Alameda - Pause for boat repairs and maintenance

Jim and I took off by boot leather express for the town of Alameda to pick up the repair parts, groceries and the harness for the dinghy. After 6 miles of walking and a few hours later we were laden with supplies (canned ham for dinner - $1.99 on sale at Walgreens – Lara’s back in charge of cooking - grin!) and back on the boat.

Lara cleaned the place from top to bottom to include the shower filters and a few loads of laundry.

The Reliable Marine Electronics people swarmed the boat with the new communications system, the radar and a new stereo (that talks to a iPod!). The boat was peeled back to its cables/wires and refitted. Of course the new SIMRAD required that the headcase be sawed open. It was a mess but we are back in business.

Jim: Lest any of you think that this is all canape’s and cocktails, let me summarize my last two days in Alameda (I’ll leave out all of the walking except to say that the trip mentioned above was not the only long walk for parts and supplies!).

I removed the engine shroud (which is going to have to be re-designed and modified next year!) and disconnected the hydraulic pump drive shaft and removed the bent crankshaft pulley and bolted in the new one (carefully!) and then reassembled the hydraulic pump drive shaft and torqued all of the bolts. No more vibration!
Then I went up to the boat deck and installed the new dinghy bridle and the new bilge pump for the dinghy.
Then it was back to the engine room to replace the manual fuel transfer pump and the electric fuel transfer pump. Several hours later (with hands reeking of diesel fuel) they are in place and working fine. Then I transferred fuel to the day tank and then re-balanced the fuel loads in the wing tanks.
Then it was time to change the oil and filter in the main engine. In order to do that the oil has to be warm so I started the main engine and used that time to test the crane for the dinghy (I had wired in a solenoid switch to provide the proper hydraulic pressure for the new, heavier dinghy). I also used that time to test the engine driven pump (which had been disabled during the bent crankshaft pulley fiasco).
Then it was time to shut down the engine and drain the oil into the waste oil tank and then remove the (HOT) oil filter and finally to refill the engine with 6.2 GALLONS of oil.
Then I added another layer of packing to the shaft log since it was dripping more than I like. When that was done I shop vac’d the small amount of water that was in various places in the bilge and also retrieved a few more of the endless supply of odds and ends that seem to migrate into the bilge.
Since that pretty much completed the engine room work, I went ahead and re-installed the engine shroud (and once again reminded myself that this MUST be re-designed next year!).
Then it was off to the back deck to pull open the deck plate that we had installed in Mexico to verify that the hull extension under the swim platform was indeed remaining dry. To my great delight, it was bone dry (until a police boat went roaring by and a large wave crashed into me and dumped a bunch of water in the open hatch – get the shop vac and dry the compartment out again while trying to minimize my muttering). Then I cleaned all of the bolts and the old silicone sealant, re-applied new silicone on the hatch and lanolin on the bolts and re-installed the deck plate.
Then I checked my holding tanks and decided to re-fill the main water tank (450 gallons).
One last check around to make sure everything was ship shape and it was time to start cooking dinner. Another relaxing day in paradise!