A mixing elbow is an external part on a diesel engine that combines the sea water (used for cooling the engine) with the combustion exhaust gases. The mixture is usually directed downwards into the bilge through a large diameter wet exhaust pipe leading to a thru-hull exiting the boat at the stern. An anti-siphon loop is somewhere in the exit hose to prevent water from coming in from the thru-hull in a following sea. Because of the harsh environment of hot gases and saltwater, mixing elbows have a lifetime of around 6-10 years and engine manufacturers suggest inspection every 3 years. OEM mixing elbows are typically made of steel and last a lot shorter time than ones made of 316 stainless steel.

The mixing elbow on Apropos was a stainless steel custom-made part that was 20 years old with 2850 engine hours. Space constraints in the engine bay required a custom part with specific bends and angles to clear the cabinetry. I periodically inspected the welds which are typically what fails first. It probably lasted so long because the boat has been moored in fresh water for 18 of the past 20 years. I also run the engine hard on my way back to the dock which helps clean out the exhaust elbow. Removing it was easy–3 bolts attaching it to the engine, the fresh water input hose, and the wet exhaust output hose. The 3″ diameter exhaust hose was only 30″ long, so I decided to slice the ends to make it easier to remove from the exhaust elbow. I also cut the other end which was attached to a fitting on the exhaust muffler. I bought a new 34″ hose (Trident-Flex) at Fisheries Supply for half price since it was a remnant, and used an angle grinder with a cutting disc to cut it to the correct length.

I delivered the old part to National Marine Exhaust (Marysville, WA) for them to duplicate. A week later I had the new exhaust elbow. It’s made of 316L (low carbon) stainless steel. Something they did different was to run the inner pipe (for exhaust) all the way to the output end. In the original part, the inner pipe only went 6″ from the sea water inlet. I guess the new design would cool the hot exhaust gasses more before they are combined with the sea water at the beginning of the wet exhaust hose.

Installing the mixing elbow and new wet exhaust hose was a little harder than removal. I chose a 30 deg F day so the boat inside temperature was in the 40s. The first thing I did was to use bronze wool on the surface where the elbow attaches to the engine exhaust manifold to make it smooth for the fiber gasket. The Trident-Flex is anything but flexible, especially when cold. I warmed it up a bit using a heat gun, but it was still a struggle trying to bend it while fitting the ends onto the muffler and exhaust elbow. After a few attempts, I decided it would be easier to attach the hose first to the muffler using the 2 heavy duty ss hose clamps, then attach the other end of the hose to the mixing elbow, then attach the mixing elbow to the engine while bending the hose (the hard part). Eventually it all went back together. The final step was to run the engine to check for any leaks.

There are 2 deep cycle batteries in the v-berth that provide power to the bow thruster and anchor windlass. They are 20 years old and I’ve been meaning to replace them for several years, but they were still pulling up the anchor and running the thruster. I did notice the bow thruster would get weaker if I used it for more than 30 seconds, but I tend to not rely on it when getting into and out of the slip, and 15 seconds is more than adequate. But this summer we’re planning on a 2 week trip where there will be lots of anchoring, so I thought now would be a good time to replace them.

I decided on replacing them with the same brand–Optima AGM (blue top) with 900 CCA. The old ones were actually yellow top, which are not the “marine purpose” type but the only difference I could see is the blue top has the optional studs for wire connectors vs just the lugs.

The 2 batteries are parallel connected, so total AHrs is 150. All wires and crimps looked fine so it was an easy replacement. These batteries get charged through a Balmar Digital Duo Charge connected to the House bank. There’s never been a way to monitor these batteries, so if the Balmar charger ever failed, I wouldn’t know it until it was too late and could risk ruining the batteries. A simple voltage monitor with alarm would be a good addition.

