Bullet-proof? Not hardly

 

Not even finger-proof

Well, now I have the answer.  

Remember way back, when I discussed Lexan vs. Plexiglass and postulated that polycarbonate (trade name: Lexan) would lose its properties when exposed to the sun over time? 

Well here is one of my polycarbonate storm windows, after 6 years exposure only in the winter, on the sunny side of Eolian in her slip.  I literally put my finger thru it when gently lifting it out of the slot today.  It is as fragile as a dry, dead leaf.  So much for 'bullet proof'!  And further, please look closely and note how the polycarbonate has crazed and browned up nicely where the port gasket did not protect it from the sun.

If you are changing/installing ports or hatches on your boat, specify acrylic (trade name: Plexiglass) instead of polycarbonate!  This is most important on hatches, where the possibility of someone standing on the hatch makes the choice of material a safety issue.

(One of the benefits of owning the same boat over a long time is the ability to do longitudinal studies like this.)

Back on the Dock

Well, here we are back on the dock in Anacortes.

The  last few days were great.  The forcasted blow did indeed come, but in Blind Bay, where the anchor loves the bottom and with 100' of 3/8" chain out in 25' of water, we were more than secure and slept soundly.

There were no more sunset moments from Blind Bay (view to the west is obscured by the protecting ramparts of the island), but it was wonderfully quiet.  Most of the boats in the bay were doing what we were doing... peacefully spending days in the Islands at anchor.  A few left and a few came in, but the balance stayed at about 10  transient boats - far below the ridiculous total of 51 boats at the height of the COVID Canadian border closure.

I puttered around working on the inevitable boat problems, an overhead light that had quit working, water pump that seemed to be continuously inhaling air, etc.  But mostly we read books on our Kindles.

And a joy...  with my phone acting as a hotspot, we were able to stream videos from Roku at anchor, so that took care of the evenings, in spades.  What a luxury!

So this afternoon we are back at the dock in Anacortes, cleaning up the boat and restocking it for the next adventure... Jane just arrived with a huge batch of groceries for that next outing - I need to go help her get them aboard and stowed... and then to make the bed...

Finally!

This has been the coldest, wettest spring in decades here in the PNW.  There has been absolutely no incentive to go out and sit in the cold rain.

Until now.

We are finally (!) off the dock, anchored out in the San Juan Islands in our favorite anchorage: Blind Bay.  But lest you think the rains had stopped... no.  One of our days out here (day 3) was spent at anchor, listening to the rain pelt down on the deck... for 24 straight, relentless hours.  But that day was bookended by two wonderful sunny days (2, and 4), so it was OK...  we stayed below and read, and cooked.  Speaking of cooking...  over the years our time on the water has been favored with increasingly great meals!  I'm glad our onboard scale has a dead battery.

On day 4, we hoisted anchor...  but wait.  There's a story there too.  Part of our prep for leaving the dock is to run the anchor windlass, to make sure the relay contacts or commutator haven't corroded up over the winter.  We've had to hoist the anchor (66 lb Bruce, 300' 3/8" chain) by hand, once.  And we intend for that to never happen again, thus the test run.  Now, our windlass has a counter on it that shows how many feet of chain have been let out.  When I tested it, I just lifted the chain off the wildcat, meaning that the counter showed chain overboard even tho there wasn't any.  And I forgot to reset the counter at the end of the test.  So, when Jane put the anchor down in Blind Bay the first time, she was baffled by the counter reading.  She was pretty sure that she had put down more than 100', but the counter only showed 25'.  So we put down more, just to be safe.  Hoisting and flaking all that chain into the chain locker was quite the chore...  hopefully that will be one of those lessons that will stick.

Experience is the best teacher,
but she gives the lesson after the test.

So, continuing with day 4, we hoisted anchor and went to Parks Bay on the south side of Shaw Island.  We call this bay "Sunset Bay" for obvious reasons:

We spent two idyllic days in Parks Bay, but the holding there isn't as ideal as it is in Blind Bay, being that it shoals steeply going to the back of the harbor, and to add to the fun, there are a number of abandoned pilings on the bottom in part of the ideal anchorage.  Meaning that Parks Bay is a great place to visit, but not one in which to weather a blow.

