Tag Archives: repairs

Boat Projects

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We have time on our hands as we wait for a weather window and as we wait for storms/squalls to pass.  So, we fill those gapes with a few boat projects and general maintenance.  Just in case you are wondering, we do work as well as play. 

Jib Roller Furler Pin

There is a rather large shackle that holds the tack of the jib to the furler (very important).  The pin inside the shackle had weaseled its way out and was almost lost.  Thank goodness we caught it.  We had to unfurl the jib to release the pressure from the shackle in order to get the pin back into place.  Once inside, we zip tied it to secure it.  Yes, the bottom shackle is twisted as it is designed to be a 90 degree shackle.  Although, we never did understand why there are two shackles here.

Jib roller furler pin

Jib roller furler pin

Sail Bag

Our sail bag (which holds our main sail) has a panel with “Sugar Shack” stitched on each side.  The letters were starting to come off so we decided to take off the two panels and stitch the letters back on.  A lot easier said than done.  The panels were stitched on to the main sail bag and had an adhesive 2” tape around all four edges.  The stitching was rather easy to cut and remove, but the adhesive was a mess. 

We removed as much of the adhesive as we could (we did not want the sticky stuff on our sewing machine).  Then Matt began the slow process of sewing on each letter.

We had to remove the sail bag in order to sew on the repaired panels..  That is another huge project as we have to secure the main (which weighs in at 300lbs) using the lazy jacks, then remove the sail bag.  The sail bag needs some reinforced stitching and then we can put the panels back on.

About a month later, we had calm weather conditions and began the process of removing the sail bag.  Matt secured our heavy dacron main using the lazy jacks (the lines that hold up the sail bag).  He had to remove the reefing lines and a lot of other stuff to get the sail bag free. I must say hat it looks so naked without the beautiful sail bag!

Matt sewed the sail bag’s weak spots and made a few small repairs before sewing on the two panels.  We laid out the sail bag on the deck in order to properly place the panels.

And she is all repaired.

Washing Machine

Yes, we have a small wash/dry machine on the boat.  It is a 2001 Splendide WDC 1024C.  I have to be honest I love it.  We don’t use the “dry” portion of the machine as it takes too much energy/power to dry the clothes.  The spin cycle is so good that I can hang the clothes in the sun and they will be dry in an hour or two.  Having a washer is a true luxury on the boat. Well, frankly anything beats washing clothes in a bucket!  The only downside to the washer is that I can only run laundry when we have full sun (it takes a lot of power), full water tank (which means running the watermaker), and light wind (to dry the clothes).  It’s a lot to ask of Mother Nature. 

But I can usually do a full load of all our clothes every 2 weeks.  Of course, we do wear our clothes several days in a row (don’t gross out – we live on a boat!).

The Problem

There is a small 110v water pump that evacuates the water from the machine.  It has been on its death bed for about a year and we keep it limping along.  The machine is 21 years old after all.  Matt took it apart 8 months ago and fixed the fan that keeps the pump cool.  Each time I use the machine I test the fan to ensure it works before starting a new load.

However, during my last load, the machine would not evacuate water.  Fiddle sticks!  We had to drain the water into a bucket and out the window, spin the clothes, and then remove them. The machine is bolted onto a 1” piece of wood which can’t be removed.  So, in order to access the back of the machine, we have to unscrew the wood from the cabinet. This after I remove all the cleaning products from the cabinet of Course.

Splendide WDC1024 Washing Machine

Splendide WDC1024 Washing Machine

Matt was able to access and remove the small motor (which by the way is no longer manufactured).  There are two problems.  1) The seal is broken so there is a small leak from the water pump.  We can’t fix this as we would have to destroy the pump to get to the seal and we don’t have a seal replacement. 

The other issue is that the fan is moving side to side and it is not supposed to.  The bracket that holds the bearing in place (which holds the fan in place) rusted and broke (see 2nd image on right). Hmmm.  Well, we can’t get a new bracket or bearing so we improvised. Matt stuck two pieces of pvc behind the bearing to keep it from moving.  This is only a temporary fix!

INSERT 5 COLLAGE OF WATER PUMP

We are working with Splendide to find a used water pump for our machine.  We found several on eBay but none would fit our old machine.  The thought has crossed our mind to buy a new Splendide but all of the new models are too big to fit our small cabinet. Drat!  Just our luck, we find one brand new part at an RV parts store.  We buy it and ship it to Wayne who is visiting soon.  Sweet luck!

Watermaker

Another joy on our boat is our fresh watermaker!  We are so darn lucky to have one onboard so we don’t have to retrieve fresh water from shore in jerry cans.  We have two pumps on our Spectra watermaker, but one of them decided it had enough of us.  Matt tried to repair it and it just won’t have anything to do with us.  Lucky for us, we were able to find a replacement and have it shipped to Wayne  as well. In the meantime, we are only able to produce 50% of the volume so we are running it a lot more than usual.

Windlass 

The windlass raises/lowers our 100m of stainless steel chain and our 60lb stainless anchor.  It is fantastic to have this done with a push of the button as opposed to by hand (can you imagine my biceps if that were the case?).  While we were trying to raise the anchor from an anchorage that was 18m deep, the windlass stopped working.  It would not go up.  Farfignugin!

