Baby It's Cold Outside

The weather has turned on us and Winter was pretty much here by mid-November.  Temperatures have been in the 30's and 40's during the day and we've had some nights into the 20's.  It's also been raining more often and all of this makes working outside kinda unpleasant.  We've managed to get a few more coats of varnish on the teak and now have the toe rail and eye brow trim up to four coats and two coats on the cockpit coaming.  My goal now is five all around but I need a few days of really nice weather back-to-back for that.  We'll be putting the cockpit enclosure up this weekend so I can continue to work on the coaming through the Winter.  Next March we'll get the final three or four coats of varnish on everything else and should be ready to take it South with no worries.

This past weekend, 12-5-14, we had several days of rain and it was clear but cold on Sunday.  Once things dried out we managed to get the rest of the stanchions installed before we turned to solid ice.  It was chilly out there!  I had masked off the area where the bases sat on the teak so they were bare wood.  We then had to mask off around that to protect the varnish from the 5200 sealant.  Once that was done I went down the toe rail with my cordless drill and recessed all the bolt holes to help force the sealant in around the bolts.  I used generous portions of 5200 on the base, about a 1/4" thick bead around all the holes and around the perimeter then filled the tube of the stanchion about an inch or so in.  As I screwed down the bolts I got a nice bead of sealant oozing out evenly around the base plate.  After 24 hours it'll be cured enough to trim with a razor blade and the extra will come right up with the masking tape.  The next coat of varnish will then seal it all in.  Just an observation on this little project with the stanchions.  These are through-bolted to backing plates underneath the deck.  They're accessed from inside by reaching through a narrow gap at the side of the overhead liner where it meets the hull.  Some places are wider than others and some are partially blocked by cabinetry.  The only way to see where the bolts come through the plates is with a mirror.  All the stanchions except two on each side have threaded backing plates so this is a one-man job.  For those other four stanchions it's pure frustration.  My hand barely fits through the gap so I enlisted Cheri to work on the inside while I manned the wrenches out in the cold.  Chivalry and all that.  Each stanchion has four bolts and they use 7/16" lock nuts.  You need to hold a combination wrench up in there at just the right angle for the ones closest to the hull and the inboard ones can be reached using a socket on a flex-extension.  Anything that gets dropped is lost forever.  Apparently these nuts also require a special vocabulary to get them started but Cheri quickly had it mastered.  I gotta admit I've never heard a 7/16" lock nut defamed so eloquently.

Last weekend I had new lifelines made up with all new fittings and turnbuckles.  We're going with bare stainless wire this time.  Our old lines had the white PVC coating on and had developed cracks and rust spots.  I think the plastic jacket holds dirt and water inside and this is what's rusting, not the lifeline itself.  Aside from looking nasty you can't tell what condition the lifeline is really in so that's why we went with the bare wire.  The stanchions are all freshly polished and re-bedded so once the new lines are on things should look pretty schnazzy.  We're only running the bare wire from the gates forward to the bow pulpit because we're doing hard railings all the way around the cockpit starting at the gates and wrapping around the stern.  We picked up the new lines on Friday but haven't gotten them installed yet.

Right now I'm making up some backing plates for the line locks and pad eyes we'll be installing for the Main Boom Preventer.  Once those are in place I'll be able to cross that project off the list.  I'm using some scrap 1/4" aluminum plate for the backing plates.  I first traced the pattern on the surface and center punched the holes to make sure I got them correctly centered.  I'm using 1/4" thick plate because I want to thread the holes and not have to use nuts on the bolts when I install them.  The bolts are 1/4-20 SS and I'll be using a #7 drill bit on the backing plates to leave enough metal to allow for tapping some good threads.  I'll be using 5200 to bed the line locks and pad eyes on the toe rail so there's no need for lock washers.  The 5200 puts a firm grip on the bolts and even after ten years you need some serious leverage to remove them.

My cabinet faces were delivered to the marina on Monday (woohoo!) so that'll be a project for next weekend.  These are made of solid maple and stained "cinnamon".  Hopefully it'll be close enough to the look of the teak but they'll be stuck back in a dark corner and shouldn't be too noticeable anyway.  I've made templates out of heavy corrugated cardboard for the cabinet sides to help get a good fit against the inner surface of the hull.  I'll be using 1/2" Baltic Birch plywood for the cabinet sides, top and shelf and any exposed ends will have a matching maple veneer.  The hull will serve as the back of the cabinet and it's overall dimensions will be 18" high x 45" long x 15" deep.  A friend of mine has offered the use of his table saw so if it's clear weather I'll get everything cut and ready to go in one shot.  I plan to completely assemble the cabinet before installing it, then tear it down and reassemble it in place, piece by piece.  The shelf where the one cabinet goes has a nice teak lip on it that sticks up 1.5".  I'm thinking the doors will just clear this so I'm planning to leave the lip in place and build the cabinet behind it.  That way there will be less demolition.  The milling on the lip matches the rest of the Island Packet woodwork so I'm hoping it'll help tie it all together.  Since I'm not removing the lip it makes installing the cabinet a bit more complicated and that's why I'm assembling it in place.  Just aft and perpendicular to this cabinet is a second cabinet that'll be mounted lower on the bunk and against the aft bulkhead.  This one will measure out to 36" high x 27" wide x 9" deep.  It'll be dedicated to tools and have storage inside the 6" tall base to maximize space.

