Saturday, February 11, 2012

Maintenance and upgrades, 2012

15-16 Dec - Flushed the water maker and put another coat of Matt Chem Stopo sealer on the exterior teak.  Seems to be protecting the teak very well, with very little sign of greying.  Still unsure of it.  May varnish in January or February.
 
29 Oct-2 Nov - A week of boat chores.  Repaired adjustment button on Link 20; replaced Seagull water filter; cleaned interior drawers, shelves, sole, head and sump-pump, screens for port lights; polished stainless frames of port lights; installed new regulator on Magma grill.  Bob Creemer returned dinghy - looks like new, runs well.  Jeff Grant spent two days sanding grey off the teak caprail, dorades and eyebrows.  Applied two coats of Matt Chem Stopo sealer to the freshly sanded teak.  Tom at EverAfter Marine installed new radio/cd player which also receives SiriusXM and helped me trace some broken speaker wires.



19-20 Oct - Took Alizee out of "summer storage".  Removed extra lines used in hurricane prep, cleaned and started up refrigerator/freezer, thoroughly cleaned out the galley cabinets and put in new shelf liner, took off the bimini, cleaned it with Matt Chem Cotton Kline, used some Starbrite Mildew Stain Remover, rinsed thoroughly and then renewed it with 303 High Tech Fabric Guard, arranged to have dinghy motor tuned up, and did a dozen other little things.  Arranged for dinghy to be picked up, patched and cleaned and motor tuned.   

Jul/Sep - Put the dinghy in storage, shut down refrigerator for the summer months and made sure boat was secure at the slip.  Over the course of these two months, Jeff Grant of Ohana Sailing finished sanding the cap rail and getting off all the old Cetol.  He also cleaned, waxed and polished the hull and topsides, polished the stainless, and a oversaw repair of a gouge in the awl-grip hull, which we managed to incur on our second stay in Steinhatchee in May.  I was over once a month to run the water maker, make sure lines were secure, and generally keep an eye on things.

23 Mar - Yanmar engine service completed by Yacht Power Products, St. Petersburg.  Removed and replaced oil and fuel filters.  Replaced sea water pump impeller, replaced water hose to hot water heater, changed oil and inspected engine.  Invoice 54856.

22 Mar - Advanced Sails installed new batten cap, which had been back-ordered, on lower mainsail batten.

6-12 Mar - Worked on cockpit teak and rear pulpit seats.  Sanded, taped, two coats of primer (30% mineral spirits, 50% penetrol, 20% Epifanes high gloss wood finish), and four coats Epifanes thinned by 10% with Epifane thinner. 

 









10 Feb - Treated bimini, dodger and mainsail cover with 303 High-Tech Fabric Guard.  Treated dinghy with Aerospace Protectant.  Re-installed newly varnished cockpit table and cup holder.

15 Dec (2011) - 9 Feb - Alizee in Sailor’s Wharf boatyard for several repair items and a general 10-year maintenance survey.  Tasks performed:
   1. Running light cage on the bow pulpit.  Re-welded to repair damage incurred in the Chesapeake in a docking mishap in 2009.
   2. Kiss wind generator.  Disconnected and removed; disassembled and cleaned rust on inside of unit; replaced bearings, bearing seats, shaft seal and four machine screws; reassembled and reinstalled.
   3. Mainsail maintenance.  Removed mainsail and delivered to Advanced Sails for inspection and repairs, including re-stitching Velcro at batten pockets ends and re-stitching and repairing leech.  Batten cap on back order.
   4. Boom repair.  Removed boom, which was sent out to JSI in Tampa for repairs.  They cut out a bent section (about a foot), installed a sleeve and a new replacement section, welded it together, ground and filled it smooth and primed and painted the boom.  Spar is 15.75 feet long.
   5. Starboard leaking problem.  Checked inside and water tested from outside the chainplates, caprail, rubrail, cleat and chock, hand rails, mast rails ports, etc. – basically checked everything on the starboard side of the boat. Found and repaired a leak at the mast partner and at the port light above the Nav station, which was repaired by re-bedding the light.  Checked the other port lights and found no other leaks.  The cause of the salt water encroachment at the base of the starboard settee when on a port tack was not identified.  Will have to continue to watch it and try to spot the cause when underway.
   6. Starboard caprail repairs.  Extracted screws with broken heads, removed damaged chainplate covers and fabricated new, repaired damaged wood under chainplate covers, installed new covers, removed damaged ½” SS half-round caprail guard on forward section and installed new.  This damage was incurred in 2010 on the ICW when a marker unexpectedly jumped out in front of Alizee.  
   7. Winches.  Fully serviced all winches, replacing pawls and springs as necessary.
   8. Sanitation hoses, vents and macerator.  Inspected all hoses, replaced macerator discharge hose and macerator and replaced holding tank vent hose and fittings.  The T-fitting that ties the head into the holding tank vent hose (located in the bulkhead behind the head) was totally blocked with corrosion.
   9. Fresh water system.  Inspected all hoses and determined they did not need replacement.  Repaired leak at the water pump which had resulted from an original fitting w/ an O-ring that did not come with the existing pump. Replaced the pump with a Jabsco pump, relocated the accumulator and straightened out the hoses under the galley sink in general.  Replaced the exterior cockpit shower head.
  10. Inverter.  Troubleshot inverter to determine why it was not functioning.  Determined the control panel at the Nav station was defective and replaced it with a new panel.
  11. Awlgrip repairs.  Touched up dings, nicks and abrasions at starboard side and port stern with Awlgrip G5002 (Flag Blue).
  12. Standing and running rigging.  Inspected standing and running rigging, replaced jib sheets with (2) 9/16" x 70' SECO South line and replaced roller furling lines for jib and staysail.  The standing rigging looked fine. The rigging has swage fittings on the mast and Norseman fittings at deck level. The spreaders and mast tangs also looked good.
  13. Mast partner.  Cleaned up underside of mast partner and cleaned and resealed mast partner above deck, stopping the leakage there.
  14. Steering cables and assembly.  Checked and tightened the cables, which had some slack in them.
  15. Stuffing box.  Checked and adjusted.
  16. Motor mounts and shaft alignment.  The port forward motor mount stud was sheered off. This was the result of the forward mounts being installed and then having to be spread apart to fit the engine. The mounts should be straight up and down. The engine beds are inward angled sections of fiberglass. The aft bolt on the broken mount was not accessible without lifting the engine, which made the repair very time consuming compared to replacing a mount that is lagged in from the top. The forward mounts were re-drilled to fit the engine properly, then re-bolted.  New mount from Mastry Engine Center, St. Petersburg.  After the motor mount was replaced, the engine was .0300 out of alignment. The aft mounts had to be shifted to the side to bring the shaft and transmission into alignment. Once this was done, then the angle of the engine on the beds could be aligned. The final alignment was within .0035.
  17. Propane system.  Inspected and found propane solenoid switch and pigtail hose badly corroded – replaced. Repaired illuminated switch on Galley Panel.
  18. Through-hulls inspected and found in good shape.