Projects / Maintenance

Mon 26 Apr, HHN day 13: Finish mast head modifications and also finish hydraulic furling motors service, finally!

Great day today, starting with a good night’s sleep for once. My energy is back, along with my Mojo. It was one of those days where I didn’t want to stop, even to eat. One of those days Oana would describe my behavior as “possessed”! 🙂
It’s a beautiful weather today and while it is tempting to start outside jobs, I resist. The temperature in the coming days will make the tent unbearable, so best finish the tent jobs today or Captain will be roasted.

I start with the mast head modifications. Following all my contemplating yesterday I have it all planned out. Getting the new mast head cover fitting correctly; drilling the 6 holes for the bolts that secure the head to the mast itself and adding holes for the other fittings.
I have decided to move the Raymarine wind-instrument base from the center of the mast to the front of the crane. This will put the instrument much further in front of the mast top and hopefully less influenced when we have the spinnaker up. It will also be better positioned for me to wrap the connection in self-amalgamating tape, which I do each time I install it. It seems without this belt’n’braces technique, the little O-ring seal lets moisture into the small electric connection pins which quickly corrode.
I also reposition the Pacific RT Antenna a little bit. Previously, the numpty electrician who installed it had placed it right up against one of the 6 big nuts that secure the head to the mast. Meaning the antenna bracket needed to be drilled off before that nut could be undone.
Lastly, I install the Windex mount on the aft side of the new cover plate. All this accessory securing (bolts, rivets etc.) will now be isolated from the masthead aluminum. So hopefully no more hideous and unnecessary dissimilar-metal corrosion in the future. I have to say, I’m pretty pleased with how it all turned out. Another great idea from Ray – the mast cover.

Next, I am determined to finish the hydraulic motors rebuilds. The mast motor is done. The cutter motor needs the shims rearranged and the genoa motor needs starting from scratch. Much to my surprise, I manage to sort out the cutter motor and quickly move onto the genoa motor.
The epoxy on the housing top is now dry and I manage to wet sand it to give the V-Ring a nice smooth surface to seal on. But not sand too much, allowing the epoxy to still fully protect the bare alloy where it was badly pitted. The motor parts all go together seemingly easy. Third time lucky, I guess. My technique with cooling some parts in the fridge while heating others works perfectly to ease installation or bearings and other tightly engineered parts.
And while rebuilding, I keep glancing at my parts to ensure there are no parts left which should have been included in the rebuild. Nothing worse that finishing something like this only to find you have an O-ring or shim left uninstalled!

With the last motor finished, I degrease the 3 of them, then my tools and then me! And as the motors are lined up for inspection, I’m pretty proud of my achievement servicing them.
But there is one last thing that I cannot resist. I have new “Furlex” labels to go on. My plan was to only put these labels on once the rigging was up and no more risk of them getting damaged. But no, like a child I have to have them on NOW! And once applied my brain does have to admit to my heart that they do now look wonderfully finished. I think I could have sat there staring at them all night, if it didn’t start to get dark!

In the evening I am on a high with my day’s achievements. So, I set to cleaning the cabin, galley and putting all my tools back in their rightful place. They will all be out again tomorrow – but it’s nice to be tidy for an hour or two. I also seal in bags all the extra oil seals, O-rings, and V-rings and make sure they are properly labeled for stowage. I could have purchased the exact quantity needed from Selden, but instead I went direct to the manufacturer, ERIKS. While their prices were nearly 10x cheaper than Selden, I could only buy minimum quantity of 10 per part-number. So I now have a supply for the next umpteen services, or to give away to other HR owners who might be brave enough to tackle their own hydraulic servicing.

Now the question is: would I do it again, or would it have been better to send off for a “professional” service? I’m very happy to declare that I would certainly do it again myself. And now, if/when we have an issue, I could probably take these motors apart and fix them with my eyes closed… almost. Quite a change from a year ago when I was scared to even look at them! So yes, I do feel like I have conquered them 😊

So what to do next? Outside jobs. Pull the boom hydraulic piston and put in new seals, I think. Or put the Gori Propeller back on? Who knows, I’ll decide on a whim over breakfast no doubt. Such is pressure-less retired life!