Yard Work

A fair amount of work has been accomplished on Quijote this fall and winter. In October the friendly folks at Yachtfitters and I hauled the boat out of the water and took care of some pressing issues.  We sanded and painted the hull, replaced a corroded through-hull valve and replaced a faulty seawater temperature sensor.

The sail-drive has needed work for as long as I’ve owned the boat.  A sail-drive is a curious name for the gear box that is driven by the engine and turns the propeller.  When I had the gear oil in the sail-drive tested by a lab, it showed evidence of water contamination. That suggested the seal for the propeller shaft was leaking.  While the boat was out of the water, I had the seal replaced and they found pitting and corrosion on the shaft where it makes contact with the seal.

I’d have thought the whole shaft would need to be replaced, but that turned out not to be the case.  They took the shaft to a shop with a lathe and cut a groove into it, removing the pitting and corrosion.  Then they filed the new groove with a ceramic paste.  After the paste hardened, they put the shaft back on the lathe and trimmed off the excess, so the diameter was back to the original. It’s now good as new, maybe better. I have no idea how ceramic wears differently than stainless steel, but it shouldn’t pit, oxidize, or corrode where it makes contact with the seal.  It’s really good to have all that boat yard work done.