The Cycle of Life

While we've been waiting for our haul-out to address the cutless bearing we've been concentrating on getting a few jobs out of the way.  Foremost was getting the cellular booster antenna to the top of the mast to give us maximum range so up the mast I went, again, and again, and again, and again (you get the idea).  There were uncounted number of trips that saw me fix the steaming light, correct what could have become a major problem with the mast sheaves (the cotter pin was gone from the shaft and the shaft had almost slipped out of one side of the mast) and get the antenna wire run for the booster.  I have a new HUGE respect for riggers who go up and down a mast numerous times a day.  The plan was to complete all this work this past weekend but then we got the call that my dad was going downhill fast so we closed up the boat and drove up to Nanaimo.  Unfortunately he was put on end of life palliative care and passed away peacefully on Monday morning.  He had been suffering both physically and mentally for some time so we are relieved that he is at peace now.  I'm fortunate that my current current consulting contract gives me a lot of freedom so we've been able to concentrate on all the details that come with a family members death.  We're almost there and get to head home tomorrow!  Good thing too, we haul out next week and get the boat back in usable order.  The picture below was from fathers day just over a week ago btw, he's looking quite debonair in his sweater and hat...

A Broken Boat

Yes, we broke the boat!  We had decided to head back from Nanaimo on May 23rd to give us a few days in Sidney with our Aussie friend Marilyn.  Tides were good through Dodds Narrows for an 08:00 transit so off we went.  Not a breath of wind all day of course so motoring all the way.  We dodged a bunch of debris south of Dodds but did hit one small piece of wood that sounded like it went through the prop.  Oh well, no issues at the time so we kept going.  A few hours later as we were turning around the bottom of Saltspring Island, all hell broke loose with a massive banging from the drive train.  Immediately out of gear and the noise stopped.  We quickly checked the engine compartment, an no water was coming in.  I had Cathy nudge it back into gear and the banging started again, so something was seriously wrong.  I did mention there was no wind so sails weren't going help much at this point.  I checked out our insurance policy and saw that we had a $50 deductible on towing so called them to start a claim and then tried to sort out a tow.  The marine towing company uses a call centre so it took about 10-15 minutes to get a call back from the local tow operator who's boat was under repair so not much help there.  We decided to take it slow and limp home on our own and we also started to plan on using our dinghy and outboard as a tow alternative.  So off we went banging away.  I was convinced we damaged the prop when we hit the wood earlier and that was causing the issue ( I was wrong but more on that later).  I decided to experiment and see if I could find a rev that would smooth out the vibration and at 2000 RPM, with the helm straight, no banging, and as a bonus we were making 5-5.5 knots as well. The only issue was when we turned at all off a dead strait course, the banging came back.  We made it back to our slip and I left it alone for the rest of the day.

The next day I started to troubleshoot the issue.  I could see the prop from the dock, one blade at a time so I checked one blade, went below, spun the shaft by hand, checked the next and so on.  No issues with the blades but when I was turning the shaft, it wobbled, not good!  I knew I had to check it out underwater so on with a 3 mil wet-suit and into the water.  It was bloody cold!  Found the problem right away of course, the cutless bearing was no longer in the strut, it had spun out and moved up the shaft.  Lucky for us the shaft zinc stopped if from going too far so no hull damage but it was completely out of the strut.  It slipped right back in but I knew it would stay there long. I'm guessing the set screws let go that hold it in place in the strut.  I had to dive a second time a few days later to get a good measurement for a new cutless bearing and also put a hose clamp on the prop shaft just forward of the strut.  That should be enough to get us to the boatyard to haul out so I can fix this.  Unfortunately, we can't get hauled out until July 6 so we're settling into the marina in Sidney and I'm getting on with a few other boat jobs.  

One thing I did learn was  what the beginning stages of hypothermia feels like.  The second dive took a lot longer that the first and when I got out of the water and went to stand up I would have collapsed if I hadn't grabbed on to the rigging, not good!  Dizzy, with a massive headache but luckily that was all and after a few minutes under a hot shower on deck I began to feel a bit better.  I really didn't feel back to normal until the next day, scary stuff!

While I was troubleshooting all this, I also decided to replace the blades on out KiwiProp.  I ended up getting them shipped from NZ and it only took 4 days to get them here.  So hopefully we haven't damaged the strut or the shaft and we can get this sorted out reasonably quickly when we haul out in a few more weeks.  One thing I will be doing is securing the new cutless bearing with 4 set-screws instead of 2, I don't want this to happen again.

So, with all this, I've been tackling a few outstanding boat jobs.  I installed the new instrument pod at the helm and moved the chartplotter there.  

 

I've spent some fun time climbing up and down the mast.  The steaming light quit and when I took the lens cap off to get at the bulb, the o-ring was broken as well as the LED bulb.  I put a temp old style bulb in to make sure the light still worked (it did) and continued up to the top of the mast.  Good thing too, the cotter pin that secures the shaft for the main halyard and topping lift sheaves had gone and the shaft was almost out of the mast.  That would have been a disaster if the sail had jammed up because of a broken/missing cotter pin.  Roll forward a week and back up the mast to replace the missing o-ring and fix the sheave shaft.  I've finally managed to fine-tune my climbing gear so I can now go up and down the mast on my own, safely, without too much drama.  I look like an inch worm doing it but it works.  I've got more mast work in the near future.  I forgot to bring the replacement bulb with me yesterday when I replaced the o-ring in the steaming light, and I also found that the connector on cable to our VHF antenna has nearly broken completely off, so that needs to be replaced as well.  I'm also going to mount the cell phone booster antenna at the top of the mast to extend the range for that we well.  Lot of projects on the go...