Winters seem to drag on in Seattle.  January was warmer and drier than average, but February was one of the coldest and snowiest on record in Seattle.  I still have a few more winter projects that I want to complete before May, like servicing all 8 winches, replacing the canvas along the foot of the Genoa, and replacing some of the parts that are glued onto the main body of the dinghy.  But sometimes when I have only a few hours to spend on boat things, I try to pick one thing that improves one aspect of the boat.  Today that one thing had to do with storage. 

I like an uncluttered boat, but it’s sometimes hard for me to remove something that has been on the boat for a while.  When cruising full time, we filled every available nook and cranny with something–gear, spare parts, food, clothing, books, etc.  But since we returned, I have to decide what should stay on the boat vs what can be stored in the garage or even thrown away.  Things that remain on the boat should have a well thought-out place to live in order to keep the boat organized. 

The cockpit surround panels are big and bulky.  Most of the time they are not being used, but they are good to keep on the boat for when they are needed.  They add an “enclosed porch” to the boat.  They consist of 6 mesh panels that zipper onto the bimini when more sun protection and/or privacy is wanted.  They also came in handy in a few anchorages in Mexico to keep the mosquitoes out.  There are 6 snap-on vinyl panels that can be used to keep rain and wind out of the cockpit.  These come in handy at the dock especially in the spring and fall when it rains and the full boat cover is off.  But storing them has been a problem.  During the trip, when not being used, they were folded up and put in a sail bag.  This led to creases in the vinyl because they sat that way for a long time (all passages and during the 6 months the boat sat in Fiji).  So today I decided to find a better way to store them.  I bought a 5′ length of 3″ pvc pipe and rolled the individual panels around the pipe, using long lengths of velcro to hold them in place.  Rolling them this way should keep the vinyl from developing creases. I had a red canvas bag that came with the boat and wasn’t being used and it was the perfect size to store the rolled up panels in. 

This bag can be stored in either the pilot berth or in one of the aft cabin berths, and easily be carried up to the cockpit when needed. 

Another one of my winter projects was to refinish the steering quadrant, which was starting to show signs of rust from years of exposure to the marine environment.  Even though the lazarette is a relatively dry space, the effects of humidity and wet ocean passages takes its toll on all metal parts.  The 2 halves of the quadrant were easily removed in less than an hour.  I decided to have them powder coated by Seattle Powder Coating–they are only 2 miles from the marina and I was pleased with their service and quality of work when I had 4 wheels powder coated there recently.  While the parts were off the boat, I took some time to tidy up the lazarette by vacuuming and cleaning it with a bilge cleaner then spraying it down with a hose.  I also stripped the worn paint from the metal quadrant base and re-painted it with a primer and 2 coats of enamel paint.  I replaced all 4 stainless steel clamps on the rubber lip (where the rudder post exits the hull) since the old ones were also showing signs of rust.  I used the heavier duty ss clamps that have a bolt and locknut for tightening.  In the process, I discovered a zerc fitting, so I shot some grease into it and will be interesting to see if the steering becomes any easier.  Finally, I inspected the wire cable and fittings and all looked good.  When re-assembling, I shortened both ends of the wire cable to get a bigger adjustment range with the ring bolt and with proper tensioning, it removed the small amount of play that used to be in the steering system.  These parts (cable, chain, quadrant, fittings) are some of the most critical on a sailboat, but often don’t get much attention because they are out of sight.  I’ve been guilty of not inspecting them often enough so will try to start doing so at least once a year.

Here are some pictures of the project….

Quandrant before:

Quadrant installed after powder coat:

Rudder post base before:

Rudder post base after painting:

New SS clamps:

I also had the 5 dorades powder coated white on the insides (they were previously painted red).  Then I polished the outside stainless steel, so they came out pretty nice.

Before:

After:

While I was in the painting mood, I removed 3 aluminum cleats from the boom that needed some attention.  I had them sandblasted then I sprayed them with 3 coats of satin enamel.  At first I was going to just buy new cleats, but couldn’t find any the same size with the exact hole spacing.  Ones that were close in size were selling for around $75 each, making $10 in paint to restore 3 of them a bargain!

