Leak Patrol!

Leak Patrol:  I am catching up on some older events.  We had a lot of rain about a week ago, and Marco and I found a few more leaks.  Noteworthy is a leak in the main cabin where a second of deck was cut out and not repaired properly.  I expect to revisit that in the future.

The Forward Hatch.  Found a drain hole clogged with debris, causing water to back up and flow into the V-berth.  The hatch needs to be rebuilt completely.  While the teak is good, it still seems like a good idea to make some changes to the hatch.  More on that later.

Bow Access Plate: There is an access plate in the bow that was leaking--the seal has shrunk and water was getting in and collection under the V-berth in a spot with no limber holes.  He has already sealed that up.  I plan to glass in a water tight collision bulkhead up there with an anchor locker above the waterline.  For now I just want the leaks fixed.  Later on I'll probably remove this and build a nice anchor locker and windlass mount.

The Cockpit:  With the back of the boat opened up in preparation of glassing a bulkhead cofferdam--for increased safety, we spotted several leaks around the binnacle, emergency steering port, and the binnacle guard rail. 

Marco has been busy fixing the area around the emergency steering.  It has to be done in stages because it meets the rudderhead, and I don't want to fight to get those screws back in. He has also done some work to fix the area just aft of the forward hatch.  I have him sealing that up, but I plan to cut it away and fix it properly  And that will depend on the forward hatch replacement/rebuilding.  I want that area to keep water out.

Just in front of the companionway hatch was a depression that would collect water and overflow into the boat.  Marco suggested filling that with epoxy and filler, and I asked him to angle this so that water would go forward and flow out the limber holes under the winches.

Binnacle:  Sometime ago, my binnacle mounting bolts failed and I replaced them.  I'd like to revisit that area and replace the plywood reinforcing with some new marine plywood.  I expect to have some left over from the aft bulkhead project.  I have orders a new stainless top plate from Edson, and need to check a few measurements of the binnacle before ordering a new larger double bend NavPod 1.25" guardrail, and some sort of quad-pod housing.  I'd like to install a 15" chart display, and I'm leaving room for that, but for the short term, I'm very happy with my iPad for on deck navigation, and I plan to use a Mac Mini down below for navigating.  I will need to wire in the instruments I have, fix my compass light wiring.  There will be space for a Raymarine autopilot control in the Quad housing.  While many people don't like Raymarine, I like their interface, and I plan to put a heavy duty hydraulic auto pilot in the boat next year.  It would be great if I could afford to buy all new instruments, that is neither practical nor necessary.  I would like radar also, but I can wait on that too.

The bottom line is ECHO is almost all the leak sources fixed.  There is a very small leak on one of the cockpit hatches.  I think the wind has to be blowing hard for any water to get in there, and not enough gets in to form a drop.

The mast leaks very slightly.  I think a bit of shrink wrap tape would stop it.

Hatches:  The two remaining problems are the companionway hatch and the forward hatch.  Both need to be replaced.  I need to job that out.  These hatches are made out of wood and acrylic.  My idea is to make a frame for each out of aluminum and wood or starboard with Lexan laminated in between, and corner reinforcing.  I have two pieces of acrylic I could use for the companionway, I'd rather use on piece.  In any case, I need to move this onto a higher priority.  What I'd like to do is job it out, perhaps in two phases, welding and woodwork.

Installing and Wiring in the Powered Winch

The winch body is installed here. I had to lop off the ends of two bolts for clearance on the flange.

Next the shaft coupler is installed.  You can see one stud temporarily installed in the top of the picture. The blue and red wires are for the control circuit.  I still have to run those wire.  It occurred to me that I can pull power from the heavy cable and likewise ground and put a 5 amp fuse in this circuit. I wonder if I'll need a choke to avoid power surges.  I may run the wire back to the panel but that seems unnecessary.  

I used locktite on the eight studs.  I was missing four flat washers with notches cut out.  I will have to get four more tomorrow and grind the edges to clear the flange.  I don't suppose flat washers are necessary, but I might as well be consistent.   The white thing at the top is a relay (Solinoid) to control the heavy current going into the motor gearbox.  The control wires are not yet wired in.  The motor gearbox has a pair of wires also--a thermal protection circuit which is wired in series with the switch.  There is a spacer in there too.  I could move the whole motor gearbox up 1/8" if I wanted to go to the trouble, but it does not seem to be worth my time.  I also like the idea of a little space between the motor and the deck.

Another view looking forward.  I will need to fabricate a fiberglass cover for this to keep things pretty.  I mounted the powered winch on this side to avoid head bump.  It is right over the sink and not in the way.

This shows the view from the bottom.   Those are red cables from the battery and 100 amp breaker supplying juice to the motor gearbox.  This is a windlass motor gearbox, so, of the three studs on the motor, only two are used, lift and ground.  I need to figure out which is which. 

This will make a number of jobs easier.

1.  Measurements:  Taking Measurements for replacement rigging.

2.  My Backstay:  I want to pull my backstay to fix a very poor job done Tom Anderson of Hathaway Riggers.  I hope I can re-terminate it myself. I will probably bring it back to Tom Anderson even though the job was done many years ago.  While it is true I waited too long to return it, it remains a very poor job and I may have to do a lot of rework to make it right.

3.  My Forestay:  I want to build a new forestay and install an already purchased, Harken furler.  Once that is done, I can think about a new headsail.  I will probably modify my current Genoa, but I'd also like a new Yankee for better visibility.  The option of hoisting both while sailing downwind has a certain about of appeal. Much less work and I'd only need another spinnaker pole for a tidy, non-chafing rig that would keep ECHO pointed downwind without a lot of work.

4.  Inner Forestay:  I want to replace my inner forestay and install a Harken furler on that.  I have a used furling drum and only need new extrusions and the small piece parts to install that.  I want a small self tending staysail, so once this furler is installed and I determine where and how to mount a track for this.  A self tending staysail will make tacking upwind a breeze for one person. 

5.  Jumper Stay:  I seem to have lost the small wire cable that connects my Highfield Lever to the bow of my boat.  It is a short cable, and I might as well practice on that before working on the other stays.