Primary winches and exhaust
09 August 2011 | Port Townsend, WA
Jon
While the mast was down and getting worked over by the boat yard in Port Townsend (the boat yard shall remain nameless for now), there was time to work on a few other essential tasks. I will describe two of them here in an effort to keep my posts shorter. First, the old exhaust system from the heat exchanger to the riser, to the muffler looked really old and rusty. I feared it could fail catastrophically and it was time to do something about it. I had the yard take it apart and tell me what to make of it. They confirmed my fears. The rusty fittings practically shattered while taking them apart. I was told that they could rebuild the whole system, but a new in-kind replacement muffler would have to be custom fabricated (translate: $$$$). So be it. Make it so. I must admit the new muffler is a stainless steel work of art, complete with its own bronze plaque from the builder. I wish I could have installed it on the outside of the boat. It seems a shame to hide such a magnificent and costly piece of work. I will try to remember to get a picture. Really, something to behold.
The other task I wish to describe is my new primary winches and winch bases. I have been holding on to these new winches for a couple of years, waiting for the right moment. The moment had arrived. I waited because I knew that when I removed the old winches I would find that the ancient aluminum winch bases would be so corroded as to require full replacement. I was right. They literally crumbled, as aluminum will do under oxidation and exposure to sea water. I found a neat model for replacement bases on another Rhodes Bounty which I found on the web. the picture I have posted is of the model on the Red Witch II. Some of you Bounty II owners may have seen these pictures as you, like I, grope around the internet for the paucity of available information on our boats. I took the photo along with one of my winches to my local welding shop and they made me two exact copies with mounting holes in where they needed to be, or so I thought. It turns out, I should have taken both of my new (supposedly identical) Lewmar 44 ST winches to the welder because, and get this ...the bolt patterns were different! I had to redrill the bolt pattern on one of them to fit the other winch. Fortunately, I was able to make it work, but jeez, you can't take anything for granted when it comes to boats. Again, the new bases were not cheap ...but I love them. They look good, work beautifully, and will last another fifty years. I see that I have written another lengthy post.