My wife and I and two kids have been living aboard sailboats going on six years now. We just upgraded to a 1999 Beneteau 50 last month; our last boat was a Catalina 42, which we owned for five years. One my my regrets about owning this boat was that I never kept a good record of the maintenance and improvements that I made to the boat over the years. I think this would have been useful information for prospective owners. And so I would like to keep a log of the work done on our new boat..... we're still deciding on a name. It will either be Gus or Chubby Bunny. I think for now, I'll refer to him as Gus, since it's easier to type.
Funny how when looking at the boat, I wasn't able to find much wrong with her and now I have a list over over thirty items, most of which are small repairs, many of which we've started on but are waiting on some part, a haul out, or more diagnosis.
6.26.20 - Replaced primary fuel filter for delivery back to Bremerton. Old filter appeared to be serviceable.
7.4.20 - Replaced missing fastener in l.f. stateroom door handle at the request of my son. Some of these repairs may seem small but I'm writing them down anyways; will we ever get to a point where no repairs are needed?
7.8.20 - Flushed cooling system twice per survey recommendation. Coolant sample said there was some oil in the coolant. Coolant still appears yellowish. Will flush 1 - 2 more time.s There are three draincocks on the engine; one on either side and one under the front crossover pipe.
Also completed drinking water purge. Drained all 4 tanks and added 1.5 cups of bleach to each tank. Filled all 4 tanks . Let bleach solution sit overnight to kill bacteria. Drained. Refilled. Drained. Refilled. Freshwater pump is too smart for its own good. It has a leak detection function that shuts the pump off if water flows for too long. This can be overidden by cycling the power 4 times. Pump is also really noisy. Seems like the board it is mounted to was not well insulated... another project. Water seems to taste a little better but not as good as our last boat. Not all of the water level meters give accurate readings. I'm also not clear about whether the 4 tanks drain sequentially, or all at the same time.
7.10.20 - Tightened battery hold downs per survey recommendation.
7.11.20 - Removed loose deck caulking. Eventually, teak will need to be replaced or maybe recaulked. I told my wife that we should replace it with Astroturf.
7.13.20 - There is a puddle of 90 weight under the bow thruster gear housing in what we call the 'hell hole' aka crew quarters. The reservoir was also low. I removed the inspection cover from the drive belt that connects the thruster to the motor and there was 90 weight inside the housing as well. I think there must be a bad seal. I will hold on this project until the boat is out of the water. I drained out all of the gear oil and topped off the reservoir. As long as I use the thruster sparingly, I think it will be OK. Just another on-hold project.
8.1.20 - One of the rear davit bolts was loose and so there was a gap between the mounting flange and the transom. I climbed into the rear lazarette and removed an unidentified piece of hardware from the backside of the transom to get at the end of the bolt - there was nothing on it but the lock nut and washer were just sitting there. I installed and tightened them down after clearancing the a dremel. I'm still not satisfied with the davit mounts but this should keep it in place for a while at least. They were definitely an afterthought.
Finally figured out how to power up electric winches. The circuit breakers have a red button but also a black reset button that is really difficult to see. I just had to push up on the reset buttons and they all work now. It's really difficult to get winch handles to stay in the primary winches. I know this is partly a safety feature but the force of the spring wont allow them to stay seated even when locked.
Troubleshot the electric windlass which so far has only operated in the up direction. I opened up back of the Lewmar windlass to look at the relay / solonoid, which is used to reverse the direction of the motor. At first glance, the solenoid looked ok but when I removed the three electrical connectors, all three male ends from the solenoid broke away. It looks like they were corroded. I'm assuming that was why it would only operate in one direction. I ordered a replacement from Amazon for $170 with tax. Also a little annoyed that there doesn't seem a way to manually lower the chain in an emergency. Being able to quickly drop an anchor is an important emergency feature based on past experience.
Removed and cleaned the engine intake silencer screen. It has a turbocharged Yanmar engine with just over 5K hours on it. The screen was almost plugged with oily soot, which is kind of surprising. There is a PVC hose that goes into the silencer; perhaps that is where the oil is coming from. The air horn also had a coating of oil on it. I used up all of my brake parts cleaner on it, and it still could use a little more cleaning. So another work in progress.
Started systematically replacing the cheap one-plug french outlets with cheap Lowes outlets, albiet with USB adapters. I started with the one in our room because it wasn't working. I used ring terminals according to ABYC code. It's very difficult to install ring terminals on household outlets because the screws are made to not come out all of the way. You have to be very careful not to strip the heads as you remote them but it can be done. I put it all back together along with an 'old work' conduit box. I tested the outlet on a lamp before tightening everything down. The lamp worked fine so I screwed the outlet along with the cover into place. I plugged in a mini 7.8 amp shop vac to clean up the mess from enlarging the hold. It stopped working after about a second of use. Now the outlet doesn't work at all.
I'm not very smart about AC but it seems like I might have what is called an 'open neutral'. I get 120 volts from both hot to ground and neutral to ground. I guess that's bad. It's very difficult to troubleshoot because although the boat came with all kinds of manuals, there is no complete wiring schematic for the boat that includes the AC system. The wires are very difficult to trace. I suspect that there is a simple solution but I will try to have a marine electrician look at it. I'm a DIY kind of person but I just don't have the time to troubleshoot.
My wife and daughter pulled out all of the anchor chain..... all 100 feet of it, that is and 200 feet of rode. The chain and rode was marked so they took notes on the color coding and they will write down the legend to the color codes on the underside of the chainlocker door. Eventually, I'd like to get more chain and less rode but 100 feet of chain should be adequate for this trip at least.
