Repairing boat after Hurricane Zeta

[JamesG161]

If memory serves a phone cable end will plug right into a Cat-5 coupler

Yes, but we decided not to add a coupler. We wanted the new ICG to be installed per Xantrex.
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What PIC Told me to do...
File another Incident and Claim against the Yard

We did file a new claim and the new Adjuster came on Thursday 21st.
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That nudge by PIC did cause the Yard to start action again.
More to come on what has been done in next post.

Boat restoration on the move again...
Jim...

 

[kappykaplan]

Boat restoration on the move again...

Yay!!!

 

[JamesG161]

We went to work on Electrical and meet with the New Claim Adjuster, Paul.
We drove to the spot the boat had been on the hard since Feb 2021.

Opps another boat was in our spot!

A yard hand, racing in his Yard utility truck zoomed to greet me. He yelled at me... "your boat is over there".
I noticed our new Rudder laying on its side and a New boat in our slot.
Why was that new boat in our slot?
Ans: Oh we will move it later. [Another Empty Slot next door, my guess they had a staging problem]
[I was not a happy Camper about how they stored my new ≈$7k almost fully installed rudder.]


Note the new boat's ladder using our Rudder as a stepping stone.
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The boat had been moved to the Sand Blasting area and this is what we found.

This is most likely the first full cleaning, since "Saba" was put in the water in April 1999. [I have the Christening Papers]
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We spent most of that afternoon on the New Claim with PIC.
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Antidotal story...
While Paul from PIC and I and were discussing his preliminary findings, up walks the Slurry blasting Tech to chat with us.
Tech noticed the side of Paul's Car marked "Progressive"

Tech Asked: Hey I need to changed insurance, which is better State Farm or Progressive?
Paul: I am not on the Sales side, I am an Adjuster.
Me: Put it simple. Progressive has been great with me. [I chatted a bit more with Tech]
Me: Just go with the "Flo" !
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We went back Saturday to see if they had done something with our rudder, and our boat had been moved again.

That is the next post, which has more details...

Step by Step...
Jim...

 

[JamesG161]

The Yard has done much work on boat so I will have to break down key info in several posts.

The Lead/Antimony Winged Keel...

The wings were bent as the boat slid down the embankment after Zeta.

Full weight of the boat bent the wings.

Now the Yard did a great fix but till not final smoothing.

I asked the Yard on tools used to do this.

Looks like pains taking hammering.

Note: A few SBO posting have inquired about methods to do this. Hopefully I will find out from Yard.

Jim...

 

[JamesG161]

The Lead/Antimony Winged Keel...

The connection of Keel to Hull Fix.

The Procedure to restore it.

1) Grind out the cracked area
2) Seal with 3M Underwater Sealant [5200]
3) Fill with CarboSeal
4) Epoxy Primer
5) Bottom Paint.

Jim...

 

[Hayden Watson]

The Lead/Antimony Winged Keel...

The connection of Keel to Hull Fix.


The Procedure to restore it.

1) Grind out the cracked area
2) Seal with 3M Underwater Sealant [5200]
3) Fill with CarboSeal
4) Epoxy Primer
5) Bottom Paint.

Jim...

When the crack runs the full length of the keel joint, I would be very concerned about the bolts and keel bed. Have you checked that the keel bolts are torqued to proper spec? Is there any cracking in the interior liner / keel bed that would allow the whole keel to move? If you do not address "why" the crack formed, it will be hard to prevent it from returning.
My boat is a Catalina 30 and there is a 1" thick layer of plywood in the keel stump. If it gets wet and rots, the result is a full-length crack like you show and until that root problem is fixed, no amount of work on the outside will make it any better.

 

[JamesG161]

Have you checked that the keel bolts are torqued to proper spec?

Yes, and @jssailem asked me the same thing, on a phone call
.
When we first receive our boat in 2014, I observed a small leak around one of main bolts.
We stopped that leak, but at that time I was not a member of SBO.

Since then, I know the torque and other information. I now suspect that crack was caused by the previous owners.

I have noted y'all concerns and will tell the Yard to inspect the Keel bolts BEFORE they hide any possible damage.
Thanks for the alert.
Jim...

 

[JamesG161]

Thanks for the alert.[]

@jssailem @Hayden Watson
Good news!
Zero Keel bolts issues.

There are 4- 1.5" and 4- 0.75" Stainless Steel Bolts, holding the 7200 lbs Keel to the boat. All bolts visible in the Bilge with no Bilge damage.
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Progress on the cracks on Sat 4/30/2022.

The largest area on the Aft part. If you look closely you can see the amount filled. This is the area of 2 of the 0.75" keel bolts..

Port side underway. Overall picture with the Rudder now partially back in for better storage.

Thanks for the Alert...
Jim...

 

[JamesG161]

Progress, Progress...

The RUDDER...

New Rudder is now installed, with Quadrant, in the boat!

Note it is free hanging for the first time.
It will painted the same as the Hull, Dark Blue.
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It took about 20 minutes to drill the 5/8" Quadrant Bolt hole, thru the new Schedule 80 Stainless Steel, RudderShaft.
We had to use a lot of lubrication on the drill bit to help.

This shows the Stainless Steel Shaft before the Quadrant install.

Note the Foam filled Shaft. We had to use a hole saw to expose the new 5/8th bolt so our
Emergency Tiller still fit in place.

We tested the ET and is fit fine!!!
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The Quadrant is Aluminum / Manganese Casting that Drilled fast and easy.
.
This is a Picture of the bottom side of the Quadrant.

