Just in From John William #68--Rebuilding a Turbo and a Transmission (Tuggers Vol. 61)

The following was excerpted from John Mackie's emails.

That's not where the transmission goes!

 20 July -- As you can see I've been busy in the hole. Changed oil in transmission for upcoming trip the Keys on Wed. Developed the telltale rattle of a bad vibration damper so I removed the gear the bell housing and damper. While I was at it I took off the turbo as it is seized Everything in my truck for delivery tomorrow. I got everything out myself but Susan insisted I get help to get it off the boat. Should go back in a little easier. Trip just postponed a few days. One thing they needed to do was make easier access to the gear.

 27 July -- Got the transmission back on Fri. No real problem with it although one reverse clutch plate was replaced. I also installed new damper plate. Had one suspect spring assy that could have been causing rattle. All back inboat with new oil cooler, waiting on turbo. It was sent to Miami to have the housing built up and machined back to specs, new housing $1,000, repair $500. Should have that back on Tues or Wed with hopes of leaving for Keys by next weekend, weather permitting.

28 July -- Cleaning up the mess today. Going to be hottest day so far with feel like temp of 106. Don't think I'll start a varnishing project. Tranny is tight but if planned out not too bad. Took me about 4 hours to get it out to aft door and that was by myself. Two people should cut that in half. Went back in easier, I had help getting it on the guide studs and getting the bolts started, about 25 minutes from garage to engine.

30 July -- Picked the turbo up today. The price of gold went up along with the jewlers hourly rate. $750 to repair housing. Over $1000 for new one. Total was $1325. New turbo must be priceless.

A Thermostat for the Cummins Engine (Tuggers Vol. 61)

From Allan Seymour: It’s fun to tell people that our Cummins engine is a 4BT, with “BT” standing for “bread truck.” Whether or not that fact is true, one thing is certain: these engines were used in bread trucks. Who made the decision to source this engine for our tugs? We should ask Tommy Chen. Beware, this could happen to you. When I bought the tug and needed a few parts, the local Cummins dealer claimed that the engine didn’t exist. To prove it, I emailed a photo of the engine ID tag. When a computer search finally located it, he said, “Oh! I’ve never seen that before.” Now, with a record of my purchase history, replacing parts is easy. However, not all Cummins 4BT engines are the same. • Some are rated at 100 hp, others at 150 hp. • Some have a metal radiator overflow tank bolted to the front right side of the engine. • Others have a plastic overflow bottle mounted on a bracket on the front left side. Sally W #42 needed a new thermostat. Her 100 hp engine has the plastic type overflow bottle. A thermostat with a rubber washer for that set up is: Cummins part #3802968. Price $39.89 plus tax. PS: With the new thermostat installed, the engine is running a little cooler and the oil pressure a little higher.

Head Thoughts (Tuggers Vol.62)

By Dave Howell, NELLIE D. #63

The world has changed and it was while rebuilding Nellie's sanitation system that this point was driven home in some interesting ways. The old sanitation design (see first diagram below) reflected the mores of its time. Nellie's new design (see second diagram below) reflects today's rules and maybe, even some of tomorrow's. Almost everywhere in US waters it's illegal to pump the head directly overboard. In fact, where we normally cruise, the inland waters of the east coast, even having an open head through-hull is a fineable offense. So, how does this affect Nellie's sanitation design? Surprisingly in some dramatic ways, and mostly for the better. When, by law, a normally-open through-hull becomes normally-closed, it's a game changer and there's a cascading affect on the sanitation system's design. The old design required an anti-siphon and a three-way valve. The first kept the boat from flooding via the always-open thru-hull. The second allowed toilet waste to bypass the holding tank and go directly overboard via the open thru-hull. Redesign the system about a closed thru-hull and things get simpler. Now all head effluent goes into the holding tank. The holding tank can be emptied with either a shore-based vacuum pump or into the sea via an on-board pump. Here's the up-side: by removing the anti-siphon and the three-way valve we eliminated 30' of hose, a dozen hose clamps, and myriad sources of potential 'stink'.

Head plumbing layout before the latest modification

New head plumbing layout

Aramis #40 Creates Boat Envy (Tuggers Vol. 60)

Aramis #40 received a lot of handwork by John and Lisa Taylor. John refinished the woodwork while Lisa polished. They stripped and varnished the pilot house and companionway doors, as well as the trim around the pilot house windows.

                                                 

           All the varnish work had six coats.

