Monday, March 21, 2011

2008: Year 1 - Work in the BVI

Nanny Cay, BVI: Part 1

After purchasing WJ3, I followed the surveyor’s report (made prior to purchase) to address those things that needed to be fixed.  Most of this work was carried out in BVI by me, my son (when not surfing or generally schmoozing) and contractors where necessary.

Bow Fitting.  Condemned in the initial survey, there were supposed to be hairline cracks in the bow fitting. I tried to replace it. Hunter sent me the wrong fitting though, so I had to send it back.  Eventually we had the original bow fitting stain tested; no cracks found, so we put it back on after reinforcing the bow area with more fibreglass.  This included replacing two damaged plastic rollers @ $200 each (wow!). Got my money back from Hunter after a lot of mucking around and wasted time. 

Anchor & Anchor Well. I purchased a larger anchor as one of my first purchases (a Rocna) – use it all the time with 300+’ of 5/16’’ tested chain (equivalent to 3/8’’ normal chain) – holds very well and digs in quickly -  great peace of mind, especially when you leave the boat on its own.  Anchor Well reinforcing bracket needed fibreglass repair as it had partially delaminated – did it myself. Enlarged drain holes to make them more flush with bottom of anchor well. Put plastic grating down to raise chain a bit above floor where there is often water sitting. A couple of studs in the anchor winch needed to be loosened as they had seized in place, needed to remove the winch to do it in a workshop.  Winch appeared to be fairly new but I had the electric wiring serviced and refitted.

Lifelines.  Replaced with all new wire and terminals by rigger.

New rigging installation by Richardsons in BVI

Mast and Standing Rigging.  Replaced all wire with new.  Had mast-steps fitted all the way up tot the top of the mast.  Spinnaker pole purchased and a mast track attached to the front of the mast, new wind instrument, main topping lift and halyard added, goose neck fitting re-bushed (plus a spare one purchased), repaired Selden boom vang fitting on bottom of boom by fixing the vang in place (rather than it sliding backwards and forwards which in effect meant it didn’t work), plus serviced mast and jib furlers.  Fitted new luff feeder for jib. 

Rudder.   I replaced the rudder that originally came with the boat – it had a fibreglass/carbon stock and there have been a number of failures on other boats.  Mine had a bit of water leaking around the join of the stock to the rudder indicating a crack perhaps.  Whether fibreglass rudder stocks are good or bad  (since some other boat manufacturers also use fibreglass stocks) could be debated perhaps however I wasn’t going to take any more chances than necessary and also Hunter sell stainless-stock rudders, which must indicate something.  Another Hunter 460 at the yard where I bought the boat also replaced his rudder for the same reason and the new rudders and their stocks appear to be very substantial – clearly a major improvement on the fibreglass ones.  Makes for peace of mind when sailing. 
 
Main Engine.  Changed oil, fuel filters, etc and had engine checked (twice).  Primary fuel filter also used to get a bit dirty and has needed cleaning but seems to have fixed any problems with regular engine running, turnover of fuel, and regular inspections/cleaning/changing of primary filter.  Cleaned up engine and sprayed with CRC heavy duty corrosion inhibitor – great stuff. Engine mounts may need replacement in future but appear to be ok for now.

Propeller Shaft Strut.  This needed repair as a line appeared to have wrapped itself around the prop shaft and bent the strut.  Prop shaft withdrawn, checked for straightness, and then put back.  Prop strut bent and needed removal and straightening before being refitted.  New cutlass bearing also fitted at this time.  Prop also needed a blade repaired.  All have worked fine since being repaired and put back together.

Engine Throttle Control.  This had to be replaced with a new one.  I employed a local guy to help me do this and it turned out to be the wrong way round ie when the throttle/gear lever was pushed forward the engine engaged reverse.  I fixed it myself in the end.

Northern Lights 6kw Generator.  Initially, new filters, oil changed.  Raw water pump bearing replaced by contractor as pump leaked. 

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