I’ve always let my teak decks go to their natural grey color. A lot of boats with 36 year old teak are ripping up the teak planks and replacing it with low maintenance finishing such as Awlgrip Nonskid. Usually the reasons are because the teak has worn thin from age, scrubbing and bleaching or the deck is beginning to leak. I love the look and feel of teak decks and am starting to worry about the remaining life of the teak on Apropos, so I decided to take some action. First of all, I believe there is plenty of thickness to the teak planks on Apropos, and I don’t know of any leaks in the decks. I figured since the boat sat covered on the hard in arid San Diego for 12 years (by the previous owner), the teak hasn’t aged as much as most boats the same age. Plus I’ve been careful about not scrubbing them with stiff-bristle brushes, and have never pressure washed them. I also believe the best shape they were in was during our trip where they were constantly bathed in saltwater, which is a good natural cleaner for teak.

I’ve been hearing and reading about a product called Semco that is used to seal teak decks and thought I’d give it a try. Initially I was only going to treat a small part of the boat–the cockpit, but I liked the results so much that I ended up doing the entire boat. The procedure is to first clean the teak, then brush on 2 coats of Semco in the same day. After that, a seasonal coat should be all it takes to keep the teak looking a natural color. And more importantly, it should help preserve the teak without scrubbing.

The cleaning is the worst part because it requires strong chemicals that could harm the deck if done incorrectly. There are several products for this and I chose Teak Wonder, which is applied in 2 steps. First is the Cleaner solution that is applied to a wet deck in small sections at a time, not allowing it to dry. I applied it from a squirt bottle and worked it into the wood with a soft nylon brush, scrubbing against the grain of the teak. I allowed it to work for a few minutes before hosing it off. It must take off a very thin layer of wood along with the dirt because it’s pretty grimy before hosing it off with lots of fresh water. The second step is to apply a brightener and gently brush it in, letting it sit for a few minutes before hosing off. I was careful about not letting the cleaning and brightening chemicals to come in contact with the brightwork by masking it with plastic. This cleaning is definitely something I wouldn’t want to do every season. If it works as advertised, I should only have to apply the sealer from here on.

Applying the Semco sealer is very easy–just brush it on with a foam brush. The first coat seemed to soak in more of the sealer, which has a natural pigment and is the consistency of water. The instructions recommended applying 2 coats in the same day. After drying, the decks looked pretty good and appeared to be well sealed as water beaded up when sprayed on the deck.

Teak Plug Replacement

The cabin-top decking has no plugs so it must have been glued down, but the sidedecks and cockpit decking is all screwed down. Every now and then a teak plug, or bung, either falls out or wears thin. I recently went around the boat and replaced around 20 plugs. Here’s pics from one example:

It took me 2 summers to restore all of the brightwork aboard Apropos by removing the old varnish and applying 7 coats of Awlwood MA Clear (varnish alternative). Some parts of the boat have gone 3 years and some 2 years since the new brightwork and it was holding up well, but starting to show minor wear and scratches (after all it is a boat and we have a dog). So I spent a couple of evenings and weekends lightly sanding and applying 2 refresher coats of Awlwood MA clear. It brought the shine back!

Apropos hasn’t been out of the water since April 2016 when she was in Fiji, so she was due for some new bottom maintenance. We hauled out on a Thursday morning and put back in the water the following Monday morning. During those 4 (*very long*) days, the following took place:

• Pressure wash the bottom (yard labor)
• Sand the bottom (yard labor) isverigeapotek.com
• Roll on 2 coats of Interlux Micron Extra bottom paint (me)
• Clean outer hull with Meguires Cleaner/wax (me)
• Machine polish the outer hull with Marine Polish & variable speed polisher (me)
• Change all 6 zinc anodes (me)
• Polish and lubricate propeller (me)
• Replace speed transducer and rewire (me)

There are 12 Barient winches on Apropos:

Winch numbers (multiplied by 100), are standardized according to their strength. For example, size 28 is capable of 28,000 lbs of load.

All winches were serviced in 2004 during a major refit just before I bought the boat. We serviced the 2-28s and 3-23s in 2014 before our South Pacific cruise. So we were far-overdue for a complete cleaning/lubing of all 12 winches.

