Some less than 'Routine Servicing'

A couple of years ago we experienced the awkward situation of having to raise the anchor by hand when the windlass failed. We were lucky then because conditions were very benign but it is not an experience we wish to repeat as it will probably happen next time in bad weather and at the most inopportune moment. Keeping an eye on the anchor windlass and ensuring that there are no leaks into the bearings and gearbox is now an important part of our servicing routine. It gets several inspections and lubrications throughout the year now but we also think that a full strip down is required at least every 2 years; probably excessive but good for peace of mind.

Having carefully put the windlass back together in January 2012 with Duralac on the bolts and avoiding using an excess of sealant, it was really good to find that our attention to detail had paid off; it came out and apart very easily. In January 2012 removing the windlass had been a real faff because far too much Sikaflex had been used to bed it down. This time, in less than half an hour, I was stripping the unit down on the pontoon whilst enjoying the sunshine. It was doubly pleasing to find that no water had got into the gearbox or bearings so the components were liberally greased and reassembled.

Looks bad but is actually just
 cosmetic and cleaned up nicely    

However, we did not refit the windlass immediately because, whilst inside the anchor chain locker, we noticed some rust marks coming from around the bolts on the stem. These are part of the myriad of bolts that attach the stem-head fitting and ultimately help to hold the mast up. They also take some of the strain when at anchor. They are therefore important bolts and it looked like the bedding sealant had gone and there was possibly some crevice corrosion. Worth checking out which is much easier to do with the anchor windlass removed, not least of which because the mounting hole lets in a lot of light as well as some airflow to make working in the confined space a little more civilized.

With the mast still up, removing all of the bolts at once is not really an option so we pulled three of the worst looking bolts to investigate the corrosion. Fortunately we found that there is not a problem. There is no pitting on the stainless steel bolts and so we polished them and then cleaned off the rust stains on the inside of the locker. The small amount of corrosion was enough to stain but was effectively just cosmetic. So, the three bolts have been refitted with new sealant and we have to wait for that to dry before we can remove the other bolts in turn to clean them up.

Working our way through removing, cleaning and resealing all of the bolts at the bow was not a job we had expected to be doing. Certainly not ‘routine servicing’ and it will take several days because there are 15 bolts attaching the stem-head fitting, 6 attaching the anchor chain cleat and a further 4 on the spinnaker pole downhaul block, all of which we have decided need to be resealed as they are ahead of the anchor windlass. We will look at the 4 bolts anchoring the inner forestay as a second job for later, probably during our next visit.

So, what to do whilst the sealant is drying on the 3 bolts? Well, tackling another job that we don’t think has been looked at since BV was launched seems entirely appropriate. That is serving the heater. We have fallen into the classic trap of not wanting to disturb a fully functioning heater during the previous winters, when we do most of our maintenance, for the obvious reason of comfort whilst onboard. During the summer months we of course knew that we really ought to service the heater but somehow it never got done; we were spending our precious time enjoying sailing.

The result is that we think that the heater has remained undisturbed since it was installed when BV was built in 1999. Amazing that it still works because it is supposed to have been serviced annually! That said, I have run the heater on paraffin several times to decoke it but this is the first time we have pulled it apart and serviced it properly. The two main components to change are the glow plug element and the metal basket that it sits in. As you can see from the left photograph above, which compares old with new, these components really did need to be changed. We also cleaned the equivalent of the fuel injector, replaced the bright green gaskets and then re-assembled.

That all done, we found ourselves in the bizarre position of wanting to run the heater a full blast to heat up the exhaust to set the exhaust sealant, but finding that the heating system felt that 27 degrees Celsius was more than hot enough and so it would only run at its lowest output. When the temperature dropped later in the day we got it sorted and so now we have a fully serviced heater ready for whatever temperatures a Gibraltar winter throws at us during our visits. Perhaps best not to leave it 14 years before servicing the heater again!

Before, during and after. The bucket was there to catch the bolts if any were carelessly dropped during the removal process; fortunately none were

Whilst we were working on the heater we also kept tinkering with the bolts in the anchor locker to clean and reseal them. The 9 upper bolts for the stem-head fitting are secured to an aluminium plate inside the anchor locker, which spreads the load. We removed that and found signs of minor corrosion from small leaks around the bolts so it was cleaned up and painted with yellow/green Duralac before being refitted. We also removed the very large stainless steel load spreading plate under the anchor chain cleat. Once cleaned it was refitted and the bolts resealed.

It all sounds very easy to do, which I guess it really is, but the photograph on the left shows that access was a little awkward. One of us (yes we did take it in turns!) worked inside the anchor chain locker tightening the nut whilst the other held the bolt secure from on deck.

So, a mixture of routine and not so routine servicing is keeping us busy. There is a lot to do, but it is a real pleasure doing it all in a nice warm climate rather than what we have been used to, which is trying to fit all of these sorts of jobs into the cold and wet winter months back in the UK.

Gibraltar