Transmission Transition on Tenthouse Creek

—Blogpost written by Bob

Our layover in Galesville was caused by problems with our v-drive transmission--there was a very long delay in shifting into forward and there was significant leakage of transmission fluid from the seal nearest the engine.  This layover began on Sunday, June 14.  Our transmission was eventually pulled from the boat on June 23, nine days later, during a short haul.

Wednesday, June 24

We got an early start to the day and removed all the canvas around the bimini.  We had one particular zipper which gave us a lot of trouble--it took zipper lube and WD-40 to loosen it up.  We also reassembled the canvas (which had been cleaned and waterproofed yesterday) around the hard dodger.

Maggie applied waterproofing
liquid around the windows
using a foam brush.
(She used a roller
for larger areas.)

Maggie worked out in the hot sun almost all day.  Late in the afternoon we had to drive to our storage unit and to Fawcetts in Annapolis to pick up enough waterproofing liquid (303-brand Fabric Guard) to complete the task.

In the evening, we were able to re-mount the bimini and install the solar panels simultaneously with the bimini installation.  We lubed all the zippers too.  We stored all the windows on a long roll pillow which will reside in our storage unit until they are needed again.

Thursday, June 25

Making tea and/or coffee first thing in the morning is one of the few rituals we have.  This morning, when turning our propane system on, the system beeped and blinked yellow lights indicating a sensor failure—it wouldn’t allow us to light our propane stove.  We turned the system off and on, then tried again several times (still with the resulting sensor failure alarm) before giving up and driving 20 minutes to McDonalds for coffee and a breakfast sandwich.

The propane sensor is located
beneath our stove.

When we returned from McDonalds I turned on the propane control system and it worked perfectly—no beeping nor blinking yellow lights.

The sensor had a manufacture date of April, 2014—it’s over six years old.  I decided that the only thing I could really do was to carry a spare sensor onboard—it’s an $80+ part that I found online for $66.  (I have found that the simple, but costly, act of carrying a spare usually eliminates future failures.)  I ordered a spare sensor.

There have been two other recent occurrences of electrical abnormalities on s/v Rainy Days, only one is still regularly occurring—our wind instrument is regularly displaying 3 digits without a decimal point (for wind speed) that have nothing to do with the velocity of the wind.  The other intermittent electrical abnormality happens to our Watt Wizard which measures the input from our solar panels—it will occasionally read four 5’s or four 1’s without a decimal point and with no relationship to reality.  This morning it was working perfectly, reading a mere 1.62 amps with the sky heavily overcast and our batteries fully charged by shore power.

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  At the end of the day we drove to our marina in Baltimore for a little celebration, while we all (most of us anyway) wore face masks and practiced social distancing.

Friday, June 26

I slept late this morning (8 AM)—it felt good to be able to do this! Maggie drove to Tennessee, leaving at 4 AM, to attend a small gathering with her son’s family. (Tennessee is roughly half way between Maryland and Texas where he lives.) I stayed here on the boat to care for our little feline princess, Lola.

Lola self-administering
her morning bath.

One of my day’s projects was to cut a 1” thick foam exercise mat to fit over the top of the ice box, an idea from the C&C forum. I measured it with a yardstick (the only measuring tool that was available on the boat, marked it with a red Sharpie, and cut the outline with scissors. (If anything, I cut it a little too snug—I may have to shave it down with sandpaper on a block of wood.)

The one-inch thick foam
exercise mat cut to fit
the top of the icebox.

About those two HELLA-brand interior fans I got for a good deal, one of them was inoperable and had to be returned. I returned it today via the UPS store in Annapolis. Which brings me to the second project of the day, I replaced the old very noisy fan over the port settee with a new one.  (I'm not sure how this will hold up to daily use but it sure will add to our insulation for the ice box.)

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At the end of the day, I had a lonely Happy Hour (without Maggie).  By the way, there was no word on our transmission yet except that it had been taken apart the same day as it was delivered (probably Wednesday).  Stay healthy!

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