Continued… In the April 12 post, we’d also on the mentioned we having the gaskets in three portholes and in the hatch for the chain locker replaced.
And we’d also mentioned that the last three original through hulls were also being replaced.
There were quite a few more things done in the yard that we haven’t mentioned before:
They replaced the hose from the main engine to the water heater. It was a two person job, required a lot of boat yoga, and was kind of messy. Eric was glad that project was done; he was worried about a getting a leak in the hose. They said the old hose was definitely ready to be changed. They replaced it with a much stronger hose than was there before.
The work that Eric was most excited about was that they connected the inverter to the air conditioning circuit and added a new switch. With this upgrade we can run one aircon unit at anytime with a simple switch at the aircon panel — this means we can run AC in the pilot house while at sea without having to turn the generator on. Or, when at anchor, we can run the AC downstairs for a few minutes before bed to make it more easier to fall asleep without having to run the generator and all the units. Since we find it difficult to function when it is hot and humid, this will be a major improvement to quality of life.
The switch modes are now: off, genset, shore, and inverter. At first we thought we needed a wire from the inverter to the aircon circuit, so Eric had them run it. But then they realized they did not need it, after all. That mistake probably cost us $500, but it may turn out to be a blessing in disguise for future upgrades because it gives us an option for using the secondary circuit on the inverter or for something else.
They modified the raw water plumbing for the pilot house air conditioning unit, stateroom air conditioning unit, and saltwater wash down. Air was getting in the lines while underway. We would lose prime on the pumps, the units would shut down, and we’d have to open the strainers to let out the air in order to turn them back on. The main design change was lowering the strainers and raising the pumps for all three intakes. They also swapped two of the intakes: since the salt water wash down intake was in the best spot, Eric had them connect it to the pilot house aircon unit. What was the pilot house intake unit was connected to the salt water wash down. The new intake is an improved version of our old one. It can be opened up, so easier to clean than the other style.
Eric also had them:
Replace the main engine coolant hoses with silicon hoses.
Replace the fluorescent lights in engine room with LEDs.
Change all of the exterior zincs.
Install a new wind speed and direction sensor at the top of the mast.
Removed a metal wire from mast that was leftover from mast work done way back when.
Fixed the gelcoat damage on the entire hull, along with most of the scrapes on the stainless rub rail. This work was completed before the painters began work on the windows and doors.
Waxed the hull below the high rub rail to water line. Eric had wanted them to do the whole boat, but the painters and the waxers couldn’t work at the same time, so Eric prioritized the painting. We can get the waxing finished anywhere.
They applied a coat of bottom paint along the waterline and spot painted the rest of the bottom where needed.
Once Eric went through the check list and confirmed that he was satisfied with all the work, they washed the boat. Steve came by while the boat was being washed to say goodbye. It was nice to see him again. Seminole Marine put us in the water an hour ahead of schedule, at 1500 instead of 1600.
Once Kosmos was in the water, we went back onboard via a ladder.
Prior to them removing the lift straps, Eric checked for leaks. He found a leak in the AC unit under the bed! A worker came aboard and determined that a fitting had cracked. They lucked out — they happened to have the right part in stock and were able to fix it right then.
While we waited, Eric turned on the generator and all three AC units to make sure everything was working properly. All of the AC units went on, then quickly shut themselves off, registering the temp as much colder than they really were. Eric realized that the fans weren’t working. After doing a little investigating, it was determined that all three fans had not been wired correctly. When they had done a spot check, they’d only checked to make sure the pumps were running; they hadn’t checked the fans. Thankfully it was pretty quick to rewire them correctly.
When the last fan was nearly done being rewired, Eric started up the engine. It was smoking abnormally, but cleared up after the boat warmed up some more. Hmmm…. since none of the work done during this yard visit could have affected the smoke coming from the engine, that was something Eric would need to look into later.
They took the straps off and we backed out… To be continued…