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Fallout, Leaks and toxic waste
Fallout, Leaks and toxic waste
Hi, Y'all, A reminder before I begin: If, for whatever reason, you don't want to receive either Lydia's or my log postings, there's an unsubscribe link at the bottom right (at least in mine) on which a simple click will unsubscribe you from the list. It may be somewhere else, in Lydia's, but, always at the bottom... Replying to one of our posts with something to the effect of "please remove" doesn't do the trick, especially for the other members who get your reply :{)) That said, this finds us still in George Town, Exuma, Bahamas, enjoying the quiet now that most folks have departed for other places. Of course, we will, too, eventually :{)) However, the anchorages along both Stocking and Exuma Islands are very sparsely populated right now, leading to lots of comfort room for swinging at anchor. That's particularly interesting to most cruisers during heavy weather when the easiest assurance of not dragging your anchor is to have out massive amounts of rode (the thing which connects your anchor to your boat, in our case, all chain). The downside to all that scope (the ratio of line to depth, but also commonly noted in feet from anchor to boat) is that if the boat swings, the circle it describes is much larger than normal. NO PROBLEM, MON! Typical separation at this time of year, only to get better, is in the hundreds of feet, rather than the typical high-season toss-your-neighbor-a-beer distance. We've also moved from our usual spot across from Chat 'n' Chill on Volleyball beach, that area having become moribund without all the usual activity which accompanies the hundreds of boats in the harbor in the winter, and thus of no need for our easier access there, to Hamburger Beach. As it turns out, Hamburger Beach is much better for internet connectivity in term of available open sites, a nice bonus. In fact, we're connected to one of the several available when we were right next to town, as seen in my last post, even though we're several miles away from there, here. As usual, I share my signal among those cruisers who do, in fact, come over to see us, as our Linksys router's identification, "FlyingPig!-ComeSeeUs" suggests. The others I block, if my knocking them off a few times doesn't give them a clue :{)) Hamburger Beach is so named because, many years ago, there used to be a hamburger joint here. Over the years, it varied in ownership and use, including, last year, virtual shutdown, and, as noted in my last, the facility on shore has been bought by a local entrepreneur who goes to great lengths to encourage cruisers to get to know him better. The most recent such example was an offer of a potluck, including use of his grill to cook whatever you might care to bring for barbequeing. We took advantage of that to suggest a book-and-DVD swap, which was enthusiastically received. Of course, we came home with new treasures, and made several new friends there. The occasion for our still being here in George Town is waiting for a product which, from all prior reviews I've seen, or had people tell me about directly (though I've not had the privilege of seeing it first hand), has promise to resolve our nasty "stains less" stainless steel aboard. In particular, as those of you who who've followed us in the recent months know, the repair to our bow anchor roller assembly in St. Augustine wasn't passivated - a treatment which inhibits any unnecessary rust. So, of course, all those welds are a nasty-looking mess. Not of structural concern, but we always like a bright boat, so that will be the "acid test" - pardon the expression, on which more, below - for this product. The key ingredient for this product is citric acid, environmentally friendly. Other passivation chemicals (I'll spare you the technical discussion) are only suited to an industrial environment, where they can be properly dealt with after use. As such, there's no toxic waste by rinsing it off, which is what happens after you've applied it, unlike the commonly used passivation chemicals.. We were first introduced to this concept (using citric acid) by one of our marvelous suppliers, Hotwire Enterprises (www.svhotwire.com), who, in addition to our electronics/electrical/Solar/Wind installations and/or modifications, did the fabrication of our stern platform supports during our early refit efforts. His method, rather more bulky than this (which uses a gel formulation to keep it on the metal) was to saturate rags, wrapped around the welds, with lemon juice, keeping it wet for days at a time. Pretty simple to do when you're near a ready supply, and don't have to store gallons of it aboard. That, too, of course, had no toxic waste, unless you consider the plastic bottles which lined our work area as "toxic" :{)) As usual, Cruising Is Boat Repair In Exotic Locations - but in our case, fortunately, this mostly consists of our daily 1-2-3s. Those are the little things which, if kept up with, prevent a visit to the boatyard from becoming a months-long exercise in recovery. I may have mentioned it in prior