By C45Sanctuary on 7/28/2010 3:00 PM

I hadn't heard anything from Gatewood Marine since I visited them two weeks ago.  I didn't know if they were ignoring me because they had already been paid in full, or if they had plans to work on the engine to identify why it is lacking so much power.  A little bit of communicatiion would go a long way to improving customer relations.

When I visited them, neither of the Gatewood's were there.  I spoke with Gene, the mechanic, and learned that both he and Mr Gatewood had been at the boat last week, on the 20th and 21st.  They had replaced some hoses (which should have been replaced as part of the original work order).  Gene also said he had identified a coolant leak that was caused by a busted hose clamp.  I didn't ask if it was a rusty clamp; all of the clamps should have been replaced as part of the original work order. Note to self: When this is all over, make a very detailed inspection of all hoses and clamps to ensure they have actually been replaced.

Gene said that he is going to be on vacation for the next two weeks, starting Saturday.  He also said that he and Mr Gatewood will need to work on the engine some more to identify what is causing the loss of horsepower.  So, that means it won't occur before August 16th, at the earliest.  Oh, and Gene also said that the engine is not startable right now.  I'm glad I had the foresight to start this engine refit in the first week of April.  More than four months will have gone by before I might have a working engine.

This summer's sailing season is completely lost.  I'm glad I was able to save up enough to take a nice vacation this summer. Now, I can only sit at the dock and think about the things I could be doing if Gatewood Marine had performed their job in a timely manner.

By C45Sanctuary on 7/28/2010 12:00 AM

It rained nonstop until almost noon today.  Yesterday, there was just enough rain to annoy me and halt progress every hour or so.  Today, I couldn't even resume work on the cockpit enclosure until half of the day was gone. Luckily, things seem to move faster when you do them a second time. I avoided several time-consuming mistakes from yesterday and was able to get the port side pieces fitted in about three hours.  I then made a short trip to Gatewood Marine (more about that in a different post later today).

The late afternoon was spend fabricating the two main beams for the roof.  I want a slight angle, or an arch, to the roof. The peak should be directly under the boom, and should be about two inches higher than the outboard edges.  The only way to do this, since it is HDPE, is to superheat the plastic across a fairly large area (about 15 square inches), then bend it until it is close to where you want it.  This process takes time and patience, since you can't heat the entire area all at once and you also need to get the inner core as hot as possible.  You have to do this without burning it.  Tricky, very tricky.  Plus, since it is such a large area to heat, you have to work the same area a few diferent times while heating both sides.  If I had two heat guns it probably would have gone a lot faster, since one side would not have been cooling while I was heating the opposite side.

It took about two hours to heat, shape, cool, and cut to size both of the beams.  Then it started to rain.  So, the day ended with the finish line in sight.  I should be able to finish fitting the sides tomorrow.  When that is completed I will make some new measurements for the front of the enclosure (the windshield pieces).

By C45Sanctuary on 7/27/2010 12:00 AM

For two summers I hassled with the bimini frame over the cockpit.  Parts were added, various tubing lengths were modified, make-shift canvas covers were fabricated and then tossed aside.  So, over the winter, I began researching and then designing a full cockpit enclosure.

I had several design requirements:

• It had to be removable in case the ship ever needs to be transported over land
• It had to look like the original architect (Bill Tripp) would have designed it himself, but chose to leave it off the final design
• It had to be sturdy enough to withstand a Category 3 hurricaine
• It had to be tall enough to allow for a typical person to stand under it
• It had to be low enough to allow the boom to clear it by a few inches
• It had to be something I could manufacture at home port (Dallas) and transport for final assembly in the back of a typical truck or SUV
• It could not add substantial weight to the overall ship's tonnage
• The area over the helm station had to have a window for viewing the sails and rigging while underway
• The remaining area should be capable of mounting at least 500 watts of solar panels

After considerable research, the material chosen was HDPE.  This stuff is tough, it is lightweight, it can withstand the pounding ultraviolet rays of direct sunlight, and it can be machined with typical woodworking tools. it does, however, have some drawbacks.  It is difficult to paint.  It cannot be glued, therefore it must be welded.  Special welding tools had to be purchased and quite a bit of practice was required before I could form a strong welded seam. The raw materials were purchased in bulk (4'x  8' sheets).  Those had to be transported as freight, so the shipping was not cheap.  All in all, about $1500 was spent in materials and tools.

Many, many days were spent toiling in the workshop.  First, milling lumber out of the raw sheets.  Then, cutting them to length and creating mortise and tendon joints.  Welding the various pieces together.  Installing stainless steel bolts into certain pieces before final assembly. Et cetera.

Well, today is the first day where the assembled, but unpainted, pieces are now at the boat.  Most of the day was spent fitting two panels on the starboard side.  I also mounted the new radar sensor on the radar mast.  That had to be done before I began fitting the cockpit enclosure pieces on the port side; the radar mast was laying in the way from my last visit, when I removed the old radar sensor (and pretty much every other piece of outdate junk) from the radar mast.

