Disaster Averted

That isn't mud on the wheel.

Well, here it is, the post of shame. This is the short story of how a tiny piece of metal, or the lack thereof, really changed my Independence Day and the following two days.

So, before we left for the lake on the 4th I inspected the trailer, as I always do, and noticed that the Bearing Buddy had come off the hub on the right (starboard) side of my boat trailer. The spindle was exposed but there was plenty of grease in there, so I thought that it would be fine. Big mistake. On the way to the lake I noticed I was low on fuel and decided that I would fill up on the way. Well, I forgot to fill up. Trust me, that part is important.

We got to the lake, had a wonderful day on the boat. We packed up and went along our way home. It was then that I remembered to fill up with gas. While I was filling up I noticed that the trailer hub was smoking. Hmmmm.... not usually a good sign. Upon closer inspection it was clear that there was no longer any bearing inside the hub and the wheel was riding directly on the spindle of the axle. We had been going 45-50mph down a two lane highway with nothing holding the darn wheel on other than the downward force of the boat! Thank goodness for smooth NC highways.

I limped the boat down the road to a boat ramp so we could take a closer look and leave the boat overnight if necessary. When we jacked the trailer up the wheel literally fell off! Literally fell right off the dadgum axle. I can't believe how incredibly close we were to a very, very big mess. It was a two lane road, the only road to and from the lake, and it was very busy with 4th of July traffic. I have horrific visions in my head of an O'Day 22 on it's side in the middle of the road, traffic as far as the eye can see, flashing lights of firetrucks, towtrucks and police. Truthfully though, that would be the best case scenario, what if a car had been right behind me when it fell? What would have happened to the truck? It's not pretty.

So, the next day Aaron and I decided that we'd just press new bearings into the hub and slap it back on. Since there were no bearings left on the hub, it was guesswork to pick out the right size bearings. Well, we guessed wrong, but it didn't really matter because we realized that the spindle was so marred from having the wheel ride on it that it would be unusable. So, we wasted all day Saturday figuring that out. We decided that the only thing to do was to replace the whole axle and hubs. I could've gotten a new spindle pressed in the old axle and a new hub, but once you price both of those things plus labor... better off with a whole new one. Where to find an axle on Sunday morning? Luckily, Tractor Supply came through in a pinch and had the right part... or so we thought. I happily drove to the stranded boat (all 45 miles from my home) with the new axle, foolishly thinking that I'd just bolt it on and be gone in half an hour. Not so, turns out that my axle had 71" spring centers. Modern sizes are 70 and 72 inches. I had gotten a 70". Aaron, always thinking on his feet, decided that we could modify the brackets with an angle grinder. So, off to his house to do that. Back we come, this time more confident than ever that we'd bolt it on and be gone. Foolish. Now the problem was that the U-bolts which hang the axle were too short. Apparently they were for a shorter stack of leaf springs. Hmmmm... two options: find longer u-bolts or remove the bottom two leaves on the springs. Off in search of u-bolts we went. Lowes, Home Depot and 3 auto stores later... no u-bolts. We found about every other size than the ones we needed. So, I got some c-clamps and we decided to modify the springs, no reason for this trailer to have a 6-stack of leaves anyway. In fact, the darn thing was so rigid who knows how much force we were imparting to the wheel bearings, not to mention the boat. So, we pulled off the bottom two leaves and the axle went on like it was supposed to. That felt good, really really good. Oh, forgot to mention that it thunderstormed on us everyday. We finished the repair at 8:45pm in a thunderstorm that had been kicking for the past two hours. We were soaked, tired and very, very happy. Big thanks to Aaron without whom I wouldn't have been able to repair the trailer.

I can't stop thinking about how horrible it would've been if I had remembered to get gas on the way to the lake...

Close Hauled on Independence Day

Courtney and I went to Jordan Lake with our friends, Aaron and Laura, to celebrate the Fourth of July. I was expecting it to be a madhouse. Indeed, our normal put-in was closed b/c it had reached capacity. We found a new put-in that may become our new default. I don't know where all the boats were, but it seems there were five trailers in the parking lot for every boat I saw on the water. It didn't seem any different than a normal weekend day on the lake. In any case, it was a great day though nearly everything that could go wrong did. First, the motor quit as soon as we had cast off the busy dock. It was low on fuel, but there were additional problems. Luckily, Aaron is "The Motor Whisperer" and tended to the outboard while I did some evasive sailing maneuvers to clear the dock and boats. Turns out that it was low on gas, flooded and the spark plug gap was too big. After Aaron tended to this it ran like a top... only the prop was slipping. Hmmm.... back into the cockpit came the Tohatsu. When we removed the prop we discovered that the pin that kept the prop in place had sheared. This was most likely related to me wrapping a length of 5/16" Sta-Set around the running prop until the rope had sheared. Could be... but no way to tell for sure ;) Luckily Aaron was able to fashion a new pin out of two small cotter pins... brilliant! Problem solved. We sailed about for a while and drank some "Appalachian Mimosas" (lemonade and champagne... err... sparkling cider... yeah, that's it). The sailing was nice though the wind was variable. I somehow got the new Windex set right on the first try. This helps quite a bit. As you can see from the above picture, we were able to point 32.5 degrees off the wind with the sails trimmed down nicely.

