Repairing Hunter 40 damage from Hurricane Matthew

[artboas]

Checking in from Flight Level 290:

I needed something to do while I waited for the fabric to arrive so I looked at my list of to-do items and decided it was time to empty a really big box sitting in the attic which contained the radar. Fortuitously my BIL was in town visiting so I had a helper who could crank me up the mast. I was hoping that the mounting holes for the new radar (Garmin) would magically fit the existing mounting bracket from the old radar (Furuno) and I would only have to make one trip up the mast. Alas, no:

Not only not close, but not even remotely close! But I had a Plan A and a backup Plan B. Plan A was - if the mount was close I had some 1/4" aluminum strips that could extend the reach for the bolts. Problem: the bracket wound up too small, so scrap Plan A. Insert Plan B: remove the bracket from the mast and enjoy the rest of the weekend while I engineer something to mate the two.

After some over-engineering thoughts, I found some 1/2" Starboard at the local WM and mounted the radar to the bracket. KISS, you know ! Now up the mast again, but this time I don't have my helper anymore. I searched and found my climbing gear, suited up, strapped up and hoisted myself up the mast with one leader line tied to the radar/bracket and another line tied to my toolbag, plus a safety line. I must have looked like a mess of spaghetti going up .

After reaching the midpoint of the mast (and spending a few minutes catching my breath - I have gained a few pounds since the last time I used this stuff!) it was as simple as hoisting up the radar and bolting the bracket back in place:

With all the hard work done I took a few minutes to wave at the audience that had gathered and took a few pics from above:

And the installed radar:

I am eventually going to have to go all the way up the mast when I decide on which sailing instrumentation to go with but for now I'm safely back on the ground!

Next up, wiring and cabling for the radar and mast lights.

Cheers,

Mark

Hi
I looked as closely as possible at your on-mast photo, and it looks like you were only on one halyard. Please tell me I’m wrong.

 

[Hayden Watson]

Hi
I looked as closely as possible at your on-mast photo, and it looks like you were only on one halyard. Please tell me I’m wrong.

You can clearly see that the main halyard is also clipped to the bosum's chair. It is the line that is looping down on the aft side of the speader. It aught to pull tight a few inches before he hits the deck.

 

[artboas]

You can clearly see that the main halyard is also clipped to the bosum's chair. It is the line that is looping down on the aft side of the speader. It aught to pull tight a few inches before he hits the deck.

Yes, I did see that.
But, my procedure for man aloft is to have the secondary halyard tightened as the primary is pulled. Lowering is reverse order. I always hate 2 people in the cockpit. You don’t want a guy falling 15 feet before his safety takes effect.
I’ve been up as high as over 200 feet on rigs, and almost got dropped more than once owing to crew error. I’ve also known 2 guys not as lucky.

 

[Hayden Watson]

Yes, I did see that.
But, my procedure for man aloft is to have the secondary halyard tightened as the primary is pulled. Lowering is reverse order. I always hate 2 people in the cockpit. You don’t want a guy falling 15 feet before his safety takes effect.
I’ve been up as high as over 200 feet on rigs, and almost got dropped more than once owing to crew error. I’ve also known 2 guys not as lucky.

I totally agree. It is apparent that was the intention, but somebody dropped the ball.

I actually have three lines on me when I go up.

1. I climb one step at a time on a static line with a prusik knot on stirrups to lift myself and a "lineman's belt to lean back into.
2. I have my climbing harness on a halyard that my wife pulls up tight after each step for me to sit in while I adjust the prusik/stirrups for the next step.
3. I have another halyard attached to a seperate safety harness which my wife draws up every few steps. At no point can I drop more than a few inches no matter what breaks.

 

[artboas]

Fabulous procedure.
I totally concur.
My worst “oh sh*t” moment was 200 feet up, when the winch guy got distracted, and I was literally 3 feet from a very, very, bad situation.
Unfortunately, on the really huge rigs, they only use one line, (as they are huge), and you’re in a harness ; no chair.
There was an awful situation on an Amels 53 a few years ago. The husband had his wife singularly hoisting him on a large winch, and she had it in the self tailer.
There have been problems with the Lewmar winch switches, that they can stick closed.
I’ve actually had this happen on my boat.
Anyway, her husband is flying up the mast, and she panicked.
Instead of simply taking the line out of the self tail, and letting off 2 wraps (so that the ascent would stay static), she got her hands into the line, and it was absolute carnage.
Worse still, a passer by jumped on the boat to help, and he also got his hands seriously mangled.
Lesson:
If your power winch stays “on”, the line won’t go any further if you reduce friction
Quickly peel off wraps, and yell as loud as you can for help.
Then tell whomever to shut off your battery switch.
It’s a good idea to rehearse this in your mind.

