Thursday, 9 February 2017

Blog 13: YIPPEE!



Blog 13- YIPPEE!
The parts...fit perfectly...and she runs!
We arrived aboard Panacea after hitching back from Governor’s Harbour with our box of engine parts, and made a cursory inspection inside the box. Four new pistons with wrist pins, four sets of rings, four pairs of conrod insert bearings, one ‘complete’ gaskets set and a single used connecting rod which Bee Auto had managed to source from a breakers yard in Taiwan.
We sealed the box and went to the pub.
Early the next morning I set the last of my worries to rest by opening the engine box and testing one of the new pistons in an engine cylinder........A PERFECT FIT! While Susan made coffee, I assembled a few pieces of metal that I had found around the cove, to create a Iifting rig.
After our breakfast of yogurt, granola and papaya, we unbolted the engine and transmission from its mounts and disconnected the propeller shaft. This was familiar work, as we had installed this engine only a few months ago. An hour later, we lifted and flipped the engine and transmission onto the floor of the cabin. The cardboard collected to protect the floor went unused in my excitement to get at this, resulting in a lot of ‘mopping up’.
The cabin was getting hot as it does every day by the late morning. After admiring our handiwork we went ashore for a few beers, followed by lunch and then devising a wrist pin press. Mr. Burroughs, graciously allowed me to look through his steel scrap and then, after I had attached a steel band to my ‘puller’, to use one of the bench vices in his lawnmower repair shop to put the new pistons on their connecting rods. This got in the way of our usual leisurely afternoon at the beach. We met Geoff and Jennie of Anna Maria at Da Spot for a drink and a game of tiles. Geoff offered to drop by on the following day at mid-morning to help us flip the engine back onto its bearers.
When he arrived at about 10:00, I was still installing pistons, having had to ‘fit’ one of the pairs of ‘big end’ insert bearings. It has been a long time since I last did this kind of project, but my mentor Harry’s voice was in my right ear, reminding me to measure the rod cap with a feeler gauge and to file the bearing shell end to achieve the desired clearance.
By 10:45 we had torqued the connecting rod bolts and installed the sump pan. We were using Geoff’s torque wrench to test the readings from our own. Our torque wrench gives inconsistent readings above 35 foot-pounds so we condemned it and did all of the final torques using Geoffs wrench. We flipped the engine onto its bearers and slid it aft so that the propeller shaft was in centered. Susan and I hurried to connect the mounts and shim blocks and to install the shaft coupling. It was getting hot in there and, in my haste (yes...there seems to be a pattern here  J) I got a little bit sloppy. My cursory check with the feeler gauge at the coupling reassured me that we had returned the engine to exactly the same location we had taken it from. This check was later found to have been too cursory, resulting in vibration and some excess heat in the transmission – but – as the sun beat down on the cabin, we decided that it was time for us to move to the shady breezes of the cockpit.  
One of the finer features of DaSpot was the daily lunch.  A lady comes in daily for a couple of hours and prepared meals to a limited menu. Shady breezes, food and beer? Our daily routine now usually took us to Da Spot by noon. And so....off to the pub.
The double check of the shaft alignment was to remain forgotten until we were at sea, with an overheated transmission.
The following two mornings were taken up changing intake and exhaust valve seals. We had procured some grinding/lapping compound from Mr. Rolle’s NAPA in Governors Harbour, but had been unable to find a lapping tool. We gently chucked the stem of each valve in the Ryobi battery drill and spun them thusly. After setting the valve lash, we installed oil and a filter. This left only the reassembly of the fuel system and the alternator for the next morning’s work.      
My concerns about the fuel system possibly having picked up dirt were soon allayed. The engine started and ran smoothly. Oil pressure is higher than before at 65 lbs cold/50lbs warm/30 lbs warm idle thanks to the new insert bearings on the connecting rods. There is no smoke or exhaust residue thanks to the new piston rings and valve seals. We would spend another several days of warming the engine, checking fluids and fine tuning the alternator belt before our departure.
Facing a good weather window forecast to extend for three days, we waved goodbye to Geoff and Jennie as we departed Hatchet Bay for Royal Island. Royal Island is privately owned and boaters are advised not to go ashore without permission. I figure the owners must be from the Maritimes. One of the boats tied-up there had the distinctive look of a PEI (maybe an Egmont?) lobster boat, with the hull a close match for our Billy Joe B’s back in Canada. 
