{"id":2288,"date":"2017-10-16T05:55:20","date_gmt":"2017-10-16T05:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/svslowflight.com\/?p=2288"},"modified":"2020-02-03T19:30:09","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T19:30:09","slug":"lets-get-technical-ok-maybe-not-the-boat-work-on-the-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svslowflight.com\/index.php\/2017\/10\/16\/lets-get-technical-ok-maybe-not-the-boat-work-on-the-hard\/","title":{"rendered":"Let’s get technical….ok maybe not : ) The boat work on the hard."},"content":{"rendered":"

“Life on the hard…is HARD!”\u00a0 But it takes a village!<\/p>\n

Being in the boat yard is not a fun thing…ask any boater and they will agree!\u00a0 However, when you are around other fabulous sailors, it makes it easier and definitely more fun.\u00a0 We were next to SV Bonavellete (spelling may be wrong) a Swiss boat with brothers, Alex and David.\u00a0 Across the way was SV Me Too (you should know them by now) and SV All Day (Vlad and Nicole).\u00a0 For our week and a half we all shared tools, knowledge, space, and BEER!\u00a0 Dinners together and voices of encouragement went along way for all of us and we can’t express how lucky we were to be around these grand people.<\/p>\n

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SV Bonavelet (Alex and David) were fiberglassing the entire interior of their boat and bottom. They would work at least 12 hours a day. When we would go to town we would make sure to ask if they needed anything. We lent gloves, sanders, drills, saws to them, gladly! Funny story…they would go to the store to get an ice cream (on a stick for $2) so they would have a stir stick as well to mix their fiberglass…it was ingenious!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Briley on Me Too would often cook breakfast for everyone…this day we had pancakes with homemade raspberry jam and maple syrup! Thank you Briley for keeping the crew fed…it is so appreicated!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Haul out-<\/strong> it is alway so unnatural for the boat to be out of the water but each time is a different experience.\u00a0 Vuda Point marina’s yard had to change out the “slings” to 4 straps rather than just 2 straps to accommodate the weight of our boat.\u00a0 Our bottom is slightly slanted up front and our shaft is very close to our rudder so there is a very specific place where these straps must go on our boat to not cause any damage.\u00a0 Timo, the yard manager, had to jump into the water to literally tie the strap together so they could hold us properly.\u00a0 It was both impressive and nerve racking as we have to fully trust everyone that they know what they are doing.\u00a0 Timo knows what he is doing..no doubt!\u00a0 Thank you Timo : )<\/p>\n

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Timo directly the lift driver where to go. You can see how the 4 straps come together. Nice work!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Dirty bottom! Notice the dark blue boot strip just above the blue bottom…..We pressure washed her bottom here is a close up the lines Timo had to tie under water to make sure no damage happened to our boat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Gosh…little embarrassed…looks pretty bad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Had no idea we had fishing line caught in our prop..thank goodness no damage occurred…it was the first job we did…remove the line<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Veiw from our cockpit on the hard, looking forward out to the marina berths<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Veiw looking aft (behind) at the yard…SV Me Too and SV All Day are right behind us<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bottom paint<\/strong> – Well we originally planned to raise our water line, meaning take away the boot stripe and paint it with antifouling paint….but we decided to paint the whole bottom.\u00a0 New Zealand has some pretty strict rules about bringing in foreign critters on visiting yachts so we needed to “prove” we took care of the bottom to be able to enter into the country\/specific marinas.\u00a0 It took a few days for them to tape, sand, and between the weekend and holidays (Fiji Day) work started slow.\u00a0 We finally got a few more workers on the job BUT…..the half the boat was in one shade of blue and they started to paint the other half a different shade of blue!\u00a0 The can said it was the right paint but we had to wait for the right shade..I know picky me…it underwater anyways right?…I still wanted the bottom of the boat to be all the same color.<\/p>\n