Matt removed everything from the locker and proceeded to remove the motor.  After an hour, he cleaned everything, switched the up with the down (which was working), and put it back together.  This way we at least can use it to bring up the heavy chain and anchor.  To make it all go down we can do that manually in a controlled free-for-all type process.  Not ideal, but a temporary fix.

Matt realized that it was not the motor that was broken, but the relay.  We don’t have a spare one of these.  So, we get back online, order the part and send it to Wayne. Thank God Wayne is coming!!

Small Boat Projects

Table Runner

I decided we needed a new table runner for our cockpit table.  I found beautiful fabric in Papeete and went to work. Of course, Matt had to complicate (and yet improve) my pattern.  Not bad for a small project.

SUP Cover

The new stand up paddle board is very huge and it has been baking in the sun since we bought it about 2 months ago.  We’ve needed to make a cover for it – and now is the time!  We had some extra white fabric under the master bed that would work.  It is not sunbrella, but it will do for now (at least for the first iteration).  The cover fits snugly with a little extra padding on the tip and the side.  We left the fins on and the part of the board showing for photo purposes only (smiley face).

Other Completed Boat Projects

  • Replaced zincs on port prop
  • Cleaned Propellers
  • Repaired window leaks (port large window, starboard above nav station)
  • Salon Fan (this is dead and needs to be replaced)
  • Repaired freezer door trim

Pending Boat Projects:

A boat is always a work in progress (like a house).  In addition to the washing machine, watermaker, and windlass, here is a list of a few more outstanding boat projects:

  • Lazy Jacks – inspect and tighten
  • Main Sail – repair rub spot (port side stern)
  • Paint Bilge
  • Clean Engines
  • Paint Engines
  • Freezer insulation repair
  • Repair master bedroom leak

Keep in mind, that our beautiful home is over 21 years old and she has been across many oceans.  She is truly in excellent condition for her age and we are continually being praised for her beauty and good condition.  So, even though it looks like a lot is broken, it is just “normal” boat projects.

We spend the New Year celebration in Taravai with an authentic Polynesian BBQ in our  last blog.   Events from this blog post occurred in  January 2022.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.

Wash down pump replacement

Servicing our Girl: Sugar Shack

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What do you do on a beautiful day in paradise?  Get dirty?  We had a few boat projects that needed to be completed in calm weather (no wind and no swell).  So, we set out to do some maintenance and servicing of both Sugar Shack and Sweetie (our dinghy). 

Anchored in calm waters with very little breeze made it much easier to accomplish these specific projects.  We dropped the hook at North Totegegie where we had beautiful views. 

Servicing the Boat in Paradise

Servicing the Boat in Paradise

Windlass Service

What is a windlass?  It is an electric wench that raises and lowers our anchor and anchor chain. It is a very important part of our boat as it would make anchoring nearly impossible without it.  In a pinch, we can manually raise and lower our anchor using the hand crank method.  However, we have 100 meters of 10mm stainless steel chain attached to a Spade x140 anchor that weighs in at over 65lbs.  Imagine cranking all that chain and anchor up by hand – no thank you!

Our Lewmar Ocean 3 windlass (2000 watt) was running a little slow when raising the chain.  Once it got going it was fine, but the startup was less than optimal.  Not a problem, just needed a little love.  We are at anchor with our anchor chain connected to the windlass.  Can’t rightly service the windlass without removing the anchor chain, right?  First things first, Matt ties a line to the last link of chain (just at the rode) and then secures it to the anchor roller so he could remove the pressure off the windlass.  Then he jumped in the hole (locker) and cleaned the brushes and removed the corrosion.

Servicing the Windlass

Servicing the Windlass

Not yet at 100%…it might require a more comprehensive servicing in a month or two.  For now, it is better than it was and that is good for us (maybe at 95%).  A few days later, Matt took the windlass apart and cleaned all the connections.  He found a loose wire that was the culprit and now the windlass is running perfectly!

Tail Tails

Do you know what a tail tail is?  It doesn’t have anything to do with your posterior or an animal.  A tail tail on a boat is an indicator of how your sails are trimmed while underway.  They are small, light pieces of fabric attached to the sail.  When the sail is trimmed correctly, the tail tails on the windward (inside) and leeward (outside) of the sail will stream backwards.  That’s when life is good.  If the sail needs trimming the tail tail will either fly up or down indicating the need to tighten or loosen the jib sheet (working line) to give you optimal performance.

Our tail tails were very sad and in need of servicing.  Easy enough job when there is no wind.  Matt had to drop the sail onto the deck in order reach all the tail tails.  You don’t want to do this in windy conditions as your jib will be flopping all over the place.  We bought a kit which made replacing them super easy.

