Last Days in Boatyard - 2017

--Blogpost written by Bob

Having picked up the repaired transmission on Friday afternoon, we were in Hartge's Yacht Yard in Galesville Maryland over this past weekend, waiting for the installation on Monday morning.  

On Saturday, I installed a fuel-water separator for our dinghy outboard--this prevents water being introduced into the engine from the fuel line and it also filters out debris in the fuel.

The fuel-water separator is installed in the fuel line between the fuel
tank (in the bow) and the engine.  It is mounted on the
dinghy's transom with stainless steel bolts.
Note our new 6 HP outboard!

The fuel-water separator installation was a corrective measure to prevent a reoccurrence of our outboard engine problems that we experienced last season.  The fuel-water separator was manufactured by RACOR specifically for outboard engines.  It contains a 10-micron filter cartridge which is changeable.  It also has a clear (actually yellowish) plastic bowl that indicates how much water has been collected from the fuel--the water can be drained off the bottom of the bowl by loosening the bottom valve screw.

Our new 6 HP 4-stroke Yamaha outboard runs like a dream.  It starts with very little effort and every time on the first pull of the starting cord.

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We had a little get together on Saturday evening with two other cruisers here in "Hartge Camp" as we affectionately call it: Rod & Diane on s/v Colonel's Lady and Francie & Bob on s/v Barefootin.  It got pretty cool outside when we finally called it a night (about 10 PM).

On Sunday, I thoroughly cleaned our onboard barbecue grill for the first time since we were in Vero Beach last Spring.  I used a chemical oven cleaner and a green abrasive pad while on the floating dock next to the boat.  We use our onboard barbecue a lot, almost every day except when we are in a marina where its use is usually prohibited.

Here, I am grilling fish on our onboard barbecue grill.  We use TEFLON
grill sheets on the grate of the grill so that pieces of fish do
not drop through the grate and it prevent
a messy grilling surface.

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Some of the boatyard's workboats at rest early on
Monday morning.  On Monday morning, all
the gas tanks are filled to the brim.

On Monday morning, s/v Rainy Days was pulled out of the water for another "short haul" to install the repaired transmission--it was on the travel lift at 8 AM.  The coupling and flange on the transmission were lightly faced to meet more intimately before installation.  During the installation the mechanic noticed that the engine mounts were installed (during the re-powering last winter) such that it was impossible to move the engine sufficiently to get perfect alignment.  This was fixed by simply (it was simple for me--I just watched) turning around two motor mounts and re-bolting them--this placed all the holes (and slots) on the same end.  While this situation wasn't a good one, it is difficult to conclude that is caused the transmission leak problem.  Three mechanics worked most of the day on the transmission installation--this was probably as costly as a brand new transmission!

At the end of Monday, the engine was in perfect alignment but they couldn't get the two bolt holes in each of two motor mounts to align with the tapped holes on the engine bed.  Consequently, we will be here at least another day...

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The original engine bed was constructed from (3) pieces of marine plywood which were laminated together and covered with fiberglass.  There was a 2 x 2 steel angle that bolted on top of the fiberglass covering.  Bunky, the mechanics supervisor, told me that he could see some movement in the engine bed as they moved the engine around to get it aligned--the movement was less than 1/16".  He didn't think this was unusual and he thought that the engine bed certainly had sufficient structural integrity.  It is still surprising to me how much a sailboat's hull can flex.  When our boat is out of the water on jack stands, we can't fully close the companionway door.

The engine alignment continued through Tuesday because new holes had to be made in two engine mounts--they wouldn't align with the existing holes.  However, by the end of the day on Tuesday, the alignment was dead on (within +/- 0.001").  

We are so glad to get the boat put back together finally and get out of the money-sucking boatyard.  The only reason I use the term "money-sucking" is that we always seem to find more things to get repaired and it's usually very costly--it is certainly not used in a negative sense toward our excellent boatyard.

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Sailboats moored on Tenthouse Creek in Galesville, MD.

Wednesday morning at 10 AM we left the boatyard in Galesville for Baltimore.  There was a light rain and patchy fog during the entire trip to Baltimore.  The wind was almost nonexistent and the water looked like glass (with little imperfections).

We passed Thomas Point Lighthouse early in our trip today.

We arrived in Baltimore Harbor at 3:15 PM, concluding a 5-1/4-hour motoring trip up the Chesapeake Bay.

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