Maintenance

July 25, 2013

It turns out that, even after 7 years of cruising, you still learn new things. We had to return early from a trip in Phang Nga bay near Phuket as the outboard engine would not start anymore. It turns out that in Thailand all gasoline is mixed with ethanol and after some months the gasoline and ethonal separate in water and something that is still combustible. In our case the Yamaha only received water with predictable results and potentially damaging the cylinders as they will start rusting. Happily we were in time to correct it and now use an additive that should prevent that separation (cross your fingers). All yachties be warned!

Also a fish eagle had landed on our wind direction sensor, turning the delicate instrument in a windmill. Luckily we could get a spare part at Octopus for free!

Also a valve of the new dinghy was leaking and needs replacement and we broke the drainage plug of the dinghy. (minor problems).

As soon as these things are corrected we will show Terese and Bounce more wonders of Phang Nga bay.

April 2014

While Stamper was on the hard in Pangkor marina, we changed one of the seacocks that had become stuck and impossible to close anymore.

A year ago I had increased the speed of the Maxprop propellor from 22 degrees to 24 degrees. The intention was to increase the engine efficiency at low speeds. Of course you have to be aware that at high speeds you could overheat your engine. That is exactly what happened as the temperature sensor had failed and our rev counter had not been replaced due to the high costs of original volve spare parts. In Danga bay marina we had the engine checked and it turned out that the heated engine had burned a lot of the accumulated coal deposits. In itself not bad, except that now the pistons were leaking gas into the carter. This signalled the need for a complete overhaul of the engine, last done in 2005 before we left. This will be done in may 2014. we will tell you what the results are.

The engine is ready to be lifted

There she comes

And for us a bit of cleanup to be done...

29 May, 2014

It seems that our engine is taken apart in bits and pieces

December 2014

Maintenance of Stamper in 2014

As every year Stamper required maintenance in 2014. It is invariably the largest budgetpost in a year, being intensely used under heavy conditions. The sun bleaches and damages any kind of plastic, wear and tear from sea and wind and rust from seawater take their toll.

This year we had our engine overhauled completely, after 2800 engine hours and 8 years of cruising since its last overhaul the Volvo engine was overheating. Later this turned out to be caused by dirty fuel injectors and a simple repair would have suffised. The local diesel engineer however insisted the engine needed new piston rings and a major overhaul. We agreed that it would be time for that and the internal waterpump and timer belt were replaced also. Good to have done before the Indian Ocean crossing!

Then our alternator burned out. A simple rewiring in Singapore turned out to be just symptom treating. The real cause was me asking too much of an alterator and overheating it by changing the way i used it without realizing that. First installing two large AGM batteries of in total 500 Ah; they take all power they can get untill they are full. Then letting the engine run while winching up the anchor to prevent the batteries from draining too much. That combination was just cooking our poor alternator. So now we have a new alternator that can provide nearly 150 A current, better internal cooling and a regulator that on purpose lowers the output of the alternator to only 50% and checks the temperature of the alternator to further lower the demand if it gets too hot. I tested the setup and indeed the temperature now stays within limits.

The bearing of our rudder broke lose from its mounting in the Polyester hull in May this year. A small leak started that did require our attention. I would have preferred to have an expert do this work for me as that bearing sits in about 15 cm of epoxy at a crucial part of the hull. The repair required digging out the old bearing completely, in a difficult place and rebuilding the hull at that point. No professionals were available, so I ended up doing the job with some advice of fellow sailors. It worked out fine.

For the Indian Ocean, known for its heavy swell, we decided to get a spare autopilot motor. The old one is starting to make more and more noise after 22 years of heavy work. If it fails a simple replacement can be done within half an hour. Also we decided to replace some of our old instruments as the displays were fading beyond readible. It turns out that technology has advanced so much that one instrument now replaces all five old instruments and makes it also easier to read and get a view of all important things for a sailboat. Amazing. As we got the hang of it we also replaced our old VHF (short range communication).

Julie had the urge to recover all the cushions inside the boat (when the material will be delivered). To top everything up a new fixed roof bimini was fitted with canvas sides and windows where you can actually see through all around.

We cannot think of anything more to do to prepare for our next wildest ocean crossing to South Africa. Here we come!