Sint Maarten Part 1

Hi everyone,

After several days anchored in Simpson's Bay Lagoon it was time to haul Zen Again out at Bobby's Megayard.  They came highly recommended, particularly their yard in the lagoon.  We hauled out on Monday 20th January.

New TruDesign thru-hulls, sea-cocks & hose tails

Prior to the haul-out we rediscovered Lagoonies and the Soggy Dollar.  The former is a nice restaurant between Budget Marine and Island Water World chandleries.  The Soggy Dollar offers US$1 beers during daily happy hours from 1700-1900 and is a popular cruiser hang-out.  While Zen Again was ashore we stayed at two different places ashore, one a small hotel and the other an AirBnB.  Our Christmas pressie to each-other.

At Lagoonies

A Soggy Dollar six-pack

The haul-out went well.  They prop up boats using wooden beams.  Unusual but effective.

In the small travel-lift

Propped Up

One of the key tasks was to replace our thru-hulls.  Since the Canaries, possibly the Azores, one of our thru-hulls has been leaking.  We diverted to Mindelo to carry out an emergency repair.  It involved applying GRP disks and lots of sealant outside and inside.

Exterior Patch

Once propped up our first job was to remove the patches.  They came off easily using a blunt multiool blade.  The replacements were New Zealand made TruDesign units.  And they'd be epoxied into place.

Exterior (left) and interior (right) patches

Next was removal of the propellor, shaft, cutlass bearing and PSS shaft seal to replace the latter two.  This work was done by the Megayard mechanic Noel.  The cutlass bearing and shaft seal were four years old and the engine had done about 1100 hours in that time.  The cutlass bearing was a Delrin plastic unit which had 3mm of play after that time.

With the shaft removed we could see the shaft seal rotor's O-rings had caused corrosion to the shaft.  And the cutlass bearing had scored the shaft.  Neither good.  Megayard boss Jeff, mechanic Noel and I discussed the best way forward and came up with a plan which avoided sourcing a new shaft.

Shaft seal damage to shaft

Cutlass bearing damage to shaft

While the mechanic worked on the drive train we had a separate contractor Peter (the "Dutch Shipwright") working on the thru-hulls.  Unfortunately our shipment of TruDesign kit from the UK was delayed in the US.  Apparently UPS only flies to Sint Maarten once a week and we just missed one.

Peter did a very neat job removing the old thru-hulls.  He fitted a wooden bung, cut it off flush, then drilled out the thru-hull flange with a hole saw.   A very nice method.  I then set to work cleaning the interior surrounds of each hole.

Hot flange!

Old kit

Cleaned surround of the galley thru-hull holes

Two of three head thru-hull holes

Exterior cut down to GRP

While awaiting the new thru-hull kit the drive train work continued.  Our cutlass bearing has a non-standard outer diameter but Jeff managed to source a larger unit and have it machined down to fit.  Happily it is a proper cutlass bearing.

New cutlass bearing

Pressing the cutlass bearing into place

New PSS shaft seal fitted

We had hoped to relaunch on Friday 24th January but our parcel didn't arrive until that afternoon.  So Zen Again stayed ashore for five more nights.  Every day (not just the extra days) we carried provisions down to the boat and stowed them away.  Sint Maarten is a very good place for provisioning.

On Monday morning Nic and I rekeyed the 5-year old Coppercoat.  It's still in very good shape.  Takes us about 3 hours to do the job starting with a clean hull.  We use wet-n-dry paper and gently rekey by hand.

One Monday afternoon Peter and his offsider Jordan fitted the TruDesign thru-hulls.  They used West System Six10, and relatively new thickened epoxy adhesive product.  It mixes epoxy and hardener in the nozzle which makes application very easy.

Two of the head compartment thru-hulls were increased in size from 3/4" to 1".  These thru-hulls have been replaced more than the others and the holes had gradually expanded.

Using the blue TruDesign insertion tools

Galley 3'4" & 1.5" thru-hulls fitted

Exterior view

Two head 1" thru-hulls

Head 1.5" thru-hull

On Tuesday afternoon Peter fitted the sea-cocks and hose-tails using 3M 4200 sealant.  We fitted new anodes to shaft, propellor and skeg shoe, then did some final Coppercoat rekeying.

On the morning of Wednesday 29th January our last load of provisions (for the time being) went aboard and we fitted the hoses to the sea-cock hose tails.

Galley 3/4" sea water inlet & 1.5" sink drain

Head 1" hoses for toilet water inlet and sink drain

Head 1" sea-cocks

Head 1.5" sea cock for holding tank outlet

On Wednesday afternoon Zen Again was 'splashed'.  No leaks.  Huzzah!!!  Bobby's Megayard and Dutch Shipwright Peter both did great jobs.

In the slings

In the water

We're now anchored back in Simpson's Bay Lagoon.  Looking forward to working on a host of in-the-water jobs.  Cruising certainly is "boat maintenance in exotic locations".

Trust all's well where you are.