Fri 23 Apr, HHN day 10: Not a great night. At 2 in the morning, I stumbled over the heater while heading to the bathroom (AKA bucket in cockpit!) and this tripped the boatyard electrics! I went back to bed but 2 hours later woke up frozen. So out into the night I trot, to reset the circuit breaker. But every time I reset the breaker it just trips again. Bugger! I will have to fix the heater in the morning. So it’s back to bed clad in wooly hat, fleece and trousers, and struggle to sleep. In the morning, the cabin is only 5 degC. Jeez, and it’s nearly May!
By 8am I have fixed the heater, eaten hot porridge and headed off to the shops.
I have been here just over a week and already spent $190 on basic food! I don’t think Oana and I spend that in 2 weeks in Bucharest. At this rate I won’t be able to afford to keep Cloudy in the luxury she is accustomed to! And I’m certainly not going on a diet for her. The high cost of food in US has always surprised us.
After shopping, it’s finally time to bite-the-bullet and get down to rebuilding the hydraulic furling motors. By the end of the day, I have to declare that I now understand why it costs so much to have these motors serviced professionally. The task is damned time consuming. I guess if I serviced them each and every day, it would be much easier, but still, this job is not for the faint hearted first-time-triers.
I set up my production line on the aft deck as usual. It all starts off pretty organized but by the end of the day, the area can only be described as organized chaos.
As usual, I start simple. A quick visit to Stephen in East Coast Rigging (where all our new shiny rigging is hanging waiting for us) where I get an old Furlex swivel to rob for parts. I needed a central sleeve which Selden no longer have the parts for. I also pick up 2 halyards that Stephen has spliced-in 5m of dyneema sleeve to protect against wear over the upper sheaves. Back at Cloudy, I soon have the old swivel sleeve into our newly serviced swivel and another job ticked off. Complete with blue wrap where the label was 😊.
Next, is the mast motor assembly. I lay out all the parts and really take my time to ensure I get the assembly correct. The process is actually quite stressful, because the bearings and seals are such an exact fit that they very easily get jammed whilst installing them. I find the trick is to heat the housing with a heat-gun and cool the bearing in the fridge. The cool shrinks the bearings, and the heat expands the housing, allowing the bearing to very easily slip into place. I’m also pleased with my improvisation of adding a V-Ring to the shaft where it comes out the top of the housing. Previously this was a place where sea water/spray had entered, causing corrosion and rusting of the bearings. The new V-ring appears to seal it perfectly.
After a couple of hours on my knees, the mast motor is done. And I’m very pleased with myself. Mechanically it is like new and also looks like new. Next the cutter motor. All goes well here too, until I decide to follow Selden’s schematic rather than replicate exactly how it was when I took it apart. The schematic shows 4 x 0.1mm shims whereas only 2 x 0.1mm shims came out when I dismantled. 0.2mm addition to the assemble doesn’t sound much, but it ends up with a gap that I cannot close! So 2 shims need to be removed. BUT, the bearing is now stuck firm on the shaft and I cannot make it budge in the slightest. Hmmm. I’ll have to find a bearing puller tomorrow or next week. The cutter motor will have to be on the back-burner till then.
This puts me on a bit of a downer. The mast motor went so well, but this cutter motor got the better of me. I should have gone with my intuition (not to add the extra shims) rather than Selden’s incorrect schematic ☹. I had hoped to finish and tick-off all 3 motors today. But alas, I am beaten. Mentally and physically. I retire to the cabin early and have a relatively relaxed evening. Tomorrow will be a new day. And hopefully I can stay snug and warm for a full night’s sleep tonight.