The brass refinishing was a 5-step process. 

Lisa says, "It's amazing what these boats get us to do!!"

The OEY Hull Layup Team

The layup team's supervisor marks an area needing attention

Ocean Eagle Yacht's hull layup team was composed of six men and a supervisor.  The first job was to prepare the mold by cleaning it thoroughly.  The seams in the mold were filled with putty.  Then seven layers of wax, which was imported from the US, was applied.  The prep work took three or four days.  When the mold was ready, colored gelcoat was sprayed on.  Starting around hull #36 the yard then sprayed on another layer of iso-based gelcoat.  The iso-based gel coat is a barrier coat and so was only applied from the waterline down.  Within 24 hours of the gelcoat application(s) the yard started laying in glass.  They always started at the top of the mold and worked down to the keel.  Because more strength is needed from the waterline down, more glass was added in these areas.  It took seven days from first spraying on the gelcoat until the hull was done.

When the gelcoat (both the color and barrier coat layers) were sanded off Nellie D. #63, pencil marks were found in the fiberglass.  Tommy Chen said marks like this were commonly made by layup supervisors to highlight areas needing more attention.  

Tortuga #73 For Sale

Mark Kelly just put Tortuga #73 up for sale.  She's located in La Conner, WA.  Here's a link to her YachtWold listing.

Custom Rudder Stop for Petite Wazo #20

Here is the custom tiller arm which will act as rudder stop aboard Petite Wazo.

Living Aboard Sea Turtle #14

Bob and Birdie Jenkins, Sea Turtle #14, are now living aboard in Maderia Beach, FL.  Sea Turtle is still for sale and they plan to buy an RV when after the tug sells.

Pet Tug #60 Gets a Major Rebuild (Tuggers Vol. 60)

In a July 2014 email Lou Steplock writes:


I know about prolonged haul outs. And when I wrote the check, I found out why they call it "hard". Very hard to sign that check. Pulled out 2 April and back in water 30 May. New paint on bottom, boot stripe, hull, stack trim, eyebrow. New gelcoated fridge. (Beautiful). And a totally rebuilt drive train from the flex (it didn't) plate all the way back to the prop. And a new oil pan. And a 15 gallon HWH. I think I sent a picture of that. Debbie's favorite part of the rebuild. I replaced all three engine mounts (the aft two for the second time). From the report of the transmission rebuild and the view inside the bell housing we were about to have a catastrophic failure. Probably in Deception Pass.  The heat exchanger on the transmission was 70% blocked. We replaced that too. I had rodded the main exchanger several years ago and it was still pretty good.

Lou is being modest about the number of jobs tackled. He didn't mention that the engine was stripped of all it's accessories (turbo charger, starter motor, alternator, fuel injection pump, heat exchanger and transmission), jacked up off its engine mounts, the engine pan was replaced, and then the engine was painted. Here are before and after pictures.

Lord Nelson Owners' Association

An old name, a new meaning.                                                         by Sally Seymour

Back home, among the LNVT documents, there are three newsletters from the LNOA (Lord Nelson Owners' Association) formed in the early nineties. These letters talk about tugs and sailboats. But apparently, the idea didn't take hold and the publication died. Coincidentally, I think this was around the time that Tom Blackwood started assembling a list of owners of LNVTs. It's interesting to see how the lists grew.  Imagine how the efforts and enthusiasm grew as more and more people joined the search to locate boats and collect names.

Some of us have talked about the idea of expanding our group of tuggers to include Lord Nelson sailboat owners. We seem to have a lot in common. We are an active cohesive group of enthusiasts. They would benefit from the organization. I think we should make it happen. The first step might be to compile a list of sailboat owners. Put out the call to our group and those known sailboat owners. We need someone to take this on. I'm not sure I should add it to my projects, but I'd love to see it happen.

This idea surfaced today as we saw a Lord Nelson 41 in Rockland, Me. They waved madly; we waved back and headed over. We knew we had hit the jackpot when were were close enough to read the name of their boat: Lady Nelson.

Lady Nelson was built in 1987 for Loren and Lani Hart. It is hull #54 of the 41s.

We went aboard and talked for an hour and agreed it would be great to create a Lord Nelson family. They were eager to learn about Lord Nelson boats. I showed them the meaning of the HIN. They know of another 41, "Le Garage", for sale by the owner, an 80 year old man who keeps it in Pemaquid. It's a start. 

