Tung Chow
17 October 2020 | Crisfield, MD
Cap'n Andy | Clear,chilly
Another rain event had me hunkered down below. I might as well look into the roller furler that doesn’t work. There are no identifying marks on it and its problem is the upper swivel bearing is seized. It might need total replacement. If we can’t find out which manufacture,, which line, which model, and probably no available parts, it might need total replacement. These things run from just under a thousand, to approaching three thousand. It’s a simple device. It consists of a bunch of conduits, or might be called sections, foils, or tubing, basically a column cylinder that is around the stay. At the top is a swivel that is a simple casting with two attachment points, one is for the halyard, the other is for the head of the sail. The swivel with its two attachment points swivels around the stay, usually with ball bearings. It is not attached to the foils or stay, it slides up and down, hoisting the sail, which is slotted into the foils. At the bottom, the tack of the sail is attached to a cylinder with a drum. The cylinder and drum are around the stay, with appropriate bearings. The drum is keyed into the foils, so when the drum is turned, the whole foil assembly right up to the upper swivel, turns. Most of the parts are aluminum castings or stainless cylinders, which don’t go bad. In between are bearings, usually open bearings with alternating torlon and stainless steel balls. It’s the bearings that go bad, usually due to salt and corrosion. The balls can be replaced, the races can be refinished.
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There are also bearings that are not open, sealed, no maintenance, lifetime, until they hit salt water. They seize up solid. The open bearings can be flushed with fresh water, the sealed bearings are impregnable until they sit in the sun and salt for a few months.
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Quite a few years later we are looking at an upper swivel bearing that does not move. Its housing has no manufacturer or model number cast into it. It has a peculiar shape, but in all my searches on Google and rigging information sources nothing turns up. I should post its shape. Maybe someone will reply.
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Simply, I could disassemble it somehow and either free up the bearing or replace it.
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The spar varnish for the exterior teak showed up and I was almost ready for it. The exterior teak had been scraped, wire brushed with a fiber wire brush, and just needed a little more attention before varnishing. Cornelia Marie showed up from Baltimore and I returned her jigsaw and asked if she had a sander. She did, a Ryobi pad sander. I had cycled to the hardware store and obtained paint thinner, a 120 grit flap disk for the angle grinder, 6 sheets of 220 grit sandpaper, Minwax Golden Oak stain in the smallest can they had, and more masking tape. I already had 6 sheets of open face 150 grit garnet sandpaper, chip brushes, and large tongue depressor-like stirring sticks.
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I returned to SUNSPLASH with the sander and the varnish. I would be happy if by the end of the day the exterior teak had a coat of varnish on it. I was getting hungry and while consuming a pack of Ritz crackers and some cheddar and colby/jack cheeses, read the label of the varnish can. It said to use it unthinned, wait 12 to 24 hours between coats, and only recommended 2 or 3 coats.
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The wooden sailing dinghy association in England that I had happened upon some time ago had lots of information about varnishing boats. They recommended 7 coats of varnish to protect the wood and 7 more to protect the underlying varnish.
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I quickly found out the pad sander was a 1/4 sheet sander, that is, you cut your sandpaper in half, then cut the halves in half. I went through 4 full sheets. I also had the 120 grit flap disk on the angle grinder. The pad sander sands smooth on a level plane surface, but if the surface is irregular, pits of old varnish and grayed wood remain. The flap disk can be used to dig into the irregularities. Sometimes teak is cleaned with a caustic pair of mixtures, one is like lye, the other is like vinegar, in fact you can use lye and vinegar the same way, but it erodes the surface of the teak. That leaves plenty of high and low spots that the flat sander will not get to. The problem with the angle grinder is it turns too fast and there is a tendency to scorch the wood with the disk.
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I ended up scorching a bit of wood and sanding the scorch marks off, also sanding a 2 square foot area with 4 little sheets of 150 grit paper. The correct thing to do is to use a more aggressive paper and then finer and finer instead of just using a semi-fine grit like I did. I was rushing, trying to get all the surfaces prepared before it became chilly in the evening, plus I was getting pooped. Sanding is a lot of work.
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When I had finished the hatch drop boards I got out the can of varnish and the stirrer and began stirring the varnish. Then I remembered to put on the nitrile gloves. Grab the Harbor Freight chip brush and begin varnishing. Start with the drop boards, we need to drop them into the companionway for the night, or face 45 degree weather up close and personal. Immediately I was relieved to see the effect of the new wet varnish on the teak that had been covered, partially, with blistered, awful, terrible, old varnish. I worked around, drop boards first, vertical companionway hatch slides next, because the hatch trim was done by pulling it aft of its normal position, past the vertical slides, then the hatch starboard horizontal slide, working from the cockpit forward toward the mast, then the Dorade vent box. This teak shoebox sized item was particularly awful. It was hidden under the tarp that was keeping the rainwater from invading the cabin. I would say it had only about 30 percent of coverage by the old varnish. The exposed teak was gray. After attacking it with the pad sander and the angle grinder, it looked like new when the varnish was applied. Last was the main hatch port horizontal slide. Then I took a couple of photos of the teak.