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Larry's LogTuesday I finally figured out what the problem was with the head. I disconnected it from the discharge line and poured water into the bowl and pumped. There were no problems at all. I then reconnected intake lines and tried again - still no problem. Then I connected the discharge line again and the problem recurred. So the discharge hoses had to be blocked. (This was not a fun revelation.) There was nothing left to do but close the seacock, take the things out of the head areas where the hoses ran and remove them. Taking all the stuff out of the head when we already had too much stuff around was difficult but we put it all someplace. Getting the hoses off wasn't too bad and I managed not to spill too much water (although it was relatively clean water anyway) and the problem was immediately apparent after I got the first hose off the Y-valve. The scale had built up to such a degree that some paper had finally gotten caught just past the valve and blocked the passage completely. I got them all off and brought them out and onto to the dock. I wanted to save them just so I would know how much new hose to buy. We called one of the local chandleries via radio but they didn't have the sanitation hose of the right diameter. Since it was already 3pm (and the last day of Carnival), we would have to wait to go to the other store - Auto-Boat Center. I went out on the dock and beat the hoses against the side of the seawall to get some of the scale out and left them on the other side of the dock so nobody would trip or throw them out. If I couldn't find new hose, at least I could re-install them and they would work now, if not perfectly. After Elias started the next morning, we went to the store to get the new hose. Fortunately, they had it and although expensive, at least I could now fix the head. I walked around the store a little and then we went to the 'Home Depo' type store nearby, EPA. We got some little things there also and then walked to the McDonald's a little further down for lunch. Again, some more shopping at the supermarket nearby and then finally back to the boat. We got back around 1 and I started putting in the new hoses. I tried getting more of scale out of the seacock fitting but couldn't get much because of the angle. I finally wrestled the new hoses in place, tested it and we finally had an operational toilet again. By that time, my hand really hurt from using it in a strange angle. Elias had put about 5 coats of varnish on the small hatch in the main salon by now and it looked amazingly good - I wouldn't have believed it was the same wood. He was wet sanding the forward cabin now but had 2 coats on the hatch there already - it also looked very good. The boat, looking past the incredible mess, was really starting to look good, at least the interior. Maybe one day we'll paint the topsides. Thursday was a busy one but not with boat work. The morning was mostly occupied with little chores and in the afternoon we went to the dentist. Andrea, on Midnight Stroller, recommended the doctor - she was the mother of the girl their son had just married but Andrea had also had some work done by her. The times seem to be confused as we got there early but the assistant came around 2:30 and the doctor about 15 minutes after that. I went in first and I was impressed by her thoroughness and care. She also had a very gentle touch. I've had cleanings that hurt almost as much as drilling but this had no pain. She did find 4 very small cavities though. Diane made an appointment for me for next week after she finished. In the meantime, I had gone to an Internet place nearby we saw while walking to the office. The place was full of kids playing games and although the machines were fast, there was so much activity that access was a little slow. I did manage to download our tax information though, as well as check email. We went to eat afterward and then went back to the boat. Elias had been working on the forward cabin and it looked like the sanding and most preparation was done. Hopefully he could start varnishing it tomorrow. The next day Jim, formerly from Lady J (the boat was sold), had come in to crew with Andrea and Gaby on their trip into the Pacific. He stopped by this morning and it was very nice to see him again. Diane then went to the mall with Lena while I fixed the refrigerator (the fan was making noises again) and got on the Internet at the mini-market here at the marina. I hadn't finished everything I needed to do yesterday. An interesting thing happened though before I went to the market; Elias was working in the forward cabin and called me in. He pointed to the floor and said something about Diane dropping something. It was a roll of money. I picked it up and it was probably about 150,000Bs, maybe $50 US. I thanked him - an honest man. A little later I walked over to get the package that had arrived for us. I thought it was Diane's new passport but it was the windlass parts. I ordered them from the only guy in the world that still stocks parts for my windlass, a man who retired from Simpson Lawrence and lives