So, this morning we hoisted anchor again (just the intended amount...) and moved back to Blind Bay in anticipation of tonight's blow.  Rain and wind (16-22 kt) are expected tonight, and Blind Bay's gently sloping hard mud bottom is ideal holding for our Bruce.

We'll check in again later.

 

Maintenance Spring Continues

It seems that every time we have come to the boat this spring, something has required attention.  When we arrived this past Saturday, yet another maintenance item reared its head.  When I turned on the power to the fresh water pressure pump, we were greeted with the sound of... nothing.  No water pressure.

A little bit of diagnostics disclosed that the pump was ok, but the pressure switch was not.  

Since it is nearly impossible to remove the pressure switch assembly with the pump installed without dropping important bits into the bilge, it had to come out.  Now that sounds somewhat trivial, but it is not.  Advanced Class IV boat yoga is required to get a screwdriver on the mounting screws, and the water connections are even worse.

Once removed, I disassembled the pump head and pressure switch assembly.  Delving into the switch assembly, I discovered that the micro switch which actually controls the power feed to the pump had failed mechanically.

The micro switch, shown with a thumbdrive for scale

Since we had a spare pump head aboard, I "simply" installed it and reinstalled the pump, thinking that I'd look at getting another micro switch and repairing the old pump head to keep as a spare.

Ha!

The brand new pump head would not move water.  I presume this was due to the internal flapper valves having taken a set.  It took me 3 more install/removals of the pump to confirm that the new head was not going to work.  I really dislike when new stuff fails to work out of the box.

So for the fourth time I removed the pump, and reinstalled the old pump head but with the pressure switch from the new head.

It worked.  But the pump shuts off almost immediately, telling me that I reassembled the pressure switch incorrectly (I think I know what's wrong).  

So, I took an Ibuprofin and ordered a couple new micro switches via Amazon.  I will rebuild the old pressure switch next weekend. And then I will have to employ the advanced boat yoga one more time (hopefully...) to reinstall the rebuilt pressure switch assembly.  

Then all I will have remaining is to recalibrate the pressure switch so that the pump delivers the desired pressure.  That will only require Class III boat yoga.

Hopefully.

Valves, Oh My!

Eolian's two valves which select which water tank the domestic supply is drawn from have been getting more and more difficult to turn over the years.  This spring, I decided that enough was enough...  before I broke something.  They were bronze valves, and were as old as the boat.

Here's the plumbing tree.  Water supply from the two tanks is at the top left and right.  Feed to the pressure pump is from the strainer at the very bottom.  The small pipe leading off to the left is the supply from the water maker, and the capped off grey pipe is the supply to the fresh water foot pump in the galley sink.

Before

 

 

So, in a fit of activity, I disassembled the valve tree and replaced the old valves with PVC/Teflon ball valves - they are only a little longer than the old ones and there is plenty of room for them.  Also, they open and close like a dream because the seats are Teflon.

And while I was at it, I added a valve in the galley foot pump supply and reconnected it.  (I capped this off back in 1997 because the foot pump flapper valves slowly leaked air back into the system, making the freshwater supply pump constantly cavitate.)  Now we can have the use of the foot pump by simply opening a valve.

After

 

 

Finally as a side note, I do not leave both tanks connected together because by keeping them separate, in the event of a leak the worst case scenario is that I would only lose half of my fresh water.  (I keep both diesel tanks separate for the same reason.)

No-no Will Be Corrected

 You probably can't tell from the photo, but that is a no-no.

You see, thru-hulls are threaded NPS (National Pipethread,Straight), so that seacocks can be threaded onto them tight against the hull, regardless of the hull thickness.  Normal pipe fittings are NPT (National Pipethread, Tapered) so the connection will bind up solidly when things are tightened up.

In the picture, you see a bronze NPT ball valve threaded onto a NPS thru hull.  This is not good, since the connection between the straight and tapered threads will only be one or two turns.  It could leak (it's not, thankfully) and it is mechanically very weak, meaning a small side thrust could disengage the threads.