Adding a wireless remote to the windlass has 2 benefits–it gives redundancy to the foot switches (we recently discovered the “down” switch worked intermittently due to corrosion on the terminals), and it also allows controlling the windlass from different locations on the boat (the foot switches are right next to the windlass).  Adding wireless control to the bow thruster was an added bonus since the controller I ordered had 4 relay outputs for Up, Down (windlass) and Left, Right (bow thruster).  I can see where the wireless bow thruster control will come in handy when the person controlling the windlass from the bow may need to align the boat to the anchor rode by using the thruster (the main bow thruster control is located at the helm).

I found a rugged (non-marine) wireless controller that was advertised as an industrial  crane hoist controller.  And it was only $55, compared to $300 or more for ones built specifically for a windlass, so I thought I’d give it a try.  The model I bought was made by a Chinese company and came with a wireless remote that has 4 control buttons (Up, Down, Left, Right) and a Power On and Power Off.   The instructions were all in Chinese but I was able to figure out the connections from the schematic printed on the controller box.  The controller has 4 outputs, so I will also try to connect it to the bow thruster using the Left/Right controls.  Aside from the wireless radio circuitry, the controller is basically a bunch of relays that perform the same function as the windlass foot switches–providing a 12V control signal when a button on the remote is pressed.  My Lofrans windlass uses a controller made by Imtra.  My bow thruster has a built-in controller.  Both of these controllers use low-current 12V signals to activate relays that switch the high-currents to the windlass and thruster motors. 

The installation was very easy since everything is located under the v-berth (windlass control, windlass and bow thruster batteries, bow thruster controller).  This area is a  dry locker and is separated by a bulkhead from the anchor locker as shown below.  I powered the wireless controller with a switched 12V that turns on when the Windlass is activated at the DC panel.  I used inline fuses for both the controller power and the controller output source power.

Wireless Controller (says 24V but also works with 12V)

Wiring completed to Bow Thruster (bottom) and Windlass Control (top)

Remote controller for wireless Windlass/Thruster

Total time to install and test was about 6 hours, total cost was $55 for the wireless system and $20 for wire, terminal connectors, and fuse holders.

Note:  This post is probably not interesting or relevant to most readers–it’s a detailed account of a specific project that I put a lot of time and effort in.  Some boat owners may find it useful if they have a similar problem.

The project began over 2 years ago when I returned to my boat in Fiji and discovered the masthead wind sensor was gone, thanks to Cyclone Winston.  The sensor was part of the Simrad IS-15 wind/speed/depth/rudder position system that uses  the NMEA 0183 protocol.  Unfortunately, B&G (formerly Simrad) didn’t have replacement IS-15 wind sensors, so I bought the newer IS-20 sensor along with the necessary parts needed to convert an NMEA 2000 signal to an NMEA 0183 signal needed by the wind display instrument.  Many hours were spent trying to get the new wind sensor to move the indicator on the display, but to no avail.  We ended up sailing over 6000 nautical miles from Fiji to Seattle without any wind speed/direction. 

Back in Seattle, I re-started the effort to get the wind sensor working.  I brought the system home and set it up on the kitchen table to debug the problem.  I used the diagram from B&G tech support shown below.  It’s not very complicated, but it still didn’t work.

There are 2 parts used to convert the signal from NMEA 2000 to NMEA 0183–a 3-way joiner and an AT10.  Since the system still didn’t work, I suspected I had a bad part so I bought a new AT10 and then it worked!  After I had the system shown in the diagram working, I took it back to the boat to install.  But there was 1 more piece to the system, a Simrad transceiver with inputs for wind, speed, and depth that multiplexes to a single output that goes to the wind, speed, and depth display instruments.  Since the transceiver is installed at the navigation station (behind the main panel), I installed the 3-way connector and AT10 next to it (shown in the picture below with the transceiver box cover off).

Next was to run the wire from the 3-way joiner to the mast head where the wind sensor will be installed.  Unfortunately, the existing wire and connectors were not compatible with the new wind sensor.  The first step was to run the wire to the base of the compression post, about 15 feet away.  This section went through cabinets and the settee before reaching the bilge near the base of the compression post.  I cut the wire there and installed a junction box for easy disconnect when pulling the mast. 