logs, but our rudder post has been leaking copiously. Rudder posts keep out the water in the same fashion as used on the drive shaft in boats - they have a sealing gland, commonly referred to as a packing gland. In new boats, or, at least, new Morgan 46s, that packing would allow as little as a drop a minute during heavy use (a rudder doesn't turn nearly as far, nor as fast, as a prop shaft), and nothing at rest. Unfortunately for us and other Morgan 46 owners, the steel in the rudder post tends to either rust or pit in the area of the packing gland. The last time I replaced the packing, the pitting in the area of the packing nut was notable. When the rudder turns, it tends to chew up the packing (thin pieces of teflon-impregnated string, essentially, around the shaft, and compressed by the nut which has a cup shape, holding it in place). That results in early leaking. In our case, it was sufficient to allow a steady stream into the bilge. That was OK, as the little automated bilge pump I have to keep up with the "occasional" water was easily able to handle it. We've become accustomed to the every-2.5-minute whirring, and associated gurgling on about every other cycle, which came with the accumulated water being ejected from our bilge. (We have two very substantial bilge pumps which would handle any large water intrusion; they have float valves a couple inches off the bottom, so would not activate until the water got to about 4" in the bilge.) All that clean water coming in has allowed us to clean the bilge as the boat rocked and pitched over a long period of time, as we'd leave the automated bilge pump in the "off" position every so often, and take some dishwashing detergent and a brush to the few inches in the bottom of the bilge. Replacing the packing is even more tortuous than tightening it, on which more anon, so we've delayed that for our next time ashore with the boat. It COULD be done in the water, as the amount of water intrusion is certainly manageable by our large pumps during the time the packing nut would have to be off the housing for the shaft, but it would be messy (water a few feet under the boat has a lot of pressure forcing it upward), and getting the old packing out a bit tricky, sometimes. All that wasn't really daunting to me, but the thought of not being able to put each layer (you cut pieces to fit snugly around the shaft, then push the nut back onto the threaded housing to seat it) in and seat it without a major splash in the face convinced me to, simply (HAH - see below), tighten it, again. I'd put, instead of the usual 3 layers, 5 layers of packing in the last time I repacked it, so I'd not have to do a replacement quite so quickly, knowing that it would leak, again, inevitably, as the pitted shaft eroded the packing material. Getting to, and then actually tightening, the packing nut is a real exercise on our boat. In our case, it involves removing the berth (bed) where we sleep, removing the boards which keep it off the hull and structural members which hold it up, and, then, kneeling on 3/4" wide bulkhead edges (VERY hard on the knees!), being careful not to break any of the plastic parts associated with both the autopilot and rudder position sensors. Once in that precarious position I had to lean over (with nothing to support my upper body), reaching into the ~2' depth, and get a wrench on the packing nut. It's held in place (kept from turning) by a locking nut. I have a tool which is designed for packing nut manipulation. It's adequate to the task of unlocking the securing nut, as it's not under any substantial pressure. The packing nut is a different story. If I'd had the leverage (recall the position I'm in!), and the strength, to move the nut with that tool, it would have broken first. Fortunately, I'm a tool nut, and I brought along a 24" pipe wrench as part of my tool inventory when I sold my shoreside home. I had no idea what I'd possibly need it for, but I certainly do now! That's because it's the only tool I have available to fit over the ~3.5" edges of the packing nut which has the leverage needed to move it sufficiently to tighten it. At that, as long as it is, I have only perhaps a 5 degree swing room available with that length, so getting it to "bite" (a pipe wrench doesn't fit snugly like a socket or open-ended wrench, on whatever it is you're trying to turn; instead, it's designed for round surfaces like ... pipe) So, of course, I couldn't use a regular open-ended wrench on it, as the nut would not have turned sufficiently to put the wrench on it agan. Since the nut is the usual 6-sided surface, getting the right dimension in the wrench, each time (recall that a "regular" hexagon, the shape of the nut, has different dimensions from side to side as you move along the perimeter - this means I have to readjust the size on each small turn), and holding it in place with one hand while manipulating the handle so as to make the head of the wrench "bite" with the other was a lot of work. I probably put as much sweat into the bilge as the incoming sea during the time I was working on it! However, in due course, I did tighten it