This cabinet project will open up some space needed for the water maker and get all our tools located in one place.  Sounds almost organized, eh?

Oh yeah, one more thing.  When we had the galley remodeled we had the lid for the freezer and fridge split in two so we could open one side independently from the other.   We left the struts off the lids because they got in the way and without them the lids could open wider for better access.  The only problem here is that there's a cabinet directly behind the lids which prevents them from laying back far enough to stay open on their own.  I've been pondering this in my subconscious for about eighteen months now.  Tell me something, do you do this......whenever I go into a hardware store for something I could spend an hour wandering around looking for inspiration for other unfinished projects.  We have a great locally owned hardware store in our area and I was in there for wood glue or sand paper or something and came across these nice brass slide latches that would work great for our freezer lids.  When I got home I cut up some scrap pieces of wood for a base to get the latches to the right height and installed them so they just catch the edge of the lid.  This works great!  You simply lean the lids back against the cabinet and slide the latch in from the side to hold it in place.  Of course, I still need to stain the bases to match the cabinet so this is another unfinished project right now.  That means I'll hafta go back to that hardware store again.  Maybe I'll find another project solution while I'm in there.  Hardware stores are like toy stores for growed ups.

More to the Point

In the continuing saga of the fogged varnish we left off last Tuesday with weather frustration.  Fog had rolled in and ruined my plans to repair the work that had been damaged by dew.  On Friday I got back to it.  I went over it again with 180 grit paper, wiped it down and crossed my fingers.  I had checked the weather and found that temperatures were going to be hovering right around 40 degrees F.  That's not really ideal varnishing weather and I had heard reports that you don't want to lay down a coat if it's colder than 50 out.  Well, that may be but I'm feeling kinda desperate here, mightily pressed for time and I'm concerned that if I don't get a few more coats on then the long cold winter will destroy what I've already done.  The whole point of doing the teak this Fall was to reduce the amount of work that I'll have to do next March.  So I gave this some thought and figured I wouldn't have much to lose if it didn't work out.  What really pushed me on was the fact that the dew point on Friday was at 17 degrees F and was supposed to stay more than 20 degrees below the air temperature all day.  I had read somewhere that this was the magic formula, 20 degrees of separation.

I got started at 1100 when the air temperature got above 40 and finished by 1400.  I was just finishing up the bowsprit when I realized I couldn't hold the brush any longer.  I pushed on and finished but  I was shivering uncontrollably and babbling like an idiot.  Hey, be nice! Got my brush cleaned up and called it a day.  It took me until that evening to finally thaw out.

That night I had nightmares about ruined varnish and stripping down teak in the snow.  I finally rolled out of bed around 0600 but it was still dark out, too dark to see if the teak had survived.  Finally around 0730 I went out and checked it out.  It came out fine.  The 20 degree magic formula worked.  I can't describe how relieved I was.  The surface was still kinda tacky so I decided to leave it alone, let it cure completely.  Rain was called for on Sunday so I was pretty much done with varnish for the weekend.

I sat out in the cockpit for a few hours with a heating pad under my butt and polished and installed two more stanchions.  This completes the re-bedding on the port side.  The four other stanchions on that side were done last week so I ran a razor blade around the bases of those and cleaned them up.  They came out looking pretty good.  The next coat of varnish will help to seal the bases but I wouldn't get that done before the next rain so I covered them over with masking tape.  Be a bummer to have the teak turn black after all this work.

Next weekend the forecast is not prime for Friday but I may be able to get another coat of varnish done on Saturday.  The air temperature will be around 41 but the dew point will be way down at 13.  It'll be like that for most of the day so there should be enough time to lay down another coat and have it start to set before the conditions deteriorate.  Perfect!

I still need to order the stainless wire for the life-lines but I do have the tubing and fittings for the hard railing around the cockpit.  Maybe I'll get started on that next Friday.

Since this teak project has taken over my life I've been re-thinking my goals.  I had wanted to get eight coats on but realistically five would get me through the winter.  I've got four coats on already down the port side and across the stern.  There's three from the stern up to the side gate and two coats from there up to the bowsprit.  I'm pretty sure I can get five coats on all around before I turn into a pop sickle.  Then next March I'll be able to lay down three more to finish it up while the boat's out of the water for fresh bottom paint.

Once I have five coats on I can move on to something else.  For this winter I have a few things at the top of the priority list.  I want to install some cabinets in the aft stateroom along the hull on the port side.  We have a ten inch wide shelf there above the bunk that would serve very nicely as a support for a "wall hung" type cabinet and then on the aft bulkhead I want to mount another for storing tools. We priced having custom cabinets made when we re-did the galley but for these two small cabinets they wanted $5k.  Yeah, I know, custom work and all that.  I'm still not willing to do that, even if we did have the money.  I looked around on-line and found that Home Depot has a very nice maple cabinet selection (click here) and you can get cabinet faces that have just the face frame with doors and hinges.  I figure I could use these and build some "custom" cabinets of my own.  The frames and doors are solid wood with the recessed inner door panel being the only part that has MDF.  It comes in a nice cinnamon stain that kinda resembles the color of our teak.  Where these cabinets are going the only folks who'll be seeing them will be Bella or the occasional guest.  Total cost for the cabinets will be less than $600.

