Tag Archives: Boat repair and maintenance

Divide and Conquer

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“The boat is okay, don’t worry.”.  When my husband starts a phone conversation with this kind of thing, what is the first thing you believe I will do? Worry. That’s right. I was driving down to Astoria by myself to attack that engine room for, hopefully, the last time before being able to sand and paint several areas. Mike stayed home this weekend to clean up after the last wind storm. We figured we would get more done this way. Divide and conquer, right?

No, this is not the La Brea tar pits. It’s our bilge. But it wouldn’t surprise me if I discovered mastodon bones buried in the primordial ooze down there.

I was just approaching our usual Starbucks in Longview when my phone rang and I saw it was Mike. “Did I call you or did you call me?”,  he said. “You called me. What’s up?”, I replied, eyes scanning the road for cops as I held the phone to my ear and made the turn into the parking lot. “Oh,” he said, sounding flustered. That’s what happens to the man when he thinks his boat is at risk.

” I thought I was texting you. Okay. Well the boat’s okay, but I just got a call from the Port of Astoria. The piling at the end of our dock fell over and they need to move us to a different slip. I told them you were on your way down there and would check in with them as soon as you arrive.”
“Wow! Amazing that I am actually driving down today. And also, Yay! This means I get to ride Andromeda out of her slip for the first time! Woo hoo! Being towed for the first time ever!” You’d have thought someone had surprised me with a pony for Christmas.

Yes, I know, it’s pitiful. I can hear all the head shaking going on out there in blog-reader land. But I had been dead worried about how we were going to get Andromeda out of her slip and around the corner to the haulout facility. I went to sleep on many nights with visions of her dashed against the wicked rocks in the old ‘Graveyard of the Pacific’. Shudder. Yes, I know we’ve dingy-towed our boat before. But that was Moonrise, and that’s about 25,000 pounds of difference, not including windage. Plus we know Moonrise like the back of our hand. It’s different towing a boat you are not yet familiar with. So I saw this as a great opportunity for a trial run, regardless of the fact that we still have no one to get us to the travel lift. All in good time.  I was excited to see how this boat behaved under tow.

Thankfully, the day was calm as far as wind was concerned, but I quickly realized that regardless of wind, it’s never calm as far as current is concerned. It’s one thing to know this academically, but another to feel it on a boat. Juan and Glen from the port released Andromeda from her dock lines little by little, inching her out of the slip just enough so that Juan could pull the port’s skiff along side and tie up. I could see they had done this before.

The crew form the Port of Astoria made sure Andromeda was securely tied to their skiff.

Juan backed us out of the slip with Glen giving directions from the bow of our boat. Our boat was finally under way! I guess it hardly counts, but I’ll take anything at this point. We were not moving far, but Juan could not see where he was going, and couldn’t tell how close to the dock the boat was. In addition, the skiff has better steering in one direction than in the other, so I could see he was getting anxious about getting us close enough to the dock for us to toss the dock lines. He handled the boat like a pro, but I would feel better next time we tow her if we had one ‘tug’ boat on each side and a way to communicate between them.  There were sighs of relief all around (well, mostly from me) when the lines were handled and she was tied off. Then I got my first true realization that tying this boat off against current, wind, and waves takes longer than 5 minutes. I imagine I can get that down over time.

Safe and secured on a much nicer but much more exposed dock. This photo taken before the port crew installed another large cleat close to her bow.

After getting Andromeda settled in her new digs, the day was getting away from me and I had not even started on that dratted engine room. Where is that magic wand when I need it? Plus I had not brought food to the boat, planning to go to Costco in Warrenton when I arrived. After stocking the boat,  I got as far as I could before giving in to fatigue, then called it a day.

On Saturday my sister came to visit and see the boat. With her cheering me on I got a bit further, mining for ‘gold’ in the dark recesses of the oily pit with my little earth magnet on a string. I am easily amused.  I came up with a number of tools, most of which have seen better days, and a lot of metal filings and general disgusting filth. But I did manage to find Mike’s wrench. At the end of today I have two 5 gallon buckets of gross.

Just mining for gold here.

I’ve decided to give myself another entire day here in Astoria to get further with this thing. Instead of going home tomorrow, I’ll go on Monday.  I can see that my eye for detail is getting in the way of getting the job done, as I have a vision in my mind that this engine room will never match. I see a pristine white room in my mind’s eye. I’m going to have to settle for a little less or I will never be done. But progress is being made. I am almost ready to paint some places! Perhaps tomorrow.

