In and Out

 We seem to be plagued with the Ins and Outs.  With our old boat Traveler we had a couple of launches that ended up as a launch, a haul out, a fix and another launch.  You think you have everything ready for the launch and then when she's in the water, some of the water is somehow managing to get inside the boat. 

Nepenthe's March launch was no different.

The yard crew loaded her up on the low bow trailer, drove her down to the ramp, and eased Nepenthe into the water.  Beto jumped aboard and started checking out the engine.  I jumped aboard and started checking thru hull fittings.  At first everything looked great.  On my hands and knees, headlamp glaring, I saw a drip run down the new thru hull fitting in the head.  Then another drip, then a little stream.  Darn!

We got Garth onto the boat so he could have a look.  He's the one who put that thing together so he had to witness the mess.  "We gotta haul her back out"

The low-boy trailer was still under the boat.  The big hydraulic arms were still holding the six pads against the hull.  We signaled to the crew to bring her back out.   Heads dragging, we returned to the yard.  Garth arrived a few minutes later and he and I began to remove the thru hull mushroom from the seacock.  There is a special tool to spin the mushroom flange out of the assembly.  We inserted the tool, put on a cheater bar and twisted it out.  On examination, the sealant was complete except for a 1/4 inch gap at the top.  So.....The sealant was not applied properly and the connection leaked. It was Garth's fault and he guaranteed his work so he was on the hook for the haul and re-launch fees.

We cleaned it up, applied a LOT of sealant and reassembled it.  The next day, we launched her in the morning and had a successful splash and test drive.  

One of many shrimp boats

This time we had a slip on B dock reserved so we took a few days to get the boat cleaned up, the sails back on, and the engine run for a bit at the dock.  We needed to run the engine for 20 hours to break it in. After living the life on B dock with the other boaters, we went out to the bay and anchored for a few days, getting a chance to motor around a bit and accumulate a few more hours on the engine. 

We decided to take her out for a multi day cruise.  First, we filled up the starboard side diesel tank.  This got the boat back on her lines as she had been listing to starboard a bit because of all those new batteries.  Then we pointed her out of the bay and ran up the coast about 15 miles to Bahia San Pedro to anchor for the night. Connie ran the Mexico flag up the spreader and furled out the U.S. Flag on the stern.

 

 On the way north, Nepenthe's engine ran strong, pushing us along at 5 to 7 knots as we varied the speed every 15 minutes.  Halfway there, I checked the engine compartment for the second time and noticed the bilge water level had crept up to a few inches under the engine pan.  We had taken on about 15 gallons in three hours.

Somehow, water was getting in.

I checked:  The  rudder packing gland.  Dry.  The drive shaft packing gland. Slow drip as it's supposed to be.  Sink thru hulls. No problem.  Sump drain thru hull..... a steady stream running along the bottom of the joint.   Darn!  We're slowly sinking!  I turned on the sump pump and returned a few gallons of water back to the sea.

Traveler waiting to haul out

 

It turns out that the sump drain thru hull sits just above the water line when the boat is listing to starboard.  When the boat is balanced, the thru hull is partially underwater.  When the boat is under power, the stern squats down in the water a bit and that thru hull becomes mostly under water.  

We continued on to Bahia San Pedro to drop our anchor in 20 feet of water along with a few other boats.  The couple on Mano de Fatima, a Cal 46 had their own "shake down" problems, with an inner shroud breaking loose from the mast and water coming into the boat from the dripless shaft seal.  We joked about how boats could really test the patience of the crew.  Beautiful, quiet anchorage.  Nice walk on the beach.  We heard, then saw a coyote standing on a hill yelling out to her buddies, her body silhouetted against the setting sun. 

The following day, we motored back to San Carlos, pumping out the bilge as we went, dodging shrimp boats.

While hiking at Bahia San Pedro a coyote appeared next to us on a hill and started calling out.

And so it was as I had to call Garth and tell him that a second one of this thru hull jobs had a problem.  He took it pretty well.  I mustered up a good attitude and joked with him for a while.  Anyone who has had a boat in Mexico, or anywhere else for that matter, has run into many little complications trying to keep the boat operational.   Boats just have an ornery streak about them.  Try as you might to keep them happy, they will come up with the most frustrating little problems.  If you let it get to you then you are beaten.

Garth and Scott

Garth offered us his mooring ball so we headed back into the bay at San Carlos and got the lines ready to snag that ball.  As I approached, the engine temperature alarm went off.  We were overheating! 

"Connie, drop the anchor."  I switched off the engine and we started drifting backwards.  The anchor bit and we set it in 20 feet of water and 60 feet of chain.  A lady on a trimaran behind us came on deck and started screaming at us.  "I've got 150 feet of chain out and I have no engine.  You can't anchor there!"

 

Bahia San Pedro

We had a few words.  She was not happy.  When some one is screaming at you and you tell them to just calm down.... they probably won't.

Opening up the engine compartment I immediately saw the problem.  A hose had come off and spewed antifreeze all over the bilge. New hoses, new clamps.  Everything should have been checked and tightened after the engine got its first good run.  After the engine cooled a bit, we brought up the anchor and grabbed Garth's mooring buoy, far enough away from the trimaran so that the owner could stop screaming at us.

We arranged with the yard to come haul us out at 7 am the next morning.  What followed was a long dinghy trip to the marina and a long drive into Guaymas to get the correct anti freeze coolant. By the time we got the engine full of coolant and all the hose clamps tightened it was time for bed.  Up at six AM it was a smooth motor to the ramp and a quick haul out back to the yard. 

Garth arrived and we started in on removing that second bad thru hull. We'd had a problem with that one when we put it in a few months ago.  The hull there was in layers with an outer layer of glass, a foam core, and an inner layer of glass.  Every other hole we drilled in the hull had been solid fiberglass. This one had some delamination between the layers.  We decided the safest thing now was to pull the thru hull fitting and glass the entire thing over.  We cut a cedar plug and epoxied it in.  Then we cut multiple circles of fiberglass cloth, ground out the edges and layered everything in place.  

Since Garth didn't have his helper that day, I had to help, handing him tools and steadying him as he stood on his cooler grinding away.  He's 80 years old, I think I told you.  So his balance if a bit off and his eyesight is not so good.  We worked well as a team and ended up having a pretty good day working together.  I tried not to think about how much this haul out was costing us.  $600.00 USD.

 

Upside Down Puffer Fish

The second day in the yard I spent most of the day rerouting the bilge pump hoses so they drained out of one of the cockpit thru hulls.  There was a long run into Guaymas for parts and a lot of cursing on my part as I tried to squeeze my lanky old body into the ass end of the bilge.  

It's now a few days later and our new launch date, our third this year, is tomorrow at 10 AM.  Please let this be the last one for a while.  We're eager to get back into the water, eager to get the engine broken in, and eager to set sail across the Sea of Cortez.  We're ready for the ins and outs to be over.

You know what, though?  We're still having fun.  Connie and Scott are together, in Mexico.  And that's a very good thing.