{"id":2154,"date":"2007-09-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-27T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/?p=2154"},"modified":"2009-04-20T13:25:55","modified_gmt":"2009-04-20T18:25:55","slug":"leaving-the-boat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/leaving-the-boat\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting Wind Horse Into the Barn"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Wind Horse<\/em> is ensconced in a spider web of dock lines at Marina del Dave-and-Diane in Ventura, California. As she is a hair too long for one dock, Dave and Diane’s neighbor, Henrietta, has been kind enough to allow us straddle her abode as well.<\/p>\n

This is a quiet, private spot, totally protected from the elements, and our friends who dwell shoreside here can give Wind Horse<\/em> a pat now and then and make sure all is well with her.<\/p>\n

The process of leaving the boat is one with which we are familiar. We’re looking forward to a brief change in venue, but also excited about our next cycle of cruising – wherever that may end up (and there are lots of options).<\/p>\n

Boats do better when they are used. It is when they sit that gear freezes up and goes bad. So, whenever we are leaving a boat we want to exercise all the equipment one last time, cleaning and lubing as we go.<\/p>\n

Even though neither engines nor genset are ready for oil changes, these are both done now, so the diesels do not sit with dirty oil – which can cause acid damage to the bearings. Oil changes are always challenge. The objective is to do a perfect change, without spilling a drop. We always put oil absorbent pads under the oil containers, and below the diesels where the filters will drip during removal. And we usually get pretty close to the ideal.<\/p>\n

But not this time. Perhaps Wind Horse <\/em>was objecting to forced, if temporary, retirement, but this has been the worst oil change in memory. First, we overfilled (twice!) the dirty oil containers (we have a pump plumbed into the two engines, genset, and transmissions). Then, when putting oil into the genset Steve forgot there is a limit to how fast it will accept oil through the valve cover, and spilled several cups of oil into the sump pan.<\/p>\n

The rest of the engine room process has gone more smoothly. There are grease points on the RPM sensors on each engine, on both ends of the water maker motor, and on the toilet exhaust Y valves. The water maker has been flushed with fresh water. And the hydraulic steering reservoirs topped up with oil and re-pressurized.<\/p>\n

The rest of the work in the engine room centers around cleaning, neatening up, and general checking of gear. Eventually we will go through all the bolts and check torque, but that is for another day.<\/p>\n

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Our Yamaha 30 outboard is running smoothly. To put it to bed we first flush the engine with fresh water, using the clamp shown above. If you check the prop you will notice is has been polished. There were some paint scratches from checking water depth with the outboard. Even small scratches have a big impact on performance, so we touched this up with our 4″ grinder and a Scotchbrite abrasive pad. That little job gained us 10% in top end speed.<\/p>\n

Once the engine is flushed, we then run some “fogging oil” into the air intake while the engine is running to coat the internal parts with oil during storage, and then let the engine run the fuel out of the carburetor bowl (fuel left in the bowl or carb can evaporate, leaving an oily gum which will mess up the jets).<\/p>\n

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The windlass is one of the key pieces of gear so it gets greased, and then we pull the top works off, cleaning and lubing the clutch cones.<\/p>\n

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This is a Maxwell V4000 and all of their windlasses (which we have used for 30 years) look the same. There are bronze cones (see the part in Steve’s hand) top and bottom which push against the chain wheel. These build up dirt and salt, and become sticky. The windlass is designed so the clutches will slip before any shock load damages the internal workings. But if they are sticky, don’t slip, and you shock the windlass, problems may occur. We learned about this the hard way. So once a season we pull this apart, clean with a light oil, and then put a little grease on the surfaces.<\/p>\n

We have strainers on sump, bilge, and engine intakes – nine total. We open these up and lube the gaskets and threads with silicone grease, and clean the strainers (although they are typically empty).<\/p>\n

We clean and polish stainless, hatches, and windows (before they are fitted with their covers). They’ll be dirty in short order, but at least we’ve removed the salt.<\/p>\n

Our cruising dock lines are 7\/16″ (11mm) Vectran (hi-modulus) rope. For long term storage we fit heavier, 1″ (24mm) polyester lines in addition to the Vectran. This doubling up is not so much for the dock lines as to spread the load on the dock cleats, just in case there is a 100-year storm while we are away.<\/p>\n

We usually leave the fridge and freezers empty when we are off the boat. This way we do not have to worry about shore power failure and coming back to flat batteries. We’ve got just a few things left from our original buy for Mexico at the beginning of the year. The last Ruben’s burrito (of 40 with which we left for Alaska) will be consumed today at lunch (for the best Mexican food on the planet check out Ruben’s Burritos, Signal Street, Ojai, CA). We’ve got one bag of tortilla chips and one bag potato chips left in the basement stores. Not sure what to do with these as we are on a crash – get ready for land – diet. The rest of the bulk storage bins in the “basement” are almost empty.<\/p>\n

The last few things before leaving include:<\/p>\n