Captain’s log 10-14-06
Departure Point / Start Time Atlantic City, NJ() 9AM
Arrival Point / End Time Cape May NJ() 6PM
Distance Traveled / Engine
This was our last leg of open water and the weather seemed to cooperate. Winds were the same as the day before and the trip was fast. Unfortunately at the approach to Cape May the winds backed on us shifting to Southwest and blowing right on the nose. They also increased to 20-25 knots. The main, which was on a flattening reef developed a rip about 6 feet down from the head. The rip stretched the entire length of the sail form luff to leech. On top of that the engine overheated and the smell of antifreeze was noticeable in the cabin. I knew I had to shut the engine down but wanted to make sure we can maintain some headway speed so we don’t get in irons. I set a tack for Crystal on a beamreach with the main alone. Her job was keep us on that tack, and to report the speed and depth every minute. We were approaching the beach just north of Cape May inlet, which provided a nice lee for me to work on the engine. As we got closer to the beach, I would tack for a while and then tack back. Even though the wind was favorable to navigate the inlet under sail alone, gusts were too strong to handle for just the two of us. I knew I had to get the engine running. I opened the engine compartment and it looks like the pulley driven by the raw water pump in the front of the engine had disappeared. Fell off the shaft, which was now badly worn. That’s new 250$ water pump! There was a lot of black tar from the worn, but still serviceable v belt. But there was no sign of a pulley. The pump shaft that was driving the pulley was badly damaged but it looked like the keyway could be filed back into usable condition. I turned the inverter on, got the machine drills and the rest of the tools out. I finally managed to find the pulley about 5 feet away in the bildge. How in hell did it get there I was wondering? It was badly worn but I drilled out the gauges and looks like it could work as a temporary patch job. I also had few other spare pulleys but for now I just wanted to patch up the existent one and keep it from falling off the shaft. I ended up remounting the pulley with another pulley next to it to keep it in place. The machine set screw was holding the pulley in place but the entire setup was wobbly. I tightened everything up as best as I could without stripping the set screw. Tightened the belt and refilled the spilled antifreeze. The engine was back to operational status. The temperature dropped and we were on our way. This time with companionway staircase opened and Crystal keeping an eye on the vibrations in the raw water pump pulley and me behind the wheel keeping a close eye on the water coming out of the exhaust. We prayed that the setup would hold and it did. Under strong gusts and opposing ebbing current we managed to get into Cape May and anchor next to the rest of the cruisers alongside the Coastguard station. I was relieved that we made it in and knew that I had some repairs ahead of me before we could continue.
The main problem was that the pulley was aluminum. Pump was mounted on the engine flywheel and engine vibrations were translating onto the pulley. Belt tension had the pulley warped and wobbling on the pump shaft. The entire setup failed due to vibrations and a loose set-screw, in the worst possible time. Murphy’s law never fails. Digging through spare parts I found a cast iron heavy-duty pulley with same shaft diameter and set-screw. The pump shaft needed a bit more filing but it worked. With this new pulley, the belt was even better aligned with the pulley on the flywheel mainshaft, and the new cast iron pulley had no chance of working loose. On top of that I backed the first set screw with another one. The setup looks 100% better and I think we are all set for a long time to come. Later on that night loud yelling and noise woke us up. We were amazed to see a large 50+ foot fishing vessel 20 feet from us with all the lights turned on drifting in the wind and current. A person on the bow was trying to calm us down saying that they lost steering but are under anchor and waiting for sea-tow to come in. Situation was more evident after I turned the VHF. The vessel was powerless and desperately floating in the channel dangerously close to our bow. The anchor they were on definitely wasn’t holding because they were closer and closer. Luckily, just in time sea-tow showed up. Unfortunately it wasn’t so trivial to get them out of the anchorage without bumping into anyone of the anchored boats and especially us. I turned the engine on and was ready to haul the anchor rode and move should the situation worsen. And I did. Sea-tow boat was not powerful enough to get them out of our way so after it was evident that they would bump our port side I motored ahead for about 100 feet just enough to avoid them. And that turned out to be sufficient, as the small sea-tow boat appeared to have a hold of the much larger floating chunk of corroded iron. The whole time Crystal was frantic. She was ready to go out there and yell and scream at them. I wasn’t in the mood for a lawsuit and pursuing damage repair. Heading south was the main thing on my mind.