Once I have the cabinets installed then I can get back to work on the water maker.  That is the ultimate goal for this winter, to have that installed and running by February of '15.  That's like, what, three months. My project history shows that to be about three months short.  We'll see how it goes.

What's the Point?

Here it is more than three weeks since I began refinishing the teak and I'm still not anywhere near being done.  The varnish takes a full 24 hours in between coats and time becomes a major factor.  We have four good coats on the Port side, three across the stern but only two on the Starboard side.  I only have weekends for this and weather has been a problem.  Between the rain and cold/damp weather I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle.

This past weekend I had five full days to play.  I'm normally off Friday through Sunday and Veterans Day fell on a Tuesday so I took Monday off to take advantage of a streak of nice weather.  Friday through Sunday were clear but the temperatures barely got above 50 degrees.  Friday and part of Saturday I sanded and cleaned the teak on the Starboard side from the bowsprit back to the gate near the cockpit.  I got one coat of varnish down late in the afternoon and it looked good.  Sunday I had to wait until later in the afternoon to lay down a second coat because it was still a bit tacky.  I added a coat across the stern while I waited.  I finished the starboard side coat by 1600 and called it a day.  Monday I got up early and went out to see how things looked.  All the varnish I had laid down on Sunday was fogged and patchy looking.  All of it.  Ugh!  I envisioned having to strip everything back down to bare wood and starting all over again.  I'm running out of time though and really cold weather is right around the corner.

I Googled "fogged varnish" and found that it's caused by the varnish not having enough time to "flash off" and dry before dew settles on it.  According to Wikipedia "The dew point is the saturation temperature for water in air. The dew point is associated with relative humidity. A high relative humidity implies that the dew point is closer to the current air temperature. Relative humidity of 100% indicates the dew point is equal to the current temperature and that the air is maximally saturated with water".  When varnishing, the dew point must be at least 20 degrees less than the air temperature or you're gonna have problems.  At least that's what I read.  On Sunday the air temperature was around 51 degrees and I suspect the dew point was around 40 or higher.  I read on and found that the finish can be saved by scuffing the surface to allow the trapped moisture to evaporate.  Of course this requires warm temperatures.  Fortunately the temperatures for Monday and Tuesday were forecast to be in the 60's and clear.  Perfect!

Monday morning Cheri and I talked ourselves into stripping down the teak on the cockpit coaming so everything would be done at the same time.  I sanded down my fogged varnish and let it sit all day while we worked on the coaming.  I figured things would be perfect by Tuesday for laying down a coat of varnish and having everything protected before bad weather settled in around the middle of the week.  While Cheri sanded the coaming I worked on re-bedding the stanchions.

Before laying down any varnish on the Port side I had taped off the areas where the stanchions mount.  Now with four coats down I had to run a blade around the edge of the tape to remove it but underneath I found clean and bare wood.  Next I taped off the same spot and re-traced the base of the stanchion.  This time I removed the tape inside the cut and left the outer area covered.  Now when I install the stanchion the sealant can ooze out onto the tape and not ruin my beautiful teak.  Cheri had already polished up four of the stanchions and had them ready to go.  I squeezed 5200 adhesive all over the bottom of the base and up inside the stanchion a few inches, ran the bolts into place and lightly screwed them into position with just enough pressure to have the sealant push out all around the stanchion base.  I wanted to let the adhesive cure first before going back and tightening them down all the way to get a really good seal.  With Cheri's help I got all four stanchions re-bedded.  Once we get the rest of the stanchions installed I'll replace the life lines. We've decided to go with bare stainless wire instead of the white plastic coated stuff.  We're also replacing the life lines around the cockpit with hard stainless railing.  I have all the parts I need for that on hand so that project is ready to take off.  The hard railing will make a better place to mount our grill and the table we use for cleaning fish.  We'll be able to sit on our newly refinished teak coaming (maybe on a towel or something) and cook up that Mahi-mahi we just caught.  Can't wait!


Tuesday I had some touch-up sanding to do on the coaming so I took care of that before starting the varnish.  It was still kinda chilly out and after suffering the fogged varnish I wanted to wait for things to warm up a little more anyway.  Around 1000 I was ready to go at it and collected my brush and can of varnish and headed for the bowsprit.  I just happened to glance out towards the breakwater and discovered a wall of fog quickly descending on our creek.  Fog = high dew point, maximum saturation, 100% humidity.  Grrrrrrr.  I can't believe this!  I put away my varnishing gear and moved on to my next project.  Unfortunately I may be done with varnishing for quite a while.  Winter is coming on strong and temperatures are projected to be in the low 40's and 30's for at least the next week.  If I could just get a few more coats on it'd probably be OK for the Winter but I think even that's gonna be a challenge.