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Notice there is a little less white hull showing and lots of blue on the bottom….no more boot stripe…we will have to do that some other time<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Trevor finishing up the final touches….. you can’t paint the bottom part of the keel until you are ready to go back into the water (aka “splashed”) and are being lifted by the slings because the keel is on wood blocks while you are on the hard and stands on each side.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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All the same color thank goodness…looking good<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Look at the prop and shaft!!!! New zincs and all.\u00a0 Almost everyone who would walk by would comment on how shiny it was….Trevor took a lot of pride in it<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toe rail-<\/strong> Back when we purchased the boat in Ventura CA., we got a quote to take off the varnish on the toe rail.\u00a0 We wanted to do this <\/span>because\u00a0varnish, though it protects the teak wood and keeps it <\/span>beautiful, it is a lot of <\/span>maintenance\u00a0and Trevor and I figured we should remove it and let it go “gray” (means after removing the varnish, let the salt water <\/span>take\u00a0the wood color to gray and leave it that way, low maintenance).\u00a0 The quote we got was over $4,000…so we <\/span>decided\u00a0not to get it done.\u00a0 In Mexico we thought we might see if we could do it ourselves… <\/span>someone\u00a0said “let nature runs it course and take the varnish off for you?!”…good idea! Well there were places where water would <\/span>intrude\u00a0into the varnish and it looked like some of the wood was <\/span>beginning to\u00a0rot…not good.\u00a0 So we decided to do it here, in Fiji.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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You can maybe see where the toe rail (gray areas) had water on it before. The wood colored areas is where we pulled the varnish off. It will eventually look that gray color, not as pretty but better for maintaning it. We are not going to apply any product to it because then, if we want to varnish it again, we can sand the “gary” off and get down to the wood color and varnish again..if we wish to do so.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A heat gun and a scraper took it all off<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Say Hi to JR. JR works for the marina as an hourly employee. We paid about $18 initial fee and then $4\/hour usd to have JR work on our boat. We would treat him to lunch at the Boatshed and made sure he had cold water and soda throughout the day. Wages are low here…New Zealand wages are high….<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Auto Pilot hydraulic rams<\/strong> – Our auto pilot hydraulic rams were leaking hydraulic fluid…yes underneath our bed.\u00a0 Trevor cleaned it up and disassembled the 2 rams to take into repair.\u00a0 Basically our auto pilot is like our 3rd crew member and without it we would be forced to hand steer…something we don’t want to do on long passages.\u00a0 The end result was good….we needed new seals…an O ring type, not the other end which would of had to be ordered from outside the country.\u00a0 We got lucky.\u00a0 So Trevor reinstalled the rams, filled with the fluid, but then we had to purge the system of air bubbles which takes time spinning the steering wheel at the helm and adjusting the pressure at the pump, while bleeding the lines of air until you get solid fluid…then add more fluid to the right pressure.\u00a0 We did this for hours and we had to make sure our rudder would have equal turns port and starboard.\u00a0 The steering is a little loose in my opinion but it seems to be working without leaking.<\/p>\n

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Gross….and messy….the rams were leaking as you can tell here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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This is underneath our bed…..the mattress is in the head…. I had to scrub the entire back area with degreaser before anything could get back into place…Trevor did a nice initial clean too…got to give him some credit too ; )<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Anchor chain-<\/strong> It was time to repaint our anchor chain in denominations to where we can tell how much chain\/scope we have when we anchor out.\u00a0 Briley was looking for something to do…oddly enough I guess her list was <\/span>accomplished\u00a0early..so we paid her to paint our chain…why not….<\/span><\/p>\n

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Because we are so high off the ground it took 3 people to get the chain safely on the ground. The anchor being the heaviest…additionally our bow, where the anchor lives was right over the walkway of the marina berths….eeekkksss… We colored our chain every 20 feet…Green the first 100 feet, yellow the next 100 feet, and red for the last 300 feet of chain…then we have a “oh shit” section which is yellow, red, yellow, red, yellow, red just before the chain runs out.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Windturbine-<\/strong> no photos here but in short…we re-installed a new wind turbine to help us generate power while at anchor back in American Samoa (back in August).\u00a0 Well the bloody thing wouldn’t work:\u00a0 the brake would constantly stop the turbine from spinning, hence no power generation.\u00a0 So Trevor had to <\/span>troubleshoot\u00a0why… up the mizzen mast, pull it down, re-wire, take off the swivel, <\/span>rewire\u00a0it……guess what it was….the darn fuse blew!\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Polished all the stainless steel<\/strong> – doesn’t sound bad right?\u00a0 Well you apply this goop (technical I know) and rub it in, then let it dry, then rub it again to make it shine.\u00a0 There was use of a metal brush to get all the rust stains…not all the rust my god that would take a lifetime…but most of it.\u00a0 It takes more time than you think.<\/p>\n

