BIG REPAIRS AND REPLACEMENTS Boat bucks $$$$$
The following list includes major repairs and replacements on the boat, ordering parts or hiring repairmen since fall 2013, our first sail south. Drew was reluctant to leave Marblehead with many things undone. I said, "We need to go now and fix along the way." That's what we've done and are reminded of our friend who said, "Cruising is just fixing the boat in exotic places." It's been worth it, and we feel we've been able to get quality work done. Before we left we had new, main, radial genoa and staysail made in Maine. The new sails work great, much improved in light air and upwind though noisier cause of new stiffness. Our repairs usually are with a mind to replace before we have a critical break. We have heard amazing stories of disasters. We do not want any of those adventures.
Nov. 2013
Refrigeration system was not working properly thus using tons of extra battery to run - the compressor wasn't charged correctly and a hole from the galley locker for control wires into the freezer wasn't caulked at all. We were defrosting every other week. Lamey in Hampton Rhodes was the repairman that finally fixed it after 4 others failed. In Dinner Key this March the caulking came out between the freezer and the cockpit locker with the compressors, and that caulking had to be replaced. Age and defrosting with the hose directly hitting the caulk made it come out.
December, 2013
We left the boat in Southport, NC with Steve at Zimmerman Marine (highly recommend) who replaced life lines (14 years old), installed a new head because it was 14 years old, the valve wasn't working - the hand flush didn't work. The hoses were replaced because they were clogged with biological build up. We had to trek to the dock house to use the john in record breaking cold. They completed the work within budget and on time - a first.
February, 2014
Aluminum holding tank leaked from corrosion over time and had to be replaced. Strangely it never smelled (effective Odorloss?). We found someone to oversee the project, found an independent carpenter in Miami to cut, pull up the teak floor, and carefully replace the holding tank under the fore cabin floor. Drew ordered a thick polypropylene replacement tank that is only a few gallons smaller at a price of about $800. We left the boat while this was being done. The whole project cost thousands.
May - Aug 2014
Atlantic Yacht Basin, Chesapeake, VA
We left the boat here for the summer. They redid all the outside teak with , a product recommended by "Practical Sailor" magazine. It had been done 10 years earlier with Bristol Finish, a hard finish using a 2 part process. It had been touched up over the years but held really well. We sailed the boat home in August. It was a disaster. When we came back in October we stopped there for 2 days and they redid spots that already wore through. Ultimate failure. The dog's nails left scratches on the cockpit bins. We never understood if the product itself or the application process was at fault. We also asked them to rectify a paint job on the hull that had left it white instead of Island Packet beige, but that failed as well.
January, 2015
Drew worked on repairing our Espar heater. It has a small but essential fuel screen inside, a little gizmo that Drew didn't know needed to be watched and replaced every 2 or 3 years depending on how much we used the heater. It had never been replaced in 10 years. Eventually he removed the heater and sent it out for a $400 rebuild. It's essential living aboard in record breaking cold winters in northern Florida, and now it works well and should last another 10 years.
February, 2015
We went to the Miami International Boat Show and bought a new yellow AB Ventus 9VL dinghy (www.abinflatables.com/ventus-9-vl) matching our old one as closely as possible. It is about 106 lbs. maybe 10 to 15 lbs. lighter than our old one : ). We had added a heavy SS transom bracket on our Carib to raise the transom so the motor was up at normal height, but won't have to do that with the new AB. The old one was a Caribe from Venezuela. No one steals a yellow dinghy named Tweety. It's 9.5' even though they call it 9' and fits the davits well. If you replace yours be sure to measure twice before you order. On this AB we added a double rub rail and flap for a spray hood. The old one had the floating lines replaced and one patch done twice. Still it's 14 years old, and since I use it by myself so much I do not want it to pop or the valves to pop out (one did a few weeks ago)! It's seen it's best days where it spent 3 years of its life in Trinidad sunshine (previous owner) that naturally degraded the material. The new one will be delivered to the northeast since it won't make delivery here before we leave. We'll sell the old one. Don't really need chaps to protect it since we aren't in the Caribbean for the summer months.
April, 2015
In Coconut Grove (we are moored in Dinner Key) Drew removed the vinyl side curtains in the cockpit to restitch/replace the zippers as needed. The sun and surf really do a number on the thread that holds the canvas together. The zippers were stitched with expensive synthetic Gore tex Tenara thread that holds up better in the sun. It was $400 to restitich all the zippers and replace one plus $200 for two more zippers and reinforcing fabric. The vinyl needs fixes about once every three years. I also use zipper lube that really helps a lot. I restitched the steering wheel cover myself with waxed thread. The other thread finally decomposed after 16 years.
May, 2015
Drew bought a new rudder position transducer sensor for the auto pilot and installed it himself at a Dinner Key slip. As he was down in the cockpit locker doing the work he said that really the auto pilot install wasn't done correctly. We will motor out to calibrate it. It will work for now.
Ongoing: The stuffing box had a slow leak, and Drew redid the packing (bear of a job), so it’s good enough for now. Like many things on the boat, it will be watched and redone as needed.
Summer, 2015
Zimmerman Marine, Cardinal, VA near Mathews, VA. After much research and hand wringing we decided on this marina to redo the teak again with Bristol Finish. The application done by Atlantic Yacht Basin last summer never held up even for 2 months. Huge job to buff it down to erase the dog scratch marks that we'd never gotten before nor seen on anyone else's boat. These guys do an excellent job. (see above work done in Southport, NC by Zimmerman Marine and Steve Wallace.) We had an extensive list of work done here including replacing the inmast furling gear after we'd stripped the screws by pulling the main in too tight and hard. They took longer than anticipated but to be fair we added a lot as we thought about things through the summer. We'll do a shake down sail and report again after everything is finished. Also added deck light, cleaned fuel injectors, altered prop angle.
February, 2016
Dinner Key Marina, Miami, FL
Replaced red and green bow light with LED changing from 2 amp to .1 amps. Drew worked hard to rewire through the tube of the pulpit but took many days. Right now the old wire is still in place that doesn't seem to move in either direction through the tube.
May, 2016
Zimerman Marina, Mathews, VA
Drew discovered the inmast furling gear replacement was chafing the line as it furled in and out of the mast. We sailed back to Zimmerman in VA on our way north for a couple of days. Pete came out to the mooring and on a misty morning worked with Drew to make some adaptations. Drew wrote to the manufacturer and tried to get them to replace it with one that works correctly. (Later, summer 16 in NH, he contacted another boat yard that upon examination of another Island Packet saw it was installed the same way. So we've let it go for now. ) Still chafing the line.
September, 2016
Marblehead Harbor, MA
The anemometer has not been working. Drew checked all connections at the base of the mast, and then after reading some discussion groups I was winched to the top, unscrewed the anemometer. We found corrosion inside on the gold pins and at the mast head. We'll clean and replace. Planning to install new GPS unit Garmin 547 before heading south.
Replaced blue water pump tank - thought it was leaking but found it was hoses to watermaker filter. Auto pilot went out on our way south to Cape Cod Canal, anchored on southside of canal and found stripped ground wire screw in port cockpit locker - replaced.
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