Breakage and Near Misses
New photos added to Virgins Second Season.
It's been quite a while since I've written an entry. Not quite sure why the entries are fewer and far between these days, except that we're retracing territory we've seen before, particularly here in the Virgin Islands. It couldn't be because things are breaking less often or because we're having fewer close calls...
Why just yesterday we backed out of a slip in a marina in cross wind, which pushed us onto a piling as we backed out, and then kept us from being able to turn the boat and head out of the marina. This boat just doesn't like turning when it gets the wind around the bow. There were a couple of tense moments with us getting blown down on the mega yachts, but eventually we managed to power out of the marina. No damage from the piling, other than a slightly ripped cover on our Lifesling (crew overboard recovery sling). I did better at the same marina in higher winds when I did it solo; that's the difference a bit of current makes.
Then just a bit later we were anchoring and the anchor chain got caught in the fresh water hose which we stow in the forward anchor locker. Pulled a bit of hose right up the hawse pipe (the piece of pipe that allows the anchor chain to exit the anchor chain locker). So there we were without enough anchor chain out to set the anchor on the bottom, yet just enough out to possibly catch on the bottom if we try to motor forward. After a few wild minutes of "what the hell do we do now?" I managed to use a long screwdriver to push the hose back into the pipe and that freed it from the chain. Setting the anchor from there was pretty uneventful.
And then there was the frantic moment on Tuesday when we had trouble getting the jib unrolled on its furler, and then once it was unrolled we couldn't roll it back it up, nor drop the sail. We're in fairly light winds, luckily, but there we are with this big 130% genoa (that means a jib sail that fills the entire triangle between the forestay and the mast, plus another 30% that extends beyond the mast) out and no way to get it put away. We entered into the first protected bay, anchored, and had some tense moments until we finally got the jib rolled up. Very messily. So we unrolled it, with great difficulty (thought we were going to damage the forestay we were pulling so hard on it), and got it dropped. And because I couldn't see anything wrong we raised the sail and were immediately back into the same predicament, unable to roll it up or drop it.
After some more tense moments, including some dragging of the anchor, coming way too close to another couple of anchored boats, we finally managed to drop the sail again. Our halyard is half wire rope and half polyester rope, and the wire rope had somehow gotten twisted about the upper furler, giving it a kink. The kink is what was giving us fits. Yesterday we had a rigger make up a new halyard which fixed the problem, at the rather exorbitant price of $325.
Let's see, oh yeah, there was our outing to Anegada Island, one of the Virgin Islands I'd never visited. It's a couple hours sail north of Virgin Gorda and differs from the other Virgin Islands in that it's a low limestone and coral formation with a huge barrier reef (some say the 3rd largest barrier reef in the world!) rather than steeply volcanic as the rest of the Virgins. Low-lying limestone with extensive reef makes for a very shallow approach. We saw 7.4' on the depth sounder on the way to the anchorage; we draw 7', so that means there was like 5 inches of water between the keel and the bottom. I don't like shallow and it gave us quite a jolt, as the cruising guide said we'd have over 10' on the way in (and as I just found on the web, the cruising guide and our electronic charts are incorrect and there's is indeed a "bump" on the bottom that's less than 8' - sure wish I'd seen that web site before heading to Anegad!).
Things breaking? Well, recall that the mounting bracket for the alternator developed a break in one of its arms where it connects to the engine block which we discovered when we were in Trinidad. Last fall we halfway thought it was caused by the transmission work we'd had done (recall someone who will remain unnamed managed to lose a piece of the transmission inside the transmission, and we had to have a mechanic remove the transmission in order to extricate the part). Now we know that it wasn't that at all, but probably an over-zealous tightening of the twin alternator v-belts. My only defense is that I was always told that tighter was better. Apparently not, because a couple of weeks ago I noticed another complete fracture in the mounting plate, 1 inch behind the original (and now welded) break. That necessitated a couple of days in Village Cay Marina on Tortola getting the mounting plate welded yet again. Luckily this time we got a welder who was willing to pay a house call and he managed to weld it (and reinforce it) in place.
