April 13-14, 2023 - Thursday and Friday

While at the dock, I plug into shore power so I can run one bright light and a fan.  Everything else uses the boat's 12v electrical system.  When on the hard (in the boatyard), shore power is usually available as well as water.   The spot I am in now has neither.  I have water, so don't need shore water, but the large fans I use to keep cool require 120v power.  Fortunately, Pierless came with an inverter.  Other than testing it once, I haven't needed to use it.  So, I figured I'd give it a try.  My only concern was how much power it would draw from the batteries.  This isn't an issue during the day when the solar panels are working, but at night I worried it would drain my batteries too much.  Turns out the inverter is very efficient and the smaller fan needs very little power.  I an able to run the fan all night without a power problem.  Nice to know! 

One of my first projects was to change propellers.  The three blade prop that is currently on the boat has one blade that is not aligned correctly, causing some vibration.  I cleaned it off and then used my gear puller to remove it.  Having liberally applied Lanocote (I call it sheep dip) when I put it on, it came loose easily and showed no signs of corrosion.

2-blade prop and new zincs

I then cleaned up the shaft and installed the two bladed propeller. 

Next up - zincs.  Zincs are used on boats to control corrosion of metal parts through a process called electrolysis.  Electrolysis occurs when different metals are placed in a conductive solution (salt water) which allows electrical current to flow between them.  It is the same process that occurs in most batteries.  As the current flows, one of the two metals is eroded - not a good thing.  Without getting into the chemistry of it, the solution is to have a sacrificial metal attached to your boat that is more easily corroded than the other metals you want to protect.  In this case zinc.  

There are 4 zincs on my hull.  The old ones showed a fair bit of corrosion but were still doing the job.  This is common when in a marina where stray currents are often present from improperly wired boats.  They are easy to replace and it took little time to finish this task. 

I then moved on to the thru-hull fittings.  These are just short tubes through the hull with a valve on the inside.  Hoses connect to the valves to provide water to the engine, toilet, deck wash and sink.  There are also drains that connect to other thru-hulls.  In all, Pierless has six below the waterline. 

I began on the outside with a small brush and removed any foreign object that may be lodged in the pipe.  Usually small crustaceans.  Next I put a little grease on the valve and exercised the valve several times.  It was a little slower doing this by myself, but not bad.  That's it for the thru-hulls.  At some point in the future I will be replacing all of the connected hoses as well.

Next were the two engine belts.  They run the alternator and engine water pump.  They can be a pain because you have to tension the belt while tightening the bolts.  I had a guy help me on this, so I went well.

My last project of the day was to thread the traveler line through the traveler.  The traveler is what the main sheet (rope) connects to from the boom.  It's used to move the mainsail attachment point from side to side to adjust the sail shape.  It has  5:1 mechanical advantage, so takes a bit of threading!