 

 

Boat Work in Exotic Locations

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They say that the cruising lifestyle is really just learning to do boat work in exotic locations. If this is, in fact, true, then we are well ahead of the curve. We aren’t even out cruising yet and already we are learning to modify our expectations of getting things done, especially when it comes to finding services.  How’s that? Well, we’re moored in Astoria, exotic land of the self-sufficient fisher-people. And this effects us how? Apparently they never need help, unless it’s from the Coast Guard.

The Coasties like to use photos like this to represent the Columbia River bar. This photo for dramatic representation only. Do not try this at home. Or with our boat, thanks.

The issue is this: we need to be towed to the Port of Astoria boatyard. Our boat has no engine, so we can’t get there under our own power. So naturally, being naive and trusting, I called the Port of Astoria to find out about who does these things. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Hi there! We need to have our sailboat towed to your facility so we can put in a new engine. Who do you know that does that kind of thing?

POA: Well, um, I don’t know. There isn’t anyone around here. I mean there’s really not anyone in Astoria who does towing . Also our travel lift is broken and we don’t know how long it will take to get fixed. Maybe about 3 weeks. We’re having trouble finding parts.

Me (Incredulous): It’s broken? Well, good thing we don’t need it just now. Hopefully it will be fixed in three weeks. The engine is ordered but it will take awhile to get here. Why is it that there are no towing services around? I’m just curious.  I mean, there are all kinds of boats around here all the time! Don’t they ever need assistance?

POA: Well, you know, they are fishermen. They pretty much take care of themselves and if they really have an emergency they call the Coast Guard. I think there’s a guy over in Ilwaco who has a service. I think his name is Capt. Bill. You could call him and find out but I don’t have his contact information on me just now.

Me: Okay, well thanks, I’ll call Port of Ilwaco and see if I an find this Captain Bill. So you think maybe that travel lift will get fixed soon?

POA: We sure hope so, but I don’t know.

Wow. Okay, time to regroup and think about what would happen if we were in Mexico, or maybe the South Pacific and needed to have our boat towed. I mean, we have some experience pushing Moonrise with our dinghy, but I don’t really want to start doing that with a boat I don’t know yet. Plus, I’m pretty sure our little Honda two stroke isn’t going to take this boat anywhere. Not only do we have no engine, we have no steering because that was removed to get the engine out. (Wait, we DO have the emergency tiller, so there is that…) So I called Boat US, our insurance and towing service company. Their website makes it sound like they can assist you just about anywhere!

Except in Astoria. There is no one in Astoria. But they do have Coastal Towing in Ilwaco on their list. Ilwaco, for people who are not from this area, is across the river on the Washington side. Turns out Coastal Towing is run by the same Captain Bill that the Port of Astoria knew about. So I emailed him to get a bid. Seems crazy to get someone from all the way over in Ilwaco to come across to tow us literally about 1/2 mile. But whatever… we have to start somewhere. If Captain Bill comes in at hundreds of dollars, that dingy tow will start to look better and better. Hey, at least we have time on our side! And by the way, the mechanic didn’t know anyone either. He referred us to the port office and to a ‘shack’ down by the boat yard where there is a bulletin board. river chart

Here’s a link to the Google Earth image of this area. See the letter A? Our boat is just to the right of that, third boat down, next to an empty slip. We need to tow it to Pier 3. We’re on Pier 1. So close and yet so far away. Perhaps we could harness some friendly sea lions? They are huge down here.

I guess the good news is that if the travel lift is broken for awhile, that gives us more time to work on the engine room. The engine will be delivered to the Port of Astoria, and we can’t leave it there, but we can have it loaded onto our little truck and bring it home if we have to. See? We’re learning to be flexible already! Your suggestions are welcome.

Making Friends

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I have a feeling there will be a lot of blogging as we begin working S/V Andromeda into our lives. There is so much to do, and we are excited to get some things accomplished. But the only project that is creating a sense of time pressure is the big one: the engine. The new baby Beta Marine 60 HP is already ordered and will be delivered to the Port of Astoria in about three weeks. So that means Mike needs to have that engine room ready to receive the engine by then. It also means we have to find a way to get the boat towed over to the boatyard and hauled out. That’s the only piece we have to pay someone else to do that hasn’t yet been contracted.