enough that it no longer leaked. I took advantage of the same time under there to loosen the "power" (we have hydraulic steering) steering mechanism while I rotated the steering wheel repetitively in order to "stress" the packing as much as possible, tightening the nut again after each one and allowing the steering assembly to "float" in order to make sure that the rudder post had no angular pressures which might have resulted from a slight misalignment on it. That would allow me to make the packing as tight as possible. Once that was finished, I tightened up the steering's hydraulic arms' mounts again, and was rewarded with a dry shaft and packing nut after wiping off all remaining seawater. So, fast forward to that night, and Lydia's in bed next to me and asks, "What's that? Sounds like someone knocking on a door?" Eventually we figured out that it was the automated bilge pump having nothing more than what had come back down the exhaust pipe to pump, making a "knocking" sound as it tried to pump out that tiny bit of water. So, for a while, at least, we're dry in the bilge! Other minor boat chores continue, of course, including my attempts at revival on Lydia's rechargeable toothbrush. Not one where it opens to allow you to replace the batteries, of course! I'm working on a solution to it, because it was VERY expensive; in the interim, she's resorted to the manual sort. Amazing how you get out of shape for truly adequate brushing after a couple of years of relying on the buzzer! Update since written earlier, I've found a vendor who sells replacment batteries for the sealed unit, and, on his eBay site, has a small video demonstrating how to accomplish that replacement. Fortunately, I'm comfortable with a soldering iron, and will make that replacement when we're ashore in about 5 weeks. Our time here continues to be interspersed with folks not only visitng us as suggested by what they see when they look around for a station for WiFi, but fallout left over from the departing cruiser of a couple of weeks ago who lauded my assistance to him over the morning VHF net. As part of my personality, being an eldest child, I enjoy helping others; many have offered payment for my solving one or more of their (not only WiFi) connectivity problems, but I always decline, telling them to "Pay It Forward" to some other cruiser in some othe way. Other fallout isn't so heartwarming, unfortunately... Long time readers of this log will perhaps recall a previous post referring to a loose cannon. I'll not repeat it here, other than to say it was occasioned by an ignorant (not meant pejoratively, just the facts - he didn't know) cruiser whose actions occasioned unintentional slander of me over an open mike on VHF last year in George Town. Along the way, despite the obvious difference to what dozens have - particularly recently - personally observed aboard Flying Pig, I seem to have acquired a reputation as one who can hack into any system and bring it to its knees - and who, (my assumption of that being based on an experience in Long Island - see below), will do just that, for whatever imagined reasons. I assume it's like the kids' game of "Telephone" - as there was nothing in the attack last year I got either over the air or personally at the side of the boat, relating to hacking, cracking or that sort of thing. I expect the story transmogrified into what I've learned that many cruisers have heard to that effect. It's a two-edged sword - I seem to be able to solve folks' WiFi problems, and, certainly, have - so far as I can tell - the most effective consumer grade setup available. As well, I share my available bandwidth with others for the simple expedient of their coming over to say hello. I learned, with some amusement just recently, that I'm sort of the Pied Piper. When we left Hamburger Beach for a laundry excursion, back to the shoreside anchorage mentioned above, there was a mass exodus of boats following us, and our signal :{)) Folks talking about my seeming wizardry (it's nothing of the sort, of course, as discussed in my prior logs having comments lauding the services of Island Time PC, as to how badly I was failing to even get a basic system to work!) are congratulatory, or admiring, but, perhaps, like Clark, of "Loose Cannon" above, in their ignorance (his bad, theirs simply ignorant "admiration" - not understanding how it is I can get throughput where they can't even see a station), assign realities which don't match mine in the telling :{/) This diatribe isn't at all about the kerfluffle last year - it's about the reputation I seem to have acquired of being a hacker (apparently, a malicious hacker, to boot). There may be no more than a couple of boaters who are representing me that way - but, others, hearing it as gospel, may innocently repeat it (which could well be how the boater who came by yesterday heard it). There was a Batelco outage in Long Island, right after we arrived there earlier this year. A seasonal cruiser had a private setup in cooperation with a house ashore - over a mile away from our anchorage - which went to no bandwidth. When he assigned his lack of