So.....my next project was having the anchors galvanized.  Last week I took them into Baltimore Galvanizing which is located in a heavily industrialized area near Essex.  They had a minimum charge of $250 but I couldn't get them to divulge whether that was for weight or volume or what.  I figured I could get a few other boat owners to go in on it with me and we could split the cost.  This is a bad time of year to inspire folks to galvanize their anchors though.  Seems that most everyone is concentrating on getting their boats pulled and having them winterized.  OK, so $250 is still not so bad.  That's about what I'd pay for new anchors and it doesn't make sense to just throw them out and replace them with pretty ones.  I can get my 20' of chain on the Danforth re-done at the same time.  The shop called me on Monday and said they were ready to be picked up.  I drove out there on Tuesday in the fog and loaded them in the trunk.  I talked to the dude for a few minutes about the cleaning process.  He said they acid dip them first, fresh water rinse and then put them in the galvanizing bath.  He said the chain took two days in the acid bath because it had paint on it and they need it to be bare steel for the galvanizing to work properly.  I asked about the minimum charge and he said it really depended on the job, the size of the parts, weight, etc.  He thought I coulda thrown in a few more anchors though, no problem.  The anchors and chain look brand new.  I'm really pleased with the results and feel it was money well spent.  Now we'll see how long it lasts and if I still feel the same way in another year or two.

So, here we are.  We're making progress here and there, even if it's not as much as I had hoped for.  Even if the varnish project is stalled I can continue to work on the stanchions and railing.  My project list intrudes on my sleep almost every night but if I keep chiseling away at it I can keep it at bay.  I have a plan.  The ultimate goal is to get the water maker installed this Winter.  To do that I need to install some cabinets in the aft cabin to make room for the stuff located where I want to put the high pressure pump.  The cabinets will also make a spot for our tools which in turn will open up some more storage around the boat.  I have about three months to get these things done and install a single side band radio too.  Should be do-able.  Then next March we'll pull the boat, repaint the bottom and finish up the teak.  Then splash and run.  That'll be it.

Paying Pennance to the Teaki God

 Bella Boo-Boo Houdini - Official Teaki Guardian on La Vida Dulce

For the last four years we've oiled our exterior wood trim with teak oil instead of using a varnish.  We really like the look of oiled teak and felt the maintenance was easier than dealing with varnish.  After our trip to Bermuda we discovered that teak oil doesn't hold up well to being bathed in salt water.  We've cleaned and oiled it several times since then but all along we knew that eventually we'd be refinishing the teak and using varnish.  The time has finally arrived to take this on.  With less than six months to go before we depart this job has risen to the top of the priority list.  If we leave in March 2015 I won't have much time or good weather to fool around with outside projects.  I do plan to have the boat hauled so we can paint the bottom but once that's done I want to head South.  So here it is halfway through October and I've finally decided to refinish the teak.

On our boat we have what's called a toe rail which forms a cap over the hull-to-deck joint.  It's made of 1"x 1" laminated teak and is about 5" wide on top and drops down the side about 3".  On the side of the cabin above the ports is a trim piece called an eyebrow that is made of 3/4" half-round teak.  This runs from the forward end of the cabin all the way aft to the back of the cockpit coaming on each side.  Since we knew we were going to be refinishing these parts we let the oil finish go, probably for too long.  The wood now looks black and grey and the grain is raised.

Before anything else could be done there's a bump strip that had to be removed from the side of the toe rail.  This is a rounded strip of stainless steel maybe a 1/2" wide that runs around the full perimeter of the boat and protects the teak from undue blemishes.  It's held on with wood screws about every 8" and whoever took this off the last time re-installed it with a variety of screws and stripped out about half of them.  Once I had this removed I found the wood underneath was about 1/16" higher than the surrounding surface due to previous re-finishes and was packed with dirt and crud.  I kinda got a notion at this point that the job was gonna snowball.

Because of the condition of the wood I decided to attack it first with a carbide scraper.  This is a handy tool with a long handle to give you leverage and a 2.5" wide carbide blade.  I shaved off the raised grain and ended up with a fairly clean surface.  This was a pretty laborious job though and it took all day last Sunday to complete just 3/4 of the toe rail and one eyebrow.

Since the port side was completed Cheri suggested we focus on that side and sand it down and get a coat of varnish on before taking on the starboard side.  Good idea.  A little variety makes the job much more bareable.  This past weekend (10/25) I started in by taping off around all the teak to prevent any damage to the surrounding fiberglass. I then went at it with an orbital sander using 60 grit paper.  The upper flat surface of the toe rail wasn't too bad but the 3" wide section going down the side of the hull was a bear.  Trying to apply pressure to grind down that 1/16" rise while hanging over the railing was not a job for an old geezer like me.  If the boat was on the hard it would be much easier to stand on a ladder and lean into it.  Because I was using an orbital sander there were parts of the toe rail where cleats and other fittings were mounted that had to be done by hand.  With the coarse sanding finished we sat back and looked over our work.  This picture shows the bowsprit under three phases of attack; weathered, sanded and varnished teak.

For as long as we've had the boat we've fought water leaks into the interior.  One on the port side is pretty severe and we always get water into the hanging locker in the main salon, which just happens to be Cheri's clothes locker.  It's bad enough that when we had carpet in the salon it would get soaked in that area.  There are several possible sources including the port window seal, life-line stanchions where they're through-bolted in the deck, and gaps in the laminated wood of the toe-rail.  I guess there could be other sources but I can't picture what they could be.