A mildly interesting aside for those would-be mechanics out there: last time in Trinidad it took a mechanic what seemed like one full day to get the plate out and 2 mechanics nearly half a day to get the plate back in. This time the welder asked me to remove the pulley and forward fly wheel from the engine to give him more room. It took about 20 minutes to do that (and would take about 5 if I had to do it again). Turns out with the additional room this gives, the mounting plate can be removed simply and easily, probably no more than a 30-minute job. Apparently the mechanic in Trinidad just didn't see it and complicated the job way more than was necessary. I'm not saying I would have known, either, but just goes to show the "pros" don't always know all there is to know.
I don't think I've updated since before we went to St Croix, but Maryann did that update, so I won't rehash it. It was pretty uncomfortable waiting for the northern swells to die away so we could get back to St Thomas, and the 4 hour trip back was quite uncomfortable, but despite that we did have a lovely time on St Croix. We did hear when we were on Anegada that they were seeing 30' breaking seas on the northern shore of the island when we were stuck on St Croix; glad we missed that on Anegada.
When we returned from St Croix we found the windlass footswitch at the bow of the boat that brings up the anchor was broken. We ordered new switches (might as well replace both up and down switches at the same time). They were waiting when we got back to St Thomas earlier this week. When I went to replace the up switch I found that the real problem was an electrical connection that was corroded and which fell apart in my hands as I unmounted the old switch. Oh well, new switches look more reliable and better water-proofed than the old.
Other broken stuff - ah, the winner by far is the salinity probe on our watermaker. We had gone through 3 separate salinity probes in less than one year's ownership on the watermaker. When the 3rd one failed I actually managed to get number 2 fixed such that it worked for a couple of weeks, before it failed anew. The watermaker manufacturer has re-engineered the part so that it is no longer subject to corrosion and sent us one of the new units about 3 weeks ago. I replaced it (and replacing it means clearing out one of our aft lazarettes, scrunching up my no-longer limber body inside the lazarette, removing the main high-pressure pump from the watermaker, removing the cover from the watermaker electronics box, pulling out the salinity probe wire, cutting 10 cable ties securing the wire, and unscrewing the fitting from the back of the watermaker with just about zero room to work; repeat steps in opposite order to install new one); it worked for about a week.
After trying a couple of suggestions from the factory that didn't work, they shipped a new unit which we received earlier this week. I replaced the failed unit. The new one also failed. I was not happy. The factory was not happy. We assumed it must be the electronics that was failing, so the factory shipped me replacement number 7 on Thursday.
Then yesterday I was securing the half-disassembled watermaker before we moved from the marina to the anchorage and a cable fell out of the housing. One of the cables for the salinity probe, of course. Apparently it had come loose and I hadn't noticed it, despite probing around inside the housing at least twice in the past week. Plugged it back in (it's a telephone-style plug and jack), and the watermaker came back to life. Well, at least we can return unit number 7 when it gets here, as we have unit number 6 installed, and number 5 probably didn't fail after all and we still have it as well.
This week we also had our wireless internet long-range antenna fail. Nothing lasts in this salty corrosive atmosphere.
I think that brings us up to date regarding failures and scary moments. Given that these were spread over about 3 weeks I guess it wasn't really all that bad. We had a very nice cruise of the British Virgin Islands, got to spend some time with some cruising friends, and just generally hung out like cruisers do.
We did come to a very important decision in the last couple of days. We've decided it's too hot and humid to return to 10 degrees north (latitude of Trinidad) for hurricane season. And we've decided that the 3000 miles or so to Europe might be tempting fate with all of our recent failures, not to mention our experience level. So, sometime next week we'll head west to Culebra and then Puerto Rico. From Puerto Rico we're looking at a 900+ mile jaunt to Key West. It'll be our first multiple day passage and should give us a taste for long-distnace passage making. We'll have the Dominican Republic, the Turks and Caicos, and the Bahamas nearby if we have to divert for weather or for a critical failure. After Key West we'll work our way up the east coast fairly quickly, looking to spend the summer in Maine and maybe even farther north. Then come the fall we'll head south again, maybe spending some more time in the Chesapeake and the south. After that, who knows? There's still a lot of Caribbean that we haven't seen.
Anybody want to help out on the trip from San Juan to Key West? Should be 5-7 days of off-the-wind sailing (nice), though you have to be a bit flexible as to timing. Shouldn't require much if any sailing experience as it'll primarily be watch-keeping. Can always tack on some touristy/sight-seeing/beach days before or after. Write quickly and let us know; there are good airline connections in San Juan and Key West. We'll probably shoot to leave around the first of May.