Thanks once again for your positive comments

 

[B757Captain]

I guess I should jump into the conversation

What you don't see in the picture is my safety line. When I go up solo I use an ascender (for going up) and a gri-gri (for going down) on an actual climbing rope which I tie off to a halyard and hoist so my climbing gear friction surfaces are on the proper type rope, then I have a separate halyard as a safety line.

That day I had a winch operator so he hoisted me on the halyard and I used the gri-gri/climbing rope as my safety line. The loose line you see was attached to my toolbag and was loose after I hoisted it up.

I may be crazy - 66 pages of boat repair proves that - but I'm not that crazy! Plus my winch operator climbs Navy masts for a living - he wasn't going to participate until he was satisfied.

 

[Hayden Watson]

Fabulous procedure.
I totally concur.
Thanks once again for your positive comments

Thanks. This is the only way that this fat old man can go up the mast with just the help of my most trusted helper. We go slow but it is totally under control and fully redundant.

 

[artboas]

I guess I should jump into the conversation

What you don't see in the picture is my safety line. When I go up solo I use an ascender (for going up) and a gri-gri (for going down) on an actual climbing rope which I tie off to a halyard and hoist so my climbing gear friction surfaces are on the proper type rope, then I have a separate halyard as a safety line.

That day I had a winch operator so he hoisted me on the halyard and I used the gri-gri/climbing rope as my safety line. The loose line you see was attached to my toolbag and was loose after I hoisted it up.

I may be crazy - 66 pages of boat repair proves that - but I'm not that crazy! Plus my winch operator climbs Navy masts for a living - he wasn't going to participate until he was satisfied.

All good.
I’m glad that I was wrong on this !!!

 

[B757Captain]

Help requested on a totally different topic:

A friend down the dock asked for my help the other day and I have to admit I'm behind the curve on this one!

His Raymarine chartplotter has given up the ghost and he's looking at replacements. His electronics are as follows:

Chartplotter: C80
Depth, Speed & Wind: ST60
Autopilot: not sure of the model but it is Raymarine as well

I'm not sure of the age but the boat is a 2002 and the electronics might be the original installs. He's looking at either replacing the chartplotter since the other instruments and autopilot are still working well, or a total replacement of everything if the new one won't play with the older instruments.

I've always had Garmin and all my new electronics are Garmin as well so I'm not too sharp with Raymarine. I suspect that the brands aren't that much different, but rather his problem might be incompatible cables, or Seatalk vs. NMEA 2000, or network cabling, or some other insurmountable hurdle.

Anybody with some knowledge care to chime in?

Cheers,

Mark

 

[B757Captain]

Update to previous post:

New information - his depth, speed and wind displays have gone dark. He wants to find out if just changing the displays with new units will work with his older cabling. He's also thinking of upgrading the chartplotter to a new unit - that's the big question. Will it play nice with the older instruments and autopilot.

Thanks guys!

 

[Johann]

Yes the old raymarine will be fine with new raymarine or garmin or any N2K. I am running a Garmin 1042xsv with St60 instruments and a raymarine autopilot. Seatalk ng is N2K with different plugs (better imho) and you can get adapter cables. He will have to create a network backbone and get a seatalk 1 to stng converter and then all the old St60 info will be on the N2K/stng network.

Raymarine SeaTalk 1 to SeaTalkng & NMEA 2000 - Marine How To

Raymarine SeaTalk 1 to SeaTalkng & NMEA 2000 We get asked this electronics question more than just about any other, from customers who have a perfectly operating SeaTalk 1 network and want to add the SeaTalk 1 data to the NMEA 2000 bus. The article deals specifically with older Raymarine

marinehowto.com

 

[B757Captain]

The big news I've been hinting at for a while:

Ok here it is - don't worry, it's good news , at least so far .

The admiral and I have become true boat people, starting about six weeks ago. We are again live-aboards!

Why and how? Did anyone think in the back or your mind that over the last several months I have been really working hard on getting the boat's interior finished? Well, I have, and it was not only because I want to finish the boat, but also we had a deadline placed on us concerning our previous digs.