The final step was to pull the new wire through the compression post and up the mast.  This turned out to be impossible because the existing wire would not budge either way.  There are a total of 6 wires going through the compression post and mast for 2 spreader lights, a vhf antenna, masthead running, strobe, & anchor lights, a steaming light, and the wind sensor.  Inside the mast, they are run in a conduit along the aft side of the mast.  I suspected the wires could be taped together inside the mast as they exit the compression post and make 90 degree bends before they enter the conduit as the reasons for not being able to pull the existing wire.  I considered pulling the deck-stepped mast to do the wiring, but the cost was going to be close to $1000 (crane fees, rigger fees) plus a whole lot of work (removing sails and boom, disconnecting all the wiring, loosening all the stays, getting the boat to yard).  Since the cost and amount of work didn’t seem worthwhile for running a single wire, I thought of an alternative.

I purchased an endoscope for $40 on Amazon (Depstech  Semi-Rigid Wireless Borescope WiFi Inspection Camera 2.0 Megapixels HD 1800mAh Lithium Battery Snake Camera – Yellow 11.5FT ).  It uses a Wifi connection to display the camera images on smartphones. My plan was to feed the endoscope down a halyard exit hole on the side of the mast about 6′ above deck level to see what the wiring looked like near the mast base.  The first thing I noticed was the 11′ semi-rigid wire was too flimsy, especially when feeding it long distances.  So I taped an 11′ plastic-coated wire along side it to give it more rigidity.  It took some practice but I was able to manipulate it to see the wiring near the bottom of the mast where it exits the conduit.  The focal point of the camera lense is about 6″ and the intensity of the blue LEDs can be adjusted.  I took video and pictures, below are some of the pics.

The top pic shows most of the wires as they exit the compression post.  The smaller diameter grey wire is the wind sensor wire.  The bottom pic shows the wires exiting the mast conduit and the smaller grey wire can be seen between the 2 larger diameter spreader light wires. 

Next I decided instead of pulling the mast, I would cut a 7/8″ diameter hole about 3″ from the base of the mast to try to get a better view of the wiring.  My mast is 3/8″ aluminum, plenty thick enough for a small access hole to have no affect.  This allowed me to get a better shot of the wiring with the boroscope, and sure enough the wires were taped together in a bundle right as they exit the compression post.

The 7/8″ hole allowed me to use a long screwdriver to break the electrical tape then grab the grey wind sensor wire with needle-nose pliers and pull it out the access hole.  Next I taped a feeder string to the end of the grey wire at the bottom of the compression post (in the bilge), and pulled it up through the compression post and out the hole.  Then I taped the new wind sensor line to the feeder string to pull the new line.  I had to tug on the feeder line quite hard to squeeze the larger diameter connector on the end of the wire through, so I also used some thin black tarred seine twine to tightly wind over the tape to make sure it didn’t slip as I pulled.  I also used liquid soap along the length of wire to make it more slippery.  It all worked as planned and I pulled about 75′ of wire from the bilge to the access hole at the base of the mast.

Here’s a picture of the access hole on the starboard side of the mast with the new NMEA 2000 wire (black) coming out.  The old NMEA 0183 wire (grey) goes to the mast head and will be used to pull the new wire 58′ up the mast.  The dynema string is a tracer pull-line through the compression post that will be left in case it’s needed in the future. After the wire was pulled up the mast, I capped the access hole with a plastic cap.

