S/V Deep Playa - Pearson 424

Before

I knew the previous owner had reduced the size of the ice box, many cruisers do that. He did this by adding several layers of 2” foam insulation and then starboard on top of that. There was also a huge void in the bottom of the refrigerator that had a big jug of mystery labeled “A” and with a skull and crossbones on it. Well the refrigerator had that old refrigerator smell so Dawn took out all the now moldy foam insulation and cleaned the ice box.

After

We will definitely put back the starboard to mount the refrigerator element, but while we’re here in Puget Sound with cheap access to ice we’ll also use the larger ice box.

Next year, we’ll do the big refrigerator project to permanently shrink the size of the box, insulate to modern standards and reclaim the unused space for storage. This was just a clean up project and Dawn did an awesome job at that!

Tuesday evening we put Deep Playa back in the water sans rig!! She only spurted a little while I tightened up the stuffing box, which is to be expected since you don’t want to tighten it “too much” and you can’t tell if it’s “too loose” until you’re in the water. The prop shaft is also still not properly adjusted because that also has to be done in the water. So we slowly limped back to our slip and are now tied up at D Dock in beautiful Shilshole Bay Marina. Thanks to CB from s\v Palarran for warping into the slip. Turns out sitting in the yard for 4 months did not make me any better at driving the boat. I’m really looking forward to anchoring more then docking!! :-)

The yard is now getting the spars painted then we can run the wiring conduit, attach the rigging and all the new toys and wiring and then we will have our our masts re-stepped and we’ll look like a sailboat again!

We’re happy to be back in the water, up and down the ladder was getting pretty old.

I’ve been working on a document describing the refit we plan to do on Deep Playa. I thought it would be good to share it with all of you and see if anyone has feedback but also so others might benefit from seeing what I’m doing.

Here’s the first half of the document, still lots of specifics to figure out, but a good start.

Overview

This refit plan for Deep Playa includes replacing the standing rigging, re-bedding and improving the deck hardware, replacing and improving the running rigging, and new bottom paint and hull polishing.

This section will cover the highlights of the projects by area (Rig, Hull, etc) but the meat of the document with all the details will cover the projects in the phases they will be carried out.

This document will be reviewed with several yards and riggers for additional input and to help select who will do the work.

We like to do our own work where it makes sense (saves us money, teaches us key maintenance or survival skills) but there are times where specific expertise or time consuming work makes more sense to be done by a professional . To what degree we do things ourselves is to be determined.

Standing Rigging

The wire rope standing rigging appears to be original and it is overdue to be replaced. Replacing it involves dropping both masts, replacing all of the wire rope, inspecting an possibly replacing the chain plates, inspecting and possibly refinishing the spars, having new wire rope rigging made and then re-rigging the boat. At the same time any electrical, communications or running rigging projects that affect the standing rigging and the spars need to be done as well.

Planned Upgrades

· Adding a isolators to the main backstay for the SSB antenna

· Conduit for in-mast wiring

· Strong Track

· Running Rigging Related

o Route all halyards internally

§ Add Spinnaker and Mizzen staysail halyards

o Rope clutches for main, mizzen, jib spinnaker and mizzen staysail halyards

o Inspect sheaves and probably replace, internal routing probably changes them all together

· Spreader Boots

· Electronics & Communications

§ Main

· Masthead NMEA 2000 weather station

· Masthead VHF Antenna

· Masthead LED Anchor and Nav Lights

· Masthead Davis Windex

· Spreader LED lights

· Foredeck Light

· Hailer Mount

· Ensure the crane has all that is necessary for planned sails

o Spinnaker halyard

§ Mizzen

· Masthead NMEA 2000 GPS

· Masthead AIS (backup VHF) Antenna

· Spreader LED lights

· Foreword Light

· Self leveling Radar Mount

· Ensure the crane has all that is necessary for planned sails

o Mizzen staysail halyard

Open Issues

· Refinishing the spars – What’s the cost

· How many things that are bolted to the spars need replacing?

· Main and Mizzen reefing are a mess

· Rigger needs to be identified

· Rigging Inspection Needed

Running Rigging

All of the lines for the running rigging except for the Jib Halyard and the Mizzen Sheet are in a very sad state and need to be replaced. In addition to that there are several very flawed installations such as the main sheet winch and main traveler which are also functioning poorly. At this point based on pricing and helpfulness I am plan to use Garhauer almost exclusively.

Planned Upgrades

· Move main sheet winch inboard

· Replace main traveler

· Add rigid boom vang

· Increase main sheet purchase

Open Issues

· Can I get a bulk discount from Garhauer?

· Should we do this before we make decisions on our sail maker?

Deck Hardware

Beyond the rigging fittings which will be pulled and rebedded all other deck mounted hardware will be rebedded as part of this the lifelines will be moved to the toe rail as well.

Planned Upgrades

· New Garhauer toe rail mounts for life lines

· New lifelines and fittings

· Bow trim piece is broken and needs to be replaced

· Moving the windlass foreword and the hawse pipe out of the berth

· Add additional bow roller

Open Issues

· Will we use wire rope or line for the lifelines?

· Should we add any fittings for jack lines?

· Can we afford new stern pulpits placed on the toe rail? Would include:

o Bimini

o Solar Panel mounts

o Stern reel mount

· Close the Bow Tank Hole?

· Will a horizontal windlass be needed

· Can the existing windlass handle two anchors

· Will the toe rail track need to be shortened to accommodate the lifeline changes

Hull Work

The main two parts of this project are new bottom paint and polishing the gel coat. In addition to that we want to evaluate all the thru-hulls and see if any might be eliminated as well as make modifications to our ground tackle management.