signal/dataflow to me, via having heard that from some cruiser, I considered that alarming. As it turned out, he's very well qualified technically, and when I told him what I had, and how we used our system, it was immediately apparent that I could not have been the cause. It eventually took a visit from Batelco to the house where his router was to solve his connectivity problem... That I've now heard essentially the same story (without lack of service here in George Town to add extra spice as was the case in Long Island) more than once, in more than one place, annoys me. I'm a member of the Seven Seas Cruising Association. Their motto is "Leave a Clean Wake" - and we make very sure we do. "Leaving a Clean Wake" encompasses more than not throwing oil and trash overboard; it has everything to do with how the non-cruising (and fellow cruisers, come to that) public perceive you. As such, allegations such as those accepted at face value (and, importantly, without confrontation/confirmation of/from me, other than in the couple of cases who HAVE come to me - the way I learned about them) in what I've learned aren't isolated instances, either in number or location, are definitely a dirty wake - but we didn't make it :{/) It's not really important, other than that, likely, any such sources got it from someone else. If I know any of those sources (I have yet to retrieve any of the upstream sources from those who've repeated the story to me), just maybe, reversing the flow will kill it off eventually. Any I do learn about, I'll not be confrontational, any more than I was with the couple of folks who've shared that story with me - just corrective, and asking them to pass it back up the chain from where they got it. I'm happy to be known as "The WiFi Guru" - and spend many hours helping others understand how it works, tweaking their systems, whatever they have, and doing the same, for that matter, for VHF and HF radio and packet mail issues - but, given that I freely give mine away, not so happy as to be characterized as malicious or in any way LIMITING someone's access... Sorry about this/that - Lydia gives me a hard time about spending as much time and effort as I do helping other cruisers, so it pains me to think that misinformation results in a portrait of one who goes out of his way to make things difficult or impossible... Meanwhile, back at the old grind, so to speak, some of you original readers may have recalled that I reluctantly gave in to having an electric coffee grinder aboard. It recently refused to start, and I took it apart, successfully reviving it. However, it seems to have died again, so I abandoned it. Instead, we're using the hand grinder which we bought at a West Marine Bargain Center, found at some of the larger stores, where castoffs, discontinued or returned items and the like wind up. A bit like wandering through one of the Marine Salvage stores (like Don's, Sailorman or Bacon's, for example, and some others very well known to boaters), except that it's typically new stuff. This is actually a burr grinder, much preferred by coffee purists, rather than the typical electric grinder, which is sort of like a Cuisinart in operation - not a grinder, but a cutter, prone to burning or otherwise producing a slightly inferior grind. It takes me about 250 strokes to do one pot, and I do two, each morning. So, even when we're not sailing, and I'd otherwise be grinding winches, I get in my work. Running a manual grinder with a turning radius of only about 2" not only exercises my turning arm, but my holding arm, too, as it's a lot of pressure to resist. The effort is worth it, however, as it's the perfect cup of coffee after we've put it into our stainless steel vacuum-bottle-outsides french press. The only problem is, as is the case this morning, when we've exhausted our two pots and it's not yet quite time for lunch, with our usual either lemonade or gatorade as our beverage. The tongue lusts after another cuppa, but it's enough work and time that we'll just have to grin and bear it until tomorrow... Weather here has been a bit unusual, with severe squall warnings (30-50 knots) a couple of days ago, and a few days of constant cloudy skies accompanied by some significant rain. Fortunately, despite our having prepared for it, the winds never came, and, as I type this, the wind, also unseasonably, is from the north sector, and expected to stay there for the next week or so. That makes our expected departure up the chain a bit iffy, as we verily hate to run our propulsion motor, but need to be in Marsh Harbour by not later than about 4 weeks from now. 4 weeks sounds like a very long time, but in the cruising world, it can be a very short time, especially when you're waiting for a weather wind. Time just slips away, whether in Margaritaville or anywhere else in the tropics (we're right on the cusp here in George Town). We've been waiting for our package, which may or not arrive in the next few hours, but, if not, we'll leave, anyway. If we can't go directly up the chain, if the wind's still in the northern quadrant, perhaps we'll, instead, go where the wind will