Soliciting sage haulout advice

[willynilly]

My '84 Endeavour 33' sloop is out of Albemarle Sound water for the first time in four years. Will have some blistering tended to and will have new bottom paint applied. The advice I'm seeking is what else should be done while on the stands? I need to free the little paddle wheel for the knot meter and service the four seacocks, but what else could I take advantage of? The hull sides will be polished. Thinking about the cutless bearing and the stuffing box, tightening the steering chain/cable, and replacing the zincs. Oh, and sanding and painting the prop! What else should I address before she's Travelifted back into the cold brackish blue? We pulled her a month ahead of schedule to take advantage of the Cypress Cove yard's 20% discount. Looking forward to seeing some of you on the Carolina coast!

[sailingdog]

You should learn how to pull and replace the knotmeter transducer while the boat is in the water, so that you can swap it for the plug when the boat is sitting idle. This prevents growth from gunking up the paddle wheel while the boat just sits.

You should inspect the cutless bearing, re-pack the stuffing box or replace it with a PSS type dripless stuffing box, and check the rudder, rudder post and hardware, along with what you've already mentioned.

Do not paint your prop if it is bronze. Doing so will damage it.

Inspect any bronze through-hulls for dezincification and replace them as necessary.

How severe is the blistering? If it isn't too severe, then you should just fill them with thickened epoxy and fair them. If the blisters are deep in the laminate, you will probably want to allow the hull to dry out, repair the blisters and then barrier coat it to prevent future blistering. This is a lengthy process and not inexpensive to do, but on many older hulls a necessity to prevent much more expensive repairs in the future.

[Minnewaska]

Seems like you have the bases covered. If you don't have a line cutter, it's a good time to install.

[willynilly]

Thank you, gentlemen. I will check those things and adopt the others. Seems soliciting sages here is quite common!

[dhays]

Originally Posted by willynilly

Thinking about the cutless bearing and the stuffing box, tightening the steering chain/cable, and replacing the zincs.

I would do more than think about these. Zincs are really cheap and very easy to replace when the boats is out of the water. I also like SD's idea of converting to a dripless while your at it.

I would't have thought about a line cutter, but I might in the future as crab pots are becoming more of a hazard around here.

[willynilly]

Dripless, check. Line cutter, check. See, I wouldn't have thought of those! Lots of crab pots in the sound. Thanks!

[SlowButSteady]

WN,

Be aware that if a dripless shaft seal fails, while admittedly a rare event, it can sink your boat. A properly adjusted stuffing box lets very little water into the boat, and can't really fail in the catastrophic manner that dripless seals sometimes do.

[sailingdog]

If you decide to stick with a standard/traditional stuffing box, please do yourself a favor and get the GFO goretex packing material, as it requires less water dripping to lubricate it. It should not be DRIPLESS when the shaft is turning, but can often be adjusted such that it doesn't drip when the shaft is not moving.

Originally Posted by SlowButSteady

WN,

Be aware that if a dripless shaft seal fails, while admittedly a rare event, it can sink your boat. A properly adjusted stuffing box lets very little water into the boat, and can't really fail in the catastrophic manner that dripless seals sometimes do.

[lancelot9898]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

If you decide to stick with a standard/traditional stuffing box, please do yourself a favor and get the GFO goretex packing material, [/B]

I assume that the GFO stuff is the same as the GTU flax sold by WM and Defender, both being gortex. ??

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by lancelot9898

I assume that the GFO stuff is the same as the GTU flax sold by WM and Defender, both being gortex. ??

Very similar. The stuff to avoid is the crap that has the "putty" like stuff, because that will cause damage to the shaft.