"Refit" SW Florida 2010

2010 "Refit"

This page will be updated regularly as we finish projects! We returned to SW Florida in the Spring of 2010 so we could fix a myriad of issues that have been plaguing Winterlude and not so easy to fix while we were in the Western Caribbean. Hopefully we'll get all the projects done amidst exploring the Everglades area and the Keys between Marathon and the Dry Tortugas. And if we get the "refit" accomplished, maybe after the first of the year will find Winterlude in the Bahamas for the first time! With that, here's a start on our list:

1. Charging System

Upon returning, we asked our electrician friend, Bob, to take a look at what was going on with our charging system. While we had chalked our inability to top off our batteries to the batteries not holding a charge, turns out our original TrueCharge 40 appears to have been damaged in a lightning strike. Bob replaced the charger with the new TrueCharge 2 40 amp charger and voila, now we're staying topped off at 13+ volts while at the dock. Before we were lucky to see 12.7 or 12.8! WooHoo!!!

2. Icom M802 SSB and M502 VHF Radios

The Icom M802 has gradually developed the clipping problem that many complain about and our M502 VHF wasn't working correctly - we could hear, but after the initial transmission, others couldn't hear us. So we sent both back to Don Melcher at HF Radio On Board where we purchased them. Don was able to get Icom to fix the M802 SSB under warranty! And after learning the repair price for the VHF, we opted to replace it with a M504 demo version that Don had available. We have the radios back & reinstalled. Unfortunately Don has retired and is no longer working with boaters - our loss!

3. Nanni Kubota Diesel Tune Up & Misc Maintenance

Our trusty Nanni Kubota 4 cylinder 30 horsepower diesel is vintage 1985 and doesn't have an hour meter, so we have no idea how many hours are on the diesel. It's not been tuned up since 2002. Last winter David replaced a salt water pump, but otherwise it just purrs and rattles away. Roy Scott from Harbor Mobile Marine checked the compression, pistons, injectors and all the things that make a diesel purr. His accessment ... "this little diesel will run forever". We're having him rebuild the failed salt water pump from last season (Johnson rebuild kit is $217!!! - YIKES, but a new pump is more like $450, so it gets rebuilt). The radiator has been flushed, oil changed and the starboard diesel tank cleaned. Turns out the toughest challenge was figuring out why the oil filter bracket keeps falling off the wall! He's going to try some longer screws and hopefully we'll be set!

4. Deck Waste Fitting

The moral to this story is even if you leave the country for 6 years and nowhere uses pumpout facilities, DON'T ever forget to open your waste deck fitting from time to time as preventative maintenance! We tried everything when ours refused to open, PB Blaster, WD40, TriFlow, soaking overnight, multiple nights, big chisels with even bigger hammer blows, when one way didn't work we even tried two different chisels and hammers going opposite directions. Nada. So David took it out to replace it. Which entailed removing a wall down below and then we found out the original 1985 taiwanese stainless fittings are a different SIZE than stainless US fittings. So out came the trusty Dremel and voila, finally the new waste deck fitting works perfectly! Aaarrrggg! What a crappy project! :)

Existing Sunbrella Cadet Gray Canvas

Proposed Sunbrella Alpine Green Canvas

5. "New Family Room" aka Canvas Cockpit Enclosure

Our canvas cockpit enclosure, so important to our comfort and living environment while cruising, is sadly out of shape. The canvas leaks waterfalls, the isenglass side panels don't fit since we added the arch, so the family room is soaking wet and useless during any rainfall. We decided to change and have been interviewing canvas companies and getting ideas and quotes. The very first decision turns out to be the canvas itself. We had Sunbrella, Cadet Gray canvas. According to all the canvas companies we interviewed, cadet gray sunbrella has the very WORST track record for longevity and reliability of any color of canvas Sunbrella makes. So everyone is trying to get us to change colors. We haven't made a final decision, but David likes alpine green (a dark green similar to our hull color) and it lasts supposedly 8-10 years as opposed to our cadet grey's 5 years or less. Plus all the canvas companies will use tenera (sp?) thread ... i.e. lifetime thread so we don't have to get the canvas restitched every other year, difficult to do in the middle of nowhere. So what do you think? Any other ideas on colors of canvas we should consider for our new family room???

Misc Other Projects - DONE!

1. Fixed a stuck check valve.
2. Thoroughly cleaned and polished stainless.
3. Cleaned and waxed the deck and hull.
4. Routine Bottom & Prop Cleaning. Because we have white ablative bottom paint (Seahawk Islands 44), we opted not to have the bottom cleaned for the six months we were gone. The diver we contacted sighed & told us that probably was not a good idea. Turns out there was very little growth on the bottom, the prop was fouled with barnacles, but that's normal. Our diver told us that our bottom paint is in great shape and doing a great job -- and it's 2 years old! WooHoo since bottom paint, particularly ablative, typically only lasts 2 years, this news was especially welcome!

Projects Awaiting Our Fall Return To Winterlude!

Circuit breaker checked, nothing wrong. Is the water heater toast? Unfortunately to find out we have to disconnect the plumbing to get to the electrical connections and element
Put engine oil bracket on correctly
Check refrigerator for thermostat/freon ... uh oh ... this one moves up on the priority list since it seems to have started an automatic defrost cycle on it's own leaving our meat in the freezer thawed... but then it starts again. Jim Rutan, an Alder Barbour refrigeration specialist has diagnosed the problem as the compressor ... aarg, the compressor lives behind the manual bilge pump which will need to be removed to get to it. More soon.
Anchor chain & anchor regalvanized
Teak deck, evaluate - redo or replaced
Propane issue resolved once & for all – the tank was diagnosed as fine by the local propane company, we replaced the hose, the regulator is next ... the saga continues and I still can't use my stove. I'm running out of creative meals that can be entirely prepared on the grill!!!
Watermaker leak fixed
Redo leaking hatches - halfway there, David replaced the hatch rods, but the manufacturer in Canada sent us the wrong size for the two larger hatches ... in progress.
fix leaky porthole over hanging locker
Review Shadetree, replace poles as necessary.
Aqua Signal Bow Light insides – part # from Steve/LiWard
backup serial to USB connector cable for SSB (Sailmail manual for which one)
Tri color masthead LED bulb
Shorten Iridium antenna cable

Buy replacement thru hull for galley sink for next haulout
Oil change pump on diesel
replace 50' larger diameter line for kellet
impeller speed seal? $60 - sailing magazines, Dipity Doug
blisters on deck ground out and redone redone
varnish inside touched up
cabin sole redone
ICOM VHF remote mike fixed
ICOM Handheld fixed - battery doesn't charge (down to 1 handheld VHF reliable)
ADDED TO THE LIST AFTER ARRIVAL AT WINTERLUDE:
Caprail teak has deteriorated and looks awful, needs redone. Question is will I learn to do it myself or pay a professional.
Rubrail teak has also deteriorated. The Morris 36 down the dock has a really beautiful silver teak rubrail that I'm drooling over. It doesn't hurt that silver teak requires no maintenance. So I learned to strip 10 coats of cetol and cetol gloss off the rubrail and sand, sand sand. Now to see if mine turns that beautiful maintenance free silver! It would be nice to replace the bronze rub rail with new stainless, but that may be a project for the next haulout.