Category: Timeline of the Aegir-Ran

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Sailing Single-Handed Without An Engine

I had been sailing for about a month, crossed from San Carlos to Santa Rosalia, and made my way slowly south down most of the length of Baja, about 400 miles. On March 26th, I was anchoring at Muertos in southern Baja (marked with the red X) and the engine stopped suddenly … on a dime. I immediately checked the temperature and oil pressure, and they were fine. I pulled the injectors and tried to turn over the engine with a wrench, and it would not budge. The engine was clearly not hydrolocked. There had been a catastrophic internal failure. The engine was seized. Considering my predicament, I decided it did not make sense to sail to La Paz to try to get the engine repaired. It appeared there had been an internal failure.

Without an engine, I had to consider a route back to my home port that did not require maneuvering in tight places. As a first step, on March 29 at 4:00 AM, I sailed for Isla Espiritu Sato. Not wanting to negotiate the Cerralvo Channel, I sailed east of Isla Cerralvo. About four-fifths around the island, about 16 miles from the anchorage (Bonanza), the island blocked the prevailing westerly winds and I sat becalmed for about four hours, The north current eventually floated the boat past the island. At the point there wind changed to the SSE and stabilized at 15 knots. The sea conditions were poor with 5′ waves from the east. I anchored at Bonanza at 9:30 PM. I note that my trip from Bonanza to Muertos a few days earlier had taken one-third the time.

The next morning, March 30, sea conditions were not ideal, but there were 15 knot winds from the south, so I left for Isla San Francisco at 8:30 AM, moving briskly at 6 kn with just the jib. While I tries to stay well offshore of Isla Espiritu Santo, I nonetheless got Becalmed about halfway across the island. Around 4:00 PM the wind build quickly to 22 knots, still from the south. I double reefed the main and shortened the jib, but still made the remaining 15 miles before dusk. I reached the eastern anchorage of Isla San Francisco just as it was getting dark. There were five sailboats and a powerboat anchored there. I radioed ahead for advice and was told there was room for me. I explained I would be coming in under sail. Over the next ninety minutes, I tried three times from three different angles to reach the anchorage, but the wind was howling through the notch that connects the southern and eastern anchorages that drove me off each time. Eventually, I radioed that I was abandoning my attempt to anchor and was heading offshore.

After fighting the ever changing wind and sea condition around the islands, I decided to sail directly to San Carlos. I plotted a path well offshore and sailed through the night in a close haul and an average of 22 knots of wind, at times surfing at 8.5 knots SOG. I sailed 60 miles between 9:00 PM and 5 AM (averaging 7.5 knots). I thought about anchoring at Bahia Salinas on Isla Carmen about midday, but upon looking at the weather forecast, I realized this would be the only chance I would have for crossing this week, as later in the week 5-6′ seas were expected. Thus, on March 31, Easter, I decided to continue the 135 miles to San Carlos. There was, however, a problem. I had been sailing about 24 hour since my last anchorage at Bonanza. Sailing overnight, I had run the radar and AIS to geofence the boat and used the TillerPilot, depleting the batteries to 65%. At 50%, the batteries are cut off to protect their health. My pattern had bent rely on the instrumentation and autopilot at night, dozing thirty minute intervals, so I needed power for the next night.Unfortunately, there was very little sun. In fact, the weather was very squally. To save power, I shut down all power consumption, including the instrumentation, radio, autopilot, and even the fridge. I broke out the compass and engaged the wind vane.

I dodged squalls most of the day, sailing 4-6 knots in mostly light winds. That evening, the wind picked up to about 15 knots from the NW and I made good time overnight using the instrumentation and the wind vane. Early afternoon the next day, April Fools day, the wind died down. At 2:30 PM, about 24 miles from San Carlos, I became becalmed. About 6:30 PM, right at dusk, I spotted a squall to the NW. About 9:00 PM, I reached the squall and rode it in to San Carlos. The last mile or two, dolphins swam next to the boat. I anchored at La Posada about 1:00 AM on April 2nd. I had been sailing about 65 hours non-stop.

The next morning was sunny and there was a light breeze of about 8 knots. I sailed around the corner and into the mouth of the Bahia San Carlos. Unfortunately, the wind was blocked by the shore at the point, and I eventually called a friend on S/V Infinity to help tow me in with their dingy. They also towed me in the next morning when Aegir-Ran was hauled out,

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Setbacks

Aegir-Ran was going to splash last Monday. After the trailer was in the water, I checked the seacocks and learned one of them was leaking, so it was back to the hard to replace it. After grinding off the through-hull, I found it was mounted with what looked like plummer’s putty. Furthermore, the backing plate had to be replaced as the caulking that had been used to mount it had decayed. A new backing plate was fabricated out of Starboard and it was mounted with carbosil. The hole in the hull was glassed over, a new hole was drilled, and the new through-hull was seated with 5200 caulking. As the seacock was an inlet for the head, a cover was mounted over the through-hull.