We first noticed some vibration and heat buildup as we fought the tide at Current Cut about 10 miles from Royal Island. I had forgotten to switch off the alternator while running at high throttle settings so the alternator belt getting chewed had the effect of disguising the other issue. I remained unconvinced that I had an alignment problem, I looked to other cures, and directed the brine discharge of the water-maker into the ‘burp’ tube of the dripless shaft seal. This did cool the shaft somewhat, allowing us to motor-sail the 70 miles to Great Harbour Cay in the Berry Islands. We kept engine revs low but did manage to arrive before daylight ended, thanks to a fairly steady breeze. The highlight of this leg of the trip was Susan’s cry from the helm as she became aware of a tanker passing Panacea from behind. The ship passed well to starboard (no thanks to us) as it came in from the Atlantic.  After that little scare we made it a point to keep looking over our shoulder.
We dropped anchor in Great Harbour Cay as the  daylight faded, tucked in against the land to shelter us from the wind for the night. Up early the next morning, the weather window continued fair, with winds of 15 to 20 knots from the south.
 As the sun lifted above the horizon we were already sailing ‘goose-winged’ and with several miles behind us on the next 70 mile leg. Today’s destination was Lucaya. I was on the foredeck adjusting boom preventers when an island fishing skiff, piloted by a young man, motored alongside. Catching my attention, he called out “Where is Little Whale Cay?”. After we consulted our chartbook, we were able to show him that he needed to steer 15 miles to the south before turning west.
“Which way is south?” was the next question.
“Keep the sunrise on your left.” I responded, further asking “Don’t you have a compass?”
“Broken ...” he replied “I am late for work at Little Whale Cay at the resort there. It’s my first day. I got lost last night and slept in the boat.”
“You’re lucky that you weren’t run over by one of those cruise ships during the night...” I reflected, asking  “...Where did you start from?”
“Georgetown, Great Exuma” was his reply. “and now I am nearly out of gas too.”
I looked at his Yamaha 250 hp outboard and commented that the commute from Georgetown to Little Whale Cay is a three-hundred dollar trip with that engine and asking how often he planned to make that trip.
“Weekly,” he said. “”Things were fine all of the way up the Exuma chain to New Providence. I only got lost crossing to the Berry Islands.”
“Who wouldn’t?” I asked, reflecting that from sea level with his reduced cruising speed in open water, he would have been out of sight of any land for a few hours between New Providence Island and Fraser’s Hog Cay. I listed a few of the essentials that he was lacking “You need a chart, a compass, spare fuel. What about a light of some kind so that you can signal in an emergency?”.
“Oh, I won’t do this again. I learned my lesson last night drifting with the engine off while the ships went by.” Was his earnest reply.
We gave him our few gallons of outboard fuel and directions for Bullocks Harbour so that he could buy more. Our Silva Ranger ‘plans’ compass was mysteriously missing from the chart table – so he continued on without a compass. It was only when he was powering away that I realized that I  had been nude (except for my safety harness) for the entire time.
We made the crossing to Lucaya with fair winds and following seas, sailing wing-on-wing for the entire seventy miles. We passed close-by a number of cargo vessels and three cruise ships before approaching the windward shore of Grand Bahama Island. We arrived well before sundown and checked-in at Ocean Reef Marina and gave ourselves a self-congratulatory toast to all things that had gone right on this day.
By 6:30 the next morning I had re-measured the gap in the coupling bearing. A double-check when we were doing the ‘bolt-up’ would have found the problem immediately. The engine had crept to port on its bearers as we tightened to mounts back in Hatchet Bay. Sue and I returned the engine back to where it belonged before we made our morning coffee.
When we stepped up into the cockpit to take in the dawn, we received a surprise. Sometime after we arrived last night, so did Sorceress! She was at her dock, across from the Marina. We were going to meet Liz and Rick (and Gillie) – after all. During the few days that we spent in their company our eyes were opened to what makes Freeport unique.
Sorceress is a 1960 John Alden designed motorsailer, beautifully fitted out, that made the cover of Rudder Magazine when she was launched.  I told Rick about the use of airbags to pressure fibreglass composite and to create a single layup, multi-layer laminate as I had done on the bottom glass of the Billy Joe B not so long ago. He was thinking about doing the bottom on Sorceress so I offered to join the team if he wants to try pressure-glassing the bottom. I still have a few of the 5’x10’ dunnage bags that I used when Billy Joe B got her bottom glass.
