There is one variable I completely ignored when I decided to turn around: myself. And all I had personally invested in time, emotion, money, and what I was going away from. So here I am, back to square 1, in a spiteful society, longing for the lonesomeness of the sea, angry at myself. I don’t think I’ll turn notifications on for this spot; it’s not worth spreading. But I guess I continue to feel down.
I’ve ripped the plumbing for the aft internal ballast system, trying to figure out a solution to resolve leaks. Other than that, I’m making zero progress. It’s not like I’m idling but nothing seems to move in the right direction. Maybe I should go sailing … forget this. And I will, as soon as I’ve re-secured the ballast plumbing, which is likely two weeks out.
When I bought Changabang she was resting on her cradle in Frossay. As you can see above this cradle has proved useful over the years, in particular for post-Transat races delivery. It was also perfect to ship her to San Diego. And it would be great for post-Transpac races transport too. But, the future of this cradle is looking bleak at this time. It’s been in “storage” at Berkeley Marine Center. But they want me to take it out. If I have to pay for storage (or transport for that matter) then that’ll likely be the end of it. If you have any suggestion or can assists, let me know.
In terms of storage space the problem with the cradle is that, although the posts and resting pads can be disassembled, the base can’t. I’m also considering cutting the base (and then weld it back together when it’ll be required, or bolt a few steel bars onto it).
AP fixed, maybe?
I finally got the primary auto-pilot back into production. To be fair, until it’s tested in actual sailing conditions I won’t know for sure if all is good. Dock testing seemed to confirm a successful repair. So what was wrong?
Damaged brushes
The above picture shows the carbon brushes of the electric motor that pushes the oil to actuate the piston (which in turn turns the rudder). If you look closely you’ll see that the little spring in there is broken (due to corrosion, and possibly high current as there are burn marks). I was told by Lecomble & Schmitt to replace the motor. I thought that to be excessive so I also ordered a new set of brushes. After replacing them the motor seemed to work just fine. I put the new motor in action today. When I was done with that I went in to test the auto-pilot, without success. Darn, way to run a post-repair joy moment!
What then?
Power to the clutch.
The motor would spin but the rudder wouldn’t turn. After applying 12V to the clutch I could determine that the clutch was indeed working. I concluded that somewhere upstream no voltage was being applied. I first verified that proper voltage was coming out of the NKE “brain”. After that it was a matter of tracing where the loose connection was. And, as the above picture shows, it was right at the plug that powers the clutch! The black wire had come loose (also see corrosion on the red wire).
So in the end there were two problems. I suspect one was a consequence of the other. Maybe the sequence was that the clutch stopped working, the motor kept spinning, the spring finally broke, things got haywire. I now have 4 motors! And I need to improve water tightness of the lazarettes where these are stored (or look for an alternative solution, which, as we know, on a boat, would turn into a big project). The simple solution (thanks Brian) is to mount the motor inside the boat, close to the lazarette, and drill 3 holes to guide the hydraulic hoses through. At first glance, this seems like a reasonable project.
The boom ready for the trip back to Pillar Point Harbor.
Last Wednesday Skip and I went to pick up Changabang’s boom in Watsonville. The repair looks great! Structural rivets were used to fasten the two quarter sleeves. Thursday the family helped me re-install the boom on the gooseneck. And today I finished the work by re-rigging the jackstays, the reef lines, the out-haul, etc. I just need to hoist the mainsail to cross-check and tune everything.
As far as the wear and tear on the carbon “ear” that bears most of the weight of the boom on the gooseneck, I tried to re-fill it with epoxy resin. Time will tell if this will last (I don’t have high hopes as I think the epoxy will simply shear off under the load). We also added Delrin washers horizontally and vertically.
For the autopilot hydraulics I’m awaiting a new electric motor and carbon brushes from PYI, Inc. I’ll test to see if just replacing the brushes will be enough to fix the motor.
So sad to see the carnage on the Vendee Globe, as well as Whitall Stokes. It’s rough out there.
Small boat projects, that’s what. And applying for jobs like a mad man.
The immersion/lifting system for the hydrogenerators was sub-optimal in that it was monopolizing a winch. I changed that.
The primary autopilot hydraulics failure has been identified: the electric motor (which pushes oil in/out of the tiller actuator) is toast. I’m waiting for a diagnostic on whether a new motor or just brushes will fix things up.
If you recall, the screws that were securing the starboard tiller to the shaft were corroded solid. I took the tiller off, and varnished it a bit. I’ve re-drilled holes to fasten it properly, with plastic sleeves to reduce steel to aluminum corrosion.
I’ve installed a new windvane. I also raised a support request with Davis Instruments, which was honored. So 5 stars to these guys for customer service!
I’ve cut a new spinnaker sheet from my spool of rope. I’ve removed the funnel extension, which had fallen in the fuel tank intake hose!
The list is still long, as usual on a boat, as things progres slowly. And tomorrow I’m picking up the repaired boom! We just maybe able to sail again soon …
Before end of December I need to decide if I want to pay the restart fee for the WSSRC record attempt. What do you think I should do? It’s about $1,000. Remember you can support my efforts here. Happy holidays!
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth’s oceanic divisions. To put that in perspective I loaded my sailing track into Google Earth. I still had a long way to go before hitting Australia! On the picture below PNG stands for Papua New Guinea.
