Wednesday 6 Oct, re-launch 2021, HHN day 7: 1 week down and finally off starting block. Volvo exhaust elbow replaced and thru-hull fittings arrive.
Woke to pouring rain. A bit stumped what to get on with this morning. We are waiting on bits & pieces to arrive to be able to get on with most jobs. There is lots to do on the mast, but not in the rain. Plus, its starting to get pretty muddy up there in the mast lay-down area, where they are re-doing the yard.
First job is to check up on my epoxy job to the Humpty-Dumpty looking antenna. It’s all good again after its fall from the ceiling to floor in the saloon. But to be sure, and to neaten it up slightly, I wrap the newly epoxied joints and cracks in self amalgamating tape. This tape is wonderful. It self-amalgamates (sticks and bonds to itself) as you wrap it round and around, leaving a rubber layer that both keeps out moisture and adds strength, while retaining flexibility. It’s looking less like humpty now.
Mid-morning, I’m on the Defender website to see when my new thru hull fittings will arrive. Only to find out that they already arrived late yesterday, less than 24 hours after I made the order! Good to see Defender is still very much up-to-scratch on its speedy delivery service. The next few hours are taken up with looking at what I ordered compared to what was sent. Sadly, a few mistakes. So that takes some sorting out on the phone. Plus, a missed ordering a couple of pieces. Like everything, it’s an iterative process.
Having replaced 9 such thru-hull fittings 2 years ago, replacing these last 5 should be easy. But to start it off I need Freddy to come from Phibbs Boat Works to grind the mushroom off the bottom of each thru-hull from the outside. I initiate that, but by 4pm it’s still a no-show. Tomorrow maybe.
Back at the PC, surprise-surprise, I have an email from Annapolis Rigging. The back stay piston is ready for pick up. I guess my squeaky-wheel technique worked with them (“the squeaky wheels get the attention”). I was kind of dreading the invoice, but when they send it through, I’m pleasantly surprised at only 2.5hrs labor and a $319 bill. Mind you, I did supply the seals kit to them which cost me another $250. OK, so not so cheap! But thankful that it is done, at last. Given I sent this item in for service back in April (6 months ago!) I was beginning to think I would be collecting a bag of dismantled bits. So it’s a weight off me that they finally followed through.
We now plan a trip to Annapolis and Baltimore tomorrow to pick this and the life raft.
By the afternoon some of our Amazon orders have arrived. One of them is a small tub of exhaust sealer which will allow me to reinstall the exhaust elbow on the Volvo. You may remember that the “old” Volvo exhaust elbow (just 3 years old) was already full of pin-holes which had allowed some of the injected seawater back up into the Turbo housing. This time I am replacing it with what I can only describe as a beautifully engineered elbow, cast in full stainless steel, supplied by a company called EDI. And, 1/3 the price of a new Volvo steel one! But because the turbo housing got a bit corroded, I needed this exhaust sealant to ensure no exhaust gases escape into the engine room from where the elbow joins the turbo housing. The sealant is basically like fire cement.
Of all the work I’ve done inside the engine room these last months, this job is the last on a very long list. Mounting the elbow, reconnecting the exhaust hose and the injected raw water hose is pretty simple and I can say the finished product looks pretty sexy! As I sit staring at the thing, all shiny there, Oana pokes her head into the engine room and says “are you planning to sleep in there?” Well, quite frankly, it is the tidiest room on the boat right now!
Finally, we get to tick some things off the real to-do list. We are on the roll!