After a half-dozen workers labored for almost two days, Aegir-Ran’s mast was finally unstepped.
The problem was the previous owner has fiberglassed the base of the mast, presumably to block water (which make no sense because the mast is open at the top). While some people advised that we cut off an inch from the bottom of the mast to free is, we instead removed the bracket for the boom vang, moved the Spartite plug up the mast and away from the deck, so enough room was created between the mast and the deck so the mast could be rocked back and forth to free it.
It is noteworthy that the initial effort to remove the mast put so much pressure on the crane that one of the cables broke (and had to be held in place by a Cat tractor while the mast was removed.
The Aegis-Ran sports a Westerbeke 3 cyl. 35 hp. Model# 35C diesel engine that operates 2500-3000 RPM while cruising. Consulting the literature for this engine:
And, considering the tankage of 75 gal, assuming 2750 RPM (fuel consumption is about 0.8 gal/h), I calculate a range of:
1 h/0.8 gal x 75 gal = 94 h; 94 h x 5 NM/h = 470 NM
However, a friend who has an Alajuela 38 said he had a range of 600 NM while motoring down the West Coast, albeit with a different engine. Assuming, I had 50 gal of storage in Jerry cans, I estimate the range of the boat will be:
1 h/0.8 gal x 125 gal x 5 NM/h = 780 NM (or perhaps closer to 1000 NM)
Once the boat splashes, I will begin keeping an accurate fuel log.
Update: I recently emptied the main fuel tank and measured the volume to be 60 gallons (not 75 as per specs). Together with the 15 gallon day tank that was recently installed, this gives a total capacity of 75 gallons, so the calculation above remains valid. However, I have decided to keep 25 gallons on the deck or in the lazarettes.
1 h/0.8 gal x 100 gal x 5 NM/h = 625 NM (or perhaps closer to 750 NM)
Now that I have fuel level sensors and a fuel monitoring system on the NEMA 2000 network, I will start keeping closer track of actual fuel usage.
The original stove was probably a two-burner propane model. During the refit in the early 2000’s, a genset was installed, the propane stove and locker were removed, and a non-gimbaled induction cook surface and convection oven were installed. Toward our goal of being environmentally friendly, we removed the diesel-burning genset and the galley appliances. Our options for a replacement propane stove were limited. In fact, there was only one commercial stove that would fit, a Force 10 “Euro Sub-compact” 3-burner stove. Unfortunately, the new stove is about 3 inches narrower than the previous one. As a first effort, we made a spacer out of teak (using the discarded cheeks from the rudder). While functional, we did not like the appearance., the gap seemed to invite dropping things in the crevasse, and it did not seem sturdy enough. So, we set out to construct a proper cabinet. Because the brackets for the new stove required high tolerance (within a 1/4″ in width) and the existing cabinet was (naturally) not square, it was necessary to have proper woodworking tools. Unfortunately, ours were not in Mexico. We borrowed a cheap miter saw from a relative in Tucson and purchased an inexpensive table saw from Home Depot. As an aside, we highly recommend the Ryobi RTS12T Table Saw for about $200. While at Home Depot in Tucson, we also picked up some 1 x 3″ (actually 0.75 x 2.5″) appearance board. To make the construction easier, we also picked up a cheap nail gun at Harbor Freight (on sale for $20) and used the compressed air in the yard. The first step was to create a frame (the piece in the back is temporary and some of the components required gluing before ripping to the proper width).
After filling the nail holes, sanding, varnishing (necessary to apply the veneer), and sanding smooth, we insulated with some fiberglass and installed locally-sourced 20 gauge 306 stainless.
Teak veneer with 3M self-adhesive is easy to cut (and trim once applied) with a sharp utility knife, and once a couple of coats of varnish are applied, it is unlikely to come off.
Because considerable effort was put into “measuring ten times and cutting once”, the stove fit like a glove.
A bonus of the stainless firewall is the lock for the gimbal (lower right) is simply a hole drilled in the firewall (no need to install the hardware supplied by Force 10). As a note, if you are going to drill through stainless, you will need cobalt-tipped bits.
The original problem in the rudder was delamination, which we detected during the original survey by “tapping” the fiberglass. After drilling a hole to check the integrity of the foam (which was fine) and establish the core was dry, the delaminated section was cut out.
After the edges of the cutout were ground beveled, the area was built up again with a series of increasingly larger pieces of mat. A small section of the rudder at the position of the middle gudgeon was removed (shown in lower right) to allow the rudder to be more easily removed without the need to remove the corresponding pintle.
Stress fractures were ground out and patched.
The entire rudder was covered with a layer of mat.
The backside of the new 316 stainless-reinforced cheeks (April 22 post) were glassed, then they were mounded to the rudder with countersunk 316 stainless bolts.
A spacer was fabricated from the old teak cheeks and the bolt holes were filled with epoxy.
The entire rudder was covered in mat and epoxy mixed with West Systems 407 filler (which makes it easier to sand).
After sanding, the entire rudder was coated with epoxy mixed with some primer. Below the waterline, the epoxy was mixed with a powdered aluminum vapor barrier (the darker color).
After several months of work, the rudder is now ready to be remounted on the boat.
We started converting the aft lazarette into a propane locker. To reduce the noise and facilitate drainage, we installed an interlocking rubber “anti-fatigue” mat, which is available from Amazon, for $34 per nine. It cuts easily and has channels on the underside that allow water to drain.
The twelve bronze bolts were removed from the rudder using an impact hammer. They came off with surprising ease considering they have been underwater for the better part of five decades. Once unbolted, it was possible to chip away at the gel coat that encapsulated part of the bronze gudgeons.
The pintles were left mounted to the hull, which made it more difficult to remove the rudder, However, with the help of a crane and after removing the wind vane, there was just enough room to move the 300 lb rudder straight back and clear the gudgeons. Alejandro, shown in the photo, has been hired to repair the rudder, which has some separation and also needs the cheeks attached and fiberglassed over.
Carlos The Rigger and Elvis (his cousin who does not sing) replaced the standing rigging today. Basically, everything was replaced except for the chainplates and the turnbuckles.
The original teak cheeks for the rudder experience dry rot and the previous owner cut the tops of them and fabricated a very ugly stainless steel can to replace them. However, this changed the lines of the boat dramatically. It is not possible to obtain high-density teak anymore and low-density teak does not have the same structural strength. In fact, even the original teak cheeks experience cracks where the bolt for the tiller passed, and that point was definitely the weak link in the design. So, we fabricated new cheeks using the original shape using marine plywood. The original cheeks were 1-1/2″ thick, so we employed two layers of 3/4″ plywood and to afford even greater strength for the stress of the tiller we sandwiched in-between the layers of plywood a sheet of 3/16″ stainless. The stainless was cut to shape with an angle grinder, drilled with cobalt-tipped bits, and the plywood was routed out to accommodate the piece of stainless steel.
The two halves of plywood were glued with epoxy, the edge was rounded with the router, and the cheeks were soaked in resin.
The cheeks will be mounted to the rudder with countersunk bolts (just like the original teak cheeks), but the bolt holes will be filled with resin and the cheeks will be covered with layers of fiberglass, thereby creating a sold fiberglass rudder that will be considerably stronger than the original. we will fabricated a spacer for the top of the cheeks out of the original teak cheeks.
