Kaimusailing

I should disclaim my CRV, Constant Repair Vehicle, misnomer. The series 2 Honda CRV is actually a very reliable and well engineered and built vehicle. This particular vehicle has 247,000 miles on it, and a lot of deferred maintenance and repairs. As I work on it, it gets more and more viable. I wonder what is going to fail next. In about a month is the trek up to Crisfield, about 700 miles. Gulp.
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There is an oil leak on the passenger side near where the oil filter is, but the filter itself is not leaking. Geoff thought the valve cover might be leaking, but it doesn’t look so to me. I fear it is the crankshaft seal which can fail.
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So far we’ve replaced the front brakes, left tie rod end, right front strut, alignment, the original tape player radio replaced with Atoto touch screen double DIN stereo, driver window jam fixed, and now the alternator. I worry about the water pump. Fingers crossed.
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When we replaced the alternator the front splash shield on the underbody had to be removed involving a bunch of plastic clips. The same clips are used on other plastic shield, like the inner wheel well shields and cowlings in the engine compartment. We put the car together using available plastic clips but left the lower splash shield off until we could get more of the plastic clips.
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I went to a local auto parts store and the counter person could not find the proper clips but had packs of two for 5 or 6 bucks. I asked if getting the Honda part number would help and he said yes, he could cross reference. I returned to the boatyard and took one of the clips I had and mic’d it, then began searching online using my phone. The Honda part number is 700-080. I ordered online and waited for a package of 20 to come in.
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Geoff said we could work on it at 10AM, knowing I wouldn’t be up at the crack of dawn, but I got him to relent and do it at 11AM. I actually was ready a quarter past 10, called, and arrived at his garage where he was doing an oil change on an almost new Volkswagen Jetta. He thought I also needed the lift, but I just needed Geoff and his air tool and large pump jack, the front wheels had to come off.
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After he finished the oil change we jacked up the Honda and put jack stands to either side and removed the pump jack and the front wheels. Zip, zip, zip, off they came. The under tray went on quickly. We took a look at the crankshaft pulled and there was no oil leaking from its seal. A very good sign.
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I felt awkward, it was about noon and my job was done. It would have taken me 10 times longer with my little jack in the boatyard. Was I just going to buzz off, thanks Geoff, we agreed to meet later at the gas station restaurant where I wanted to watch the ladies NCAA basketball championship, UConn Lady Huskies will play. I worked in Connecticut for about a decade and UConn was the team we would root for.
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I had been working on the rudder and centerboard for the dinghy and found myself with a 3X18 belt sander and only 2 used belts for it while I had a bunch of 3X21 belts, including the 36 grit extra coarse belts that would remove wood very efficiently. When I purchased a 3X21 belt sander on clearance, only 27 bucks, it destroyed the coarse belts in about 20 minutes. Now I was on my way to Harbor Freight to buy some 3X18 coarse belts and return the 3X21 sander. Then I went to China Wok.
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It’s a very good Chinese take out restaurant and near Lowe’s lumber where I would pick up some hardware for the dinghy. I ordered shrimp with garlic sauce, got my hardware, returned, got my Chinese food, and went to Walmart to shop for essentials, including wine.
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Back in the boatyard I took my time enjoying the shrimp when Geoff showed up with an electric planer. Here, he said, this will speed things up. After he left and I was done eating, I began shaping the rudder. The planer destroyed the plywood of the rudder very quickly. He was right, it did speed things up.
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I sat down for a few minutes and then went to the gas station restaurant which opened at the same time that the basketball time started. I sat at the bar and watched the preliminaries, anthem, Diana Taurasi and other retired WNBA analysts. I paced myself, keep it down to 2 wines per hour.
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The game was on, I actually prefer watching women’s basketball, there is less of an abrupt nature to it. UConn won, Geoff and Karen arrived. I told Geoff of the electric planer’s shortcomings. They invited me to join them to have wine while they had dinner.
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It was Sunday and I needed to get back to the boatyard and make my Sunday evening call to Hawaii. A front was forecast to come through overnight. I had to remember to cover tools, etc. I went on board. The NBC show The Americas was due to be on. More phone calls came in, plus I called Hawaii, then my sister called from California. It went past midnight. By that time I was not remembering too clearly. I know I didn’t get to see my show.
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The next day I was recuperating on the pandemic porch when Denis, the Canadian truck driver rode up on his yellow Yamaha scooter. Zuma. I sent him a video by YouTuber “2Vintage”, aka Joe Weber, who fixes these things up and generates meticulously detailed videos. Later Denis texted me how great the video was. Yes, I watch all of Joe Weber’s stuff.
