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Thanks, Joseph. I’ll be careful with the vapors. Gave that stuff up in favor of beer years ago.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Thank you all for those suggestions. Was hoping for something generic and likely to be lying around already,
like MEK or acetone, since I only need to etch the few square feet of my new windvane rudder & trim tab below
the waterline. I’ve already sanded the surfaces thoroughly with 60-grit wet and would be surprised if any
surface wax remains, but I want to be sure.Thanks again.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Hi Patrick,
I did seriously consider getting a Cape Horn windvane, but in the end decided that (1) the installation was too intrusive, and (2) it would prevent me from using the davits with which my boat came supplied.
Installing a Cape Horn requires cutting a relatively large hole in the transom and running a shaft almost to the steering quadrant. That shaft and its own vertically hung quadrant would’ve taken up the center section of the lazarette. That would make it difficult if not impossible for me to climb down in there, a necessary feat for servicing the vessel’s steering system, rudder post packing gland and other stuff. Also, I wanted to keep the big, open storage space an unobstructed lazarette provides.
I’ve never had davits before, but my boat came with them and I believe they will prove useful for the kind of cruising I have planned. To my knowledge, all windvanes but one would create an obstacle to hanging a dinghy back there because they necessarily present a solid protrusion aft of the transom, from the waterline to the mizzen boom. The one exception is the Auto-Helm windvane (http://www.selfsteer.com/products/autohelm/index.php), made by Scanmar International (who also make the Monitor). The Auto-Helm is made up of two entirely separate sections, (1) the rudder & trim tab and (2) the airvane assembly. These two main components are connected by a pair of thin, flexible stainless steel cables in Teflon sleeves that run easily between the side of the davit-hung dinghy and the afterdeck cap rail, requiring barely a half-inch of space between the two to pass through. So I can use the davits and the windvane simultaneously.
There are several features I especially like about the Auto-Helm windvane in addition to its ability to work around a davit-hung dinghy:
– It is of top quality construction (as is its more famous sister, the Monitor).
– Its trim tab controlled rudder provides a second steering system completely independent of the vessel’s system. No lines into the cockpit, no connection of any kind. In the event of a failure in the boat’s primary steering system I’ll have an instant back-up that I can operate via the airvane, or with a tiller autopilot, or by leading the trim tab cables into the cockpit for comfortable hand steering.
– The directional stability of the boat, especially in heavy downwind conditions, is said to be significantly improved because of the aft location of the Auto-Helm rudder. The extra rudder has a stabilizing and tracking effect of the boat.
– Auto-Helm is American-made by a very well known and proven company. The factory is manned full-time and includes an in-house engineer. They answer the phone in American English and are wonderfully responsive to the needs of far-flung cruising sailors.This is not to say the Cape Horn windvane is bad. By all appearances it is an elegant, well-made mechanism that seems to do what it is designed to do. It just didn’t suit me and my boat.
I’m in the process of installing my new Auto-Helm windvane now. Will have photos to share soon.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Chuck,
I pulled all my boat’s seacocks a couple of years ago, all Groco’s. They weren’t as green as yours, but most were frozen from the PO’s neglect and all required a thorough external clean-up, which I did on a wire wheel with good results. In the process I spoke with someone at Groco a couple of times and they were very helpful. One of the things I asked about was the lubricant for the big rubber stopper-plugs inside their 1-1/2″ seacocks. I knew petroleum-based products are detrimental to rubber and wanted to know what they recommend. Turned out to be a Dow Corning product called “111” (as in “Dow One-Eleven”). It took some searching to find the stuff to buy – none of my usual stores carried it. Finally located a bearing shop somewhere that mailed a tube of it to me for a few bucks. After 2 years in the water the seacocks still work as easily as the day I reassembled them. I’ve checked them all during my present haul-out, but none need any attention this time.
I now also use Dow 111 on all rubber seals, O-rings, gaskets, etc. It takes so little, one tube will last half a lifetime.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Geez, Bob, you could be the third Click-&-Clack brother. Well done!
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Hey Linus,
Those are good reasons to have pressure seawater in the cockpit area. Also might be good reasons to locate the pump closer, such as under the galley sink as Bob Fine did, so it can more easily service both ends of the boat. Anyway, you know best what works for you and the way you cruise. There’s no absolute right or wrong to it.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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John, we ALWAYS have to make a trip to Walmart when we get back to the States.
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Now there’s a side of it I’d never thought of. Thanks, Rich!
