Various tasks, and progress

Saturday past we got the engine aligned and permanently bolted in, bolted up the coupling to the drive shaft, connected the gearbox, throttle, and stop control cables, the exhaust and the major wiring, and used the key to spin it over.  All good so far!

Next we need some fuel and sea water delivery sorted, and the rest of the wiring, and we'll have a working power unit.

Other tasks are progressing in parallel.

New upholstery:

New cabin top grab rails (the old ones are jarrah and splitting, the new ones Burmese teak):

Tiller and Bridle or Horse

This set-up is a problem.  Originally, well, recently anyway, Fair Maid had a traveler in the cockpit for the main sheet.  That has been removed, and somebody fitted a rope bridle instead.  It's annoying and puts the mainsheet block at somewhere near head height as she swings across...

We need to come up with a new solution...

Sailing, Monday Oct. 30:

Engine in

Saturday afternoon we drew Fair Maid over beside the club jetty and swung the new motor over, using the boom as a gantry, and lowered it into the engine room.  We fitted two bolts to the engine mounts, then knocked off at that point and went for a sail.

The next step is to hook everything up:  Wiring, fuel, exhaust, sea water.  Lots to do...

Actually, there are many different and vital systems on a yacht, a surprising multiplicity.

1.  Rigging and sails
2.  Motor and propeller, including cooling, fuel, exhaust, mechanical controls (gear and engine stop), starting, gauges, and charging.
3.  Steering
4.  Anchor, lines, bollards, fenders, etc.
5.  Safety, including EPIRB, life-ring, life-jackets, marine radio(s)
6.  Battery charging (via alternator, solar, and shore-power)
7.  House power and lighting
8.  Navigation lights
9.  Head (i.e toilet)
10.  Galley, including stove, icebox or fridge, and sink
11.  Bilge pump(s) including automatic level switches
12.  Depth, speed, and GPS location indicators
13.  Navigation, including compass(es), charts (electronic and/or paper), etc.
14.  Cushions and other creature comforts.

All of this requires addressing on Fair Maid.  Much of it is present, some of it in poor condition, and some of it entirely absent.  Over time we intend on putting everything into good order, and making her as seaworthy and as pretty as she has ever been.

Sailing...

Fair Maid sails nearly every week on the Swan River Estuary.  Being engine-less for the time being, we are sailing her off and onto her swing mooring, which is only 10 metres or so from a mud bank hazard, making for a real challenge to navigation.  So far we've been aground on the mud twice, once kedging her off, and the other time being towed by a yacht club rescue boat.  All in all slightly embarrassing, but considering the degree of difficulty and our unfamiliarity with the boat, I think we've done OK.

The allure of sailing is difficult to describe to the uninitiated.  It combines many elements, all of which are fabulous: being on the water, isolated from the hard, solid, daily world; no mechanical noise at all, no fuel or oil smell either, just salt in the nostrils making one feel clean and invigorated; the power of the wind, which until it is experienced as it is on a yacht, is either unnoticed or only seen as destructive; the aesthetics of a sailing craft, which are beyond compare; the feeling of liberty which is comparable to flying; the sheer joy of the whole experience, the senses filled with sweet, gentle, things.

The following are some sailing pictures, illustrating the beauty of this part of the world and the serenity and attractiveness of sailing.

A couple of weeks ago the Duyfken passed us running her engine...

And Saturday (Oct. 21, 2017) our twilight sail turned into a half hour of magic towards the end, as the breeze dropped to a whisper and the sunset exploded into liquid gold, with a spectacular, almost mystical, counter-glow in the East, with a huge double rainbow over the City of Perth filled in with pink.  I cannot recall a more beautiful evening.

Motor progress

The new motor is a Kubota D850 three-cylinder diesel, marinised by Westerbeke as the Universal M25.

The first task was to strip it and assess the condition.  The rings were seized in the ring lands in the pistons, and there was therefore no compression.  A full rebuild was in order.  The bores were excellent, hardly worn at all, which is typical of leisure marine engines - they hardly do any hours.  Corrosion and neglect kill them, not wear.  A full set of main and big-end bearings, rings, gaskets, as well as new injectors and glow plugs, were fitted.

Fair Maid, like most leisure craft, has a "wet" exhaust.  This means that cooling water is injected into the engine exhaust and leaves the boat with the exhaust gases.  The exhaust system is therefore "cool" (relatively, anyway) and is not a fire hazard.  The Westerbeke/Universal engine has a coolant header tank which envelops the engine exhaust manifold, and at the exit of this assembly the sea water is directed into the exhaust itself via the tube atop this green exhaust elbow.  This elbow is actually a Volvo Penta unit adapted for the task. 

New engine mounts were fabricated, using the old engine as a template, so that the new engine mounts would "land" in exactly the same place in the boat, simplifying and speeding up the installation.

First start:

Some paint:

The next step was to procure a heat exchanger and mount that to the motor.  The old Volvo Penta MD7A was raw water cooled, meaning that fresh water (sea or river) is taken into the cooling jacket, circulated, and then expelled through the wet exhaust.  The new motor is coolant-cooled, meaning the raw water does not touch the engine, but instead is taken in via a sea-cock, pumped through a heat exchanger, then expelled via the wet exhaust.  This is a much superior system, in that the engine is not subject to salty water and the resultant corrosion.  Instead, the engine is cooled by normal anti-freeze and corrosion-inhibiting coolant, and the sea water cools the coolant via the heat exchanger.

Here is the heat exchanger being mounted.  The approach was to mount everything together to create an engine/transmission/heat exchanger "package" to reduce installation difficulty and time.  Ideally we will be able to drop the package into the boat and simply hook everything up.

Eric Cox Sea Spray Magazine Advertisements

Two adverts here, one for H.E. Cox naval architect, and one for specific plans from H.E. Cox.

Eric Cox Sea Spray Adverts

Eric Cox - a similar design

Another Eric Cox design, this one looking like a younger sister of Fair Maid!

26' Eric Cox Sloop