The Boatyard Blues

 Life in the boat yard continues. We were sleeping and making our meals in the Scamp parked outside the work yard in the parking lot.  Each morning we'd walk through the gate and the same guard would check our passes.  We've gotten to know the guard... but still he checks our passes. In this manner we spent another three weeks working on the boat and waiting on Omar to get parts.  Then Leo came back from staying in Tucson and made  his home in the Scamp while Connie and I stayed aboard in the construction site that is the boat yard.  

The workers brought in a Hans Christian 38 the other day that had a cracked diesel fuel tank.  The owner turned on the bilge pump and pushed all the diesel stink onto the ground which flowed in our direction and made a nice smelly lagoon right next to our boat.  Then the other neighbor scrubbed the blue paint off his bottom and all the blue stuff went into the same toxic lagoon.  So.... we have the pleasure of having a toxic blue pool of gunk at the bottom of our entry ladder.  Such is the joy of the boat yard. 

Connie in the starboard cockpit locker

When working on a boat, you find a problem and in the process of taking care of the problem you find yet other problems.  It's like peeling back an onion.  After dropping the anchor and chain overboard onto the pavement, we examined all the chain links and marked them every 30 feet.  We tried bringing the anchor back up and the windlass slowed to a crawl and finally gave up the ghost. While Connie used tubs of vinegar to remove the rust from sections of chain, we ripped out the ancient windlass and ordered a new Maxwell 1000.  We've taken possession of the new windlass but are still in the process of drilling holes and making backing plates for the unit.  As of now, anchoring is not an option.

Omar tried using many of the old parts of the fuel delivery system of tubes, valves, and filters only to find that some of that stuff was faulty and leaking.  Getting ready to launch, we used the parts we could and cobbled something together that we thought would work until we are able to get more parts delivered from the US.  The lesson here is, if you find a broken system, replace everything with new.  Act as if money is no object.

The prop shaft and new coupling went in just fine but we had to get creative with the zinc mounting.  The shaft is in for now but will need further alignment after the boat has settled in the water.  Because the boat is made of fiberglass, she flexes differently when in the water than when she is up on stilts in the yard.  This difference in flex can effect the prop shaft alignment.  

Noreen in the port cockpit locker

I tried to replace the cap on the incoming water stainless steel tube and must have crossed the threads.  When we tested it under water pressure we had a leak.  Later we tried again and hoped for the best for launch day.  

The heat exchanger came back from the shop with the rear connection rotated 90 degrees, so back to the shop it went to be cut and re-welded. Finally, it got installed with some new hoses.  

We had fun installing new 12 volt light fixtures and have added various hooks and do-dads to make life more comfortable.  We have a little cabinet that I've specified as the special place that has lots of little project items we hope to install once we are out cruising.  I've got more lighting 

fixtures there and other gizmos.

On a windless morning Myron, Leo, Connie and Scott bent on the sails, rolling up the big genoa and getting the battens into the main sail.  Connie figured out how to rig the main sheet through the blocks.  We still do not understand how the lazy jacks work.   The mainsail slugs kept popping out of the access gate which was rusted and inoperable so I ordered a new knurled nut to hold them in place, using a big hose clamp in the meantime to keep the slugs in place. 

Chewed up impeller

Omar's assistant dropped a hammer into the bilge.  On the way down, it slammed into the bilge pump float switch and broke it.  Leo fished out the hammer and a chisel we didn't know was down there...with a magnet and I bought a new float switch.  In the meantime, the sump pump self destructed in a loud clatter and it stopped working.  Here we were, two days from our splash date and I didn't have one working bilge pump.  Omar was waiting on parts for the fuel system so we didn't have fuel to the engine. In fact, we didn't even know if the engine would start.  And the incoming coolant raw water was leaking profusely.  It was a tense time.

Come splash day, we had some of these things working and in a big rush of activity we launched at 10 AM on Wednesday December 22nd.   Oh happy day!  We followed the tractor, trailer, and boat to the launch site. Everyone was excited.  The boat was backed into the water and we hopped aboard to go below to see if any water was coming in.   The packing gland was leaking hugely.  Myron set about tightening that gland.  Then we saw that the raw water stack was leaking in two places now.  Not good.  Going forward we saw that my new depth sounder transducer was holding it's own but the old transducer for the knot meter was dripping at a steady rate. Not good. 

The air went right out of our euphoria of being launched as I signaled to the tractor driver to come back and haul us out again.  Tails between our legs, we followed Nepenthe down the street back to the diesel blue lagoon cesspool in the boat yard where the crew put us back on stilts.  Omar set about his plans to fix the leaks and I opened a bottle of wine. 

She's floating, but not for long

The next day, Omar arrived with a newly welded raw water stack and a new plug for the transducer.  At 11 AM we had Nepenthe back on the tractor trailer rig headed down the street to the launch site.  In she went and we again dived down below to look for leaks.

With some added packing gland material, we staunched that incoming water flow down to just a slow drip.. as is how it is supposed to be.  The newly welded raw water stack was slowly leaking. What the heck?  Oh well.  The new plug on the transducer was holding it's own but was now leaking on the outside diameter of the hole.  And a second, unused transducer was dripping ever so slowly.  We had more leaks than before.  

With that knowledge, I popped my head up and gave our entourage on the dock the thumb down.  Connie's face dropped into sadness. The haul out and the splash cost us $420, and our problems were not yet solved.  Back down below Omar and I had a discussion.  The bilge pumps were both working well.  The yard was closing for Christmas.  Let's just keep her in the water!  We can haul her back out to fix the two transducers after the first of the year.

I went up top and gave the thumbs up.  We waved at the yard guys as they backed their launch rig up the ramp.  Starting the engine, we saw some water spurting out of the water pump.  That's nothing the bilge pumps can't handle.  Connie, Leo and Scott got aboard and backed the boat up into the fairway. Then we headed west towards our slip at B-21.  I passed the slip then started to turn the boat around when the diesel engine failed.  We drifted east towards A dock and I tried to point her into an empty slip, just missing by a few feet.  Luckily there was a nice shiny sailboat there next door that absorbed our impact, Connie and Leo pushing like crazy to fend us off.  A friendly guy on the dock helped us wrangle the beast that is Nepenthe into the slip.  

Omar jumped aboard and checked the fuel system.  He determined that the new location of the filters, above the tanks and engine, made it difficult for the little engine mounted fuel pump to draw the fuel all that distance to the injectors.  As soon as he turned on the auxiliary fuel pump, she cranked right up.  We inspected the nice shiny sailboat for damage and found two little indentations on her aft cockpit seat coaming. "Cast off the lines.  We're getting out of here."

Aires wind vane

I backed the beast out of the slip and proceeded down to B dock where an anxious crowd waited to take our lines.  Barely missing a beautiful Island Packet, I drove her into B-21, then slammed her into reverse to stop our forward motion.  We had arrived!  We were floating!  No lives were lost!

Now it is Christmas and everyone is home celebrating. The marina docks are quiet.  We have more parts on order and our plan is to wait a week then haul out again to completely replace the raw water stack and have a fiberglass expert remove the two old leaking transducers and glass them over permanently.  We've come to realize that any plastic or rubber part on a boat that has been on the hard, exposed to the Mexico heat for two or more years has suffered damage and needs to be replaced.  Electronic systems that might have been working a few years ago will not be working now.  

We've got more work to do, but hey, at least we are in the water.  Our next $420 haul out will be only for two or 10...days then back to the dock we go.  Wish us well.

The adventure continues.

 

Meanwhile, in Mexico, life goes on.  Here are some of the latest headlines for today.