This problem exists here because, tho there are 1/2" thru hulls, there are no 1/2" seacocks made - the smallest is 3/4".  So here, a normal 1/2" bronze NPT ball valve  was screwed on to the 1/2" thru hull to make up the connection.  A definite no-no.

I have thought about this off and on for years.  And recently a cosmic ray passed thru my brain and gave me the solution...

I have in my shop at home a set of pipe threading dies.  I could easily re-thread the top of the thru hull to be NPT using one of these...

So: next haul-out when the fitting is out of the water, I will bring the 1/2" NPT die to the boat and re-thread the end of the fitting to NPT, and reassemble properly.  

Problem solved!

Maintenance Spring

 No, not spring maintenance, maintenance spring.

It started back in November when one day, when we boarded the boat, the primary bilge pump was running.  Huh.  After a long afternoon of troubleshooting, I was unable to find anything wrong, so I put everything back together.  Weeks later it happened again.  I finally concluded that it had to be the float switch, even tho it seemed to check out OK.  I installed a spare that I had on board, and that took care of that.

Next, we found that the refrigeration system was not running.  Thankfully there was nothing important in either the refrigerator or the freezer.  Eolian's refrigeration uses a belt-driven compressor, powered by a 1/2 hp 12V motor.  That motor had given up the ghost.

Now, in 1978, the motor had quit similarly.  At that time, Eolian was moored at the south end of Lake Union, right in downtown Seattle.  Back then, before the huge influx of cash from Amazon et. al. gentrified the whole area, I pulled the motor and walked it to a rebuild shop that was conveniently located near the marina.  Now however, I had a great difficulty in finding a rebuild shop.  I finally settled on a local automotive parts store who claimed to have a "relationship" with a major rebuilder down in Seattle somewhere.  I dropped off the motor.  Weeks later, having heard nothing, I called and was told that it would cost more than $700 because "...there were several small things inside that were no longer available and would have to be constructed from scratch by skilled machinists."  This not being my first rodeo, I recognized bulls**t when I heard it, and asked for the motor to be returned.  When I finally got it (another long delay), I tore it down and found a badly scored commutator and completely worn out brushes.  The bearings were pristine.  I also noted that no-one had actually disassembled the motor, despite the diagnosis I had been given.

So I ordered some brushes off of eBay for $6 and built a jig to turn the commutator, using an electric drill and a file.  I don't believe that the scoring was the result of wearing out the brushes.  Instead I think it was from that original rebuild way back when.  

Home made commutator turning jig

Before and after

After reassembly and re-installation in the boat, it worked great!  But...

While checking out the installation, I discovered that the Freon charge in the system was awfully low.  Getting that next maintenance item rectified was the subject of a prior post.  Been counting?  This made the third major maintenance item.

Finally, while topping off the water in the batteries, I discovered that the exhaust hose leading from the generator to its water-lift muffler had a big bubble on it and was leaking.  So, a trip to West Marine to get hose and a tube of silicone (has anyone noticed that the silicone manufacturers seem to have colluded to stop producing resealable packaging for silicone??!?). 

Installing the hose will happen this coming weekend, presuming that something else doesn't fail before then...

And to think that I was seeing this spring as an easy one...

Frostline Marine Refrigeration

 

It seems that we are always ready to complain when a business fails to meet our expectations in some way.  But then we are silent when things go perfectly...  well this is one of those perfect cases.

Over the years (23?...) since Eolian's last refrigeration service, things worked well...  until the last year or so, when the refrigeration compressor would start, run for a few seconds, shut off, and lather rinse repeat.  Eventually tho, it would come on and run until it reached the setpoint.  I guessed that the refrigerant level had become so low that when the compressor kicked on, it would rapidly pull the suction side of the system down to the cutout pressure, and that this would continue until the entire system became warm enough to raise the refrigerant temperature to the point where its vapor pressure was above the cutout pressure.  So, after all those years, it was time for a recharge.

I tried to find someone in the Anacortes area, but no one was willing to take on additional work.

Looking further afield, I contacted Frostline Marine Refrigeration in Bellingham.

What a pleasant surprise!

Mclean was courteous and scheduled an appointment at our convenience.

