Winter Refit – The New Generator (Part 1)

The old generator stripped of parts to reduce its weight and the
 surrounding panels removed to help with access

Our Winter Refit was made up of several large projects; one of which was replacing our generator. During our summer cruise the generator had become increasingly difficult to start. We had gone through a whole series of tests and adjustments to keep it going but then every few days it would turn over but not fire up. The injector seemed okay; it was cleaned but we were expecting to have to fit a new one to properly rule that out. The valve gaps were checked multiple times and bizarrely the generator always seemed to start straight away after those checks. Most worryingly we started to see traces of oil in the cooling seawater ejected from the exhaust and so we stopped running it.

It was clear that the generator was in need of a complete strip down, refurbishment and rebuild. I therefore set about drawing up a list of replacement parts that we would need to order in. Trying to price those parts up highlighted an issue. It would appear that this model of diesel generator motor hadn’t been made in Europe for a few years and with spare parts starting to become scarce, they were surprisingly expensive. Fischer Panda advised me that they don’t supply generators with that diesel motor in them any longer because the engine manufacturing company they had got the motors from had gone bust several years ago. As a result, Fischer Panda had designed a whole new generator to replace the gap in the market.

A major recondition of our existing generator would be possible but it was looking like it would be an expensive and time consuming operation. Additionally, I was concerned that in the future we might have difficulties getting spares; it didn’t seem sensible to invest a lot of time and money into an almost obsolete generator. Instead I started looking in detail at replacement generators available from several manufacturers. A key factor was which ones would fit our machinery space and the tortuous access route into that part of the boat.

The route to our machinery space at the aft starboard corner of Blue Velvet – the old generator
 would need to be carried out through this tunnel and the new generator back in the same way!

Our current generator was a rectangular cuboid shape which just squeezed through the narrow doorway into the aft heads.  It was a heavy lump weighing around 100kgs and manhandling it off the engine beds, through two hatchways and a doorway to get it into the saloon was going to be a challenge.  We would then need to lift it up through the companionway to get it off the boat.

With the machinery space cleared, access was much
better but lifting the generator off the beds and out
 through the hatch would still be difficult

Doors panels and the machinery space flooring were removed to give maximum access.  After disconnecting the generator supply lines I also stripped off every easily removable part of the generator to reduce the weight.

The plan was for one strong character to lie in the back corner of the machinery space and, as a 2 man lift, the generator would be moved off its mounts and then progressively inched out through the hatchways with suitable blocks underneath it. This was the same technique we’d seen used when we had had the original generator replaced with this one.

With everything ready for the lift out, it was time to recruit some extra muscle power. My daughter’s boyfriend Matt was roped in and he also found a friend from the gym who was happy to help. I’m not entirely sure that they knew what they were letting themselves in for!

With 2 muscly characters crammed into the machinery space there wasn’t much room to move and having to lift the generator up and off the beds without any headroom above it was far from easy. However, little by little the generator was manhandled out of the machinery space and into the saloon. Once there we rigged up a rope cradle which was attached to the spinnaker halyard. With another rope and block attached to the backstay we could then use the winches to take the load as we wiggled the generator up through the companionway and out into the cockpit.

The lifting team!  You can also see the spinnaker halyard, block and rope set up we used
to help get the generator up through the companionway and off the boat

A slight bump from a 100kg lump of metal could do a lot of damage so we had padded the doorways as best we could and used lots of protective boards as the generator was progressively moved. Even with those precautions, there was always the concern that we might damage some of Blue Velvet’s beautiful woodwork during the lift out operation. It was, therefore, a great relief when we finally got the old generator up into the cockpit with just a few scratched in the varnish around the aft heads doorway where we had needed to angle the generator to get it through the narrow gap. With smiles all around we were able to use the same spinnaker halyard, rope and block set up to lift the generator off the boat and onto a trolly. A very successful afternoon’s work!

St Peter Port, Guernsey

Winter Refit - New Hatches and Anchor Chain

 Our early August passage from Kinsale towards the Azores was aborted because of leaking windows and a leaking forehatch.  They were certainly not catastrophic leaks but the forehatch leak had been particularly irritating because we had already changed the seal on the forehatch earlier in the year because it had been looking a bit tired and compressed.  The seal change instructions had seemed simple enough, however, getting the new seal to bed down properly into the radiuses at the corners had proved to be much more difficult than expected.  When we had finished, it had all looked good and there had been no leaks during normal sailing conditions, but August’s proper sea trial in F6 confused seas with a lot of water over the deck exposed that the new seal fitting wasn’t really good enough for our planned Atlantic crossing.

Back in Guernsey, a chat with the guys at our local boatyard confirmed that changing the hatch seals was time consuming and very difficult to get right.  As a result, their usual practice was to replace the whole hatch.  Given that one hatch had already looked like its seal needed changing, and recognising that the others were also originals from when Blue Velvet was made, we decided that it would be prudent to take the opportunity to replace all of the hatches with new ones.

Out with the old

Taking advantage of some sunny and dry weather in October weather, we set about removing the forehatch.  Despite our concerns about the bedding sealant, it actually came out relatively easily.  With the bolts and screws removed, we were able to get a chisel under the flange and then progressively work around the hatch cutting the sealant with a knife blade.  Lots of wooden wedges were used to hold the flange up and keep a bit of tension on the bit of the sealant that we were cutting.  It took a bit of time but working very carefully around to avoid damaging the GRP, eventually the hatch popped out and we were able to clean off the old sealant with acetone ready for bedding down the new hatch.

The new hatch bedded down

With a good squeeze of marine sealant all around the flange and then a progressive tightening of the screws and bolts, we were confident that the base of the hatch would be watertight when the sealant had set.  There was clearly a little excess to clean up but a final wipe around with an acetone soaked cloth gave us a neat finish.

The hinge supports were given a bit of a tighten with an Allen key and, with weight from outside, the handles were locked shut.  Once the protective film had been removed the real benefit of fitting new hatches became immediately apparent.  The old hatch had a small amount of sunlight induced crazing but this new hatch was, in comparison, beautiful clear.  One hatch completed…. just 7 more to go!

Aside from the new hatches, the other big delivery we had received this month was a pallet with 100 metres of new anchor chain.  When away cruising we spend a lot of time at anchor and so the galvanising on the chain eventually gets worn away.  The chain is still strong enough to keep the boat secure at anchor but it starts to rust which marks the foredeck and makes it look unsightly.  Our chain was probably good for one more year, especially if we had end for ended it, but in a year’s time we aren’t expecting to be in a location where finding new 10mm DIN 766 metric calibrated chain will be easy.  So 220kg of shiny new chain was lugged down to the marina, each 10 metre point was marked, and then it was loaded into the chain locker.  For anchoring in extreme conditions, we also carry an additional 50 metres of thick stretchy octoplait anchor warp which was spliced to the bitter end of the chain; we hope we never see conditions bad enough that we have to let out 100 metres of chain and the additional 50 metres of warp but it’s there ready if we do.

St Peter Port, Guernsey