take us. We'd thought about going to Conception Island, a not-to-be-missed destination (despite our having missed it so far this year, and last year), but it's quite a ways east, with the wind expected to be like this for the next week or so. Thus, getting north would be even more difficult in the short term. So, if we can't work our way up the chain of small islands, perhaps we'll go to Eleuthera, instead, one of the places we'd like to go in any event. We may not know the realities on that until we actually get out of the harbor; our Kiwi friends are under way right now, and while the wind (unfortunately for sailing, pretty light) was in the right direction to leave the harbor under sail, they're having to tack once outside. That makes northward progress very slow. (For an extreme example, see Robert Louis Stevenson's poem on a Christmas night's tacking off a lee shore...). We'll probably go tomorrow, in any case, and in any event, when we do, you can follow our progress over our SPOT emergency tracker's signal found at tinyurl.com/FlyingPigSpot. There will be nothing there until we turn it on, as it only retains a week's worth of travels, and we've had it off ever since we returned to George Town from the Jumentos... So, for now, we'll leave you, comfortably anchored near town in George Town, Exuma Bahamas. Until next time, Stay Tuned! L8R Skip Morgan 461 #2 SV Flying Pig KI4MPC See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery ! Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog "You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true. You may have to work for it however." (and) "There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hand. You seek problems because you need their gifts." (Richard Bach, in Illusions - The Reluctant Messiah) |
#2
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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Fallout, Leaks and toxic waste
On May 21, 4:40*pm, "Flying Pig" wrote:
Fallout, Leaks and toxic waste The occasion for our still being here in George Town is waiting for a product which, from all prior reviews I've seen, or had people tell me about directly (though I've not had the privilege of seeing it first hand), has promise to resolve our nasty "stains less" stainless steel aboard. Hey Skip, what was the name of that product again. I had it but can't find it. Thanks. Capt. Bill |
#3
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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Fallout, Leaks and toxic waste
On Sat, 22 May 2010 08:55:21 -0700 (PDT), "Capt.Bill"
wrote: On May 21, 4:40*pm, "Flying Pig" wrote: Fallout, Leaks and toxic waste The occasion for our still being here in George Town is waiting for a product which, from all prior reviews I've seen, or had people tell me about directly (though I've not had the privilege of seeing it first hand), has promise to resolve our nasty "stains less" stainless steel aboard. Hey Skip, what was the name of that product again. I had it but can't find it. Thanks. Capt. Bill http://www.spotlessstainless.com/ |
#4
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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Fallout, Leaks and toxic waste
Unfortunately for us and other Morgan 46 owners, the steel in the rudder
post tends to either rust or pit in the area of the packing gland. The last time I replaced the packing, the pitting in the area of the packing nut was notable. Are you telling me your cheep ass boat doesnt use bronz or a propitory metal for such applications? no wonder everything on your boat is rusting................ someone is using an inferior SS aloy one which can be sold as 'stainless steel" and starts rusting in a few months. have fun with you new job as boat janitor. Bob |
#5
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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Fallout, Leaks and toxic waste
Pretty funny given your earlier comments :{))
L8R Skip, connected near Staniel Cay, well off Big Majors, having just had an enchanting time in the grotto -- Morgan 461 #2 SV Flying Pig KI4MPC See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery ! Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog "You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true. You may have to work for it however." (and) "There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hand. You seek problems because you need their gifts." (Richard Bach, in Illusions - The Reluctant Messiah) "Bob" wrote in message ... Unfortunately for us and other Morgan 46 owners, the steel in the rudder post tends to either rust or pit in the area of the packing gland. The last time I replaced the packing, the pitting in the area of the packing nut was notable. Are you telling me your cheep ass boat doesnt use bronz or a propitory metal for such applications? no wonder everything on your boat is rusting................ someone is using an inferior SS aloy one which can be sold as 'stainless steel" and starts rusting in a few months. have fun with you new job as boat janitor. Bob |
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