As I had to wait a couple of days for the caulking to cure, I provisioned the boat and had 85 gallons of water with a plan to splash (again) on Thursday. However, when the water was siphoned into the two tanks, I found both were leaking. This was the first time the tanks had been filled to capacity since they were fiberglassed last summer. The leaking stopped after about 25% of the water had drained from the forward tank and about 5% had drained from the aft tank. This indicated the holes were near the top of the tanks. The water was drained from the two tanks, the baffles were cut out, and the tanks were examined. Both tanks exhibited areas that were not properly finished.

The person who originally did the fiberglassing acknowledged the work was sub-standard and he will fix the tanks starting tomorrow. I should be able to splash later this week.

While it is disappointing to not be in the water, it is fortunate the problems were identified when they could be addressed, and not for example 2000 miles offshore.

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Gangway Ladder Is Refinished

The gangway ladder was sanded to bare wood, coated with two coats of Le Tonkinois Marine Linseed Oil Varnish, the steps were taped off, the taped-off sections of the steps were liberally coated with varnish, and then sprinkled with grit sized 18/40 ground walnut shells.

Once the vanished dried, the excess shells were blown off and the remaining shells were coated with four coats of vanish,

The resulting non-skid is aggressive (what I was looking for), but is still not uncomfortable to stand on with bare feet. Besides looking nice, an advantage of walnut shell is they can be easily sanded off if the ladder needs to be refinished again.

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Bidirectional DC-DC Charging

When the bow thruster was installed, two 100 amp lithium batteries were located under the V-berth. These batteries were also used to power the new windlass. The batteries under the V-berth were connected to the house battery bank in the engine room via a Victron Orion DC-DC charger. This approach has the advantage of requiring smaller gauge wire (4 gauge) and the different chemistries of the V-berth (lithium) and the engine room (coiled AGM) are made compatible via the DC-DC charger. During passages (when the bow thruster and windlass are not used), it would be nice to use the batteries at the bow as a rainy day fund for the house batteries. Unfortunately, DC-DC chargers are uni-directional. To solve this problem, a second DC-DC charger was installed. However, there is a problem in that both DC-DC chargers cannot run at the same time (or they would fight with one another. To solve this problem, I used the remote on-off connection on the DC-DC-charger. While the switches on the two chargers could be linked in several ways, I chose to use a STDP (single-pole double-throw) switch connected via the “low” pins on the DC-DC chargers.

The second DC-DC charger was located under the V-berth with the other charger.

The SPDT switch was located in the engine room. Switching it to the right moves energy from the V-berth to the house batteries and switching to the left moves energy from the house bank to the V-berth.

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New Windlass Installed

The original ground tackle for Aegir-Ran comprised 200′ of 5/16″ BBB chain and a 45 lb CQR anchor. I wanted to upgrade to 3/8″ BBB and a 55 lb Mantus M2 anchor. Unfortunately, I could not get a 3/8″ BBB for the original Monica Marine 500 windlass. Futhermore, the windlass is about 50 years old, and probably due for replacement. I chose a Lofrans Tigres horizontal windlass. While the replacement windlass is similar to the old one, its footprint is somewhat different. The old windlass partially sits on bow sprit.

It overhands the bow sprit about an inch on the port side, and a block of wood was glued/screwed to the bow sprit to accommodate the overhang. The Tigres windlass overhands both the port and starboard side, but mostly the latter. Furthermore, the spurling pipe on the Tigres is integral to the windlass. This is a bit of a problem because the Tigres is designed to be mounted directly to the deck. To accommodate the Tigres, it was necessary to build a base. I began by removing the old windlass. This was challenging because the base of the windlass was glued to the bow sprit. I drove thin metal paint scrappers between the windlass and the bow sprit. Eventually it was freed, effectively breaking away some of the wood.

The wood spacer (shown on the port side of the bow sprit was also removed with a chisel. The hole in the deck for the old spurling tube was filled with a piece of recessed 3/4″ marine plywood and the wood was patched with epoxy and fairing compound (West Systems 407).

A spacer was constructed using the CAD file for the Tigres windlass. The spacer was constructed of waterproof 12 mm birch plywood using the serviced of SendCutSend.com. The plywood was epoxied together to the desired thickness, then glued to the bow sprit using West Systems 402. A small spacer was also made for the port side, the wood was fiberglassed, and fairing compound was used to smooth the surfaces.

stainless steel insert was made for the spurling tube using a piece of 2″ round tubing that was partially fattened and flared.

The tube was carbosiled into the chase.

The deck switches were installed and the bow sprit was spray painted with Awlgrip.

The new windlass had to be mounted in a way that it can be removed from studs (as the bolts are long and cannot be lifted out past the windlass). It may be necessary to remove the windlass for repair as the Sampson post prevent the back of the case to be removed.

The solenoids were located in the anchor locker and the wires were relocated away from the spurling tube.

The windlass is powered by the two 100 amp lithium batteries that were installed under the V-berth when the bow thruster was installed.