Then, something else bad happened... I'll keep you in suspense until I get pictures this afternoon. It ain't pretty, but everyone is OK thanks to a bit of luck.

Something that is pretty though: my new all rope halyards! I replaced the old wire/rope halyards (must've been originals) with 1/4" Sta-Set. Now the head sail and main sail halyards are color-coded for easier handling. I spliced the old shackled onto the new line as they are quite nice captive pin Schaefers. No sense in spending an additional 50 bucks. I whipped them... whipped 'em good. They're wonderful, if a bit stretchy right now. The initial stretch should be gone shortly though.

Algae Threatens Olympic Sailing

Here is a NYT article discussing how algae blooms in Qingdao could pose a serious problem for the Olympic sailing competition scheduled to take place in six weeks. Officials have begun clean-up efforts and are confident that the waters will be algae free by July 15th. Small boats are scooping the algae from the water and using it to feed animals on local farms. To be fair, China has promised a "Green Olympics".

Algae growth can be accelerated by a combination of conditions including sea temperature and nitrate concentrations. Chinese scientists identify seasonal warming in the Yellow Sea and increased precipitation as responsible for the most recent bloom. However, the common practice of dumping raw sewage into surface waters in China would certainly tend to increase the nitrogen content of the coastal waters. Furthermore, runoff water rich in minerals due to soil erosion and agricultural fertilization supply additional N to the mix; an effect that would be exagerrated by increased precipitation. Interestingly, this phenomenon (nitrogen eutrophication for my nerds out there) has been linked with fish kills in the estuarial waters of North Carolina and other Atlantic locales.

Some interesting things from a political perspective:

"Media reports estimate as many as 20,000 people have either volunteered or been ordered to participate in the operation, while 1,000 boats are scooping algae out of the Yellow Sea."

"On Tuesday, [Beijing] will begin removing 300,000 high-polluting vehicles, mostly trucks, from local roads. Later in July, the city will institute temporary restrictions to remove half of all vehicles from the streets."

"But air quality remains such a problem that officials also are preparing contingency plans that could force temporary factory shutdowns across much of northern China if conditions warrant."

Zac Sunderland's Circumnavigation Attempt

On Sunday, June 14th Zac Sunderland began his quest to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe alone in a yacht. He left Marine Del Ray in CA in his 1972 36' Islander Intrepid.

Zac has a lifetime of sailing experience and is saltier than most. Wish him luck and keep track of his voyage on his blog.

How to Take a Dog Sailing

You will need:
1) A Dog
2) A Sailboat
3) A Dog PFD

Helpful tips:
1) Get a PFD with a handle on the back, you can tie a line to this, just in case
2) Ice Packs: the refreezable kind can slide underneath the dog PFD and helps to keep them cool
3) Bring plenty of ice water and a dog bowl

Axl did much better than I thought he would. Other than being really hot, I think he had a really good time. He's not big on swimming... but he's good at it. The handle on the back of his PFD (Outward Hound is the brand) allowed us to dunk him in the water to cool down while under way. It is also good for tying a line to.

It was Courtney's first time on the boat since it was finished. We had a great time and got off the lake before a storm blew in. The wind was inconsistent and mostly still, but it wasn't nearly as hot as it has been. Lots of powerboaters and jetskis. I've decided that the only people that like jetskis are the folks riding them.

Anyway, I guess that's the way it's going to be now, sailing logs and pics only. A few more projects that I could post about (electrical, cabin aesthetics, etc.) but those are low on the totem pole since I can go sailing. One thing I will be doing shortly is replacing the halyards (wire and rope) with all rope (probably 1/4" Sta-Set X). I learned how to make an eye-splice and an end splice in preparation for this. My first one came out beautifully! There is a link on the right where you can find instructions. They are good, but I would definitely recommend reading them through once or twice before beginning. It is easy to get confused when you start threading the pieces into each other. Also, I was able to do a good job with 1/4" Sta-Set without a proper fid. I used a long steel finishing nail with the tip ground smooth.