Owners Betty Minson and husband Bob Catlow are live-aboards. They are the third owners.

Bob and Betty want to join our association. How could I refuse? Possible? I'll pay their first dues. 

Neptune #35 Enjoys Celebrations

Proud captain John Isaksen doesn't like to miss festivities in the New Bedford, MA harbor. Over the 4th of July weekend, The Charles W Morgan an historic restored whale ship from Mystic, came to New Bedford. This was one of six ports she will visit on her 38'th voyage.

John says, "We were one of many boats to go out in Buzzard's Bay to accompany her into port. On the following Sunday, there was a huge parade of boats to parade through the harbor & be blessed by clergy on the Morgan. We had a fun day with a gang of friends and family aboard the Neptune!"

Monkey #52 Enjoying Summer

Pam Bates and her late husband (who was never late) are original owners of The Monkey, built in 1987. The tug resides on the Merrimack River in Newburyport, MA. 

Pam writes: The Monkey, in her 28th year, is well for a dowager but restless with too much time dockside.  I spend lots of time on board but all too little at sea. The photo is of most of my family taken after a relatively short trip last week.  The only person missing is my younger daughter whose son, Avery, is in front of me. 

Pam directs activities at The Lowell Boat Shop and reports that "it is thriving - especially after this past year when we built a whaleboat for the Charles W. Morgan and, as a result, implemented a number of educational programs - a long time aspiration.  The challenge now is to keep up the momentum!" 

Speaking of the Charles W. Morgan, see the report from Neptune #35.

The Best Bottom Paint? (Tuggers Vol.61)

John Mackie, John William #68, sums it up best:  "Ask 10 people what the best bottom paint is and you'll get 10 different answers." John lives in Cape Canaveral, FL and will be switching from Super Shipbottom to an ablative with more biocide.  Jay Sterling, Cruz-In #74 (in Key West), uses and likes Petit Hydrocoat SR.   The Hyrocoat is water based and as the SR implies, slime resistant.  Ed McChain, Thistle #47 (in VA), uses and likes Petit Ultima SR60.  He says that three gallons will cover the hull twice and the waterline three times.  Bob Allnutt, Victory #2, uses Blue Water Copper Pro SCX and gets three continuous years of service from it.  Allan Seymour, Sally W. #42 (in ME), uses Pettit Trinidad.  He gets three years out of it.  Phil Jones, Jones Boatyard, Hoopers Island, MD, recommends Micron CSC.  Coppercoat is interesting as it's supposed to last 10 years.  The problem is that copper alone works on the fauna but not the flora.

Despite all the different answers there are some common denominators:  ablative is the popular choice, high copper is desirable (65% is the highest allowed by law), a high biocide content is desirable too.

  

What's Under the Teak Deck? (Tuggers Vol.62)

The same black polysulfide that is used to seam between the deck boards was also used underneath them.  The following sequence of pictures was taken after the teak deck and the underlying polysulfide was removed.

From Trev Croteau, Hjortie #33:

The sub structure of the deck is quite interesting. Note the photos below. Especially the last photo. A hatch was cut to install the steering quadrant?  Quite a few "plugs" in the deck as you can see in the photos. I found all my leaks!

Aft deck showing bomar and emergency tiller opening

Just In: Hjortie #33's New Synthetic Teak Deck

Trev Croteau reports:

 I'm pleased with how it finished. Quite a bit of work involved to get the deck clean and level. The effort was worth it. I decided to not have the deck conform to the rake of the bow. Kept the costs and effort controllable.  Also, to illustrate how close the synthetic matches the real teak. Take a close look at the last photo. I kept a small half circle of the real teak around the tow pole. Hard to tell the difference in the photo.

Yard Crews Specialized in Teak Decks

According to Tommy Chen, the yard had three two-man crews that did nothing but install teak decks. He had one crew each for the 37 tug, 49 tug, and the sailboats. Apparently it's quite an art to install a deck. Tommy, a talented boat builder, said that it was all beyond him.

Latest from Loretta May #27

News from Larry and Marilyn Johnston in Kingston, Ontario and a big celebration for their yacht club.

This year Trident had their 50th Anniversary.  They put up a big tent in the parking lot and had lots of speeches and a buffet dinner.  Larry is one of the Directors, and we were all piped in by a piper.  Each director had a table and they all gave a toast at the same time.  The morning began with a sail past and we took part for the first time.  Our grand daughter was there and we took a couple of older girls from the club.  We were second last in the group going past the Commodore as sailboats go first and the boat behind us was the Rear-Commodore. Many of the boats were decorated with lights for the evenings festivities. 