So, standing there looking at our beautiful sanding job we realized that this was the best time to take care of those water leaks.  The stanchions definitely needed to be re-bedded and removing them would make it easier to finish the toe-rail.  The life-lines also needed replacing so that was even more incentive.  Thus we have the true beginnings of our "snowball".  The bases of each stanchion are held on with four bolts that extend through the toe-rail and deck into the interior.  Most of them are backed with threaded backing plates but a few had plates and nuts which required two people for removal.  The base plates and bolts are packed with an adhesive/sealant called 5200 which is the most tenacious material known to man.  It made unscrewing the bolts a Herculean effort and cleaning the bases and wood of the stuff became the source of some salty new terminology.  With the stanchions off we took the time to polish them up like new and refurbish the reefing line blocks (see picture) that had been attached to them.  Snowball.

With the stanchions out of the way it was a simple matter to sand down the areas where they had been mounted.  We then used a two-part cleaner on the teak.  Using cheap foam brushes we applied Part A which instantly turned the teak dark brown.  After light scrubbing we went back with Part B and another light scrubbing which left the wood beautifully cleaned with a nice natural blond color.  Once the wood was all cleaned we went over it with 180 grit paper, sanding by hand.

On close inspection of the toe-rail I identified four places where the laminations had separated.  The gap was small, less than 1/16", but would need to be sealed up before applying the first coat of varnish.  I used a two part epoxy in a syringe to seal up the gap and let it sit for half a day to harden up.

I'm planning to re-bed the stanchions with 5200 and I know it'll seal much better to natural wood than it would to varnish.  I'm in a conflict now though.  The weather report is calling for rain in 24 hours and lasting for two days.  If I don't get a coat of varnish on this wood it'll start to go grey on me and I'll hafta clean it and sand it again.  I've come too far for that so I taped off the areas where the stanchions get mounted.  With the stanchion held in place with two bolts I ran a razor blade around the base.  Removing the stanchion I peeled away the outside edge of the tape and now had the base area taped off and could put on my coat of varnish which would have a full 24 hours of drying time.  After the rain I can get the stanchions mounted to bare wood and put a second coat of varnish on the toe rail that will also seal the edges of the stanchion base.  By the time we get the fifth coat of varnish on we should have everything sealed up pretty well.  This shot shows the taped off areas for several stanchions.  It also shows how much it opened up the toe rail by removing them.  Compare it to the previous picture, same location.

Originally we were going to use Cetol which is not a varnish but a "wood treatment".  It's an alkyd resin with UV absorbing pigments which make it translucent, not quite clear.  We have Cetol on our cockpit coaming and it looks nice and holds up well but has a glossy orange kinda look to it, not quite natural.  Because it's translucent it doesn't show the full grain of the teak either.  I went as far as buying a can of Cetol but in the middle of the night I woke up thinking varnish is the only way to go.  The next day I took the Cetol back and got a can of Epifanes high gloss varnish.  As I laid down the first coat I knew I had made the right choice.  Epifanes gives the teak a nice golden glow.  Five coats of that will have a traditional high class look.  Perfect!  After all this work I wouldn't want anything less.

Heater Maintenance

Airtronic L "Troubleshooting and Repair Instructions"
Airtronic L "Installation, Operation and Maintenance"
Airtronic D2D4 Basic Repair Analysis
Airtronic Marine Installations
Espar Digi Controller Manual


With one more winter to contend with we want to make sure our diesel heater is going to be ready.  Over the last two winters we've averaged something like 2500 hours of non-stop running between December and early March.  Last year just as we were going to shut it down with the onset of warmer weather it decided to quit on it's own.  I let it go because it was no longer a high priority item and I had plenty of other stuff to work on.  As August rolled by I realized that time was getting away from me and decided to put the heater back up at the top of my priority list.

I did some preliminary troubleshooting and narrowed the problem down to the fuel metering pump.  It has a screen filter on the inlet and that was totally plugged.  I tried to clean it but punched a hole through the screen in the process.  That did give me better fuel flow but I still had errors and the heater wouldn't run for more than a few minutes.  I priced a new pump through our local supplier and they quoted me $300.  Uhm, sorry, but this little thing is not worth that kind of money.

This is a simple little piston driven pump, nothing complicated.  I saw the same pump priced on-line for $165.  I sincerely believe in supporting the local dudes but this was just ridiculous.  Even at $165 this thing is way over priced.  I shelved the project for a few weeks and gave it some thought.  This past weekend I opened up the manual and did some proper troubleshooting.  Following the error codes I came to the same conclusion, that the pump was bad, but I learned a lot about the system in the process.

