SHIP'S LOG:
Yesterday was to be the day I finally knocked out the plugs in the thru-hulls so that I could clean 'em, grease 'em and replace 'em but unfortunately Fred was unable to make it to the boat yard. The procedure is rather simple but I find it a bit "frightening" in the sense that I worry about what might happen when I whack a steel drift(rod) with a 2lb hammer up through the bottom opening of the thru-hulls to loosen the plugs. I am just afraid that:
1.) it won't work;
2.) I'll do some damage I can't fix;
3.) I have to buy and install one or more new thru-hull and i don't have the money and that will delay my departure and then I'll get charge for summer storage . . . . . . .
So I didn't do it and will await Fred's arrival. I could just as easily screw it up when he is there but it is always nice to have someone you deem more competent that yourself telling you that it is alright yo hit that drift with the dead-blow hammer.
Instead, I pressurize the boat to check for leaks. I duct taped every opening that I couldn't seal shut with the exception of two: A port to which I taped a plastic bag and an unused deck fill connection into which I inserted the shop vac hose, set on blow. I turned the shop-vac on and it blew air into the boat's interior. When the plastic bag in the port inflated, I knew the boat was pressurize and I went about with a bucket of very soapy water, wetting down everything that penetrated the deck, stanchions, hatches, cleats, etc, and looked to see if bubbles appeared. If they did, there was a leak at that location. Well, that's the theory. No bubbles were in evidence but all that proved was that there was no leaks on any of the places that got soaped down. I know there are leaks that show up around the main hatch in the saloon and in the secondary hatch in the aft cabin. Using the Sherlock Holmes theory that when you eliminate all the answers the one remaining answer, no matter how weird, is the right one. The only openings near the two hatches are the vent opening for the diesel engine and I suspect that there are holes in the hoses. To find out for sure means taking down the ceiling panels, a project fill with fun and ease to check it out. But before I make that attempt, there is one last place to check - the dashboard!
On the forward combing of the cockpit, there is " a dashboard." It is an area into which are set the controls for the Wind Indicator(non-functioning), the Speedo ( functioning sped-thru-the-water- indicator), the original NECO Auto-pilot (non-functioning), A Depth Sounder(function), and a Auto-Helm Auto Pilot (functioning but missing the a part that actually steers the boat). They are set into two pieces of smoked plexiglass and basically sit over the sliding portion of the main cockpit hatchway. It is possible that perhaps the leak in there so out they came and off came the plexiglass and . . . . . "Picture if you will a bowl of spaghetti . . . ." A great deal of marine electronics is "supposedly" calibrate to the extent that you are told not to cut any excess length you find in the wires . . . EVER! Well, whoever did the installation pf the various pieces of electronics in the cockpit dashboard followed that injunction with religious fanaticism! Now it would be bad enough if it were all gathered together and held in place with wire-ties or tape, but it was all just "stuffed" into the space behind the dashboard. In addition, no effort was made by succeeding installers to route the wires to keep them clear so that as a result wires were wrapped and knotted around each other. In addition, the space include "wires to nowhere!", cables that had one en connect to a bus-bar or in some cases, nothing, just held in place by the graces of being twist and knotted around some other wire.
Obviously this could remain as it was so I began the laborious process of tracing wires. I removed a half-dozen five foot lengths of wire that were connect to nothing. I bundled and wire-tied the wires running from each electronic control display display. I began, but did not have the time to finish, repairing the bad, faulty and missing connections. There were a number of connections where I found 3 different sized wires knotted together in a connection that was covered with "friction Tape." (Do they make that stuff anymore?) I had to carefully, one at a time disconnect them, remove the corroded sections, install new and appropriately sized connector and re-attach them to the switches. I got several done but there are more to do. Some of the connections are really bad, very corroded, and I wonder if the reason that the Wind Indicator doesn't work might not be these corroded connections.
But like I said, I didn't get them all done, but I did make a start. I would also have to say that the "dashboard" in not the site of the leak. The back is sealed and there is no indication of "serious water entry" so that should rule it out. I am betting on the vents.
This is a perfect example of how projects work on boats. Looking to find the source of a leak turns into an electrical project and you just know that tracing and repairing those wires is somehow going to turn into another project. At the very least, getting rid of the non-function auto-pilot controls and the (for now) non-functioning Wind Indicator, means a "new " dashboard has to be created and fitted. It is never ending! Ah, the fun o boat ownership!