Safe/Sea Fleet Manager Andy Casey blogs about the trials, tribulations, and solutions of keeping our fleet of 6 rescue boats running 24/7.
Keeping the Water on the Outside
Andy Casey - Tuesday, May 24, 2011
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.
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.
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.
First Major Winter Project Sees the Light of (almost) Spring
Andy Casey - Monday, March 15, 2010
The Safe/Sea Titan's new paint job sees the sunlight for the first time. She received all new red paint over the winter, along with a new non-skid black coating on her inflation tubes. She's ready to hit the water!
Another maintenance win for the good guys. Once again, an engine room bilge inspection catches a little problem before it became a big one.
We noticed a small amount of black exhaust carbon build-up around the exhaust manifold and valve cover of the Safe/Sea Salvor's starboard engine. Besides making a huge mess, airborne carbon can make its way to the air intake filter and choke the motor, or worse, it can make it past the filter and contaminate the fuel and oil, causing premature engine breakdown.
At right, John from Mack Boring is effecting the repair. I didn't feel confident with doing this job myself, as the torque specs and proper line up of the exhaust port gaskets are critical.
Judging by the picture below, we are pretty sure the alignment of the gaskets from the factory was the cause of the leak. Top gasket, bad. Bottom Gasket, good.
The Safe/Sea Fleet is in great shape and ready to assist the boaters in all of Rhode Island waters this weekend. My play on the word "current" this week relates to an issue we had this week with electrical current. Captain Pete called to report that one of the battery banks was not charging to full capacity on the Safe/Sea Newport. So I went to work on finding out why.
Last year, I took an 80 hour advanced electrical course at the International Yacht Restoration School (IRYS). I learned all sorts of things I thought I would never remember or possibly ever use. But this week, I was able to isolate a problem quickly and confidently.
Was the issue with the batteries or the alternator or something else? I used my favorite electrical testing tool and figured it out right away. I put the clamps around the output wire on the suspect alternator and...... viola, zero current. So, I swapped it out with a spare and the Newport was back in business.
Here's what I learned.
Keeping a watchful eye on gauges can alert you to a problem before it becomes a PROBLEM. Capt. Pete noticed that one of his volt meters wasn't where it was supposed to be and caught an issue before it became an issue.
The alternator was bad, but the amp clamp was GOOD. This Craftsman multimeter with an amp clamp was inexpensive and I would not do without it.
When you have an alternator fail, bring it to Ray at Providence Auto Ignition, 90 Libera Street, Cranston, RI 02920 (401) 421-6542.
As you can see below, he's got a cool Frankenstein-look'n machine too. Ray gave me an idea about why the alternator may have gone bad and we made a small wiring change that will reduce the call for amps. Our Yanmars have air intake pre-warmers that draw a lot of amps for 3 minutes when they are first started. So, after checking with Mack Boring (the Yanmar Guys), we disconnected two of the four warmers. This will reduce the draw on the batteries and alternators and help them last longer.
Safe/Sea captains have a lot of tools at our disposal. We have a single engine boat and several twin engine boats. If we need lots of horsepower or speed, we use the twins. If we need to go into shallow water or don't need the speed and horsepower, we use the single.
Pictured below are towing tools laid out on the dock. All of our boats carry 600 feet of Amsteel Spectra 7/16" hawser. There are a wide variety of boats out there, so to make the connection to the boat that needs to be towed, we have a wide variety of bridles. For towing smaller boats with a trailer eye at the bow, the choice is easy; we use a single double clip line of Spectra or a 20 foot 1/2 inch single clip line made of nylon with a bit more stretch. For boats without a trailer eye, like larger power boats or sailboats, we use one of three double leg bridles. This choice is a little tougher and it depends on the boat size, sea conditions and configuration of attachment points.
All of our boats have an inventory of salvage equipment, tools, and gear to attempt to handle (or at least stabilize) whatever type of job we are faced with. We have a multitude of pumps for dewatering. If we need to dive, we have a scuba tank and a 50 foot regulator. If there is a hole in a boat, we have epoxies, an air-powered drill/driver with plywood patches, wood plugs, and other trade tricky patching stuff. If I told you all of our secrets, I'd have to kill you. ;-) Below is a selection of the bag of tricks carried aboard the Titan.
This stuff isn't just "set it and forget it," though. It needs frequent inspection and maintenance to keep it ready, as it's usefulness will deteriorate over time, especially as it's constantly exposed to salt water and the pounding of the towboat. My work is never done! (That's a good thing, especially these days!)
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The Safe/Sea Titan's new paint job sees the sunlight for the first time. She received all new red paint over the winter, along with a new non-skid black coating on her inflation tubes. She's ready to hit the water!
Another maintenance win for the good guys. Once again, an engine room bilge inspection catches a little problem before it became a big one.
Here's what I learned.
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