Our D5 heater came with a small four button "digi controller".  To get the error codes you have to hold the top two buttons down simultaneously for about three seconds.  It'll then continuously cycle through all the codes in it's memory.  For this problem it showed #11 (under voltage cutout), #13 (flame sensor over temp), #48 (metering pump interruption), and #52 (safety time exceeded).  Espar has an excellent troubleshooting guide (Airtronic L Troubleshooting and Repair Instructions) which explains what to do for each code.  For code #11 I disconnected the main wiring harness connector "S1/B1" and put a volt meter across pins 1 and 10 where I saw 13.2 volts, just as it should be.  For #13 it suggests checking the combination sensor (flame and over temp) but it goes on to mention fuel quantity too and this ties in with the other codes so I moved on to the next one, #48.  This says to check the resistance across the two leads on the fuel metering pump.  It's supposed to read 9.5 ohms but mine reads 0.2.  I also noticed that code #47 suggests that if you have error code #48 then just go ahead and replace the fuel metering pump.  OK, I'll do that.  In another manual (Airtronic D2D4 Basic Repair Analysis) it mentions that the most common cause of metering pump failures is extended periods of non-use causing the piston to freeze.  I suspect this then causes the coil to short out and give the indication I see here.  We don't run the heater from March to December, pretty much nine or ten months straight.  I think that qualifies for "extended periods".  #52 is just a safety feature built into the program that only allows the heater to be in the start-up mode for a short period of time.  If it doesn't go into run mode within that time it switches over to shut-down mode to keep itself from turning into a lump of molten metal.  I went ahead and ordered the $165 metering pump on line.  It's worth mentioning that the screen for the pump is available separately at a fairly reasonable price.  If you don't have an in-line filter upstream from the pump then it might be worthwhile investing in a few of these.

Espar provides some very nice information in these two manuals.  The "Basic Repair Analysis" is intended for other similar models (D2 and D4) but it relates well.  It also has nice color photos and good explanations of what caused specific problems.  The other one, "Troubleshooting and Repair Instructions", steps you through the troubleshooting procedure and provides drawings and schematics.  Another nice one to hold onto is the installation manual that came with the original kit.  This provides a nice electrical diagram with color coding for all the wires.  I keep these in PDF form on my iPad along with most manuals for all of our electronic and mechanical gear on board.  I've attached all three of these, and more, at the top of this post for anyone who might be interested.

Besides playing with the heater I also took on a few other items on my long To Do list.

Our mast is rigged so that all the halyards run down through the inside of the mast and exit about ten feet above the deck where they run down to the winches and cleats.  This is a really nifty setup because it prevents the lines from slapping against the mast when the wind blows, a common nuisance in any marina..  The slots where the lines exit the mast have plastic rings called exit plates (see picture) that prevent chafing of the lines.  The exit plate for the genoa halyard broke off about two years ago and I keep forgetting to replace it.  This weekend I got the bosun's chair out and made a proper repair.  The exit plate is held in place with a rivet and of course this piece was still in place so I had to drill that out first.  These are pretty large rivets and the installation required a Herculean effort with the rivet tool while I was dangling in the air.  I eventually managed though so now we don't have to worry about the genoa crashing to the deck in the middle of the next storm.

Another project was the Mainsail preventer (click here).  I had originally installed the eye nuts on the boom with lock washers but over the last few weeks I kept looking at them and decided it would be better to have the base of the eye nuts flat against the boom because of the sideways direction of force when this thing will be in use.  I pictured the stud getting bent because of the gap caused by the lock washer.  It only took a few minutes to make that correction.  At the same time I added a piece of 3/8" hose over the threaded stud inside the boom to prevent chafing of the out-haul and topping lift lines.  With that done I put the end cap back on the boom and called that part of the project complete.

The folks on the boat next to us asked if that's all I do is work.  I told them that this stuff was more like "play" and the stuff I do during the week is "work".  Never-the-less, I did manage to break away from the "play" and get out and do some fun stuff.  On Sunday morning Cheri and I joined about ten other folks in kayaks exploring Tracy's Creek with a very knowledgeable Naturalist for a guide.  The weather was perfect, clear skies and temps in the low 70's.  The picture above shows the location of the creek with our marina in the bottom of the circled off area.  Our guide pointed out all kinds of plants and critters including some dead fish laying on the creek bank that otters had set out to mark their territory.  Pretty cool! This section of the creek was way back there and is surrounded by woods and wetlands with no signs of civilization.  It's practically in our back yard and I never realized it was so nice back there.  We'll hafta get out there more often, fer sure!

Monitor Rebuild

I've finally gotten through the restoration of the Monitor wind vane.  This turned out to be a much larger project than I first imagined.  When I started in on this I pictured it as a simple cleanup with a few replacement parts.  Silly boy.  The wind vane is 28 years old and although it was well taken care of I don't think it was ever fully taken apart and cleaned up.  These older units built prior to October 1991 were made of 304 stainless steel which tends to develop surface corrosion in harsh environments.  They now make them with 316 stainless which holds up much better.  The 304 stuff is still OK but it requires more attention.  It needs to be cleaned, polished and waxed to keep it in good condition.  There's also a concern about crevice corrosion which can occur in tight areas that don't get fresh air such as in welds or between tight surfaces.  I did find one area that had signs of crevice corrosion but because of the location decided it wasn't going to be a problem.

The rebuild required a complete dismantling of the wind vane.  Once I had it torn down I went though and cleaned and polished every square inch to remove any sign of surface corrosion.  This took the most time and was the worst part of the project.  I used a product called Flitz and it made the job much easier.  Once I got everything polished I went back and gave it all a good coat of wax.

As I went through the restoration I found several parts that needed replacing.  The bushing retainers for the pinion gear were cracked and had to be ground out and new ones welded in.  There were plastic shims and bushings that simply crumbled in my hand due to age and salt water exposure.  The pulley used to adjust the angle of the wind vane on top was made from aluminum and was completely corroded.  It's replacement part is made of Delrin and should last a lifetime.