I was about 10% into a RTW voyage when I turned around.
Not much else to report aside from ordering a new toggle for the gooseneck, and exploring options to wing out the jib to sail (almost) dead downwind.
I probably could have benefited from a vacation from Changabang. But I just couldn’t live with the sense of defeat I’m still carrying, and set out to fix things. I expect that I will run out of fumes at some point, and will distance myself a bit. To recharge I do go to bed early, and wake up late. In the afternoon I feel sleepy, especially when driving! I vaguely recall a saying that it takes one day of recovery for each day of sailing, when competing in the solo race to Hawaii. I hope it won’t take me five weeks to recover! Oh, and did I say I lost 20 lbs. during those five weeks? Anyone looking for a diet?
At some point I think I’ll put pen to paper for a good long reflection on the shakedown cruise. For now, it’ll likely be small bites on repair/fixing progress. That said, if anyone has suggestions/leads for employment or sponsorship, feel free to reach out, using the comments or “Contact us” form.
Side note: we’re struggling to get into the 3 digits subscriber count … stuck on 99. Get your mama to sign up! For what it’s worth I looked up the stats for pjsails.com; not surprisingly they went from about 200 views/week before departure to 4-5,000 views/weeks during the first two weeks, and then progressively back down to 2,500 during the fifth week, and now we’re back to 200+ views/weeks. I was not expecting this type of attraction so I’ll call this a success story! The tracker page is the clear winner.
Boom updates
The boom is now in Watsonville, with a good chance of being repaired. A new one would have cost about $1,200, plus custom crate for delivery ($200), plus shipping (likely $600); so a repair, though not cheap, is a more attractive option, financially that is, because, cosmetically, a repaired boom doesn’t rank high … That said, the repair is not in the bag until the spar builder gets into the nitty gritty of the repair.
Gooseneck: carbon fitting on the mast.
Today I picked apart the gooseneck. The carbon fittings in the mast would be very happy with some level of rebuilding, which I may be able to do with epoxy/sanding. The toggle appears fairly worn out, in particular the hole was elongated, so I’ll likely replace it.
Worn out gooseneck toggle.
On the topic of sails
On a Class40 boat like Changabang, the sails are big, which means they are fairly expensive. As an example, the new mainsail (manufactured in early 2018) cost $18,500. So I am trying to preserve them for the potential next owner, as they do add value to the boat. The new mainsail was rolled up and stored in the attic, where the staysail will follow suit, while I continue to wear down the old Dacron sails.
The only new sail I am using is the genoa, as I don’t really have another one to play with. The genoa, unfortunately, suffered a bit of chafe damage when I eased it out on the bow pulpit. It’s with Leading Edge Sails for repair. The batten pocket will get some fixing too (if you recall the batten was found on deck some day while at sea). That is one sail I’d like to put in storage too, and work with a heavy Dacron one. The performance in light air would be affected in exchange of durability/reparability. As far as spinnakers are concerned, they’ll just have to wait for better options.
What else happened? I swapped the prop on one of the hydrogenerator; brought all the food back home; went up the mast to install the new windvane, only to find out that the bracket is dead (I’ll have to go back up). That’s all for now …
While at sea I’d sometime take videos, relating what was going on. This is raw, unedited, and it shows. It is how things are, unromanticized I suppose. I’d think it’d get quickly boring, and if that’s the case … jump to the end and meet dolphins.
I spent the afternoon taking Changabang’s boom off. There is a possibility that it may be repaired. Tomorrow I’ll drive to Watsonville to get an expert’s opinion. For now it’s sitting next to the house as I’ve been advised that large pieces of aluminum get stolen for recycling money.
Wednesday afternoon the wind picked up, and Changabang did what she does best: sail fast. By 10:30PM we were in Pillar Point Harbor after having emerged from a long day of fog. Family and a friend were waiting (thanks, Milt, for driving all the way!), with lights on as I slowly motored near by, for a “victory lap”, and then onto docking (where a Belgian treat was waiting; thanks Michael!).
There was much excitement from the welcome committee, so I suggest turning audio off while watching the video! Once CaB was all set up to rest for a while, it was time for a quick trip back home (where another small but warm welcome committee was waiting for us; thank you!) while reconnecting with Joëlle and Luna, a wonderful meal, a shower, and a bed.
This morning I woke up as if a group of angry baseball players had taken to practice on my body while I was sleeping (slight exaggeration). In any case, round midday, I mustered enough motivation to drive to CaB, and start the offloading process, as well as a quick rinse.
CaB in her new slip at Pillar Point Harbor
On the way back home I stopped by old faithful Leading Edge Sails to see if something could be done to bring Big back to life. A surgery is possible, and would likely require a full day of work. So for now, Big is back home in the bag, waiting for funding.
Changabang’s big spinnaker showing his many wounds.
I have plenty of media to go through. So I think it’ll be a while before the next post. Thank you all for watching and encouraging. I hope this was a good distraction during the current circumstances. We haven’t yet reached 100 subscribers, if you wish to add yourself and get the blog over the “100 bump”, that’d be cool.
This was heard at some point during docking: “it is when you make landfall that you remember while you go to sea”. So, more sea time in the future sounds likely! All the best to you and your projects!