Lights on Loretta May #27 at night 

Our boat is doing well.  We put in air conditioning last year.  Larry put a crane on the boat and we now have our Zodiac on the roof.  We practiced on the weekend with our grand daughter who is now 9.  We managed quite well I think.  

We plan to go to the Rendezvous again in the fall.  Hope to see you there!  In the meantime, have a great summer.

Tugnacious #7 Poised to Cruise

Just heard from Robert and Maye Bachofen, of S Burlington, VT. They keep their tug on Lake Champlain. He writes to the Seymours on Sally W #42 in Maine:

Currently we're in the middle of selling our business (Cheese Traders) hopefully the transaction takes place at the end of July. Subsequently there will be a few weeks of handover and training of the new owners, and then we'll be home-free! It all sounds still too good to be true, and of course there are plenty of caveats to navigate until a deal is done.

Our plans include sailing the Great Loop - not quite sure if we still can get a head-start this fall to the Great Lakes and leave Tugnacious in that region over the winter. Another option would be heading south along the ICW towards North Carolina where my brother lives - but I'm worried that we will sail directly into the Hurricane season.... If the sale drags on for some reason we still plan to return to Montreal like last year, and visit NYC and then re-group for next year. So one thing at a time...

This spring we were busy with upgrades and maintenance - as you know a never-ending task; but I have to say that she looks terrific!

Maye and I hope that you enjoy your time in Maine - this is yet another cruising area that on our bucket list.

This just in from Thistle Dew #46 (Tuggers Vol. 60)

Tom Blackwood  needlessly 'Dumpster Diving'

Dumpster Diving
By Janis 'Charlie' Bialko

My husband Tom had arrived home from the boat late at night.  Well, first thing next morning, he was looking for his list of things to do.  Couldn't find it anywhere.  Then Tom realized he had put the list (along with the iPod) in a plastic grocery bag.  On his way out of the marina, he threw the garbage into the dumpster. You guessed it, the garbage is always in a plastic grocery sack.  So, Tom figured he must have tossed the iPod grocery bag & the garbage into the Marina dumpster.  Tom and I hopped in the car (with a ladder), to go dumpster diving.  

Once we got there, our 'hero' quickly located the garbage bag from the tug, along with a lot of pre-Independence Day "items".  When he could not find the iPod grocery bag, I suggested we check the tug.................Gosh, there it was sitting comfortably on the bench in the salon.  Whew! 

Editor's note: The above came from a lightly edited email from Charlie Bialko

Word of the day: Tugavan

Submitted by Mike Dunn, Wally 41#2

New word - Tugavan - a Noun (tug-æ-væn)

: a group of Tuggers traveling together on a long journey.

: a group of tug boats traveling together, usually piloted by a smiling captain

Origin: Seattle 1982

Editor's note: The above came from a LNVT FaceBook posting

Just in from Jeanne Niccolls, Knock Off #66

Meet Mary Alyce a new LNVT Captain in the making! 

Using the Rudder as a Boarding Step

Ed McChain, Thistle #47 was curious if the rudder could be used as an emergency step to get back aboard. As the series of photos shows, it can. The reverse traverse over the rub rail is easier if the exhaust pipe is used as a second step. Pushing up from the exhaust pipe allows you to get a knee over the rub rail. From there it's an easy scamper over the cap rail. Because the 'steps' are narrow and sharp, shoes are almost mandatory to successfully pull off this boarding maneuver.

LNVT 37's Kid Stateroom (Tuggers Vol. 60)

  

The new stateroom is located forward of the settee and under the liquor cabinet.  Okay, so it's not a very big room--more like a compartment really.  But, as Andrew Steplock, Pet Tug #60, demonstrates, it is kid sized.  And, as an added benefit, how much trouble can he get into in there?

We're Tuggers, not a ...

This cartoon courtesy of Pet Tug #60 says it all!

Just In: True To Being a Tugger

trevorcroteau@aol.com
Sun, 29 Jun 2014

We've had tons of rain in Minnesota. But that has not stopped The Peterson's. "Abandon Ship" is not in their vocabular. They have moved KEDGE #42 to the Transient dock. The least flooded access point. Even with that move the water has surrounded them. Their access to shore is the location of the cart.  True Tuggers!