We are hoping to link up with Dorothy and Duncan of Hunda. We just learned that their plans to make the Atlantic crossing and to return to the UK have been put on hold for this year. Perhaps we will meet-up in Florida.
We were surprised to learn that Ocean Reef Marina has no refueling facilities. The girl in the office assured us that the only place where we could refuel would be in the next channel system, four miles to the west of ours. We were uncertain exactly how much fuel we had remaining, but we were guessing that we were closer to empty than full, having logged 185 nautical miles so far on our 25 U S gallon supply of diesel fuel. We decided to deal with this on our second day at Ocean Reef Marina.
As we left the cut and turned to the inshore channel which travels behind a submerged coral reef along the shore, Susan and I looked at each-other and spoke at the same time. “We probably should have poured our 5 gallons of reserve fuel into the main tank before leaving...just in case,” said I. Susan advised that she had been about to say the same thing.
The words were barely out of her mouth when the engine began to slow, and then stopped.
“Anchor now...QUICKLY!” I called at her as she ran forward, bouncing over the top of the inverted inflatable on the foredeck on her way to the windlass.
Moments later we were anchored in pounding waves, in the center of a narrow channel before a sandy beach. I went to survey the engine. The fuel pump was empty and running dry.
It took no amount of time to siphon the 5 gallons into the main tank. The engine started. We raised our anchor and went 100 yards before it happened again. The channel was even narrower here.
We were at the point where getting the genoa up and sailing our way out of here was looking like our best option. It would be tricky though. The reefs were on both sides here and only a few hundred feet apart. The engine started and ran long enough to let me power ahead while the anchor was raised. The engine died as we got the sail unfurled and in moments we were rocketing back toward Ocean Reef Channel.
And in moments we were too far past the channel to be able to get in.
Grrrrrrr!
“Down anchor please.” I called to Susan.
When we were securely on the hook again, I decided to launch the inflatable and go looking for a tow.
The simple act of lowering the outboard and securing it to the transom of the tender was made nearly (but not quite) impossible but boat motion in the rolling surf.
I got a promise from Susan that she would ride inside the cabin (being thrown from the cockpit would be more dangerous) if Panacea dragged anchor and beached. With a wave, I zoomed away looking for a tow boat. First stop was Rick, who was  performing engine checks aboard Sorceress. Without delay we were in ricks centre console Grew and powering out of the channel. In mere moments I was back aboard Panacea, steering as Rick returned us to our dock at Ocean Reef.  
Rick later told me that he had momentarily forgotten that the boat we used for the tow was practically out of fuel too. And that alleged fuel dock in the next inlet. Rick told me that it had not been in service for several years. We had left the security of our dock on a fool’s errand.
In the security of our quiet tie-up, troubleshooting the problem was simple. The fuel petcock on top of the tank was original to the boat. When I installed the new tank, I re-used it. While doing an engine visual check the day prior to our most recent calamity, I had noticed that the valve was not completely open, so I reached in and turned it open.
“I remember thinking how the valve felt ‘loose’, as I did that.” I told Susan over morning coffee – after sleeping on it.
Moments later, I went below and confirmed that yes, the valve action was too free. The original valve packing was probably some version of greasy string. In only a few moments the tired old valve was out, and the fuel line reconnected without it. The fuel pump could now pull fuel from the bottom of the tank without sucking air into the fuel line from around the valve stem.
Lots of excitement from the most mundane of causes. When I dropped by to tell Rick the findings, he told me to come with him in the car. He showed me how Bahamians get fuel for their boats. In a quick trip to the gas station we picked-up all of the fuel that Panacea could carry, the whole lot being delivered and siphoned aboard in about a half-hour.
 Lucaya/Freeport has a lot to offer for anyone wanting ato move south. It is like home in the sense that you absolutely need a car to get around in. Property values have dropped and medium and high end housing is going at bargain prices. Liz and Rick advised of a two bedroom condo unit in a nearby building that had a $110,000 ask price, $2000 in annual fees, and a boat slip at $200 per year. With air and a pool as part of the package, this is a pretty sweet deal.
The high end canal home across from their own was said to have had a radical price reduction – then remaining still unsold. Last years price was in the $4 million range  as I recall it. This years ask price was said to be between $1 and $2 million. The place has enough seawall to tie-up several dozen Panaceas.
We are determined to avoid shovelling snow. This could be a good idea.




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