New Hatch?

Almost New Again

No...but as close as we're getting. Several years ago we found a couple new hatches for Celebration. But we never could find the exact Gebo replacement for this small one over the head, or at lease not at an affordable price. When the two new large hatches were shipped, one had been damaged. We received an immediate replacement from Great Lakes Skipper and held the damaged one for return. When the claim was settled with the shipper Great Lakes told us to just keep or dispose of the damaged hatch, so we stripped it, recycled the aluminum frame, salvaged the weather seal, hinges, and acrylic pane.



Underside View

35 year old gasket next to the salvaged "New" replacement

I'd looked at this 35 year old hatch many times without ideas then just this week, I finally realized how to disassemble it. Since we're at a dock getting ready to head south out came the router (110 volt power!) to cut the acrylic to size, we replaced the weather seal with our salvaged parts, set the new pane in place with Sikaflex 291i and viola, here it is. A lens we can see through once again and a seal which should actually keep out all the water verses just most of the water. We wound up re-using one rubber gasket which is not a water seal but a spacer between the pane and the frame, and I had to drill out one of the setscrews, re-tap, and replace with new. Not too bad for a 35 year old hatch with more than a couple seawater baths.

Big Alternator Power

Boat Repairs in Exotic Locations

Orriginal Delco 12si Layout

Some say that is the true definition of cruising. We heard that many times before leaving on this journey so we tried to keep our systems as simple as possible. Regardless, there is always something. We minimize power consumption as much as possible but we do enjoy a large dose of ice with our small (ahem) dose of rum in the evening. We have a minimum of solar/wind power which usually does fine, but when the engine runs, I want as much power out of it as I can get. I set the plant up with two 100 amp alternators—one for the engine bank and a second for the house bank. After arriving in the Caribbean heat the house bank was left wanting thus a conversion to a 200 amp for the house bank. The big alternator is built on a Delco 12si case and put out power as advertised. Unfortunately the builder had a smaller non-AGM battery bank and thus good success with the stock diodes. We proceeded to blow out sets of diodes regularly when we taxed the system. Not good.

Stock rectifier shown but with new
holes already in the case

210 Amp rectifier
Trial Fit

The fix: I found 210 amp bridge rectifiers specifically designed to “fit” the Delco 12si case and had a couple brought down with Hannah and Cameron. Well “fit” clearly means different things to different folks. Yes they would “fit” in the case and slightly (very slightly) clear the stator and rotor. But they really didn’t “fit” as in none of the holes or electrical connections lined up and lots of in-case mountings and ridges blocked the position. What’s to lose I thought and after some contemplation I busted out the dremel with cutting wheel and went to town. I removed all the pesky ridges and mounting studs, drilled and tapped new mounts, and reset the location of the main power connection. After a bit of aluminum fitting fastened down with JB Weld to provide additional support for the main power stud it all went together. Well almost. I also had to cut off the stock regulator connection so the brush and connections would clear the bridge rectifier.

Aluminum fitting being "welded" to
case for main power stud

Final Assembly, Close but Functional

With some trepidation I mounted it, wired it all up and it didn’t work! Aw crap. Bad news, I had to take it apart again, good news, the problem was simple. A small piece of the toothpick I used to retain the brushes during assembly had broken off when I removed it and was still keeping one of the brushes from making contact. Now loving the power it produces, quickly pushes the bank into absorption stage so the solar and wind can easily finish the job. Time to buckle down and build the backup with the new kit as well. The only problem has been the big stator as well as the electric refrigeration and watermaker clutches all spinning at once threw off the auto helm compass. Now repositioned, I'll report back on that some other time.

Grenada, week 1

    We were headed here as a stopover point enroute to Trinidad. But with Lynn flying home we learned flights from here were quite a bit less, so we booked it from here. But then we got here and really like it; decided we’ll stay at least through Carnival. Plans change…the life of a Sea Gypsy.

    Lynn is back in the US for a while with her family so I’m taking some time for boat projects and of course continuing the search for the best Happy Hour. I believe our friends Bob and Kitty of Equinox took on the same challenge in Key West last summer. Dang the luck but someone has got to do it right?. I’m happy to report last night’s deal was 3 beers in a bucket of ice for $10EC ($3.71 in US dollars) OK, so it’s hot, windy, broken only by thunderstorms several time a day/night thus far, but between the fellow cruisers we meet up with, the socializing, and the ability to get some work done in between…it doesn’t suck.

    First project: figure out how to get the windscreen to open farther without having to undo all the hardware and prop it up with a stick. Not a problem last year as we were headed north and trying to stay warm vs cool. Lynn came up with this solution. I measured the swing room, looked like it would work so took the old (shorter) slide in to the machine shop and they built two new longer slides. As you can see, the window opens flat out and a nice breeze blows through the cockpit.

    Now working on some shade so the saloon has temporarily been converted to a canvas shop. This big piece used to go over the boom but with lazy jacks and a Stack Pack (sail cover) both now atop the boom, it doesn’t work. Besides it was too heavy and cumbersome so we rarely used it. But it is hot here (did I mention hot yet?) so on to it. I’ve ordered channel to mount down each side of the boom as I’d seen on a couple big schooners. I’m splitting the canvas in two, will sew in a couple boltropes so each side can go on separately. More to follow.

    This last photo is for Lynn since I know she doesn’t believe I really eat while she’s gone. Guess I’ve used that old college line “Beer; a pork chop in every can” at least once to often. Anyway here is today’s tortilla pizza lunch, lots of onions, garlic, olives, a leftover frank which Adjima took a liking to, and lots of cheese. Not too bad, followed by the obligatory after lunch nap of course.

Refit Content on the Way.....

The refit of CELEBRATION was long and hard, but a very rewarding part of the adventure as well. We truely enjoyed building this girl in the vision of how we thought we'd use her, but the absolute best part was the knowledge we gained from a large group of friends and experienced sailors, and the in-depth look we got at our little ship and home. While I kept taking pictures and preparing inputs for these posts, the work took first priority. Now I'm organizing notes, plans, and photos to post here, so please be patient. There is a lot to come. Here are a couple photos from the repower.

First one of my alignment jig as it sits on the new mounts just before drilling and tapping the holes in the mounts and next the new Nanni 4.220HE the day we set her in place. As you can see this was not the run-of-the-mill pull and replace project. We built new mounts and moved the Nanni diesel to the stern by several inches as the transmission is shorter than the old Volvo, and we had ideas for driving several attachments off the front drive. I'll take you through the thoughts, plans, and actual step in the process. I also intend to add some follow-on feedback as to how it's working now that we're using her daily Feel free to comment and ask questions as we go.