All the bearings are made of hard plastic and were still in good condition but I replaced them anyway.  The bearings on this thing don't come in one piece with built-in races.  The outer race is the inside surface of the tubing and you have to install each ball or pin roller separately which is a major pain.  I used dish washing soap to hold them in place during assembly but even then I ended up chasing little balls all over the cockpit.  Re-assembly of the pinion gear and it's support shaft into the yoke was by far the most frustrating part of this project.

I think I mentioned before how amazed I was to find that Scanmar kept records of every Monitor ever made.  Most parts were still available too.  The basic design hasn't changed much since it was first introduced back in 1975.  The biggest difference I found was in the pinion gear (part #36).  Where it mounts on the shaft the older pinion gear is shorter and uses a bushing and washers to take up the slack and correctly align it with the ring gear.  I had to replace the bushing and had trouble finding something suitable.  I ended up using a short length of 3/4" PVC pipe used for above ground wiring.  It says it's resistant to sunlight but I'm going to keep an eye on it.  Might make a cover for it to prevent the UV rays from breaking down the plastic.  A nice chunk of bronze would be a better choice.  If I wasn't so cheap I could have replaced the pinion gear ($274) and then wouldn't need the bushing.  The pinion shaft (part #33, $38) also had to be replaced due to wear.  I also ended up buying a "Cruising Parts Kit" (#801,$60) which provided most of the small parts I needed.  One problem I ran into is that there isn't really a manual with instructions on how to rebuild this thing.  The parts list has some very nice exploded diagrams but that's all you get.  Some parts, especially the yoke assembly, all have to go together in a certain order.  If you get it wrong the entire thing has to be taken apart and re-done.  I went through that more than a few times.  Each time you take it apart all the bearings fall out too.  Fun.

So, the worst part of the wind vane project is over.  Now I just have to install it.  I need to make up four backing plates for the mounting brackets so for now the wind vane patiently waits in the shed.

In addition to getting projects done for our cruise Cheri and I are also getting ourselves ready.  With less than six months to go we have both made umpteen doctor appointments to make sure we're in good health before heading out.  I've had some serious pain in my shoulder for over a year now and my doctor thought it may be a torn rotator cuff.  If it was actually torn an operation and rehab could take up to six months so I looked into that first.  An MRI showed it to be just inflammation so a cortisone shot and physical therapy will take care of that.  I also got a list of shots for traveling overseas.  Our family doctor helped us put together a medical kit and we discussed the best way to manage our prescriptions as well as assembling a stash of antibiotics and pain meds.  We'll be able to get most of everything we need (Rx-wise) over the next few years by having a family member get our re-fills through a local pharmacy and mailing them to us through our mail forwarding service.  We've submitted ourselves to a complete physical and several other exams not really worth mentioning.  So far we have clean bills-of-health.  I even got an eye exam and bought new glasses as well as a pair of prescription sunglasses with polarized lenses to cut the glare so I can see coral heads better when we're cruising around the islands.

So much to do, so little time.  This is all kinda stressful, ya know?  I need a vacation.

195:07:48:49

Memorial Day Weekend 2014

 Chart for Chesapeake Bay

Between our jobs and the boat projects we've been slaving away pretty much non-stop for three months.  We've had a few weekends on the Bay when family or friends came to visit but we haven't taken any time for just ourselves. Over Memorial Day weekend we decided to take a few days and anchor out, get away from it all for a while.

Saturday morning we managed to get away from the dock at a reasonable time, 0930, and motored out to red #2 in Herring Bay.  The wind was blowing 8 to 12 knots out of the SSE so we rolled out the Main, Genoa and Staysail and headed off for Eastern Bay on a beam reach.  Our boat really likes this kind of sailing and we ran across into Eastern Bay making an easy 6.5 to 7.5 knots (SOG).  There were quite a few boats working their way up towards St. Michaels.  As we passed a Beneteau 38 Cheri grabbed a few pictures of it.  We contacted them by radio and asked for an e-mail address.  They got the pictures right away and promised we would see some of LVD in a few days.  The first two pictures here, above and to the left, are the ones they took of us.

We cut inside the mark into the Miles River and ran close hauled as far as we could up to the Wye River entrance. We had a choice of tacking or dropping the sails and I chose to motor in the rest of the way.  It's a long and winding path to our destination, taking about 45 minutes at 6 knots to meander back to our favorite cove located just beyond Pickering Creek.  Seeing how crowded most of the anchorages were I was fully expecting to find our spot already overtaken.  As we came around the final point and the cove came fully into view I was pleasantly surprised to find we were the only ones there.

We anchored in 10' of water, far enough out from the shore to catch the breeze coming over the trees.  This is a very secluded spot with no homes in site and all the visible shoreline is lined with trees.  As I sat in the cockpit taking in the view a Bald Eagle dove down to the water not more than 40' off our stern.  He skimmed the surface with his talons and rose into the air with a fish.  I watched him fly off and land in one of the large trees on shore.  This is what we came here for.  A nice presentation of Mother Nature with a little slice of solitude on the side.

 We spent the rest of the afternoon futzing about.  Cheri practiced her music for a while and I goofed off on deck.  I got the dinghy out in case we wanted to row around or try our hand at fishing but we never got around to it.  Why ruin a good thing by trying to do stuff?  I spent a few hours in the cockpit catching up on my reading.  Time well spent.