The final step was to run the wire up the mast.  I thought it would be easy.  I was wrong.  Since I could not pull the old wire up though the conduit, I decided to run the new wire inside the mast (but not in the conduit).  So I bought a bicycle chain to tie onto the end of a string and lowered it from the top of the mast.  The weight and flexibility of the 3′ bike chain allowed the feeder string to go all the way down the mast to the base, where I was able to fish it out the access hole.  So far, so good.  Next I fastened 3 long zip ties around the wire about every 10 feet.  By not cutting the ends off the zip ties and offsetting them by 120 degrees, this trick should buffer the wire from hitting the sides of the mast as the boat rolls and pitches.  Next I securely taped the new wire to the bike chain, then went up the mast again to pull it up.  About half way up the mast, it got stuck!  Since I couldn’t pull it up (I tugged as hard as I dared) , I tried lowering it but it wouldn’t go down by gravity.  I went back down to deck level and tried to pull it down, but it was stuck.  I finally pulled hard enough to free the wire from the chain.    Since my string was 100′ long, I decided to feed down more string from the top of the mast.  Gravity took it all the way down to the bottom, where I was able to fish it out the access hole.  Next I tied the new wind sensor wire to the string, returned to the top of the mast, and successfully pulled it all the way up the mast.  I mounted the new wind sensor at the masthead on a quick release bracket and plugged the wire into the sensor, flipped on the navigation equipment, and the wind instrument came to life, showing speed and direction!  Success.  Sort of.  The bloody chain was still stuck somehow/somewhere inside the mast, with a string attached to it the came out the top of the mast.  I tested all the halyards that run internal to the mast and they all move fine.  My only thought is that there must be some pinch point near the spreaders that has wedged the chain.  For now, I’m leaving it.  I’m taking the boat out sailing tomorrow and will enjoy the wind instrument and try not to think about the chain that is stuck somewhere inside the mast!  Another project for another day….

UPDATE:  When I pulled up the drifter halyard today, the chain that was stuck inside the mast came tumbling down to the base of the mast and I was able to fish it out the small access hole.  Problem solved!

I completed a lot of boat projects during the winter and spring.  Some were left over from things that broke during our trip to the South Pacific, and some were completely new.  Some projects took a day to complete and others took weeks.  Here is a partial list:

• Chelsea Shipstrike Clock–the 10 year old mechanical clock worked intermittently by the end of our trip.  When it stopped ticking, sometimes removing it from the bulkhead and shaking it would restart it.  But eventually it stopped altogether.  I got quotes from a local repair shop of $400 which included taking it apart to clean and lubricate.  That seemed like way too much for a clock that sells for around $800.  So, a bit of YouTube research, a $10 bottle of clock oil, and a few hours of my time was all that was needed to get the clock ticking again.

• Bilge Pump–the secondary bilge pump that turns on first to remove water from the bilge was an old diaphragm pump with a 12VDC motor with brushes!  Probably original equipment so it must have been over 30 years old.  During our trip I replaced the belt and internal diaphragms with a rebuild kit I brought along.  The pump got a real good workout on the wet passage from Hawaii to Seattle with lots of water on the deck finding its way to the bilge.  It also had an inline filter that I had to clean often because it was getting clogged up with dead cockroaches!  Anyhow, I decided to replace it with a new pump that is half its size and pumps twice the GPH.  The Whale Supersub Smart pump has automatic water sensing that uses no moving parts, and was easy to install.  Since this pump sits in the bilge (the old one was located outside the bilge and had a hose going to the bilge), it required running new wiring and a new hose to a thru-hull. Total cost was about $125.

The new bilge pump

The old bilge pump

• Heat Exchanger–a marine diesel engine removes heat from the engine by passing sea water through a heat exchanger.  The sea water passes through 54 copper tubes that are surrounded by fresh water (radiator fluid plus water) that circulates through the engine for cooling.  Since saltwater runs through these tubes, they often get clogged and need to be removed for cleaning.  The heat exchanger on my Yanmar engine sits on the side of the engine with not access, so removing it is challenging.  The alternator needs to be swiveled away and some hoses need to be removed to gain access to the 2 end-caps.  Once I removed the end-caps, I could shine a light through the tubes and found them to be surprisingly clean, with no buildup.  This was probably due to the fact that since 2004 when the new engine was installed, the boat has lived in fresh water most of the time.  Unfortunately I could not manage to slide the heat exchanger tube housing out of the heat exchanger, even tapping one end with a heavy mallet.  I tried applying heat using a heat gun but there’s a lot of metal and it didn’t seem to get very warm.  Since it looked very clean anyway, I decided to let well enough alone and not remove it.  Using new O-rings, I reassembled the end-caps, turned the sea water valve back on, and water leaked from both end-caps.  On my next attempt, I was more careful when seating the O-rings, and then I only had one end-cap leaking.  But this was a different problem.  I noticed the heat exchanger housing had corroded at the bottom lip of the end-cap.  So as I tightened the end-cap bolts, the O-ring had nothing to push against so it wasn’t making a water-tight seal.  I suspect there was a small leak that over time caused the metal housing to corrode.  A new housing is around $2000, so I took a few days to think about how to fix it without buying a whole new heat exchanger.  The O-ring is about 4″ in diameter, and the metal was corroded in only about 1/2″ of the outside groove.  So I clipped a 1/2″ section out of the O-ring and seated the remaining O-ring (maybe now it’s a C-ring) in the end-cap groove.  Then I applied high temperature gasket material where the 1/2″ gap was, hand tightened the end-cap bolts, let it sit for 1 hour, then fully tightened the bolts.  After sitting for 24 hours, I opened the sea water valve and there was no leaks.  I ran the engine for 30 minutes and still no leaks.  I’ll keep an eye on it the next couple of times we take the boat out, but I think it’s a good fix.