Planned Upgrades

· Remove unused thru hulls

o Toilet overboard

o Toilet intake

· Stainless steel on the bow to protect hull from anchors

· Bow padeye for anchor snubber

· Rebed and inspect starboard hatch

· Combine knot meter and transducer

· Inspect cutlass bearing and plan to replace

· Upgrade transducer to one with temperature, maybe not a thru-hull; maybe add or instead use fish finder type.

Open Issues

· Do we “plug” or glass closed unused thru-hulls?

· Should we close off the galley sink intake?

· Is the crazing in the gel coat around the hull a problem or just an age issue? Will polishing clean it up? Should we even care?

· What Hull paint should we use? Need to look at the PS articles and compare NW to CA paint results

Headliner, Portholes and Hatches

Removing the headliner is a necessity to do all the other work; we plan to replace it at the same time as well. The damaged teak along the cabin top will be covered so it blends with the new white headliner as well to create a visual lift to the salon. The leaky and sealed closed portholes will also be replaced with the New Found Metals portholes we acquired this summer. The hatches are also questionable (the aluminum is brittle in places) and leaky they will be replaces as well while the headliner is out. In the final installation the teak colored strips holding up the headliner will be painted white to blend them with the headliner.

Planned Upgrades

· New Found Metals Portholes

· Replace hatches

· New headliner

· New cabin top wood (cover up teak)

Open Issues

· Brand of hatches TBD, New Found Metals is supposed to be making hatches this fall

· Headliner material is TBD, Originally wainscoting was the plan, are we really over that?

This weekend I finished installing the starter. Along the way I decided to replace the bonding wire on the starter to the v-drive with tinned wire because the existing wire was corroded. As I was doing this, I also decided to replace the bonding wire from the v-drive to the raw water strainer because it had broken a few months back. Removing the nut on the raw water strainer lead to the strainer breaking.  The strainer (bronze) was bolted to an aluminum bracket with stainless steel screws and it had started to bend at the hanger points. I was planning to replace this fall when I haul out, but turns out I needed to do it today. I put a board on that aluminum bracket and put in a new raw water strainer. All in all it was pretty simple, the new fittings lined up a bit differently, but the new strainer looks great and will provide years of reliable service! I have one more bonding wire to put in, just need a 8 AWG to #10 screw ring terminal to check that one off the list.

I also finished installing the starter this weekend after I painted it and let it dry. It pretty much popped right in, I fastened in all the bolts to the block, put the new bonding wires on and then hooked up the battery cables and starter switch. She started up on the first try and water ran well through the exhaust. Everything is look good!

Finally, I finished our plumbing upgrade as well by putting in a new shower mixer valve and handheld \ wall mount sprayer. The original faucet was a 4” on center individual knobs for hot and cold and had a fitting for the shower nozzle right on the faucet. When I pulled this off the wall I was left with two holes in the whole. I put a Shurflo mixer \ volume control in the bottom hole and a wall mount for the shower nozzle in the top hole. This completes a project I started last summer!

For about two months now we’ve had intermittent luck getting our engine (Westerbeke 58 circa 1981) to start. I at first assumed I had been a batter minder and screwed those up so I did a bunch of tests and they seemed ok. I then started tracing wires and reading up on troubleshooting starting diesel motors in Nigel Calder’s book. That lead the section on bypassing the starter switch and the solenoid itself using a screwdriver. I won’t go into that too much, just to say, its awesome when you do it and a bit scary. ;-) Using that method for the past couple of weeks we’ve been able to get her started. The workaround pointed clearly to a solenoid failure. The plan for repair was to pull the starter and the attached solenoid and either replace them or get them rebuilt.

I started out (no pun intended) by calling up my local Westerbeke dealer Gallery Marine Services and asking them if they did this kind of work. They said “sure we can send it out” and I said can I just contact the place you send them and he totally coughed up Blanchard Auto Electric. I though this was very cool, they could have easily said, “bring it in” and charged me extra. I’ve not done any business with them really but Gallery Marine Services seems like an good place thus far!

I took my starter over to Blanchard Auto Electric and even MORE great service ensued! I walk in and talk to the proverbial guy at the counter. He looks some stuff up in the computer, looks in some books and says well you have two options for a new one. One costs $260 and the other $160 (numbers are approximate recollections) and then goes, go through that door into the shop, follow the yellow line on the floor and ask Todd if the one you have now is worth rebuilding. I go back and see Todd who is very much deep in the shop behind a wall of starter motors of all sizes. The only way he could looked more prophetic would have been had he been chanting incantations over a boiling pot of oil and diesel parts. Todd and I talked about the merits of the $100 price difference and he wanted to tell me to just go ahead and buy the cheaper one, but he knew they had recently changed ownership and wasn’t sure if his past experience would reflect on current quality. So Todd looks at my starter and says let me take a look at tomorrow and I’ll let you know if what you have is worth rebuilding.

I drop my 40lb starter off with Todd and go to work thinking I’d get a call the next morning. Three hours later the same day Todd calls me up and goes, “Well I broke one the corroded bolts on your starter trying to get back open, but I was able to get it apart and the starter is perfectly fine. I put a new solenoid on the starter and you’ll be good to go, come down and pick it up.”

The grand total was like $85 for everything, totally awesome experience with Blanchard Auto Electric.

All I have to do now is knock the rust off of the starter with a wire wheel on my new Bench Grinder (ah toys!), paint it again and reinstall it, that should be finished tonight if not Saturday and we should be back to dependable starting!