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Rails clear so we can polish the stainless steel….that also took time<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dinghy<\/strong> – “Diana”, we call her, was rated for a 15 hp outboard…which we have….but there were cracks forming inside and out that would make the dinghy flex when we went fast.\u00a0 When we pulled her out of the water, and after a major scrub, Trevor decided to fiberglass the bottom to make it stronger.\u00a0 We called West Marine, where we purchased it as it would still be under warranty, but after getting passed around to different departments…we still don’t know if we will be refunded or if nothing will happen.\u00a0 There is definitely water intrusion inside and we tried to drain and suck it out but no such luck.\u00a0 After the fiberglass dried, was sanded, we painted it white with an anti fouling paint to hopefully keep her a bit less “green”.<\/p>\n

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Trevor sanding the bottom of our dinghy to prep it for fiberglass…I later scrubbed the crap out it thanks to Jill’s scrubby and Nicole’s elbow grease to help me.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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After it was clean Trevor glassed her bottom…here he is cutting the glass mat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

General maintenance<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Trevor doing boat yoga again…changing the transmission fluid….<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Another view of boat yoga…he is literally upside down!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Generator-<\/strong> On our passage to Fiji, we were making water with our Northern Lights 9kw generator that we bought brand new in San Diego a year and a half ago, and we hear a pop!\u00a0 The generator stopped producing power.\u00a0 The engine would run but somewhere there was an electrical connection\/part that was not functioning correctly.\u00a0 We thankfully borrowed SV Me Too’s portable generator that is powerful enough for us to both charge batteries and run our water maker.\u00a0 This was our first priority to get fixed and looked at when we arrived at Vuda Point!\u00a0 Long story short…it is still un-operational…we have been through 2 electrical engineers, 1 yard manager, Geoff, who kindly didn’t charge us for his 3 hours he spent diagnosing the issue and calling Northern Lights himself to get a another wiring diagram from them, and 1 hour phone time with the Northern Lights representative on speaker as we tested certain connections with our meter.\u00a0 The end story is that we are going to wait until we get to New Zealand to fix this rather than the possibility of getting “stuck” here in Fiji.\u00a0 We will be borrowing SV Me Too’s portable generator until we head out for our passage to New Zealand…then we will have to figure things out pretty quickly…..Auckland here we come?<\/p>\n

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Way over my pay grade– however…the deal is that 2 people though it was the windings, inside the generator, that was faulty. This would mean we would have to pull the whole darn thing out…which mean disassembling our helm (lots of electronics in there). The Northern Lights rep. asked us to test certain points after connecting\/disconnecting to test resistance and so on. He thinks it’s the rectifier and diodes that went bad. This could be good as it is just pulling out a huge shaft bearing to get to the rectifier (you probably need a special tool for that). The bad news is that nothing is under warranty….parts nor labor…this think is going to cost us a fortune!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Splashing-<\/strong> after 12 days at the yard we were finally going back into the water..thank goodness.\u00a0 We took a berth at the marina for a night to rest up and clean the inside of the boat.\u00a0 We then did a few more errands which included purchasing 2 more flexible 100 watt solar panels we can connect to while at anchor (we will stow them while under way as we don’t have a way, yet, to attach them to the boat) to help with creating power.\u00a0 We also purchased a 220 volt power converter and extension cord which we hope works in case we need to “plug in” at a dock in New Zealand…again, no more American 110 volts anywhere until we get back to the states or Mexico.<\/p>\n

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Slow Flight, with her new bottom, getting splashed. A wonderful day!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many thanks to all the help we received while being on the hard…..it’s HOT, dusty, even muddy and dirty at the yard.\u00a0 Everything is covered with sweat, dirt, or any other substance you were working with.\u00a0 You can’t find anything on your boat besides the TP…..which you seldom use because you can’t pump out your holding tanks for obvious reasons….alternative is to climb the 10 foot ladder tied onto the side of your boat to go pee.\u00a0 I think it is safe to say, we are happy to be back in the water and to say goodbye to this environment below!<\/p>\n

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Tools, rags, bags, lines, fluids, compounds, EVERYWHERE…. this is just the outside of the boat!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next up…Musket Cove….trying to see at least one more place before we leave Fiji.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Life on the hard…is HARD!”\u00a0 But it takes a village! Being in the boat yard is not a fun thing…ask[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[32,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boat-projects","category-fiji"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iVSN-AU","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/svslowflight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/svslowflight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/svslowflight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svslowflight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svslowflight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2288"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/svslowflight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2321,"href":"https:\/\/svslowflight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288\/revisions\/2321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/svslowflight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svslowflight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svslowflight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}