End-cap removed from heat exchanger

RTV Gasket Maker applied to end-cap

After cleaning and applying gasket maker (this was before I cut the O-ring)

• Isolation Transformer–The marina recently upgraded its wiring to newer standards and throughout the winter, boats were tripping the more sensitive GFCI electronics.  Eventually, the marina is requiring all boats to install isolation transformers. More common on boats in Europe, this is a safety device that helps prevent stray currents going into the marina water on boats that are not wired correctly or have a fault.  Stray currents entering the water can cause muscles to cramp and result in electrocution and drowning of swimmers next to the boat.  An isolation transformer magnetically isolates the shore AC power from the boat AC power.  So it also protects a boat from faulty marina wiring.  I decided to buy a Charles Industry “international” 3.5KVA transformer.  The international part means that it can be configured to accept either 120VAC or 240VAC shore power, and output either 120/240VAC.  So I could (theoretically) take the boat to Australia and, after moving a few jumpers to reconfigure the isolation transformer, plug into a 240VAC dock power and have 120VAC onboard.  The transformer weighs a whopping 70 lbs with its iron core and windings.  I used the space from where I removed the old bilge pump to install it–it’s a dry place and sits directly below the AC electrical panel.  Since it didn’t quite fit, I had to saw a small piece off the bottom mounting bracket, then drill 4 holes and screw it down.  Next I made the 4 required jumpers to configure it for 120VAC input and 120VAC output using 12 gauge wire.  Next I ran new 3-strand 8 gauge wire from the shore input connector to the isolation transformer.  The run was only 10 feet long but it took about half a day!  There a 4′ section that you can’t see or feel, but the wire would not push through. 3-strand 8 gauge wire is pretty thick, so I ended up removing the sheathing and feeding each wire (hot, neutral, ground) through separately.  I suppose I could have used the existing wire, but it wasn’t long enough to reach the transformer and I didn’t want any connectors.  Plus I wanted all new wiring for such an important piece of equipment.  Next I had to figure out how to wire the output of the transformer.  I made a complete diagram of the boat’s AC electrical system, then researched (Nigel Calder’s electrical book, Google searches) and came up with a plan.  I learned that without an isolation transformer, it’s important to never short AC neutral (white) to ground (green).  This is done on shore at the marina.  But with an isolation transformer, you must short the neutral and ground on the boat.  I also learned exactly what the AC Main dpdt switch does, and what the SHORE/OFF/INVERTER switch does.  In short, I learned a lot about the AC system on my boat.  After wiring up the output hot/neutral/gnd, and swapping the new wires into the shore power input connector, I nervously turned the power on and it worked.  Before installing the isolation transformer, when plugging into the shore power, I had to bring things up in a particular way or else I would trip the sensitive marina electronics (it has to so with the boat inverter powering up with a 30 second short between neutral to ground).  With the isolation transformer, I no longer need to delay the SHORE/OFF/INVERTER switch 30 seconds.  The final step was zip-tying and labeling the new wiring.  The isolation transformer and all the wiring and connectors was about $1000.  Project time was about a month.

Installation location with easy access

Wiring inside isolation transformer

Here’s a diagram showing the complete AC System of the boat:    AC System Diagram

Here’s a diagram showing the complete DC System of the boat:  DC System Diagram

Hydraulic Pressure Gauge–By the end of the trip, corrosion got the best of various metal items.  This is what the hydraulic pressure gauge looked like (top) and the new gauge I mounted to the hydraulic fill cylinder.  Cost was $15.

Old pressure gauge

New pressure gauge