We're planning to take a week off next week so there are many projects need to be completed before I'm comfortable leaving. A few others include:
Funny how when looking at the boat, I wasn't able to find much wrong with her and now I have a list over over thirty items, most of which are small repairs, many of which we've started on but are waiting on some part, a haul out, or more diagnosis.
6.26.20 - Replaced primary fuel filter for delivery back to Bremerton. Old filter appeared to be serviceable.
7.4.20 - Replaced missing fastener in l.f. stateroom door handle at the request of my son. Some of these repairs may seem small but I'm writing them down anyways; will we ever get to a point where no repairs are needed?
7.8.20 - Flushed cooling system twice per survey recommendation. Coolant sample said there was some oil in the coolant. Coolant still appears yellowish. Will flush 1 - 2 more time.s There are three draincocks on the engine; one on either side and one under the front crossover pipe.
Also completed drinking water purge. Drained all 4 tanks and added 1.5 cups of bleach to each tank. Filled all 4 tanks . Let bleach solution sit overnight to kill bacteria. Drained. Refilled. Drained. Refilled. Freshwater pump is too smart for its own good. It has a leak detection function that shuts the pump off if water flows for too long. This can be overidden by cycling the power 4 times. Pump is also really noisy. Seems like the board it is mounted to was not well insulated... another project. Water seems to taste a little better but not as good as our last boat. Not all of the water level meters give accurate readings. I'm also not clear about whether the 4 tanks drain sequentially, or all at the same time.
7.10.20 - Tightened battery hold downs per survey recommendation.
7.11.20 - Removed loose deck caulking. Eventually, teak will need to be replaced or maybe recaulked. I told my wife that we should replace it with Astroturf.
7.13.20 - There is a puddle of 90 weight under the bow thruster gear housing in what we call the 'hell hole' aka crew quarters. The reservoir was also low. I removed the inspection cover from the drive belt that connects the thruster to the motor and there was 90 weight inside the housing as well. I think there must be a bad seal. I will hold on this project until the boat is out of the water. I drained out all of the gear oil and topped off the reservoir. As long as I use the thruster sparingly, I think it will be OK. Just another on-hold project.
8.1.20 - One of the rear davit bolts was loose and so there was a gap between the mounting flange and the transom. I climbed into the rear lazarette and removed an unidentified piece of hardware from the backside of the transom to get at the end of the bolt - there was nothing on it but the lock nut and washer were just sitting there. I installed and tightened them down after clearancing the a dremel. I'm still not satisfied with the davit mounts but this should keep it in place for a while at least. They were definitely an afterthought.
Finally figured out how to power up electric winches. The circuit breakers have a red button but also a black reset button that is really difficult to see. I just had to push up on the reset buttons and they all work now. It's really difficult to get winch handles to stay in the primary winches. I know this is partly a safety feature but the force of the spring wont allow them to stay seated even when locked.
Troubleshot the electric windlass which so far has only operated in the up direction. I opened up back of the Lewmar windlass to look at the relay / solonoid, which is used to reverse the direction of the motor. At first glance, the solenoid looked ok but when I removed the three electrical connectors, all three male ends from the solenoid broke away. It looks like they were corroded. I'm assuming that was why it would only operate in one direction. I ordered a replacement from Amazon for $170 with tax. Also a little annoyed that there doesn't seem a way to manually lower the chain in an emergency. Being able to quickly drop an anchor is an important emergency feature based on past experience.
Removed and cleaned the engine intake silencer screen. It has a turbocharged Yanmar engine with just over 5K hours on it. The screen was almost plugged with oily soot, which is kind of surprising. There is a PVC hose that goes into the silencer; perhaps that is where the oil is coming from. The air horn also had a coating of oil on it. I used up all of my brake parts cleaner on it, and it still could use a little more cleaning. So another work in progress.
Started systematically replacing the cheap one-plug french outlets with cheap Lowes outlets, albiet with USB adapters. I started with the one in our room because it wasn't working. I used ring terminals according to ABYC code. It's very difficult to install ring terminals on household outlets because the screws are made to not come out all of the way. You have to be very careful not to strip the heads as you remote them but it can be done. I put it all back together along with an 'old work' conduit box. I tested the outlet on a lamp before tightening everything down. The lamp worked fine so I screwed the outlet along with the cover into place. I plugged in a mini 7.8 amp shop vac to clean up the mess from enlarging the hold. It stopped working after about a second of use. Now the outlet doesn't work at all.
I'm not very smart about AC but it seems like I might have what is called an 'open neutral'. I get 120 volts from both hot to ground and neutral to ground. I guess that's bad. It's very difficult to troubleshoot because although the boat came with all kinds of manuals, there is no complete wiring schematic for the boat that includes the AC system. The wires are very difficult to trace. I suspect that there is a simple solution but I will try to have a marine electrician look at it. I'm a DIY kind of person but I just don't have the time to troubleshoot.
My wife and daughter pulled out all of the anchor chain..... all 100 feet of it, that is and 200 feet of rode. The chain and rode was marked so they took notes on the color coding and they will write down the legend to the color codes on the underside of the chainlocker door. Eventually, I'd like to get more chain and less rode but 100 feet of chain should be adequate for this trip at least.
We're planning to take a week off next week so there are many projects need to be completed before I'm comfortable leaving. A few others include:
- Tighten loose stanchions.
- Mount life-sling to rail.