From: SV Perception Phyl &
Fred Denton <denton@flash.net>
To: denton@flash.net <denton@flash.net>
Date:
Subject: Crews
Letter 2002 #03 Commissioning
It is a new season.
Perception weathered the winter without a problem. The good people of Gouvia
Marina took care of her. Now, we must get her ready to go back in the water and
follow the weather south and east.
Setting her up for
the winter took two weeks and consisted of a lot of tasks. Putting her back in
shape to sail is no less complex. Fortunately, there are people here who are
willing to help when asked. Most of it is not difficult or complicated. Much of
it is intricate.
There are lots of
little creatures adrift in the sea, like the boll weevil, just a looking for a
home. When they bump into a surface, the first step is to attach. Then they
build a little shell for housing. Have a family. Build some more houses and
attach more tightly. The net effect is: any surface exposed to the ocean grows
barnacles. On a boat they are unsightly, increase friction and there attachment
process destroys fiberglass. Perception is built of fiberglass and depends on a
minimum amount of friction to move through the water under sail.
Mariners used to
have a neat way of protecting their boats from these invaders. They brewed up a
paint that was hazardous to the critter’s health. How about a concoction of
copper, cyanide and lead? Unfortunately, it worked too well.
Now, the schemes
center on avoidance, rather an attack. Either the paint is so soft that it
always falling off with whoever is trying to catch a ride or it so slick that
attachment is near impossible. Either way, it requires an annual replacement.
Smooth out the old with sandpaper and add two coats of new.
Perception has added
her armor. It’s the fall off regularly variety.
Perception came
equipped with an Italian built feathering propeller. It is a thing of beauty
when it works. It propels the boat forward when the engine drives it forward
and to the rear when the transmission reverses its rotation. The beauty is, when
the boat is driving forward under sail, the prop blades turn parallel to the
direction of the boat and virtually eliminate drag. What a joy when it works.
Last season,
Perception’s first season, this prop worked well at the beginning and its
performance deteriorated quickly. Within the first month, it became rather
unpredictable when shifted into reverse exactly what would happen. By the end
of the season, standard procedure when entering a harbor was to do test
reverses in open quarters until a reverse was achieved. After she came out of
the water the prop was a bit stiff. Figuring out
the solution was left for this spring. This spring, it was completely locked
up.
The function of this
crafty tool depends on the smooth movement of gears on gears and hubs on
shafts. This movement in every case is bronze on bronze facilitated by salt
waters resistant grease. When the prop was taken apart this spring, there was
no residue of grease. Instead, the bronze surfaces were the graveyard of some
shell life from the sea. Probably greasing it was something someone in
If the lack of
grease was not bad enough, the instruction manual was missing, the prop had
never been properly assembled and Fred had no idea how to reassemble it. There
was no indication of what the appropriate angle for setting the blades. The
broker in Nice knows these things and he answers his phone. The instruction
manual was available on the internet. Fortunately, just three boats down, was Toutazlmut. Her captain, David, has experience with
Max-Prop and he was willing to share his knowledge. After a false start because
the Elan team supplied the top of the line variety and the first set of instruction
that showed up on the net were for the old, cheap model, everything got sorted
out.
Perception’s
Max-Prop was now sans sea life. It was full of grease and set at the magical 22
degrees. Unfortunately, the only real test was with the boat in the water and
it would cost if it was wrong and had to come out for the prop to be reset.
The in the water
test was completed without a problem. This prop is truly a “Thing of Beauty”.
The boat and the
crew are just about ready to set sail. We are expecting Gualberto next week
here at Gouvia Marina. After talking with people who have been there, we have
opted for not going around the
Our
Fred
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