The Blue View - Finished at Last

 

We were getting quite used to being able to check out our surroundings with a glance through any of the 68 new holes in the hull, and were beginning to appreciate the added ventilation they provided, but alas, all good things must come to an end,. The chainplates are now firmly bolted in place and each hole has its own 1/2” bolt, nut, washer and enough Sika to keep the ocean on the outside. The chainplate project is now complete.

The last few days have been busy. Each chainplate required two bends, one to conform to the hull shape and one to match the angle of the shrouds. This necessitated that each chainplate be bolted on so that the first angle could be measured, then removed and taken to the machinist to make the first bend. Then the process was repeated with all eight chainplates for the second bend. All in all, a time consuming process.

The next step was to bolt them back in place and shape the teak pads that act as spacers between the chainplates and the bulwarks. This took me the better part of two days – a lot of sanding was required.

Then the chainplates were removed once more. Every time they were handled new scratches appeared on the surface of the stainless, and the bending process introduced tool and stress marks, so they were sent out for a final polishing.

There was another slight complication with the bolts. They had to be ordered in, and the choice was either too short or too long. Not a tough decision, but it meant all the bolts had to be cut off and dressed. Since the hull thickness varied from about 1” to more than 2”, the length of each bolt  varied as well. It took another half day to figure out how long each bolt needed to be and cut them to length.

The last step was to apply Sika bedding compound around the holes, put the chainplates in place and bolt each one down. The objective was to make sure the chainplates were stronger than the wire shrouds and stays they were holding, and I am quite convinced this goal was met. And it looks about as good as having eight steel straps bolted to the outside of the hull can look.

The interior finish work will have to wait until another port, but other than that, the interior of Nine of Cups is back together and everything is stowed. Tomorrow, we start replacing the rigging. More to come...

The Blue View - Chainplate Update

We are finally making some progress on the chainplates, although it has been one step backwards for each two slow steps forward. The most recent setback was when I discovered, after the stainless for the chainplates was all cut, drilled and polished, that the metal for the backstays was the wrong thickness – 3/8” (10mm) instead of 1/2” (12mm). We will lose another week while they are redone.

There are two bends that need to be made in each chainplate, but determining the location of each bend has to wait until the part is attached to the hull. Once attached, the precise location and angle of the first bend can be measured and marked, then the chainplate must be removed and taken back to the machinist to be bent. Next the parts will be reattached to the hull, the second bend measured and marked, and again sent to the shop to be bent. All this has to wait until the holes have been drilled in the hull.

Most of the holes in the hull have now been drilled, which was a major undertaking. A total of 68 holes needed to be drilled, most of which pass not only through the hull, but the old stainless chainplates as well. All but eight of these have been drilled, and these remaining holes will wait until the first bend is made and the chainplates reattached. One thing we noticed as the holes were drilled was that rust colored water continues to seep out from the old chainplates – continued confirmation that we are doing the right thing here and didn't wait any longer.

The exterior carpentry is done. The last phase was fabricating and attaching the teak spacers to the hull, and this has now been completed.

The interior cutouts have all been made, luckily, except for one in the forward berth, they are all inside bookshelves or lockers. I used my Ryobi version of the Fein tool to make the cuts. I will make teak pieces to cover the holes – a few in the next few days with the teak I have on hand and some later when I can get  less expensive teak elsewhere. I want to be able to easily remove the hole covers later so that the new chainplates and bolts can be inspected periodically.

Progress is being made, although painfully slow. Maybe another week until the project is complete – assuming no more major setbacks. Using Marcie's project formula, it'll be another two weeks.

The Blue View - International Electrical Connections

I was planning to give an update on the chainplate progress, but there hasn't been much progress to write about. The chainplates themselves have been cut, drilled and polished, and are sitting in Dave's office waiting for the carpenter to make the cuts on the cap and rub rails. He was supposed to come last week, but was delayed because of another project. He did arrive around 10am on  Monday of this week (he doesn't like to start too early), got all unpacked and set up, made several measurements, and discussed the plan with me. We figured out the optimal angles, measured the sections to be cut – twice – then he plugged in his saw and turned it on and … nothing.

As is typical in most marinas the world over, an electrical connection is never made by plugging an extension cord directly into an outlet. It almost always requires an adapter or two at the shore power end. Here in South Africa, since there are two different plug sizes commonly used for appliances and tools, it gets more complicated. Our carpenter had two adapters between the extension cord and the shore power outlet, then two more adapters between the extension cord and the power strip that his saw was plugged into. Apparently, there was a short somewhere in the system, because we discovered that as soon as everything was plugged into the shore power outlet, the GFCI breaker would open.

It took about 45 minutes to find and correct the problem (saltwater inside one connector of the extension cord) before he was able to start cutting. He will spend most of today and tomorrow making the cuts and fabricating backing pads, and I'll write about that in the next blog.

Meanwhile, I thought I'd talk about the various adapters we've collected for connecting to shore power around the world.  Just for starters, the USA uses three connector types for shore power: 15A/125v, 30A/125v and 50A/125v. We have no need for the 50 amp version, but we do carry a couple of cords and adapters with connectors for the 15 amp and 30 amp circuits. These also work in most countries other than the USA that use 110-125 volts.

Once we started cruising in the countries that use 220v/50 hz power, our adapter collection started growing. We must have encountered 10 or 12 different connector types. Initially, we would try to find an adapter that we could use to connect our American shore cable to the local shore power circuit, but these were often hard to locate and expensive. We now use a 10A/220 volt, 30m (100')  outdoor extension cord. I removed one end and replaced it with a connector that mates with our American shore power cable. The other end is removed as needed and replaced with the local connector. My inventory of connectors is pretty extensive now, and I often have one that will work in each new country, but if not, I make a quick trip to the local hardware or electrical supplier to get what I need.

Converting the 220 volt/50hz shore power to our 120v/60hz world is a whole other topic for another blog.