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My problems with the electric planer might be that I was using old bad plywood. I looked at the planer’s blades. They were dull and nicked. The blades can be removed and flipped over, they have two cutting edges. I took one blade out and looked at it. The other edge was like new. I could flip it over and reinstall it and then do the other blade. I had done this before on another planer. It is a tedious, but follow the procedure carefully and all will be well. The other blade was broken but it also had a new edge to offer. It looked like I could flip it and when tightened into place, the broken part would be just as secure as the other part.
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Geoff showed up and I showed him the blades etc. He commented that he could go to Harbor Freight and buy a set of new blades. It wasn’t worth it to drive up there just for the blades. I could do it.
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The adjustment for the height of the blades is with allen screws that have been lock tited on this planer. I tried my Harbor Freight allen wrenches that didn’t seem to work. I mumbled to Geoff, bicycle repair kit, and went to my bike and got a multitool that had allen bits along with everything else. One of them fit the allen screws. Geoff left. I was able to get the blades lined up properly with new sharp edges perfectly aligned. I made a pass on some of the plywood. It cut perfectly. I texted Geoff with a photo of the cut, “Nicey Nice”.
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I continued shaping both the centerboard and the rudder. The plywood was bad and had divots removed by the power tools in spite of the alignment. I made adjustments, glued some displaced plies, almost good as new, and used the rest of the glue to make fumed silica putty to fill screw holes and other divots. I felt a little better.
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The next day I laboriously moved the dinghy from in front of the catamaran to the work area where the dinghy sailing rig and centerboard and rudder are. I needed also to move a stout timber frame that may have been an engine support or something like that. I needed a hand truck. I had to walk all the way across the boatyard to find one, move things, then return the hand truck. The dinghy had to be lifted onto the support which was difficult without banging it or damaging the paint.
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I took the unfinished centerboard and tried to slide it into the centerboard slot but it caught, the slot needed to be relieved. Epoxy putty from when it was constructed last year had blobs in the slot that needed to be trimmed smooth. I tried various tools. The angle grinder couldn’t cut deep enough, jig saw wouldn’t cut the hardened putty, but the giant Sawz All with an aggressive blade quickly cut the slot to size. I also worked on the rudder.
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The rudder is made out of ¾” thick plywood but the rudder fittings are for maybe 1//2” ply. They are Optimist dinghy fittings. I marked the rudder for 1/2” thickness at the front edge and marked the sides of the rudder to match the length of the straps of the fittings. I used the now sharp planer to remove wood so that the front edge of the rudder where it mated to the hull would be like a wedge. The fittings would splay out to 3/4” at their ends while snuggly fitting the 1/2” dimension. The planer still made some gouges in the wood, but the belt sander cleaned them up. I liked how it came out and did the same on the other side.
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Rain was forecast, so I covered everything and retreated to the gas station restaurant for libations. Geoff and Karen showed up and a fellow at the end of the bar got into a conversation with me about West Virginia and longevity of our forefathers.
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That night I awoke at about 2AM, sore, and couldn’t even think about sleeping. I put a movie on and after a while I felt tired. The morning was interrupted by an early phone call, don’t they know. Then another call. I felt stiff and sore. Didn’t want to get up.
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I had breakfast early, like 11AM. I ran around the boatyard on the bike to loosen up. I still had some work to do on the dinghy, but didn’t want to do it. Too stiff, too sore.
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When I have to do something I don’t want to do I end up doing something else instead. There was an old roller furling drum sitting on the M25 diesel on top of the frayed tarp. I picked it up. Hood Seafurl model 705. It was seized.
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I don’t remember why I had it, maybe to make furling gear for a flying headsail. It was one of those endless furlers that cost so much. But it was seized. Maybe I could unseize it.
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It turns out that this was a popular furler on the Catalina 30’s and there were a lot of positive comments on the Catalina forums. I removed a clamping bolt from the lower part but nothing moved. There was a set screw deep inside and I was able to remove it with the furler in the vise in the wood shop. I banged on it some more. I lubricated it with 3-in-1 oil.
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I was about to give up and make some pasta with mushroom meat sauce when I found a user’s manual on the internet for this furler. It had exploded views of the parts and a warning not to disassemble it. Then a posting on the Catalina 30 forum had someone disassembling it and ball bearings falling out all over the place. He remarked that there were 4 set screws.
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I went back and removed the other 3 set screws. Nothing came apart. I liberally applied the oil wherever it might do some good. I began banging again. Geoff rode up on his bicycle. He left when he saw what I was doing. I finally got the lower fitting off the furler. The rest remained immovable. I gave up and went up to the galley.
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I sauteed diced onion and chopped beef till the onion was translucent, added thinly sliced mushrooms and garlic. Spices and tomato puree followed. The mixture was too watery, I uncovered it to get it to thicken. I tasted some on open face ciabatta rolls and took a nap.
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The image is of a St Marys sunset viewed through some live oak trees at the North River Causeway.