It's been quite a while since I've written an entry. Not quite sure why the entries are fewer and far between these days, except that we're retracing territory we've seen before, particularly here in the Virgin Islands. It couldn't be because things are breaking less often or because we're having fewer close calls...
Why just yesterday we backed out of a slip in a marina in cross wind, which pushed us onto a piling as we backed out, and then kept us from being able to turn the boat and head out of the marina. This boat just doesn't like turning when it gets the wind around the bow. There were a couple of tense moments with us getting blown down on the mega yachts, but eventually we managed to power out of the marina. No damage from the piling, other than a slightly ripped cover on our Lifesling (crew overboard recovery sling). I did better at the same marina in higher winds when I did it solo; that's the difference a bit of current makes.
Then just a bit later we were anchoring and the anchor chain got caught in the fresh water hose which we stow in the forward anchor locker. Pulled a bit of hose right up the hawse pipe (the piece of pipe that allows the anchor chain to exit the anchor chain locker). So there we were without enough anchor chain out to set the anchor on the bottom, yet just enough out to possibly catch on the bottom if we try to motor forward. After a few wild minutes of "what the hell do we do now?" I managed to use a long screwdriver to push the hose back into the pipe and that freed it from the chain. Setting the anchor from there was pretty uneventful.
And then there was the frantic moment on Tuesday when we had trouble getting the jib unrolled on its furler, and then once it was unrolled we couldn't roll it back it up, nor drop the sail. We're in fairly light winds, luckily, but there we are with this big 130% genoa (that means a jib sail that fills the entire triangle between the forestay and the mast, plus another 30% that extends beyond the mast) out and no way to get it put away. We entered into the first protected bay, anchored, and had some tense moments until we finally got the jib rolled up. Very messily. So we unrolled it, with great difficulty (thought we were going to damage the forestay we were pulling so hard on it), and got it dropped. And because I couldn't see anything wrong we raised the sail and were immediately back into the same predicament, unable to roll it up or drop it.
After some more tense moments, including some dragging of the anchor, coming way too close to another couple of anchored boats, we finally managed to drop the sail again. Our halyard is half wire rope and half polyester rope, and the wire rope had somehow gotten twisted about the upper furler, giving it a kink. The kink is what was giving us fits. Yesterday we had a rigger make up a new halyard which fixed the problem, at the rather exorbitant price of $325.
Let's see, oh yeah, there was our outing to Anegada Island, one of the Virgin Islands I'd never visited. It's a couple hours sail north of Virgin Gorda and differs from the other Virgin Islands in that it's a low limestone and coral formation with a huge barrier reef (some say the 3rd largest barrier reef in the world!) rather than steeply volcanic as the rest of the Virgins. Low-lying limestone with extensive reef makes for a very shallow approach. We saw 7.4' on the depth sounder on the way to the anchorage; we draw 7', so that means there was like 5 inches of water between the keel and the bottom. I don't like shallow and it gave us quite a jolt, as the cruising guide said we'd have over 10' on the way in (and as I just found on the web, the cruising guide and our electronic charts are incorrect and there's is indeed a "bump" on the bottom that's less than 8' - sure wish I'd seen that web site before heading to Anegad!).
Things breaking? Well, recall that the mounting bracket for the alternator developed a break in one of its arms where it connects to the engine block which we discovered when we were in Trinidad. Last fall we halfway thought it was caused by the transmission work we'd had done (recall someone who will remain unnamed managed to lose a piece of the transmission inside the transmission, and we had to have a mechanic remove the transmission in order to extricate the part). Now we know that it wasn't that at all, but probably an over-zealous tightening of the twin alternator v-belts. My only defense is that I was always told that tighter was better. Apparently not, because a couple of weeks ago I noticed another complete fracture in the mounting plate, 1 inch behind the original (and now welded) break. That necessitated a couple of days in Village Cay Marina on Tortola getting the mounting plate welded yet again. Luckily this time we got a welder who was willing to pay a house call and he managed to weld it (and reinforce it) in place.
A mildly interesting aside for those would-be mechanics out there: last time in Trinidad it took a mechanic what seemed like one full day to get the plate out and 2 mechanics nearly half a day to get the plate back in. This time the welder asked me to remove the pulley and forward fly wheel from the engine to give him more room. It took about 20 minutes to do that (and would take about 5 if I had to do it again). Turns out with the additional room this gives, the mounting plate can be removed simply and easily, probably no more than a 30-minute job. Apparently the mechanic in Trinidad just didn't see it and complicated the job way more than was necessary. I'm not saying I would have known, either, but just goes to show the "pros" don't always know all there is to know.
