A propulsion worry becomes irrelevant

The last item on the pre-launch list was finished last week. The VHF antenna is now mounted on the roof and is connected to the transceiver which is now mounted over the steering position. So I did one last walk-around inspection, with happy thoughts of being back on the water dancing through my mind.

Then I saw too much of the cutless bearing. This is not good. This brass and rubber prop shaft fitting is supposed to be mostly out of sight, housed in a bearing carrier at the aft end of the propeller shaft tube. Ms Bettencourt's cutless bearing had migrated aft toward the prop hub and is almost jammed against a shaft zinc. My happy thoughts about being on the water began to dispel.

Oh, well. Back to my first law of old machinery maintenance: When in doubt, disassemble. In case you don't know what a cutless bearing is, by the way, here's a picture of one:

Not all Albin-25s have cutless bearings. The boats came from the factory in Sweden with a slotted bakelite sleeve fixed in a fitting at the water end of the propeller shaft. The slots were supposed to admit water to the shaft tube which was to travel up the tube to cool the shaft support at the aft end of the engine. This arrangement worked well until, in my case, the bakelite sleeve broke up and disappeared into the deeps. There was a great racket as the shaft end slapped around. Something had to be done. By then, cutless bearings had been invented and the rest is history.

Meanwhile, back at the Port Authority, I am on the job disassembling at 0750 Saturday. The propeller must come off in order to reach the cutless bearing carrier. Step-1 in this process is to remove the steering tiller arm from the rudder shaft. Piece of cake. I keep marching through Dixie-- remove the skeg bracket that holds the rudder end. No problem. The rudder slides down and out nicely. Next, remove the prop shaft nuts and set the propeller puller device. No problem. Carefully tighten the propeller puller and--miraculously-- the prop jumps off into my arms with a satisfying "whang!"

All of this has taken about two hours. Finally, I arrive at the bearing carrier. Here's what it looks like:

That's it to the left of the shaft zinc. This picture was taken before I got the prop off. It is a little blurry because sweat was running into my eyes while I was trying to focus.





With the prop and zinc removed, the carrier and the cutless bearing slide off easily as a unit. I find that a fat rubber gizmo holding the bearing carrier has apparently loosened its grip, allowing the bearing and carrier to migrate aft. Or maybe I didn't tighten this enough the last time I had it out. I push it all back together the way it supposed to be and tighten the bejezzus out of everything.

Ninety minutes later, I have the zinc and prop back on the shaft, prop nuts torqued down, cotter key in, rudder, skeg bracket and tiller re-installed. Ms. Bettencourt is  launch ready. A plan is made to put her in the river today.

"Man plans and God laughs"  is one of my favorite aphorisms. In this case, the US Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the water level in the Savannah River,  must have been laughing too. We got to the boat ramp and there wasn't enough water in the river to float Ms Bettencourt off the trailer. With the truck and trailer down the ramp as far as safely possible and Ms. Bettencourt throbbing full power astern-- nothing happened.

So the launch was aborted and we're back under the shed.

But the cutless bearing carrier did its job under great stress, so I guess that's one thing positive to be said today about progress to date toward Ms. Bettencourt's next cruise.

Enclosure pictures; additional projects begin

I went to Charleston yesterday and picked up Ms Bettencourt at the canvas shop. I am very happy with the new enclosure. The pilot house area seems more like a room and much less like a tent.

This outside shot (below) shows how little canvas was involved in this "canvas job." I chose black screen material because I think it provides more privacy. The vertical fabric strips at the aft corners cover the panel zippers. The leading edges of these vertical strips are sewn and the trailing edges fasten with velcro. The blue material is heavy duty Sunbrella fabic. The fasteners are turn buttons on the forward edges and across the top of the aft cabin and snaps along the bottom edges.

The top edges of the three panels ride in aluminum tracks, which makes panel removal just a quick zip process.

If you look at the first picture again, you will see that the U-zippers for the clear vinyl are unusually long. The clear on each side  rolls up leaving the panel screen only. Alternatively, the whole panel will roll up and snap providing unobstructed access to and from the pilot house cabin.

Since I don't plan to be climbing in and out the back, I had the rear panel clear zipper installed so the clear rolls down. It is hard to see, but the clear is rolled down in the picture below.

.
The boat is now back under the shed at the Augusta Ports Authority. I gave her a good exterior scrub down this morning and installed a heavier duty trailer winch, which my friend Major provided. I also double-checked the the propeller nuts for tightness and installed a new cotter pin in the end of the shaft. All the running gear seems OK.

I have started building a mount and doing some re-wiring in the pilot house so I can move the VHF radio from under the dash to an overhead location above the steering wheel. Other jobs I hope to finish in the next week include:

• Install and connect the VHF antenna
• Three coats of sealer on the teak swim and anchor platforms
• New teak grab rails inside the pilot house
• Re-install the windshield wiper motor
• Paint touch up and
• Interior cleaning

It is my hope that Ms. Bettencourt will be back in the river at my dock very soon.

The top project is done!

I trailered Ms. Bettencourt to Charleston yesterday, where I struck a deal to have an enclosure fabricated. This will complete the new top project. So, today, I am officially declaring the top project finished. The new title on this blog should offer a hint about the directions I'll be taking from here.

When I went to Charleston, I was thinking I would be getting new canvas for the boat. That was my first surprise. As it turns out, there is very little canvas involved. There will be three enclosure panels --one each on the port and starboard sides and one across the rear of the pilot house area. The only canvas needed will be just enough to support the fasteners and mounting hardware. In Ms. Bettencourt's case, this will amount to about a two-inch band of blue Sunbrella fabric around the openings on either side and in the back. The rest of the panel assemblies will consist of U-zippered clear vinyl, screens, attachment fasteners and snap straps for securing the panels when they are rolled up or down.

So, the fact that I was getting an "enclosure" instead of new canvas was the first surprise of my Charleston trip. I can handle that. A learning experience, for sure.

My second surprise was almost a heart-stopper. The estimated cost of the materials and labor for this enclosure exceeded my expectations by more than 40 percent. But that was a surprise I just needed to deal with. After a few minutes, I could breathe again and my enclosure enthusiasm re-kindled. We had a handshake on the deal.

The boat with its new enclosure could be ready for pickup as early as next Friday.

So, at last, its cruise planning time. My friend Major requires cooler weather, so our next voyage together will be in October. We are thinking of trailering Ms. Bettencourt to Georgetown, SC. We will use Georgetown as a base for exploration of the Waccamaw and Black Rivers. Both rivers are "blackwater" streams, bordered by deep cypress woods and old and new Southern homes.

I will be on the water with Ms. Bettencourt well before October, however. As soon as I get the boat back from Charleston, I expect to spend a week or so on the hard cleaning up and fitting out for cruise-readiness. I still need to install the VHF antenna, do some electrical wiring and a few other little things. She should be back in the river at my dock before the end of this month.

I am thinking about taking a few days to journey down the Savannah River, about 200 miles to the sea. Dia and her friend Martha have said they could meet me in Savannah, from whence we might continue on to Beaufort, SC.

It appears there will by much to write about as planning for these voyages evolves.