures dominate. I’m down to wearing jeans and a sweatshirt over long sleeves. That also means bottom sanding/painting season has arrived, and both are accomplished as of this writing. Might be a record for me having it done this early before launch. I’ve also had time to wash and wax the topsides, so there is a nice protective shine ready for the new season.

All of this, of course, is the normal spring activity for the upcoming season, but this year is special since we are cruising to Maine June-August.

Engine Service

So with the exterior completed (for now), I turn my attention back to the systems. In view of a summer of extra reliance on the engine, I’ve ordered and replaced all of the cooling system hoses. My aching back is bearing testimony to the amount of time I’ve spent bowing in supplication before the aluminum idol. It’s just not a posture that I can long endure, so my fervent prayers were for the timely release of old hoses from hose barbs. This went pretty well, and my prayers did not go unheeded. Only once did I resort to the heat gun, which when applied, made the installation of a particularly difficult hose very easy. I also took the precaution of replacing the thermostat, saving the old-but-still-working part in case of unexpected failure. I had similarly ordered new belts, but have only replaced one. . . seems that I ordered the wrong part for one of them, so I’ll try again soon. I’ve also thoroughly inspected all of the fuel lines and found that they are in good shape, mostly. The only areas of wear or cracking were at the clamp ends of the hose where there is flex. I cut 3″ to 4″ inches off the ends and reattached. I did completely replace one 10″ piece of hose that connected the fuel filter to the injection pump. It was hard and no longer flexible. Finally, I adjusted the valve lash back to .008″. It had crept out to around .015! How does it get that far off? Oh well, better that it crept wider than smaller.

Strainer Installation

I ordered and installed gaskets for my new-to-me bronze Perko water strainer. This was another exercise in plumbing, hose barb sizing, and appropriately locating for optimal operation. I fastened a piece of plywood inside the engine compartment upon which to mount the strainer. I didn’t anticipate that the foam sound deadening material would twist up on the drill bit and make things difficult. I wound up having to cut a window in the foam for each fastener hole.

The strainer attaches to the two screws in the middle of the board, then all the plumbing can be completed.

Attach hose barbs, well wrapped with Teflon tape, then connect hoses. The locating trick was attaching the right-angle hose barbs so as not to kink the hose. I also had to change the hose barb on the through-hull fitting from a 90 degree to a straight barb. Now all the hoses lead fair.

Yeah, I know that hose clamp is too big and the tail is too long. I’ll change it soon. I’m interested to see if there are any leaks in the system. There always seems to be an adjustment or two that needs to be made to get a drip stopped. We’ll see. Same is true for the engine cooling hoses. I’ll need to spend some time just sitting in front of the engine while it’s running to watch for drips.

Two-Speed Winches

I serviced the two-speed winches given to me by my neighbor. They were in terrible shape – just completely gunked up with old grease, dirt, dust and funk. However, I could not figure out how to get them completely disassembled. I got the drum off, and the upper pauls out, but couldn’t figure out how to release the center shaft assembly.

I looked on line for the winch manuals, and lots of models of Lewmar winches were illustrated. . . but not the particular model I have. Improvising, got a quart of solvent, a couple of throw-away paint brushes, and a small soft bronze wire brush and washed. And washed. And washed some more. The old grease was very stubborn. I got a can of degreaser and washed some more. They are much cleaner than when I started. I bought two new snap rings at the hardware store to hold the drums in place, since neither winch had them. I greased the bearings with lithium grease, and oiled the pauls with 3-in-1 oil. Now they work smoothly and give that satisfying “click” as I turn them. I will install them sometime soon, but for the next few days, we have rain. Rainy days give me a chance to catch up blogging!

Updates – Long Overdue

Last time we checked on our hero, he was patiently waiting for engine parts, whiling away the days with varnishing projects.

Well, the parts finally arrived and I reassembled the engine and reinstalled it. Then (of course) corrected my errors in hooking up the various wires, cables, hoses – then it ran! After my first test run, the prop shaft began to back out of the coupling as I backed into the slip, and I nearly lost it again – but it hung up in the shaft log, and Ruth and I managed to fit it back into the coupling. Yes, the set screw was installed, but I’d done it incorrectly. Turns out, you have to “spot” the shaft. That is, drill an indentation in the shaft into which the set screw “sets.” I did that (easier to write than to do – involved long, sweaty minutes bent over the top of the engine with a drill, boring a divot into the shaft), then reinstalled the set screw with thread lock. It’s been fine since I did that.

Next thing, the engine ran away. You read that correctly. . . diesel engines can scavenge fuel from places other than the fuel injectors, and run without regard to the throttle position or stop lever. But why and where? Much reading ensued, afterwhich I concluded that my engine’s symptoms matched those which indicate that the fuel lift pump was leaking, thereby dumping fuel into the crank case, thinning the oil, which was then burnt in the cylinders. The run-away only lasted seconds before all the excess combustibles were gone, and so no damage occurred. I ordered another pump and installed it. Problem solved, but a scary experience.

Family commitments intervened as well, and then we got to go sailing for the first time this year. In July. We over-nighted late last week, crossing the bay, up Harris Creek ’til we got to “Drew’s Cove.” It was stunning, deserted, perfect. Here are a couple of photos to prove it (Ruth gets the photo credits this time).

 

More Maintenance on the Engine

My “new” engine has been installed for 12 years now. Doesn’t seem possible! I’ve accumulated about 1000 hours of run time, and it’s time to do some regular things to it. The urgency of this has conveniently been occasioned by a persistent oil leak. I just haven’t been able to find it. I cleaned the oil in the bilge from its leaking after haul out last fall. Thought I had found the leak to be a simple dip stick ajar in the hole. But a test run of the new propeller has proved that the leak is still there. After looking up and down, far and near, and all over the engine, I have come up with nothing. . . until today (I think).  Actually, I didn’t come up with it, my neighbor the professional boat service tech noticed it. But I’m getting ahead of myself. . .

Being unable to find the leak, I determined that it must be the rear main seal, and to service that, the engine had to come off the beds and on to the cabin sole. I disconnected the engine on Monday. Today I moved it on to the cabin sole, separated the engine and transmission, removed the clutch plate and flywheel – – and found no oil leak. There was a little oily (almost dry) dust from the clutch at the bottom of the bell housing. No oil. I found a little more oil around a couple of banjo fittings that attach an oil transport tube that runs port to starboard. Didn’t seem like enough oil, though. Finally, my neighbor Mike came home from work and came over to check my progress. He was looking around the engine, and pointed out (among other items of service that needed doing) that my oil breather line had come loose from the intake. That’s a line that vents positive crankcase pressure from the valve cover. Ah. . . I’m betting that’s the source. Those things can spew oil everywhere, and that would certainly account for the amount of oil (and the location) that I’ve found in the bilge. It hasn’t been lots of oil, but enough to leave me with a black, grimy bilge. I am so relieved!

So while the engine is on the sole, I’ll do a few more things that are harder to do with it installed: I’ll completely service the cooling system, and boil out the heat exchanger. I’ve got a new exhaust elbow to install – it’s time. These things have a limited life span, and it’s best to be ahead of a breakdown in this case. I’ll also adjust the valves and get a new seal for the valve cover (of course). And. . . I’m going to put a couple hose clamps on that breather line!

Sorry about lack of photos this time. I’ll catch up on images tomorrow.