I don't think I've updated since before we went to St Croix, but Maryann did that update, so I won't rehash it. It was pretty uncomfortable waiting for the northern swells to die away so we could get back to St Thomas, and the 4 hour trip back was quite uncomfortable, but despite that we did have a lovely time on St Croix. We did hear when we were on Anegada that they were seeing 30' breaking seas on the northern shore of the island when we were stuck on St Croix; glad we missed that on Anegada.
When we returned from St Croix we found the windlass footswitch at the bow of the boat that brings up the anchor was broken. We ordered new switches (might as well replace both up and down switches at the same time). They were waiting when we got back to St Thomas earlier this week. When I went to replace the up switch I found that the real problem was an electrical connection that was corroded and which fell apart in my hands as I unmounted the old switch. Oh well, new switches look more reliable and better water-proofed than the old.
Other broken stuff - ah, the winner by far is the salinity probe on our watermaker. We had gone through 3 separate salinity probes in less than one year's ownership on the watermaker. When the 3rd one failed I actually managed to get number 2 fixed such that it worked for a couple of weeks, before it failed anew. The watermaker manufacturer has re-engineered the part so that it is no longer subject to corrosion and sent us one of the new units about 3 weeks ago. I replaced it (and replacing it means clearing out one of our aft lazarettes, scrunching up my no-longer limber body inside the lazarette, removing the main high-pressure pump from the watermaker, removing the cover from the watermaker electronics box, pulling out the salinity probe wire, cutting 10 cable ties securing the wire, and unscrewing the fitting from the back of the watermaker with just about zero room to work; repeat steps in opposite order to install new one); it worked for about a week.
After trying a couple of suggestions from the factory that didn't work, they shipped a new unit which we received earlier this week. I replaced the failed unit. The new one also failed. I was not happy. The factory was not happy. We assumed it must be the electronics that was failing, so the factory shipped me replacement number 7 on Thursday.
Then yesterday I was securing the half-disassembled watermaker before we moved from the marina to the anchorage and a cable fell out of the housing. One of the cables for the salinity probe, of course. Apparently it had come loose and I hadn't noticed it, despite probing around inside the housing at least twice in the past week. Plugged it back in (it's a telephone-style plug and jack), and the watermaker came back to life. Well, at least we can return unit number 7 when it gets here, as we have unit number 6 installed, and number 5 probably didn't fail after all and we still have it as well.
This week we also had our wireless internet long-range antenna fail. Nothing lasts in this salty corrosive atmosphere.
I think that brings us up to date regarding failures and scary moments. Given that these were spread over about 3 weeks I guess it wasn't really all that bad. We had a very nice cruise of the British Virgin Islands, got to spend some time with some cruising friends, and just generally hung out like cruisers do.
We did come to a very important decision in the last couple of days. We've decided it's too hot and humid to return to 10 degrees north (latitude of Trinidad) for hurricane season. And we've decided that the 3000 miles or so to Europe might be tempting fate with all of our recent failures, not to mention our experience level. So, sometime next week we'll head west to Culebra and then Puerto Rico. From Puerto Rico we're looking at a 900+ mile jaunt to Key West. It'll be our first multiple day passage and should give us a taste for long-distnace passage making. We'll have the Dominican Republic, the Turks and Caicos, and the Bahamas nearby if we have to divert for weather or for a critical failure. After Key West we'll work our way up the east coast fairly quickly, looking to spend the summer in Maine and maybe even farther north. Then come the fall we'll head south again, maybe spending some more time in the Chesapeake and the south. After that, who knows? There's still a lot of Caribbean that we haven't seen.
Anybody want to help out on the trip from San Juan to Key West? Should be 5-7 days of off-the-wind sailing (nice), though you have to be a bit flexible as to timing. Shouldn't require much if any sailing experience as it'll primarily be watch-keeping. Can always tack on some touristy/sight-seeing/beach days before or after. Write quickly and let us know; there are good airline connections in San Juan and Key West. We'll probably shoot to leave around the first of May.
posted by Ken at
6:09 AM |
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