The 7 smaller winches (Barient 10s and 18s) are fastened to the masts or boom with 4 or 5 ss screws and can be easily removed for servicing. But the 3 Barient 23s are mounted with ss screws but also bedded down to the cabin top with something not easily removable. These can be serviced by disassembling the winch in place. The 2 Barient 28s can also be removed but requires unbolting 5 ss hex bolts that attach them to aluminum winch bases.

The Barient 10s and single speed winches and are the simplest to take apart and clean. Here are the basic steps for servicing these small winches:

1. Separate the drum from the internal parts by removing the snap spring and cover plate and carefully pulling the drum off. Remove the 2 pawls/springs at the top of the drum.
2. Remove the 4 ss screws that fasten the winch to the boat.
3. Disassemble the winch by first removing the snap spring on the bottom of the winch base and remove the 2 pawls/springs.
4. Slide the cage bearing off the shaft
5. Clean all parts with mineral spirits to remove grease and dirt.  A toothbrush is helpful on the cage bearing and bronze wool can be used on the bronze and ss parts.  The drum has a chrome plating and bronze wool is safe to use on it.
6. Assemble in reverse order.  Oil the pawls/springs with pawl oil (never use grease).  Lightly grease the bronze shaft and cage bearing with winch grease.
7. Screw winch in place using Tef-Gel on the ss screw threads when going into aluminum mast/boom.  Carefully slide drum back onto the winch while squeezing the pawls (front 2 first, then back 2) so they clear the ratchet teeth.

Barient 10 Parts

The larger 2-speed winches (Barient 18) steps are similar but there are more gears and bearings. The Barient 23s have even more parts (30 total!). It’s good to take pictures during disassembly to reference when putting it all back together. Apropos has 2 identical 23s next to each other so I was able to look at an assembled one while assembling the other.

The largest winches on Apropos are the 2 Barient 28ST 2-speed jib-sheet winches. They are also the most exposed winches since they are outboard the cockpit and see the most seawater and dust/debris than the other winches that are under the dodger or on the masts and booms. After removing the drum, there were 4 ss screws holding the winch to the aluminum winch base. But after removing the 4 screws, the winch wouldn’t budge due to corrosion between the bronze and aluminum. We scraped away at the corrosion around the 4 feet and sprayed a generous amount of anti-seize solution on all 4 joints, then allowed it soak for 2 days. It still took some pretty hard hits with a hammer, using a wood block against the winch shaft, to free them.

Conclusion

Barient winches are built like tanks! There are no plastic parts like in some winches. All the gears are heavy-duty bronze with stainless steel shafts. The cage bearings , pawls & springs are all very high quality. My winches are over 35 years old and after servicing them, are as good as new. I even decided to use my original pawls since they were in great shape, and I read that replacement pawls are not made with as high of quality material as the original Barient pawls, and they cost was something like $12 each (there are 4 pawls per winch X 12 winches, so total cost for just the pawls was going to be $576!).

With so many winches on Apropos, it took a lot of time to service all of them. I estimate it took 2 hours for each of the single speed 10s, and 3 hours for the 2-speed 18s, 23s and 28s. That’s a total of 32 hours spaced out over a week. The only costs were pawl oil, winch grease, and mineral spirits.

A little bit about the history of Barient. The American company was founded by 2 sailing enthusiasts–Derek Baylis, owner of SV Orient, and Jim Michael, owner of SV Baruna. Their purpose of designing and building winches was for use on their own boat (and their friends’ boats). They ended up creating a business by combining the boat names (BARuna orIENT) and produced some of the best winches available. They never really intended to profit from the business, and eventually sold it to Lewmar. Lewmar also purchased the Barlow winch company, then discontinued both the Barient and Barlow manufacturing. Clever way to beat the better competition–buy them out and then keep making only their own inferior product! Parts are no longer made for Barient winches, but the good news is you can find old Barient winches that with some servicing, are probably as good as, or better than the new ones made by other companies.