Splash!

Went to Jordan Lake with some friends for the boat's "new inaugural" voyage. Wind was nonexistent most of the day, but picked up to a consistent 5-6 knots for a little while.

Done!

Well, as much as any boat is ever done, that is. Which is to say, there's always a list of projects. I have finished all of the projects that I started over a year ago and the boat can finally be sailed. The last push involved reinstalling a handful of cleats, clasps, hinges and the stemhead (at least that's what I think it's called). I also had to reinstall the rubber rubrail insert. This was great exercise for the hands! I also decided to paint the cabin interior with white paint, as I had removed the old vinyl liner. In fact, the paint is still drying as I write this.

Reinstalling the Stemhead

The stemhead had an interesting aspect of reinstallation. The problem was that the two forward bolts went through an uncored portion of deck and the aft bolts through a cored section. On the underside this created a ridge. The original installation procedure used what appeared to be very stiff cardboard as a backing plate. Once torqued this material conformed to the ridge. I was not satisfied with this and felt that since this component received a great deal of force it should have a proper backing plate. The obvious problem is that a properly stiff backing plate wouldn't sit flat on the underside of the deck owing to the cored vs. noncored ridge betwixt the fore and aft bolts. I decided that I would fashion a custom backing plate out of fiberglass and use thickened epoxy to fill the void between the underside of the deck and the plate. I layed up around 12-14 layers of medium weight fiberglass (sorry, don't remember the actual weight) over several days. The glass was kept smooth by squeeging it between two layers of wax paper. I then created a pattern of cardboard which I test fit and then cut the fiberglass to shape. I thickened West System epoxy with colloidal silica until it was a nonsagging, frosting consistency. I waited until it was slightly tacky so that it would hold the plate into position and fixed it into position. The cardboard template and duct tape was used to hold it into position while the epoxy kicked. I was happy to see that the epoxy had completely filled the gap and oozed up through the bolt holes. I then redrilled the bolt holes and installed the stemhead in the normal manner.

Wrapping It Up
So, I am really looking forward to blogging about sailing this vessel instead of working on it! In truth, working on this boat has been a real pleasure, and I purchased it with full intentions of doing just that. I suppose that things got slightly out of hand and ended up taking much longer than I thought they would. Someone gave some advice to a new boat owner on the SBO forums which was something like, "don't set a time frame, you will overshoot it and become frustrated." Never a truer word has been spoken. If you ever decide to do something like this, just enjoy the adventure and don't cut corners. In retrospect, I might have been better served by starting one project at a time and not starting another until I had finished. Oh well, we live and learn and I've had a blast doing this.

All that's left to do is test raise the mast to readjust the standing rigging and commissioning the outboard. Tohatsu's are tough little motors and I don't anticipate any problems with it. It's a two-stroke after all, basically an underpowered chainsaw attached to a prop instead of a chain. I plan on removing the sparkplug and spraying WD-40 into the cylinder to overcome any starting friction. I have also pulled all of the electronics and am busy rewiring them. Several of the panel switches are bad and need to be replaced. Also, the wiring was not well organized or labeled, a problem that is easily remedied. I am consulting Nigel Calder's Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual for boat wiring info. I highly recommend this book, my father gave it to me as a gift and it has been very handy.

Hoisting the sails.

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated

Having not posted anything in nearly one year, it seems an appropriate time for an update.

I've nearly finished all of my projects. The boat is repainted and the boat has been mostly reassembled.

For completeness I will run through the projects that have been completed since I last posted:

Reinstalling the Cabin Sole

The top fiberglass "skin" of the cabin sole was fastened onto the new balsa core with a ketchup consistency mixture of epoxy and colloidal silica. The fiberglass was held in place with many, many sand bags and a few bags of concrete. I am guessing that I put between 350 and 400 pounds of weight on the floor. Seams were faired with a frosting consistency mixture of epoxy and West System Microlight 410. I couldn't be happier with the way this turned out. The floor is super solid now and looks great. I painted the sole with the same Interdeck nonskid that is on the decks. I can't seem to find all of the photos of this process.

Hatch Repair

The forward hatch was cracked in the middle of its forward edge. I decided to put a fiberglass "band-aid" on top of this area. The repair is mostly cosmetic, but should add a bit of strength. I decided to reinforce the back edge in the same manner. Around four layers of fiberglass were applied (each piece successively larger, see Don Casey's books for more info). The repair was faired into the rest of the hatch and the area was sanded.