Washdown Pump

Our Jabsco washdown pump is located in a locker near the mast.  This pump provides pressure to our hose to enable us to wash down the boat, the anchor chain and pretty much anything we need.  It is great because we can use it with salt water or fresh water depending on how the valve is turned.  We usually hose things off first with salt water, then do a final rinse with fresh water.  Why is that?  Because we have an abundance of salt water and a very limited amount of fresh water.  Our pump was very corroded as it is in and around salt water and salty air.  It worked, but it was limping along.  Instead of ‘servicing’ we decided to replace her.

The pump is only attached with a few screws and clamps.  Matt had it replaced in under an hour.

Wash down pump replacement

Wash down pump replacement

Servicing Sweetie – Our Dinghy

I had intended on putting the work done to service Sweetie on this blog, but it was so extensive that I ended up giving it her own blog post.  Stay tuned for “Dinghy Spa for Sweetie.”

Events from this blog post occurred during the month of January 2021.  Our blog posts run 8 weeks behind our adventures.

Smack, Crack, Fall. Alternator Down

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This post is a long time in the making so bear with me.  It all started back in mid-February 2020 when we were trying to leave the Marquesas.  One alternator decided it did not want to be attached to the engine…

We rose early on the morning that we planned to leave for the Gambiers.  Not because we wanted to leave early, but because we anchored on top of another boat’s anchor.  We had to start the engines and move our boat forward so they could safely retrieve their anchor.  Not a big deal, but an early morning.

The Bay of Virgins (in the Marquesas) is a gusty little devil, with katabatic winds coming down the valley.  All good, took a while but we were able to maneuver out of the other boat’s way without dislodging our anchor.

While Matt waited for the other boat to sort out their anchor, he heard a loud clunk.  Sort of a smack, crack, clunk.  He figured I had opened or closed a bilge or something.  But, no, not me.  He did not mention it to me right away so I was clueless.

A few hours of going over the forecast and future forecast, we finally decided to get going.  As usual the “pre-flight engine checks” were in-order.  This time a surprise of all surprises. 

Surprise Surprise

When Matt opened the port hatch to the engine room, he saw the auxiliary alternator that charges the house batteries, was missing in action.  WTF?  This is a 50lb, white alternator.  It’s a hard thing to miss. 

The belts were not on the front of the engine.  Turns out the engine mount that holds the heavy alternator gave out, ¼ steel plate broke right off.  The plate that holds the alternator is also part of the engine mount.  So, when we go to fix it we will have no use of the port engine. 

Pretty sure that was the smack, crack, clunk, sound he heard earlier.  Guess we will be looking for a welder in the Gambiers.

Project on Hold

A week after we arrived in the Gambiers, we attended a Sunday Funday BBQ in Taravai where Matt was able to ask several people about local welders.  It appears there are two people who have the tools and capabilities.  One cruiser had something welded by the main group of welders and he was not impressed with their work.  The other is a friend of a friend that we would have to hunt down.

Looks like we will put this project on the back burner for a few weeks.  This is a secondary alternator that is used to charge the house batteries.  So, without it we just have to use the Starboard secondary alternator to charge the batteries.  We have 4 alternators (two for the engines and two for the house batteries).

Lucky Break

Fast forward past some down time, then the corona virus 45-day quarantine, and we are at 3 months later.  Our friends on Storm Along have a metal boat and Niels is a welder with all the welding equipment. He has agreed to help us out if we can get some extra steel for the support brackets.

We come up with a game plan.  Matt and I need to find some steel to reinforce the plate in three sections.  Then we will meet Nils on the beach to weld the plate back together.  Now, to find some steel.

Stefan to the Rescue

Fast forward a few more weeks and we are back in the anchorage of Rikitea in Mangareva.  We asked our local friend Stefan if he knows anyone who can do some welding for us.  He works at the school which has professional technical training and we heard they teach welding.  He asked what we needed and to our great surprise he had all of the tools, equipment, steel, and supplies.

Stefan cut three pieces of steel to Matt’s specifications.  The triangle will be welded to the vertical and horizontal pieces.  The long flat bar will be welded between the alternator plate and the engine plate on the bottom. The short flat bar will be welded between the same two plates but on top.

Welding Begins 

We met Niels at the beach with all of equipment.  We used our 220v Honda Generator for power.  It worked great for the grinding and for short welds.  Niels was able to make the initial weld holding the two pieces together.  Then Niels and Matt started off by grinding the pieces for a better weld.

Then the boys attach the first support bracket across the bottom of the two plates.  The image below shows them testing placement, then grinding the bar, then Matt holds it in place for initial small welds and then Niels tries to do a long weld.

Unfortunately, the Honda generator was not strong enough to power the welding equipment which required a 100 amps (at 220volts).  Looks like we need a Plan B.

Plan B

We visit the local “Commune” where the islands has most of its machinery and a welding shop (the place mentioned above that did not do such a good job for another sailor).  They graciously allowed us to use their power to complete our job.

Commune Building in Rikitea

Commune Building in Rikitea

Matt got to grinding the remaining parts while Niels welded.  Perfect set up to complete our project.

The welding was complete about 90 minutes later.  The big ugly weld was not Neils but the previous weld we had done in St. Lucia.

Next, Matt sprayed a anti-corrosion paint and two coats of Volvo green paint to match the engine.

Project done!