Tuesday 13 Oct, HHN, boat winterizing day 13:
With the rain finally stopped I decide to head off to Baltimore this morning, about a 1 hour drive, to take the anchor chain for re-galvanising. By the time I get to take Ray’s pickup it’s already emptied and the anchor chain loaded on the flat bed – what a service! It may be a pickup, but it’s very smooth to drive and I enjoy the usual ambling pace of US roads. 50mph limit almost everywhere, and everyone drives very carefully and courteously (they’d never survive in Europe!). The roads are great and in this particular part of USA you always get the feeling the highways are traversing an endless forest. There’s still a lot of uninhabited area even in a populated state like Maryland.
But Baltimore is another story. You can almost sense when you reach the city limits by the state of the roads. They instantly deteriorate with cracks and potholes everywhere, and I have the same feeling as I do when entering into New York. And I wonder if, like New York, the mafia has a throttling control on most government contracts, to the point that city government can’t afford the necessary services to keep the public roads and amenities in good shape.
The galvanising shop is in a particularly run-down area and when I lay eyes on the workshop itself I have the notion to turn around and leave again! But before I know it, a forklift is behind the pickup, asking what I have, to be off-loaded. And within a minute of arriving the chain and its box is whisked off to the back of the yard before I can even say “good luck” to it! But while checking into the office, the items I see leaving the zinc bath all look nicely galvanized. So fingers crossed for our poor chain.
The journey back to Herrington is just as sedate. No dramas. Ray had given me all manner of warnings and advice about how I might be robbed or car-jacked in Baltimore and all the techniques used. Maybe, when I pick up the chain next week, I’ll be luckier to see some action!
Tomorrow I want to go to Annapolis to take the old sails, and also to take all the hydraulic hoses that need renewing. Annapolis is full of yacht services. I still have 2 sets of hoses to remove. One set from the boom outhaul and one set from the swim platform. Simple job, right? Not so. Although I can see the connections in the boom, I cannot for-the-life-of-me get a spanner on either one of them. So, I set about removing the end of the boom, with the almost certainty that this end fitting is corroded in place. With the end removed I will be able to pull out the hydraulic ram assembly and hopefully access the hydraulic connections.
No surprise, the 12 bolts holding the end fitting in place are absolutely solid. Impossible to turn. So out comes my new Makita Impact Driver. And what do you know, all 12 bolts instantly surrender to its pounding, and come out. I’m amazed! What a great machine, and good investment. Now the next challenge: getting the actual boom end off. After one whack with a hammer on wood it happily pops out ¼” with no problem, and as I pull it, out comes the huge hydraulic cylinder too. This is good because I wanted to inspect the cylinder anyway.
Visually there is quite a lot of rust on it. I had suspected that it was simply a painted steel cylinder and Steve from East Coast rigging confirmed that Selden simply use an adapted agricultural ram for their hydraulic outhauls. But you can bet, if it needs replacing, that the Fukcer won’t have an agricultural price tag! They’ll claim it’s been “marinized” and hence a 10-fold price increase over the same ram found on a John Deer!
At that point, with the cylinder just out of the boom, the hose connections are nicely exposed, and they undo relatively easily. Now, you can find absolutely anything you want on YouTube or google right? Well, try finding anything on dismantling Selden hydraulics. It’s just not there. Even Selden themselves don’t give manuals to their service agents for their hydraulic systems. All knowledge seems to be held in Sweden HQ. Well, let me tell YOU, Mr.Selden. I have now videoed the whole thing here and I’m going public with it!
Getting the hydraulic hoses off the swim platform ram is left to an after-dinner task. Yes, after dinner some people rest on their rocking chair, some smoke a cigar, but me? I let my food settle while crawling up inside the stern in that narrow gap between hull and floor of the deck locker, praying that I don’t get stuck …. With no Oana here, I could be in there for weeks before someone comes to the rescue!
As usual, an apparently simple job has complications. First, is dismantling the aft berth before I can crawl into that aft space. Once in, I manage to unclip all the tyeraps but my arms are not long enough to undo the hose fittings on the swim platform ram. So I have to do it from inside the aft locker. This means all the contents have to come out and stack on the deck. Luckily, I’m in a “just do it” mood today. Once I’ve cleared a hole big enough for me, in I go.
Jammed inside like some Houdini act, with my left eye I can just about see the hose connections but just like with the boom I cannot get a damned spanner onto them. Only solution is to remove a sealed panel that allows better access. Shame, because it was all beautifully sealed up at the end of the 2017 refit. Once the panel is removed, I can easily undo the fittings.
Now the task is not to spill hydraulic fluid. With the ram connections undone it’s back inside and under the berth again where the down-stream end of the hoses are still attached to the pump system. Happily, I manage to catch all the fluid as it drains form the hoses as I undo them. That’s a first for me. Normally, try as I might, I get hydraulic fluid everywhere, as Oana can attest. With the hoses drained and bottom connections sealed in plastic, I pull them out through the deck locker and ceremoniously throw them overboard, down onto the ground. Perfectly positioned to put in the car tomorrow!
Back inside, it’s now 11pm and I debate whether to sleep in the saloon tonight or remake the aft berth. I compromise and remake half of the aft berth. The other half of the berth, and my sleeping partner for the night, are fishing rods, auto pilot linear drives and an assortment of spare hoses. Bit of a downgrade from Oana, eh? Well, at least they won’t mind my snoring!
I go to sleep quite contented by the day’s activities. It’s been a productive day. Long may this trend continue.