Back in January of this year we were informed that the house we had been renting (for the last 9 years) was gong on the market when our lease was up. Or sooner if we could swing it. At least I had some working time since the boat interior looked like this then:

We had until September to find a new home. After not a lot of discussion we decided to move back on the boat and it was time to "cue the music" and get my butt in gear. Fast forward to today and, except for the admiral still trying to find nooks & crannies for (I'll be polite here) "a few more things" we've pretty much settled on board and into the routine.

The how? Some of you might remember that last year we moved my FIL close to us. So close in fact that he was one street over. Now he's 4 minutes by golf cart. We used his attic to store most of our stuff and I relocated my "workshop" to half of his garage. Though most of the heavy construction is done, there is still plenty to do!

Progress so far? Mostly good, though I did discover a fresh water leak that turned out to be a split in a PEX line. That's worrisome since it was close to but not associated with a connection. Easily fixed but worrisome because all the fresh water lines are new and came from the same roll of PEX tubing . The other major hiccup flared up the first time we used the propane stove. I installed a countertop stove with the intention of gimballing it (haven't gotten to that yet). so I'm cooking something or another and notice that what's in the pan is no longer cooking well. Hmmm. Fire is still there but looks weird. I wish I had a photo of it because the flame coming out of the ring was curling downward! Double hmmm! I realized that the air conditioner was running, so on a hunch I opened the galley door below the sink, and the flame popped back up nice as you please!

The instructions for the a/c say plainly that it's ok to install the unit in a locker, under a bunk, etc., and as long as you use the supplied vent (12 x 12, which I increased to 14 x 20) there would be plenty of intake air since boat cabinets "naturally" have plenty of open spaces, voids and gaps for air to enter. Ummm, hold my beer .They obviously haven't met lil' ol cabinet maker me .With the doors closed there is enough of a vacuum in the galley cabinet to suck the flame down around the ring. so, off to buy and install another vent for more intake air!

Other than that, it's been a fairly easy transition. Easy for me since I have spent most of my time on the boat anyway, but the admiral is adapting, well, admirably.

Next up, current and close-in plans, and some long range plans for us. Hint: one of them involves YouTube, but maybe not what you guys would hope for .

Cheers,

Mark

 

[Capt Robbie]

Awesome !
glad to hear you guys are living the dream

 

[nightowle]

changes in venue bring forward changes in life's chapters. good luck with your new horizons.

 

[JRacer]

Hope you are safe, Mark.

 

[jssailem]

Stay safe Mark. Near Beaufort you should be on the mild side of Ian. If Ian has a mild side.

 

[B757Captain]

High & Dry:

My normal weekly-ish update got derailed this week - you all know why .We hauled out Tuesday:

And battened down the hatches. Ian did not initially look like a big deal for us but the marina made the call to haul the boats just to be safe. Turned out to be a good decision! A late turn to the north kept most of the wind away from us - peak gusts were somewhere around 40-45 and only about 1.5" of rain.

Good news: After a year and a half in the water, the bottom paint looks almost brand new. I had been using ablative paint previously but this time around after the hull sandblasting and new barrier coat i went with hard paint - sold! I know it will give up but I think I can get through the winter before new bottom paint.

Good news/bad news: I don't know if you guys remember but I once said I was going to wait to hang the doors until the boat was in the water - all hulls flex, and if the doors are fitted while on the hard they may not fit once in the water. Well, good news! Even on the hard the doors still open and close . Bad news: the hull did flex. I calculate, by the amount the hatch is sticking, the the flex is about 1/4". Just enough for the hatch to stick the last few inches when I close it. Darn!

Bad news: We are buried pretty far back in the yard so probably won't get back in the water until at least Tuesday, so we are land-lubbers for a few more days .

Next time, resumption of work and future plans.

Cheers,

Mark

 

[Kermit]

It’s been quite a while since I’ve caught upon your progress. I’ll see how much I’ve missed and start some intense reading. I’m glad everyone made it through the storm ok!

 

[B757Captain]

It’s been quite a while since I’ve caught upon your progress. I’ll see how much I’ve missed and start some intense reading. I’m glad everyone made it through the storm ok!

Hiya Kermie! It's been a while - glad to see you back

 

[B757Captain]

Short update:

Very short! I know it's been a while since the last post, but I have been up to my eyeballs in an upcoming project. I will post about that and other things as I find time but for now, busier than a one-armed paper hanger!

We did get back in the water and all is well except for chasing some electrical feed gremlins - I've replaced just about everything from the pedestal to the breaker panels and it's almost sorted - if the few remaining things I need will ever show up, that is!

Next update might include some boat work. Who knows!

Cheers,

Mark