Engine and Gearbox woes

Well it has been a year now since the engine was out to sort out a gearbox whine that sounded very much like the bearings had gone. At the same time the engine was serviced. I normally have the work on the engine done by my engineer that I used on my last yacht - he was excellent, and the engine bay always looked sparkly clean.

A sudden change in my work circumstances last Summer mean that I needed an engineer quickly and mine was booked so I went for the default yard engineer. This was a mistake as after many expensive invoices the engine and gearbox were delivered back in worse shape than I had handed them over. The brief was to get both working as reliably as possible for an extended cruise. he was well short of delivering that!

There were oil leaks, fuel leaks and water leaks! Oh, and the gearbox was worse than ever with it crunching into gear. The famous "velvet" drive sounded more like a coffee grinder.

After months of deliberation I finally decided to take the gearbox down to Lancing marine in Brighton where it was fully serviced. Sometimes the gears would stick in forward even though the lever was in neutral. This was because of some wear on the gear shift cog itself; it was quite badly worn. A new drive plate was installed to stop the crunching. As you can see from the pictures below, there is diesel in the sump - this from a poorly fitted lift pump that squirted diesel. The engine oil came from the cam plate that was not bolted on tightly enough. The water leak we sorted in December - we just needed a new water pump. So slowly, the engine is back to her former glory and ready to do many more miles.

I am not an engineer myself, but it is so reassuring when you know a "proper job" has been done! Now I feel confident in some cruising this summer with a reliable engine and gearbox to help me out in times of no wind!

Here comes the sun!

It is likely that I will spend much time onboard Rosie this summer. One thing I that Rosie used to have is an inbuilt ice box, but this was removed at some stage. The quarterberth used to be a generator locker, but now it seems electrics are provided by renewables. She is equipped with a Rutlant wind vane, but after auditing the electrics, this is not enough to run a fridge. I have decided to for the Waeco coolfreeze 18litre that just about fits in the locker under the quarterberth - where the original ice box would have been. It also has a very low power consumption. I need to install 50w of solar panels. It has taken some time to source ones that can fit on the coachroof and be as aesthetically pleasing to a wooden classic yacht as possible. The new Scanstrut deck glands are brilliant even though tricky to fit. So I now have 2x20w on each side of the coachroof and one 10w on the poop-deck which should provide 50w of power when the sun faces one side of the yacht and a lot more when overhead.

A step up on the Ladder front

I decided that the plastimo standard chandlers ladder that was inherited with the yacht was bit below Rosie's standards. So a I have refurbished an old mahogany ladder and and with new stainless steel lugs, looks the part. The only trouble is that it can only be mounted on the flattest part of the hull, but that was true of the old one too so I am not sure why I am concerned. The wooden one though fold over so you get three rungs under water which is better for a swimmer (or a man overboard).

Water water everywhere except on Rosie

It's Easter and Ipswich seems to have been invaded by eye wateringly expensive and smelly double-diesel guzzling mobo's. It's okay is you like that sort of thing, but it does seem they miss the tranquility of yachting. This one parked up next to me and rew's compliment came complete with teenagers requiring TV, Ipad, Pods, all over the place. All those Frozen songs being transmitted easily through the water into Rosie's hull. There was nothing for it but to be the electric drill out and do some onboard DIY.

It does appear that marina etiquette is somewhat missing these these days. The photo above shows this constantly filling the tank of water throughout the weekend. I wanted to use it - the only hose on the pontoon - but alas, the owners decided to go into town and leave it running. On their return I asked to retrieve the hose. No, they wanted showers onboard as their "ensuite" is nicer than the marina's ones. This required constantly filling the tank as a family of 5 went off to have their showers... Am I missing something here?

On a serious note though, I worked on Rosie's safety gear this weekend to bring it upto ISAF spec - something that is required for any ocean passage if I am to get her insured for that. This means an upgrade of the lifebouy. The old upside down light did not work and new more modern has been added. Then there is an old strobe light that came with Rosie's inventory that I have now added to the top of the danbouy. Lastly I have added a drogue to the lifebouy and connected the two with new floating line. The danbouy flag was very faded and that has now been replaced and there is now a cover on it attached to the backstay to protect it from UV. All of this took me all afternoon to set up and then I looked at mu neighbour. I could not see one bit of lifesaving equipment anywhere? No lifebouy, no lines, no nothing...

Aries vs Haslar

This image shows Humphrey Barton  inspecting the Aries (no.3) onto the transom. It was installed in 1968 in Gibraltar before a transAtlantic. The mounting will be similar for the Haslar gear, as will the size of the wind vane (except Haslars are not ply but white). There is a lot of work to do to get the Haslar gear restored, and that is not frankly a priority at present. I would like to get it tested this season though.

Some work on the poop deck

Rosie looking resplendent in her Winter berth. a lot of work is going on around the poop deck at present. The first thing is that the Rutland wind turbine needs a service as the bearings were making a nasty vibration. I think this could have been down to laying it on the floor for three months whilst the yacht was being painted in the shed (I could not get the yacht into the paint tent with that stainless pole poking up).

The next thing that needs sorting is that how to attach the Haslar servo-pendulum wind vane without wrecking her aesthetics.

This was kindly donated to the yacht by Andy (thank you again). Rosie really should have an Aries as installed by Humphrey Barton in Gibraltar. Sadly Aries are very rare as they are such good buts of kit that owners hang onto them. The Hasler is rare too, and is keeping with the period of yacht. This version is the oversized one rarely seen. In tribute the Humphrey Barton I have decided to name it "Hum".

I have had some stainless tubes made up that fit on the stern capping rail. These will allow the gear to be removed with ease. Its hard to do this fitting from the mooring so being stern to on the pontoon has been very useful.

A few other things that need to be done on the poop deck is sort out the AIS aerial (relayed to the plotter), fit a new stern light to replace the last one that failed due to water ingress (those plastic really expensive aqua signal designs are terrible - I mean terrible for the price!).

The davits have has cleats added to them so that they can become operational with tackle. Not that I will use them for river cruising, but if I ever make it to the Caribbean, I know from experience that they will become very useful. Just don't ask me how to use the davits and the wind vane at the same time.

I have been Dodging a bit of work

It has not been a particularly cold winter, but it has been grey and damp and I lost a bit of boat “restoration motivation”.  This was partly because I had so many problems with the Perkins after an “official service”.  New, more competent engineers have made the engine ready for many miles ahead with a full service.

• ·        The Borg Warner velvet drive system has had the bearings replaced.
• ·        There is a new shaft gland and stern-tube to replace the old unreliable ceramic cutlass bearing.
• ·        The tanks have been steam cleaned and inspection hatches laser-cut  out.
• ·        New wiring to the starter motor and reduction in cable run length and a dedicated starter batter with a 1-2-both switch.
• ·        New water pump
• ·        New alternator to replace the dynamo
• ·        Full service and spare parts audit

Maybe a break has been a good things as now I feel reinvigorated and the pressure is on to get her ready for the season. There are a number of things that really need to be done urgently:

• ·        The roller reefing genoa jams; I think this will be an up-the-mast job.
• ·        The chart table needs to be rebuilt in order to let the drawer underneath work.
• ·        I still have deck leaks!!! Need get this sorted.
• ·        AIS cable and antenna needs to be run
• ·        Galley needs to be finished-off
• ·        Heads rebuild and holding tank fitted
• ·        New saloon bunk cushions
• ·        New control panel in the cockpit
• ·        Rutland serviced to stop bearing noise

I think I will stop now…. You get the idea. I could go on and on and on. At least I started by adding new dodgers to the cockpit. A relatively easy task.