Repairs and additions during the March to November layover
Ice maker fixed:
We have an ice maker aboard. But it has not worked for the three plus years that we have owned Cool Change. Two years ago I replaced the water control valve - it costs only $32 while the timer switch mechanism for the ice maker cost was $140 to $180. This summer I went to the internet and found the exact same timer assembly, which is made by Whirlpool, could be purchased for a range of $24 to $180. Scared of the $24 piece, I sprung for the $32 version. It is the same timer that I have replaced in several home freezers in past years. I also needed to replace the small water hose from the water valve to the ice tray. We now have a working ice maker to use when we are at a marina and have constant A/C power available. We will probably use it as a meat freezer to supplement our refrigerator freezer. And...for ice cream!
New outboard motor for our dinghy:
In previous blogs you may have seen our new Yamaha outboard that we purchased in Jan 2010. Well that engine ran so roughly with its one non-counterbalanced piston that it shook our hands violently on the control handle. Colleen was reluctant to pull the starter rope because of its propensity to kick back and snatch the rope from her hand causing extreme pain. In fact it kicked back on me and snatched the rope from my hand so violently that it flew into my other wrist tearing my watch away and sending it down to Davey Jones locker never to be seen again. All Yamaha needs to do is add compression release and counter balancing to the motor and it would be a great motor. Bye bye Yamaha 6hp. Hello Nissan 8hp electric start. Tohatsu makes this motor for both Nissan and Mercury. Note the new mount to store the motor on the back of the big boat. It was too big to fit in the locker - I did not think to check that first!
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| New mount bracket for motor |
This motor gets our dinghy up on plane with both of us aboard and runs 15mph. The Yamaha would not plane even with only one person aboard. Oh, and we sold the Yamaha 6 for the same amount that we paid for the Nissan electric start 8.
Sealing air leaks in the dinghy
Every time that we went back to the boat in Jacksonville we found that the dinghy was completely flat. After pumping, the dinghy was low on air again the next morning. We found several pinhole leaks through the rubberized fabric when we painted the dinghy with soapy water. After reading good reports about a liquid sealer that is squirted into the tubes of the dinghy we purchased the $55 per quart stuff and tried it. Getting the sealant into the tubes was like getting a two year old to take castor oil. And that was the easy part. I had to drag the dinghy onto land and roll it over and end for end every 30 minutes for 3 hours. Now this is harder than it sounds because the dinghy is bottom heavy and had to be held at 15 degree increments repeatedly until it was rolled a complete revolution. Then I had to turn it on its bow and then its stern. After the 3 hours in 88 degree weather I was beaten. I had my doubts that one quart would cover both tubes of a 10 foot dinghy and find any and all leaks. Well...it worked! When I got back three weeks later the dinghy was still fully inflated and again 3 more weeks later.
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| Motor mounted on dinghy |
Apprenticing at the local canvas shop:
From April through October Wayne apprenticed at Rick's Boat Canvas and Sail shop in our home town. Rick was a fantastic teacher and Wayne learned much while assisting there. He actually can sew a straight line on a 42 foot sail. He can repair any boat cover, replace clear vinyl, make side curtains and boat covers and much more. Maybe he can trade canvas work for $$ to buy diesel fuel. In Jacksonville he traded canvas repairs for boat buffing and waxing. Great trade for both people!
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| Making a cover for a sailboat |
Solar Panels Installed
I finally decided to install a solar charging system. It consists of two 215 watt solar panels that measure 40in by 60in each. Gary and Jann aboard "Tieing A Knot" (www.tieingaknot.blogspot.com) said that their same system supplied the charge to run all of their 12 volt systems including the refrigerator without running the generator daily. The attached pictures tell the story.
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| getting access to flybridge arch to pull wiring |
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| Pulling the wires |
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| Corner bracket with specially-made-by-Wayne spacer |
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| Both solar panels installed
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Replacing a side curtain
One of our side curtains had clear vinyl that was turning brown around the edges. From my apprenticeship at the canvas shop, I determined that it was about as easy to make a complete new curtain with zip-up window as it was to replace the clear vinyl and utilize the old blue canvas. Here is the result,
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| Newly installed side curtain at helm side of flybridge |
Repairing our drop-down table
Screws were repeatedly falling out of our table on the aft deck and unexpectedly dropping the table and all on it a foot. My sewing machine wreaked havoc on the screws with its vibrations as it stitched. With some skinned knuckles and arms, I managed to install through-bolts and elastic locknuts where screws had been before. Now the table goes from high to low and back with little effort and no longer collapses without warning.
Sea strainer repair
I opened the air conditioner strainer to see if it was clean and that the basket bottom was still intact. The strainer was clean and the basket was good. But...the cork gasket on the cap had self destructed upon disassembly. For $12, NAPA provided a 26 inch by 12 inch piece of cork gasket material from which I cut a new gasket. Now I have a 100 year supply of gasket cork. And I brought from home a 12 inch square piece of 1/8 inch thick rubber sheet from which to make any future gaskets that I might need.
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| Gasket sheet and new gasket ready for installation. |
New side floor bolster panel
The wood in the port lower side panel on the bridge was rotting out under the vinyl. I made a new backing board and recovered the panel with matching new vinyl upholstery material.
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| Finished bolster |
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| making new backer board |
Re-stitched the top canvas
Several weeks before the winter cruise I finally made time to stitch over the decaying stitches in our big bimini top. This top is twelve feet wide and 14 feet long. Both the front and back stitching was starting to come apart and I did not want it to fail in a high wind episode. After removing the canvas from its frame, I laid new stitches on top of the existing stitches in the front and aft seams of the top as well as the rubber attaching slide that holds the canvas to the boat at the flybridge arch.
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| Canvas top removed from frame |
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| Canvas top and slide adapter |
New batteries
Three weeks ago I checked the specific gravity for all nine batteries and found two batteries that failed and one battery that was borderline. The two bad batteries were removed and only one was replaced. I had kept one extra battery when I previously installed four deep discharge batteries three years ago. Well this week the borderline battery failed the specific gravity test. So before commencing the trip, that battery was replaced also.
Some photos that you might like
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| Coast Guard boat with triple 300s |
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| It comes with its own custom trailer and truck |
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| Beautiful Chris Craft runabout |
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| NASA Shuttle's external fuel tank in Green Cove springs docks awaiting trip to local museum |
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| No guards!! Just walk up and touch it! |
Five manatees cam to our boat to eat the weeds trapped between the boats in the marina
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| Early morn at the marina |
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| Look what happened to that clear morn |
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