The Drivetrain

Contrary to what some might tell you, Awlgrip CAN be buffed. Awlgrip is a hard polyurethane and will leave some swirl marks if buffed incorrectly. Many of today's polishing systems have multiple steps that make it possible to polish them out using foam pads and very small particle polishes. But I'll be honest, on this 8 year old paint, I'm just making it shine for one more year. There will be fresh paint for 2012 on this boat.

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Our Point Judith boat was weeping a little sea water at this seal. It's the seal for where the steering shaft passes through the transom to the waterjet nozzle. Since 2001, she has been through a lot of sea water, but we like to keep it outside the boat. The seal itself is a typical rubber ring with a springloaded metal ring that holds it tight too the shaft. Looking at it, I am impressed at how well it works and how long it lasted. These were not leaking much but I've seen my fair share of sunken boats with rather small holes, so I thought it was time for replacement.

Our boats don't have many through-hull fittings, but most pleasure boats do. Be sure to check all of yours before launch and change out hoses, fittings, and clamps if they need it. A little water could add up to a big problem.

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This kind of thing happens every once in a while. I either over tightened the zincs or the stud had a fracture and it snapped. "Bummer!" The hard part is getting the out the broken stud. First, I drilled a hole in the stud, heated it up with a torch and tried an easy-out stripped head screw puller. No luck there. Then, I increased the drill bit size until I could tap the hole out. That worked. "Phew!"

Now I'll tell you how I learned to fix this kind of mistake. Gary Howland was the chief mechanic at Brewer Wickford Cove for decades before new management took over. He was a magician. Everyone asked for him by name and I learned a couple of things from him back in the day. Number One: heat. Heat is a great lubricant. I was often amazed to watch him remove a giant prop. He would put a puller on it an apply a load on it. Pop on the torch, then wait for the heat to get the job done. This works for me 95 percent to the time. Stainless into aluminum is a bit more challenging than a stainless nut fused on a stainless stud. Corrosion is a natural occurrence in the marine environment and that was not letting go of what was left of this stud.

Number Two: use a drill press and a very sharp bit. It is almost impossible to drill a straight hole into a stainless stud by hand. If you try it with a dull bit, you will be using expletives soon thereafter. So, I dissassemble the waterjet so I can get it into the press. I bought a Drill Doctor a few years back because we had a drawer full of dull bits. Now, I have a draw full of sharp bits. This one went into the stainless like butter. I was relieved.

Number Three: take it apart first. Watching Gary, I wondered why he would pull half of something apart to make a repair when it didn't seem necessary. But, over time, I realized he was making sure it got done right. He was actually avoiding a do-over, a knuckle-buster, or a new parts order and a reschedule. I didn't want to take the waterjet back off the boat and remove a dozen nuts to fix this thing, but I suspected that if I didn't, it wasn't going to end well for me. Thanks Gary.

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As usual, I've been keeping busy this winter readying the Safe/Sea fleet for service. It's our philosophy that a clean, well-maintained boat is a reliable boat, and our members pay us to be reliable!. Below is the M/V Salvor before and after a new Dupont Imron paint job. I do all the paint myself a few miles outside of Wickford. It took me about a month to get the paint work done on this boat. She's been in the water, ready for service since March.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

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Last year I took an advanced electrical course and learned that electricity flows on the surface of wire, not through it. In this picture you can see that much of the wire on the right has plenty of life to it, but that it's surface is corroded. Many folks we service with a jumpstart have good batteries, but wires that look like this. No wire should be exposed to salty air if is to last. If you use shrink tube over your battery lugs and other connections, you'll be much less likely to be dialing Safe/Sea this season!

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Last week I got an unexpected invitation to give the new Warwick fire boat a go. I had just finished towing a boat into Apponaug Cove and saw a fountain of water shooting about a hundred feet over Sally Rock, so I went over to take a few pictures.

This picture looks like they are trying to sink a boat but they are actually aiming at a lobster pot a few hundred feet this side of it.

They were out on a few drills in their new Metal Craft FireStorm. The boat has all the toys; GPS, radar, forward and rear cameras, and an IR camera to see thru smoke or fog. They can even see underwater with a Humminbird side scan depth finder. The aft step is at water level to allow for the dive team to deploy, or to retrieve persons from overboard.

East Providence, Providence, and Cranston each have the same boat set up as Warwick. They even have an intercity radio system to allow coordinated effort in the event of a major incident. All the major controls are common as well, which would allow members of any department to operate any of the other department's equipment. All have twin Hamilton Jets driven by diesel engines.

It just so happens that Safe/Sea has operated diesel jet drive boats for many years, so when Warwick was involved in the build of their boat, I received a call from Warwick Fire fighter Pete Sisson. We met at Port Edgewood to look over Cranston's new boat and take her for a spin. We didn't run the fire monitors but pretty much ran everything else. So, when I finally saw the water shooting I was drawn over to it. Then I got a call on the vhf. It was Pete. "Hey want to give the fire pump a try?" He didn't have to ask twice.

I dropped the hook and shut off the running lights. Here's the thing. One of the motors is dedicated to the fire pump, which leaves just one to keep you out of the flames. It's a bit tricky to maneuver, even for a jet drive veteran, so I didn't use up too much of their training time.

These fireboats are a real asset to the Bay. I've seen my share of challenging situations over my six years with Safe/Sea, and feel pretty confident handling most of them, but when there's smoke... and gasoline and... well... ah... let's say I'm glad to see those guys out practicing!

For more info on the Warwick Dive team go to http://www.warwickpd.org/httpdocs/dive.htm.

For more Warwick Fire boat pictures go to http://www.warwickfirefighters.org/index.cfm?dsp=gallery&categoryid=30&section=1&pagenum=127.

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This is one of our hydraulic pistons that operates the "bucket" which provides reverse thrust for our jet drives. The first photo is the assembled part, while the bottom photo shows it disassembled for o-ring and seal replacement.

I've got the seal rebuild down to about 45 minutes.  Any of the 12 or so seals can cause a leak of some sort, major or minor. We usually have to swap out one of the 9 in service with our fleet each season. This is the latest one to need a rebuild and now will be on the shelf for next season. (I hope.)

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