Tomorrow, I will continue fitting the port side cockpit enclosure.  Two of the roof beams will need to be fabricated from some of the HDPE lumber I brought with me.  Hopefully, I will be able to get the four main pieces I brought with me fitted before the end of the day.

By C45Sanctuary on 7/13/2010 3:30 PM

After verifying that the prop was free from barnacles, I started the engine.  When in neutral, the engine had a range of 1000 RPM to 2500 RPM.  Shifted in gear, however, the engine had a range of 800 RPM to 1300 RPM.  Conclusion: Something is definitely wrong with the engine.

I then visited Gatewood Marine.  Chris, the guy who works the front office, could tell right away I was not happy.  I told him I wasn't unhappy; I just wasn't pleased with the results.  About a minute later Gatewood walked in from the shop area.  I gave him the symptoms:

• The engine has significantly less power today than it did before they started working on it. It can only achieve 1300 RPM. Before they started working on it, it could achieve 1700 RPM with a few barnacles on the prop.
• The engine has difficulty starting when the battery bank is showing 13.40 volts. Before they started workin on it, I could start the engine when the battery bank was showing 11.50 volts.

He stated he saw it blowing black smoke when I was exiting the cove last weekend.  I'm not sure how that relevation is in any way MY problem.  He was the person who was paid, and paid well, to ensure I had a fully functioning engine. If he witnessed it blowing black smoke, then maybe, just maybe, there is a problem with the engine that he needed to fix at some point in the three months he had to fix it.

Then he claimed that the prop was the incorrect size, and this was causing the low RPM and the black smoke.  I countered by stating the prop on it today is the same one that has been on it for years.  I stated it ran at higher RPM, with the same prop, just last year.  The prop on it is the same size as the one from the factory blueprints (20LH13).  (Afterwards, I verified the current prop size from a recent survey, and checked the blueprints to verify the prop matched the recommended size).

He then claimed that the low RPM is because the engine is old, and it doesn't have the power that it had when it was new.  I asked him why it would have lost that much power if I had paid him to overhaul the engine?  He tried to claim I had not asked for an overhaul, but I interrupted him and listed all of the things he was supposed to have done:

• Replace all belts
• Replace all hoses
• Replace all clamps
• Replace all fluids
• Replace all filters
• Perform all maintenance tasks
• Do anything that is required

He tried to claim I had stated "only replace hoses that need to be replaced", but that is blatantly false.  If he ever digs up the original work order he should see "replace all hoses" spelled out on the form.  Plus, every time I spoke with him, I stated he needed to "do whatever it takes".  I did not hold back funds in any way.  I always authorized him to perform whatever he recommended as "best practice", even when there were cheaper alternatives presented.

I reminded him how I had stated, on numerous occasions, "If I find myself 1000 miles from land, and there is a hurricane bearing down on me, I need to be able to use the engine continuously for a week and not have to worry about it."  he tried to say he never heard me say that, but I told him, "I told it to you, I said it to Chris, I said it to Gene (the mechanic), and I know I said it to your wife (who also runs the front office)".

I was pretty close to losing my temper at this point, so I knew I needed to get out of there before I became truly irate.  I told him that he needed to figure out what was wrong with the engine, then tell me what he was going to do, and tell me what timeframe it was going to be done. He knew how to reach me.

The bottom line is I gave Gatewood Marine a blank check to ensure I did not have engine problems.  I gave them ample time to do it (three months). I authorized everything they wanted to do.  In the end, the engine still has problems. If they do not resolve the problem, the next blank check I write will be to an attorney.

By C45Sanctuary on 7/13/2010 11:00 AM

I made a road trip to locate, and purchase, an oilless air compressor.  Craig went along to identify what I needed.  (He also showed me how to get to the hardware store that sells them).  On the way back we stopped at a different hardware store to purchase quick connect couplers for the air hose.  When we got back to the cove, he loaned me his scuba regulator to connect to the compressor, and showed me what I needed to purchase to finish my barnacle scraping outfit.

Tossing aside the snorkel, I donned my mask and fins.  Scraping barnacles is a heck of a lot easier when I don't have to come back to the surface for air every 30 seconds.  It took me about an hour and a half to clean the hull.  I got all of the through-hull fittings I could find.  I spent a considerable amount of time on the prop area, making it look like it just came from the factory.  When I was done there wasn't a hint of a barnacle anywhere on the prop, prop shaft, et cetera.  While this may seem drastic, considering the prop was mostly barnacle-free (it had been cleaned just a few weeks ago), I had an ulterior motive.  I needed to prove to myself that there was absolutely no way the barnacles were the cause behind the horrible, almost complete, loss of power I had experienced during the July 4th weekend.

Oh, one more thing.  The current water level is a foot above normal, yet the keel is definitely digging a hole in the boat slip.  I am going to have to find a deeper harbor.