Back in the Water

Let's see........ we are back in the water, everything is fixed that we needed to do while we where out of the water. We thought that the prop shaft was bent so we took it out and got to use a tool Warren made last year and it worked great.  The shaft was only out by .006 in the middle so Warren had it straightened anywise.  It was the prop shaft coupling that was wobbling. So we got a new coupling, had it faced and installed it.  Warren did replace the stuffing box seals for the rudder.(stuffing box is a large threaded tube that a shaft of some kind passes through with a cap that has a waxed type of flax rope in it and the cap tightens down on the tube preventing water from entering the boat where shafts go through the hull.) While he was taking that all apart. He noticed that the auto pilot arm needs to have a key way added to it because the actuator arm will pull it out of position due to its torque. So we sent it to Dad so he can work his magic. We should have it back in a week or two. Then we hope to go sailing! 

 And when Warren was working in the engine room on some wiring his hand bumped the air conditioning wires and they were very hot.  He just thought that the size 12 wires were not big enough.  So he got some number 10 wires, got it ready, ran it to the air conditioning relay box and when he went to remove one of the wires it  was hot, burnt and not even crimped into the connector.   Warren says that we just narrowly missed an engine room fire. 

<burnt wire it was really hot!!!!

Hurricane Irene is past, there is another one out there. And it will start with a K, I hope it stays out to sea. We just might have to wait and see were it goes.

A pain in the neck

Have you ever thanked God for a week long sore neck? We are!! When we took the boat out last month I went down to get Warren some aspirin. That's when I felt the vibration. At first Warren thought the engine might be out of alignment, then maybe the shaft was bent. We took the boat out of the water today and removed the shaft and it looks fine. So we are taking it and the drive shaft coupling to a specialist to fine out if it is bent.  There is some crevice corrosion in the shaft so that may necessitate replacing the shaft whether it's bent or not.  We could have trashed our transmission if we hadn't caught this now. And that would really set us back! So thank God for needing the aspirin!!!!

The picture below is a cutlass bearing puller Warren and Dad made from the idea and plans of a Mr. Ron Sheridan, another CSY owner. The puller will allow you to remove and replace the cutlass bearing without pulling the boat out of the water....that is if your not pulling the shaft.  And this made it soooooo much easier to remove than the first time. Just in case you are like me..... and don't know what a cutlass bearing is. It keeps the prop shaft centered in the shaft tube so it doesn't wobble. I don't know how long this is going to take, but I'll try and keep you posted. :)