For dinner Cheri made up a new recipe for crab cakes and I honestly gotta say they were the best crab cakes I've ever had.  Perfect.  Everywhere we go we sample the crab cakes and we do have some favorites but her new recipe left them all far behind.  She also came up with a new recipe for a white wine sangria and this combined with the crab cakes and arugula salad made for a memorable meal.  Say that ten times real quick.....memorable meal, memorable meal...

Sunday morning we had blueberry pancakes in the cockpit.  Memorable meal.  After we finished up we debated how to spend the day.  It was beautiful out, clear skies and a brisk wind, 20 knots out of the SW.  We decided the best thing to do would be to get out on the Bay before the wind died away.  As it turned out this wasn't really a concern.

We were on our way by 1030.  As we motored out the last leg of the Wye River into the Miles River we were running head on into the wind.  I waited until just before we made our turn up towards Eastern Bay before unfurling the sails.  We ran on a broad reach up to R4 and cut across the shallows off Tilghman Point.  Running close hauled we raced down the bay but never had a real chance of making it past Kent Point without tacking.  I knew that as we got closer to the entrance the wind would channel more from the south but we still needed another five or ten degrees.  "Ready about..."  We tacked down to R2A and then came about to run just clear of the shallows off Kent Point.

A lot of people say that Island Packets are slow.  I disagree.  With more than about eight knots of wind they take off pretty well.  What they don't do is point up into the wind very well.  This is due to the design of the boat where compromises have been made to build a boat that's better in other respects.  It's got a full length shallow keel which doesn't point up as well as a fin type, deep keel.  Another thing is that the shrouds that hold up the mast from port and starboard are attached to the boat right at the toerail on the outer edge of the boat.  The Genoa sheets are led outside of the shrouds at the widest part of the boat preventing the sail from being drawn in any tighter, closer to center line.

When we were sailing down Eastern Bay we were in a group of about five boats.  The wind was blowing a steady 20 knots and I suspect that several of the boats  weren't pointed up as well as they could simply to make the ride a little nicer.  There were a few boats that could point up into the wind better than us though and I could see that they were going to make it out into the Chesapeake Bay without having to tack.  Just a few more degrees would really make a difference at times like that.

The guy next in the slip next to us back at the dock just added a track inside his shrouds and he has a really sweet rig he got from Garhauer for adjusting the Genoa from the cockpit.  I talked to him about it thinking maybe this was something we might try.  I came away with two reasons that this wouldn't work for us.  The first is that new track.  The walking area on either side of our cabin is narrow to start with and when you go forward you have to swing around the inside of the shrouds to get by.  The deck is clear though and I've had to go forward a few times in some nasty weather and was glad I didn't have to worry about tripping over anything.  The other reason is that he said he has to either run additional sheets or move the sheet around the shrouds to use the inside track.  That sounds like work to me, more effort than I want to put in.  I think I'll just continue to tack.  What's the rush anyway?  It's a sailboat for gosh sakes.  We're only gonna go about eight or ten mph max.  According to Answers.com a human can outpace us easily if he could run on water:

Sprinting up to 100 yards - record is ~23 MPH - average ~14
Running up to a mile /1600 meters record is ~16MPH - average ~10MPH
Marathon distance record ~26 Mile/42 Km is ~13MPH/21KmPH
reasonable 9MPH 14KmPH (NY marathon qualification time)

For figuring out how fast you can get between two points these are probably better values as they assume you can actually not spend too much time recovering.

The Average walking speed is 3-4 MPH 5-6 KmPH or about 100 yards/meters per minute

Running speed sustained is about twice that 8 MPH, 12 KmPH or 200 yards/meters per minute.

I think I'll just stay in the cockpit and enjoy the ride.

So, back to the story.  Once we cleared Kent Point we had a straight run to Herring Bay on the western shore.  We were running under full main and Genoa making about 7.5 knots.  As got got clear of the influence of Poplar Island the wind swung a little more to the south and increased to as much as 25 knots.  We were OK with this but the waves were really building up now because they had a clear run across the Bay.  Something like 6 to 8 miles of clear water, completely unrestricted.  With 20 to 25 knots of wind the waves will build up pretty well in that short of distance (imagine what happens out in the ocean with hundreds or even thousands of miles of unrestricted space.  Yikes!)  Rather than run with the rail in the water we reduced the Genoa to about 70% and the boat ran on nicely heeled over about 15 degrees.  We had a pretty wild ride taking the wind and waves at 45 degrees off our bow.  Lotsa spray in our faces with our feet propped up on the low side (leeward) cockpit seats.  Bella has lived on board almost her entire life, all but three months, but she doesn't like it when things get rough (ruff?).  She curls up in Cheri's lap and pretends to sleep.  We crossed the Bay at a steady 7 to 7.8 knots and sailed right up to R2 in Herring Bay where we furled the sails and motored home.

Sweet!  This was just what the doctor ordered!  Two full days of R+R to remind us why we're doing all this work.  Ya gotta take that break now and then or you start to lose sight of the goal.  I think it's an "optics" thing.

This is the official countdown to our departure.  The latest date we'll accept with little-to-no humiliation is March 31, 2015.  That's exactly 200 days, 13 hours, 26 minutes and 34 seconds from now.