in Scotland. I was going to finish on the Internet at the mini-mart but there was a line to use it and I didn't want to wait. I got back to the boat with my parts and started to work on the windlass. I took the rest of it apart to clean and re-grease everything. Once that was done, I put it all back together and then started to put the new parts in. The roller clutch went in fine but the new gear was extremely tight on the motor shaft. I tried tapping it on but discovered I was starting to damage the bearings so I stopped. But then I couldn't get the gear off (figuring I would use the old gear that was still OK). Of course, now I couldn't get the gear off either. I stopped since I was afraid that I would damage the bearings and took the motor casing off to check everything. One of the windings was a little loose so I figured I would have a shop rewind it, change the bearings and put the new gear on also. Once Diane got back, we walked over to Midnight Stroller since Andrea had the address of a good motor shop and we talked for a while. Jim came back and we had a nice time. Saturday Elias came a little early and started another coat on the forward cabin. By the end of the day, it was starting to look pretty good. The forward hatch had 5 coats and it looked like new wood. I put some headliners back up on the starboard side where Elias had finished, but first I redid the wiring. It seems like one thing always leads to another. Before putting the headliners back up though, I shaved some wood from certain areas where there was always a problem taking them up or down. I had to remove the staples where the fabric was held to the wood to do that and since I didn't have staples (or a staple gun) I used stainless steel brads to reattach the fabric. It still took some time to put the headliners back and after finishing, I called it quits for the day. The next day, after a slow morning putting some books back in the shelves and reading and relaxing a little, Diane went to play dominoes and I stayed on board and started to move the voltage regulator from the engine compartment to the bulkhead in the aft cabin top locker. It was a bad place for it since the heat from the engine may affect it. The manual stays it can be located in the engine room but I felt that part of the problem with it misreading or malfunctioning after charging for an hour or so sometimes may be caused by heat. Since Diane was off the boat, it was easy to open up the engine compartment, take out the tools and supplies I needed and begin. I check the dimensions of the space I had and then removed the regulator from the engine room. I had to move the oil pressure alarm and solar panel regulator inside the locker first, but the voltage regulator would fit well. The only real problem was getting the 10 wires connected to it to run to the new location. I managed to get most of them there but some were too short and I decided to run new wires rather than splice the old ones. I did a few before Diane came back. She then went to the pool so I had time to do a little more and finally clean up. I would have to get out the extra wire below the aft cabin berth and finish up tomorrow. Monday was busy finishing with the voltage regulator. Before that though, I went to the electrical motor repair shop that Andrea had recommended; I went with her motor and mine. The owner spoke English so I explained what was wrong and he opened it up right away to see if it was possible to fix at all, and after looking at it said it should be OK. I hope so; a new one would be over $300 and have to be ordered from Scotland again if he even had one for my vintage windlass. He said I could call on Thursday to see if they would both be ready on Friday. I got a taxi back to the boat and had lunch. After a quick lunch, I moved the aft cabin cushions so I could get out the extra wire in the storage locker below it, I ran the new wires, put the connectors on and hooked everything up to the regulator. I tested it briefly and it seemed to be OK but I would have to run the engine for at least an hour to test it adequately. It sounds easy and quick but it took me the entire day to finish everything. Since it was Monday, we went to the potluck barbeque at the marina that night. The steak Diane had was excellent but the shared dishes weren't so great that night. The wind was also up and blowing everything around but we had a good time talking to Donna and Michael from WindWitch. We knew them but got to know them better - they were leaving the boat and traveling to Australia and the Far East for 6 months, a great trip. Tuesday Elias put a fourth coat on the forward cabin. It was looking really good. We wanted more coats on the high wear areas but the large bulkhead areas would be done. Of course, we couldn't put anything in there yet but still, we were making progress. While Diane made a cake, I worked on the forward shroud chainplate on the starboard side. There were some rust stains on the 3 upper bolts holes and a water stain on a small part of it although there was no evidence of any water stains on the wood under or around the metal. I removed the shroud