Deck Repair

I found a bad spot on the starboard side around the forward portion of jib track. There were a couple of leaking pieces of hardware there and that had ruined the core. I found the extent of the rot by drilling holes outward from the bad region, I then cut the top portion of fiberglass off and dug out the bad wood. New balsa core was epoxied in place. I then layed up a new fiberglass deck in this area. This was my first experience with fiberglass and I didn't find it to be too challenging. As with everything the key is good preparation. I did many layers, many more than I thought would be necessary. It should be very strong here.

Painting

The entire painting process took forever. It is an endless cycle of sanding, sanding, cleaning, painting, sanding, sanding, painting... ad infinitum. I put on two coats of primer, three coats of Brightsides, and two coats of Interdeck. I used the "roll and tip" method for the Brightsides and got a reasonably shiny finish, there are many many variables in getting a good finish but the most important are: substrate preparation (sand and clean) and the paint/thinner mix:

Masking out the non-skid areas was a very tedious task. I didn't get it exactly perfect, but I think it looks respectable. I got some vinyl fine-line tape from an automotive store and outlined all the non-skid areas. I then masked out the rest of the exterior with normal blue painter's tape. Corners were radiused by tracing a quarter and cutting the tape, an idea I borrowed from Tim's excellent restoration of Glissando.

So, that was painting. I don't think I've ever been so happy to be done with something. It looks pretty good, but the true test will be to see how it holds up. I wouldn't do this again if I didn't have access to an indoor painting facility. It took forever because I was a limited by weather. Warm enough to paint = warm enough for copious amounts of insects here in the South.

Putting it back together

I first reinstalled the windows. I spent a long time cleaning these up in my shop. The aluminum frames are not in too bad shape, pitted here and there but in decent condition. I used a synthetic steel wool (real steel will leave deposits that will rust) and aluminum polish to make them shiny. I used 3M 4200 to bed them back in their openings; the frames were tightened just enough to make the 4200 ooze out. After the sealant had cured for a few days the frames were tightened fully.

This is essentially the process for the entire deck, rebed the equipment in sealant, snug them down, wait for the sealant to cure and then crank the hardware down tight. After the deck had been painted it was impossible to see where the hardware was previously installed from above. In some cases I drilled a small pilot from underneath to locate the hardware. I consulted photos of the rigged cockpit I had taken previously just to make sure things were going where they belonged.

There weren't any real surprises throughout the deck rebuilding process. The only problem is that it is mostly a two person job, one on the bolt and one on the nut. In some cases small pieces of hardware were previously installed with screws. I have replaced all of these with bolts all the way through. Backing plates were installed on some hardware and very wide washers on others.

A point of interest is the new mast step/organizer plate combo that I got from Rudy at D&R Marine. I bought the new SS tabernacle to replace the original cast aluminum piece. The original used one large bolt through the center of the cabin roof with two screws to hold it in place. At some point in this boats life the screws had been replaced and three medium sized bolts held it in place. It was not a pretty setup as the bolts went through the cabin top at an angle and had broken the headliner. The new tabernacle uses four bolts. Unfortunately the bolt patterns for the halyard organizer plate and the tabernacle didn't line up. Three drill bits and a lot of cursing later I had the two pieces mated. Additionally, the tabernacle pin on the mast had to be relocated to accommodate the new equipment. Drilling this hole was nerve wracking and I spent a lot of time measuring and remeasuring prior. Getting the alignment right for the tabernacle itself was equally critical and challenging. Boats this old have changed a lot over time and are twisted, warped and contorted in subtle but important ways. In my case the headliner centerline and the boat's true center were not perfectly aligned, this makes the measurement process tricky. In the end, it went in beautifully and I am really proud of it.

The cabin was also reassembled. To my happy surprise the compression post went back in nice and snug (after jacking the cabin roof up about a quarter of an inch). Unfortunately, during this process I managed to put a crack in the floor. It is along an area that has no core and will not receive any weight. This is going to have to wait to get fixed. Disappointing, but it is hardly noticeable and should not affect on the structural integrity of the cabin floor. I then set about reinstalling the bulkheads and putting the galley back together.

I think that I can get the boat ready to sail in one more push. There is only one somewhat major piece of hardware to reinstall: the stemhead. This has a challenging aspect to it that I will describe soon. Other than that it is mainly cosmetic stuff inside the cabin and a few odds and ends like the compass and some cam cleats. In a fit of frustration I also pulled all of the electronics out and bought a new battery. I am going to redo this at my leisure as lights aren't required on a vessel this size anyway.

So, that's it. It's nearly time to go sailing.