Tor
http://www.tor.cc
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Yeah, I kind of get that impression of Perko, too. I’ve called them a couple of times in the past year or so and never gotten any useful response. Groco, on the other hand, has been awesome on the two occasions I contacted them, and their 31-year-old seacocks are still keeping Mother Ocean outside of Silver Heels’ hull to this day.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Well, John, if the boat pulls to starboard I’ll know why. As for securing the plug, I figure Teflon grease and fingertip-tightening should do it.
A boat stored in this boat yard a few years ago, which did not have a garboard drain plug, managed to half-fill with rain water while the owners were away for most of a year. The result was a 2-year rebuild, including a new cabin sole and mostly new interior, and mold & mildew that will never, ever go away. Everything in a boat is a trade-off, and every hole below the waterline is a calculated risk. I eventually plan to store my boat on the hard in tropical places for half the year while I go do other fun things. The drain plug is one step towards ensuring I return to a habitable vessel.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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In case anyone is interested, I did try to ask Perko if their “bronze” garboard drain plug fitting is indeed made from cheap Asian scraps, and why they sell this fitting with a brass plug. I got some bored secretary who said she’d have someone call me back.
Well, that never happened, so I called Groco, who also makes a bronze garboard drain plug. I immediately got a smart, interested engineer on the phone who explained they have those fittings made to their specs in China, that Groco regularly lab-tests the stuff the Chinese shop ships them to ensure consistent quality, and that as a result the fittings are absolutely, definitely 100% silicon bronze made to Groco specs, including the plug. So, how much do they charge for this marvel of modern multi-national manufacturing? $9.00! Guess what I bought for my installation. Even though the packing & shipping charge doubled the price, it was still less than West Marine’s Perko shot-in-the-dark.
Here are three photos of the installation in progress. On the inside, the drain hole is located near the farthest lower starboard forward corner of the deep bilge sump. There is 1-1/8″ of solid fiberglass there, so I was able to recess the piece inside and out. When the 4200 bedding compound is dry, I’ll cover the outer flange with thickened epoxy and then bottom pain so that only the plug remains visible.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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James,
I don’t see myself or my crew going up to the bow for a freshwater rinse. That sort of thing seems most natural in the cockpit (or on a swim platform if there is one), close to the swim ladder. I may eventually put in a freshwater shower in the cockpit, or might just be content with my Home Depot portable manual pressure water system, i.e., a big, orange insecticide canister pressurized by a hand pump, with a handheld shower nozzle instead of a foliage spray wand.
I agree it’d be nice to find additional uses for that deckwash pump, which I expect to use almost never once I’m in the West Indies. However, other than firefighting I can’t think of anything practical. I suppose you could always have some fun wetting down the crew aboard boats & dinghies that pass too close, or spouting in boat parades like a miniature fireboat. Maybe try sticking the nozzle into the water and see if it’ll function as a bow thruster…
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Hey Bob,
I like your idea of all the pumps in one accessible place. I put the washdown pump close to the foredeck outlet because it seemed like the force of the pumped water would decrease as the distance from the pump increased, like voltage dropping in a long wire run. Or is this another case of counter-intuitive rules?
Certainly my installation is much less convenient than yours for servicing the pump. I have to empty the chain locker, remove the (removable) divider, and squeeze myself in there to get to the pump in any meaningful way. It’s not hard to do, just tedious. I had originally planned to install a small, circular deck hatch over the pump for ready access, but decided against it for what are probably obvious reasons. Anyway, the pump being new, I’m hopeful I won’t have to get to it for a while.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Alan,
I used 3/4″ hose.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Alan,
For what it’s worth, I installed a 12v Pro Blaster 4.0 GPM washdown pump (WM/PS #7877863) on the forward port area of the “shelf” that used to be the bottom of the shallow anchor locker. (I modified that section of the boat by opening, dividing and decking over the chain locker. So the remaining perimeter of the shelf is now internal, below the foredeck.)
The pump feeds a Jabsco Washdown Fitting with Adapter (WM/PS #6620512), which is a virtually flush mount fitting that holds back the water pressure until you plug in the hose adapter (and then open the hose nozzle). I mounted that on the inboard face of the foredeck coaming, beneath and offset to starboard of the starboard anchor stock.
The pump’s feed hose is long, running from a seawater intake manifold in the area of the mid-ship companionway. However, that long hose run is below water level and so is naturally pressurized all the way forward until the last vertical rise to the pump. So the pump draws about as easily as it would from a closer thru-hull. (I removed the forepeak sink & thru-hull.)
I’ve only tested the washdown a couple of times, but it seems to work perfectly. The water stream is strong enough to knock sticky mud from the anchor chain, and for washing down the decks, as well. I believe it could also come in handy for firefighting.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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