When he arrived, he was prompt, fully equipped, familiar with marine refrigeration systems (quite different from domestic or industrial systems - not least because marine systems are so often crammed into almost inaccessible spaces), working on boats (protect varnish surfaces!), and most importantly, knowledgeable of refrigeration in general (I have two degrees in Chemical Engineering - trust me, I know).

He pumped the system down, removing the remaining R-409a (which was the replacement for the old R-12 back 23 years ago) and refilled the system with the newest and greatest R-12 replacement: R-417c.  And he was gone in 45 minutes.

If you have marine refrigeration needs, I cannot recommend Mclean and Frostline highly enough.

Perkins 4-236 Shop Manual

 

The Perkins 4-236 is one of those small diesel engines that seemingly got adopted for every use under the sun.  One of those uses was in boats, and Eolian has one.

Because I like to have documentation on Eolian's important bits, I wanted the shop manual for this engine, and thanks to the courtesy of Martyn Lancing of Lancing Marine in the UK, I now have one.

If you would like a copy, provide me with your email address via a comment or at the email address in the Contact page of this blog.  The shop manual is a PDF document and is 15 MB in size, so be certain that your email provider will handle a message that large.

Turn, Turn, Turn

Back in 1998, when I was spending my first summer living aboard Eolian, the 12V electric motor which powers the refrigeration system failed.  Back then, 23 years ago, I pulled the motor and walked up into the South Lake Union area to a motor rebuild shop.  A day later, I had the rebuilt motor back in hand and reinstalled it.

Fast forward those 23 years, and the motor has again failed - the brushes have worn out.  But now we are berthed in Anacortes where there are no motor rebuild shops, and the South Lake Union area is now all expensive high-rise apartments and businesses.

So this time, I decided to do the work myself.   First, I found that the bearings are in great shape - it is only the brushes need replacing.   Well, that and the commutator needs to be cleaned up.

(Quick lesson here for those not familiar with the internals of a DC electric motor.  The armature - the spinny part - has on one end a device called the commutator.  This is a series of pairs of copper bars, with the members of each pair on opposite sides of the armature.  Each pair member bar is the termination of one end of a coil of wire which, when powered, makes an electromagnet.  Things are arranged such that when the brushes contact the pair of bars and the magnet is powered up, it is just outside the field magnet and is strongly attracted to it.  But just as it gets there, the brushes break contact with that coil and make contact with the next one, via the next pair of bars on the commutator.  Thus the armature spins.)

Inspecting the commutator, it was obvious that it had seen arcing once the brushes had worn so short that they were not making good contact anymore.  But even more importantly, that motor repair shop which did the previous repair had done a very sloppy job of turning down the commutator.  First, they cut a trench that was just wide enough to accommodate the brushes, thus ensuring that if there was any play in the brush holder, the brushes would contact the edges of the trench and wear prematurely.  Second, they left a series of deep grooves in the commutator.  Now one might say, "Well, the brush will just wear to fit the contour of the commutator, grooves and all."  But again, if there is any play in the brush holder, then movement of the brush will defeat that reasoning, resulting in rapid brush wear.

So, OK - on to the repair.

I constructed a jig that would support the armature on its bearings, and connected an electric drill to the armature shaft.  This way, I could spin the armature while holding a file against the commutator, smoothing it out.  A lathe would have been much faster, but I don't have one.

 

It worked well, albeit slowly.  First I cut off the outboard wall on the commutator, making it all the same diameter.  (I couldn't do this at the inboard end, because this is where the wires are connected.)  Then I filed the rest of the surface smooth, and followed with 100, 220 and finally 440 grit sandpaper.

Before and After

I think it came out great!  (In the before picture I had already done some cleanup.)

I couldn't find brushes of the correct size, so I bought some that were too big and ground them down to fit.  This was an easy job, but messy since they are made out of graphite, which ends up going everywhere.

I checked the bearings (they are sealed bearings); they are in perfect condition.

The motor is now re-installed, and we have refrigeration once again.  And all that refrigeration downtime gave me a perfect opportunity to clean the interior of the refrigerator and freezer compartments - so bonus!