and dug out the old caulk. It showed very slight evidence of not adhering perfectly to the chainplate but there didn't seem to be any water intrusion. Since the headliner was down anyway, I decided to remove the chainplate altogether - simple considering I just had to take the nuts off the back, remove the backing plate and then pull the bolts. There was some rust on the 3 upper bolts (it was already showing on the chainplate) so I decided to clean the plate and the bolts. First though, I asked Elias to put a coat of varnish on spot where the chainplate attaches to the bulkhead. I was going to use my angle grinder to polish the metal but when I got everything out, I realized that I didn't have the right attachments - Tom and Steph had gotten them for me but they forgot to leave them when they left PLC. I had the arbor for the drill but because Elias was working where I needed to dig out the drill, I had to wait. Instead, I just printed the tax stuff Diane needed. Norma, from Happy Ours, was going to help her figure out some portions of the return. I just worked on the PC and then went to talk to the rigger who was going to fix the vang. He had to order parts from the States and that would take a while to get and, of course, be costly. It was still better than buying a new one. The next day was a busy one and Elias also finished putting the last coat on the forward cabin. I was busy in the morning running an errand to the local chandlery to get more supplies for the varnishing and then started working again on the chainplate. I had tried using a simple metal polish but decided to use the polishing wheel and compound that Diane had brought back from her last trip to the States. I got everything out to the dock and it worked pretty well. I cleaned up the chainplate itself, the backing plate and the cap screws as well. After cleaning up the polishing compound, I enlarged the hole in the deck a little to get the caulk to hold better and then put the chainplate back in. I had also enlarged the hole in the cover plate for the same reason (I love my Dremel tool). I put the chainplate back in but didn't tighten the bolts so the varnish underneath could dry some more. Since this was the middle of dry season, I wasn't worried about any rain, although the wind was really blowing - about 25 to 30 knots. Luckily, nothing on deck blew away (I made sure of that). It was blowing so much that we didn't go to the weekly Maremares party, although I suppose we could have gone by taxi. The next morning Diane went shopping to Makro with a guy (ex-PDVSA employee who was fired during the strike last December) who was running a shopping trip there. Since it was a store that she normally goes to, it worked out well. He had a van and took about 5 women. Perhaps the next Jesse James of PLC. I was busy in the morning with helping Jim try to find out what the problem was with Midnight Stroller's SSB - it wouldn't transmit on the HAM bands so he couldn't send email that way. Andrea had gotten an electronics guy to look at it but he didn't have the service manual so it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack - we opened up my radio with theirs next to it hoping to see a jumper or wire that was different. Unfortunately, although not everything was the same, the differences were because of a different circuit board in mine. The electronics guy spoke English and had been servicing radios since the days of vacuum tubes (37 years) and was involved in the first project to produce integrated circuits in Venezuela, so he knew what he was doing. Jim said they would have to try another place they had found. By the time I put my radio back in its spot, Andrea and Jim were going to the electrical shop where I had dropped off the motors, so I went along. Andrea had called and they said one was done but the helper didn't know which. We got there and it was mine that was done but the owner explained that, although it was working, there had been a broken magnet that they glued back. They had also put the old gear back on with no problem - evidently, the new gear had the wrong size hole diameter. It was working but he advised me to test it under load first before relying on it. They had sanded and primed an area on the outside that was rusty and wanted to paint it before giving it back to me so I said OK - it would be ready tomorrow. When I asked how much it would be, the owner said it would cost me nothing since they couldn't guarantee that it would work. He certainly didn't have to do that since they did replace a bearing and must have worked on it for some time. It was an extremely nice gesture. Andrea dropped off another motor that wasn't working and we went back to the marina, arriving just in time for me to help Diane back on board with the groceries. After lunch, I finished putting the radio back in, tested it, and by then it was time to go to the dentist. We both had work to be done and she seemed very good - no pain at all. We then went to a dermatologist that Weedie (on Plenum) recommended. Coincidentally, he was in the same office as the dentist. We finally got back to the boat around 6. |