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Prop Pitch Changed and Prop Treated with Propspeed

Aegir-Ran is fitted with a Max-Prop V.P. feathering prop. It seems that the pitch was set wrong because hull speed (about 7.5 knots) could not be achieved at maximum engine speed. The prop is 16 inches in diameter and was set at an angle of 14 degrees (a pitch of 7.6). In principle, it is easy to change the pitch, even while the boat is in the water, by removing a screw, pulling back on a collar, and setting the new angle.

Unfortunately, the collar was frozen by calcification and dirty-packed grease. Also, the prop was fouled by barnacles after only being in the water a few weeks. Taking advantage of being on the hard, the prop was disassembled and cleaned with muriatic acid to remove the calcification. Even after cleaning, the collar on the hub would still not budge. After alternately soaking the hub in muriatic acid a gasoline, the collar could be forced partially back by taping with a wooden block, but it could not be completely pulled back to allow the collar to be turned. Using a gear puller, I was finally able to force the collar back only to learn the collar would only rotate a couple of degrees. By soaking the collar in gasoline and working it back and forth I was eventually (after a couple of hours) able to force out the calcified/hardened grease such that The collar could be rotated up to 20 degrees. The prop angle was set to 18 degrees ( a pitch of 9.8).

To deal with the fouling problem I decided to treat the prop with Propspeed. The product is expensive, but has a good reputation. The components of the prop was prepared according to the directions (finishing with sanding with 80 grit sandpaper to provide a surface for physical bonding).

There are four steps to treating the prop with Propspeed: 1) wipe with Propclean, 2) wipe with Propprep, 3) paint with two coats of an etching primer, and 4) apparition of a clear coat. The entire process is time sensitive, so it is important to read the instruction and have all the materials. It is also useful to watch the video.

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Installed New Solar Panels

Last year I installed two Renogy 100 watt semi-flexible solar panels on top of my bimini. I have noticed that their performance has been degrading ever since they were installed. I also noticed they were starting to become brittle. Originally, I had designed the bimini so it could be removed without too much trouble, but in the past year I never removed it. There were problems with the design of the bimini too. The edges had curled such that the bimini would collect water. I was going to reenforce the bimini by installing some fiberglass rods, but when I saw what had become of the solar panels, I decided to replace the bimini altogether. I decided to install two rigid Renogy 175 watt panels (like the three 100 watt panels on top of the hard dodger, which were chosen because the fit neatly between the hard dodger and the two backstays.

I began by installing two additional steel tubes from the frame to which the panels on the hard dodger are mounted to the steel tube hoop in the stern of the cockpit. This was easily accomplished using 90 degree tee fittings (the same way the frame for the panels on the hard dodger were mounted). 0ne and a half inch wide aluminum bars were bent slightly in the middle and the panels were mounted to them. The panels were then mounted to the tubes using stainless steel U-straps.

To conceal the wires and afford some protection for the underside of the panels (and my head), I sewed liners out of Sunbrella. The liners are held on with snaps, The bottom half of the snaps are screwed into the aluminum frames of the panels and the top halves of the snaps are installed in the fabric.

The three panels on the hard dodger are wired in parallel (because there is a risk of partial shading by the boom, which would significantly reduce performance if wired in series). However, there is less risk of partial shading of the two new panels over the cockpit, so they are wired in series, which reduces the amperage (while increasing the voltage). I have read that panels that are wired in series tend to perform better under low-light conditions (e.g., at sunrise/sunset or cloudy conditions), probably because the “band giap” is smaller for panels wired in series compared to panels that are wired in parallel.

Although the upgrade increases my solar capacity from 500 to 650 watts, initial tests suggest the two new rigid panels are twice as efficient than the old flexible panels. It seems like the capacity has almost been doubled.

I will note that the new solar panels and frame also significantly strengthens the stern pulpit. I have not been very satisfied with the strength of the outboard engine mount. I intend to redesign the mount with the now-strengthened pulpit. Also, t is my intention to sew removable side panels that will mount to the tubes under the panels and the stern pulpit to provide some additional shade and protection from wind/spray.

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Engine Harness Repaired

The engine ignition switch was working intermediately. The problem was traced to a plug in the engine harness, which when pushed together allowed the ignition system to work. The two plugs in the harness were taken apart with some difficulty due to corrosion. Note the plug on the right is the one that was working intermediately, and the reason is evident as one of the pins was broken.

The plugs were soaked for 30 minutes in white vinegar, neutralized by a solution of baking soda, the cleaned and dried with CRC Marine QD Electronics Cleaner.

The plugs were filled with Permatex Dielectric Grease, plugged and unplugged several times to spread the grease, then the harness was reassembled and the plugs were wrapped with electrical tape. Note the bypass for the broken pin.

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Engine Room Light Converted to LED

There was a classic explosion-proof light in the engine room. It was originally equipped with an incandescent lamp. As was done for the other lights in the boat, I wanted to convert the lamp to LED. My first effort was to use LED replacement lamps that have the usual Edison screw base, but I found the LED lights were unreliable and after a sail or two they would stop working. Looking for something more robust, I came upon these strings of LED lights that could be cut to any length.

I pulled the guts out of the old light. Then string of LEDs has an adhesive back, so mounting them was easy. I am very satisfied with the final result. The light is now much brighter than it was originally.