We told Shawn about the blog, hoping he’d be glad of the publicity, but I think he already has enough business to suit him.

This weekend we had only one day free to go to Astoria to meet with our new best friend in the world, Shawn The Diesel Mechanic. He wanted to lay eyes on the engine room and take some measurements and Mike wanted his advice about how to get things prepared. We are satisfied that Shawn has years of experience and that he will do the professional ‘hand holding’ Mike wants in terms of being our main support for this project. He comes well recommended and it will be worth it to have someone looking over Mike’s shoulder. He has already recommended that we go ahead and replace the shaft now rather than wait until later. Okay. We can do that.

In the engine room, Mike has his learning hat on. Oh Shawn, we’re not worthy! Note the bell housing for the transmission between Mike and Shawn; the scene of a later crime.

So Mike was stoked to start pulling the transmission out so we could commence with the cleaning. And now this is where the true ‘boat work’ begins, folks. Because you know very well that boat work is never, ever straight forward work.  Those bolts on the shaft coupling would not come off. No movement. I heard groaning, cursing, and the clank of a wrench at the bottom of the bilge. There was a trip to Home Depot for something stronger. But still, no movement of the offending nuts.

Four little brown, rusty nuts. So stubborn.

Helpless, as usual when faced with a man working in an engine room, I cleaned cabinets that were, frankly, already clean. I threw out things we had no use for. I offered to start on the work bench since there is a ton of stuff there that needs sorting, but Mike gave me a stern warning about that one. “Mine!” he said, a glint of steel in his eye. I sighed and handed him a wrench, distracting him with a recommendation that he remove the bell housing for the transmission so that he would have more room to access the recalcitrant nuts on that coupling.

Mike thought that might work and those bolts did come off easier. But as he pulled the housing toward him, water began to pour in around the shaft. Pulling the housing forward moved the seal out of place. Nope. We are not even going there with a boat that has been ours for only about 24 hours. So he pushed that back in place, stopped the gushing of water into the bilge,  and went for one more go at the shaft coupling. Meanwhile I made my fourth trip to the dumpster with an armload of very old and worn out life vests.  We had to leave with those bolts still on, winning the day against Mike’s attempts to budge them. But we’ll be back and Mike doesn’t give up that easy.

So I’d like to pause here and give a little product endorsement for something called Zout, which is a stain remover/enzyme presoak/miracle worker product. Had I been thinking, I would have photographed Mike’s clothing as he climbed out of the engine room. Grease stains everywhere, rust stains everywhere. He was one filthy human.  Yuck. I had to drive home with that man. I told him to simply hand me his clothing when we got home and I would handle things from there. Zout is, in a word, amazing. I sprayed the heck out of his clothes, really soaked them with the stuff,  let them sit in the washer for 15 minutes, then washed them on hot. They are like new! No kidding.

Next weekend we plan to go down on Friday night so we will have all day Saturday and Sunday to get stuff done. We had a trip to Home Depot and to Harbor Freight today to get blades for tools and hand cleaner, and various other small things for that engine room. Like a steam punk squirrel, Mike is gathering his arsenal of tools to wield against the stubborn nuts. They WILL come off. And I will find a project to keep me busy and will generally stay out of the engine room area of the boat.

Mike, loving on Moonrise.

Today we had an afternoon at the marina in Tacoma so Mike could climb Moonrise’s mast. Why would he do such a thing? Well, blog readers, get this: On the day we signed paperwork for Andromeda, the very day she legally became our boat, things starting picking up in terms of interest for Moonrise. There is a nice couple who is very interested in her, and another person waiting next in line should that sale not work out. Someone who looked at her while she was listed at the broker in Olympia called to see if she was still listed and was given our contact information. I tell you, it was positively uncanny.

So Mike wanted to climb the mast to check the spreaders since he hasn’t been up there in awhile and you know how he loves to wear that climbing harness.  The spreaders actually looked great and climbing the mast gave him an opportunity to clean them off. What we thought looked like a need for a paint job turned out to just be algae that came off with a quick wipe of a cloth. They look really good now and he’s satisfied that they pass muster.

So Moonrise is totally ready for new owners, and we’re totally ready to get back down to Astoria and address that engine room! Bring it on!