Arrival Point / End Time Cape May NJ() 6PM
Distance Traveled / Engine
This was our last leg of open water and the weather seemed to cooperate. Winds were the same as the day before and the trip was fast. Unfortunately at the approach to Cape May the winds backed on us shifting to Southwest and blowing right on the nose. They also increased to 20-25 knots. The main, which was on a flattening reef developed a rip about 6 feet down from the head. The rip stretched the entire length of the sail form luff to leech. On top of that the engine overheated and the smell of antifreeze was noticeable in the cabin. I knew I had to shut the engine down but wanted to make sure we can maintain some headway speed so we don’t get in irons. I set a tack for Crystal on a beamreach with the main alone. Her job was keep us on that tack, and to report the speed and depth every minute. We were approaching the beach just north of Cape May inlet, which provided a nice lee for me to work on the engine. As we got closer to the beach, I would tack for a while and then tack back. Even though the wind was favorable to navigate the inlet under sail alone, gusts were too strong to handle for just the two of us. I knew I had to get the engine running. I opened the engine compartment and it looks like the pulley driven by the raw water pump in the front of the engine had disappeared. Fell off the shaft, which was now badly worn. That’s new 250$ water pump! There was a lot of black tar from the worn, but still serviceable v belt. But there was no sign of a pulley. The pump shaft that was driving the pulley was badly damaged but it looked like the keyway could be filed back into usable condition. I turned the inverter on, got the machine drills and the rest of the tools out. I finally managed to find the pulley about 5 feet away in the bildge. How in hell did it get there I was wondering? It was badly worn but I drilled out the gauges and looks like it could work as a temporary patch job. I also had few other spare pulleys but for now I just wanted to patch up the existent one and keep it from falling off the shaft. I ended up remounting the pulley with another pulley next to it to keep it in place. The machine set screw was holding the pulley in place but the entire setup was wobbly. I tightened everything up as best as I could without stripping the set screw. Tightened the belt and refilled the spilled antifreeze. The engine was back to operational status. The temperature dropped and we were on our way. This time with companionway staircase opened and Crystal keeping an eye on the vibrations in the raw water pump pulley and me behind the wheel keeping a close eye on the water coming out of the exhaust. We prayed that the setup would hold and it did. Under strong gusts and opposing ebbing current we managed to get into Cape May and anchor next to the rest of the cruisers alongside the Coastguard station. I was relieved that we made it in and knew that I had some repairs ahead of me before we could continue.
The main problem was that the pulley was aluminum. Pump was mounted on the engine flywheel and engine vibrations were translating onto the pulley. Belt tension had the pulley warped and wobbling on the pump shaft. The entire setup failed due to vibrations and a loose set-screw, in the worst possible time. Murphy’s law never fails. Digging through spare parts I found a cast iron heavy-duty pulley with same shaft diameter and set-screw. The pump shaft needed a bit more filing but it worked. With this new pulley, the belt was even better aligned with the pulley on the flywheel mainshaft, and the new cast iron pulley had no chance of working loose. On top of that I backed the first set screw with another one. The setup looks 100% better and I think we are all set for a long time to come. Later on that night loud yelling and noise woke us up. We were amazed to see a large 50+ foot fishing vessel 20 feet from us with all the lights turned on drifting in the wind and current. A person on the bow was trying to calm us down saying that they lost steering but are under anchor and waiting for sea-tow to come in. Situation was more evident after I turned the VHF. The vessel was powerless and desperately floating in the channel dangerously close to our bow. The anchor they were on definitely wasn’t holding because they were closer and closer. Luckily, just in time sea-tow showed up. Unfortunately it wasn’t so trivial to get them out of the anchorage without bumping into anyone of the anchored boats and especially us. I turned the engine on and was ready to haul the anchor rode and move should the situation worsen. And I did. Sea-tow boat was not powerful enough to get them out of our way so after it was evident that they would bump our port side I motored ahead for about 100 feet just enough to avoid them. And that turned out to be sufficient, as the small sea-tow boat appeared to have a hold of the much larger floating chunk of corroded iron. The whole time Crystal was frantic. She was ready to go out there and yell and scream at them. I wasn’t in the mood for a lawsuit and pursuing damage repair. Heading south was the main thing on my mind.
posted by sundowner-cruise at 10:35 AM
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