Since there was no space aboard for me to help, I had to zoom in to get this blurry picture of the installed Quad.


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Still a lot to do to finalize the Rudder and Steering but at now we have a new rudder!
[Received in April 2021 from NewRudders.com]

Over a year to repair the hull damage etc, to this point.

Progress is happening...
Jim...

 

[kappykaplan]

We like seeing progress, Jim!

 

[JamesG161]

A Few more pictures from Ronnie, who helped Timmy drill and install the New Rudder.

Note the steering cable is at the Correct height.

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The Quadrant is still Split in half, but soon tighten to the ±0.005 inch tolerance around the rudder shaft.

Foss Foam told me they added 1 inch more to the rudder shaft to assure proper height adjustment.

I noted the cable adustments are under the Quad. Before they were visible on top.

Jim...

 

[smokey73]

@JamesG161 Interesting. The "top" of your quadrant is the "bottom" of mine. Same quadrant (except maybe diameter) but mine is installed with the thru bolt and clamping bolts and cable adjustment nuts exposed (like you said they were before on the previous install). This is a stupid question, but with that much adjustment height built in by Foss Foam into the shaft, could you have inverted the quadrant (so it is like on my boat now) and then everything would be easy to reach for adjustment etc.? Too late now anyway since the hole is already drilled and any change would put the cables out of line with the quadrant.

By the way. Thanks for your advice on the rudder installation. I had Foss Foam in Williston FL rebuild my rudder on the existing stainless steel shaft and was able to remove my quadrant and not have to buy a new one.

 

[JamesG161]

could you have inverted the quadrant (so it is like on my boat now) and then everything would be easy to reach for adjustment etc.?

No.
The install guys kept telling me it was upside down.

From Edson, the makers.

I added the purple annotations in my instructions to the Yard.

That raised center had to set on the UHMW Bearing [for less friction] shown Pict 2, post #131.

In addition the Cables would not have been horizontal.
------
My old one was like yours.

But the Yard broke it to remove the old thru bolt.
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I was impressed with the Coordination between SBO Shops, Edson, and Foss Foam to get this CORRECT.
I purchased all parts thru SBO Shops.
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I did note that I will have to enlarge the hole for the steering adjusting bolt.
Also tap into a spot for my Rudder position transducer, another tough thing to do.
Jim...

 

[smokey73]

@JamesG161 Interesting. I guess mine is "upside down" but that is how it came from the Hunter factory and it works so I'm going to leave well enough alone. Actually seems it is manufactured so that it will work either way?

 

[JamesG161]

Actually seems it is manufactured so that it will work either way?

Yes!

Edson made it for many type boats.

In fact, the Rudder Stop was in the Quadrant Box.
That package has two size screws and washers.

I forgot to mention I used Lanacoate [ thanks to @jssailem ] on all disimmlar metal contacts points, including the Rudder Shaft.

Heading back to the boat now, since Timmy started inspecting my Auto Pilot mounting.
Geeezzzz they are moving faster than I expected.
Jim...

 

[JamesG161]

Looking less like a Junk Yard boat.

Pettit Dark Blue.
Jim...

 

[jssailem]

Now the question: With Navy Blue bottom, will the whales get confused and swim into the boat thinking it is just more water?

 

[kappykaplan]

Geeezzzz they are moving faster than I expected.

Well, it's taken a long time to make progress! 'bout time they started moving faster.

 

[JamesG161]

With Navy Blue bottom, will the whales get confused and swim into the boat thinking it is just more water?

Answer to the Color issue is found in this Link
Dubious science from those who should know better

but you save you time this is my post in that link.

"Well a Whale of a story but....
"Dr Jeffery Fasick, assistant professor of biological sciences at Kean University in New Jersey who has researched marine mammal eyes, agrees. Whales have only one ‘cone’ and one ‘rod’, both of which are sensitive to light in the blue/green range. “They match their cones and rods to the colour of the water. To them, everything is bright,” he says. “This means that anything that looks blue or green to the human eye is invisible to whales. The one colour that whales can see as a dark shape in their bright, watery environment is red. Copepods, the main food source for right whales, are red, allowing them to see the group as a dark mass.”"

No worries here, mine is blue.
Jim...

PS: I hope that boat is not shaped like a "Copepod"

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More to come on why I had a emergency Run to Boat this morning.
Jim...

 

[JamesG161]

The Rudder...

I finally was able to board the boat [ more on why not, later]
This time I have my Camera, not in a smart phone.

First, for others and @smokey73 , this is my OEM Steering with Position Transducer connected.

1) The whitish circle is the top of my Fiberglass rudder.
2) The Rudder Stop Bracket was corroding at that time [black crumbles on deck].
3) The Black Arm thing is the Rudder Position Transducer.
4) The Emergency Tiller would go down the hole and lock on to the Thru bolt that holds the Rudder in the boat.
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After finding out why I was called down [ they said emergency] to the boat about my Auto Pilot and steering, we finally got the Steering 95% assembled correctly.

That is Timmy putting LanoCote® on the Rudder stop screws. If you look close, you can see, they used excess on outside of Rudder Shaft.

The new rudder is Amid Ships and shows the new 5/8th inch bolt for the ET, etc.
1) A new Rudder Position Transducer will be mounted, like the old one.
2) They wallowed out the foam a bit too much, but not a big thing inserting an ET.
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The Emergency on the AutoPilot was a newly discovered issue, but it took the team about 25 minutes to unstick the jammed Port side steering cable. [More on this OEM AP issue, later, but all is repairable, I hope]

Step by Step...
Jim...