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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Safe/Sea has it's maintenance schedule, much like the Air Force Thunderbirds have theirs. Some, I do myself; for others, I bring in the engine pros. Below, Norm from Mack Boring adjusts the cylinder valves on the Safe/Sea Newport's diesels.

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The Safe/Sea Point Judith is our oldest twin diesel jetdrive towboat, built in 2001. She'd the grand old lady of our fleet. However, her transom wasn't looking up to our high standards after last season. A fresh coat of Imron makes her back end look as good as her engine room which got a complete makeover earlier this winter.

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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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