In the morning yesterday we finished up the pre-launch projects on Lanikai. Bill got the new seacock installed and then installed the repaired salt water pump onto the engine. Doreen got many of the tools and extra parts and bits stowed. Lanikai is ready for the water and Bill stopped by the office and scheduled our launch for high tide on Saturday.
In the afternoon we made another trip into town. We stopped for ice-cream and the servings were huge so we ended up eating way too much. But it sure was good! Returning we had bags full of cookies, crackers and chips for our continuing trip north. We actually do not have too many groceries to pick up as we stocked up well at the stores in Golfito.
A cruise ship was at the pier while we were in town yesterday and the vendors had set up there stands along the waterfront.
Yesterday afternoon Bill and I took the bus into town and then walked the many blocks to the ferry terminal in the afternoon heat. The shop that worked on our parts was right next door and they had everything ready for us. They even had a replacement valve for our rotten one! Today we took all the parts out to the work yard and Bill decided that installing the prop was first on our list. He figured, correctly, that the new key would need some more grinding before it would fit properly.
Bill spent several hours grinding with his Dremel tool before he got the key to fit snugly into the shaft’s key-way. The shop had already ground the key to fit into the prop.
Before we quit for the day he had the prop snugly installed and the zinc is on as well.
While Bill was grinding, away I installed the repaired chain stopper, got into the bilge and prepared it for installation of the new valve Thursday morning and put away various parts.
We returned to the hotel for badly-needed showers and lunch and also badly-needed beers.
We took Monday off to rest and because Doreen was not feeling well. Today we got back to work on Lanikai. First of all Bill got the hoses for the head outlet re-attached from the new valve to the anti-siphon device that Bill earlier removed and cleaned. This finished an almost-finished project from Sunday.
Then we opened up the forward bilge and emptied it of the fenders stored there. Bill replaced a bad valve controlling salt water to the water maker. Then he tackled the large thru hull valve that feeds all the non-engine salt water. It seemed loose the last time that he opened it. Well, he tightened the loose ell and worked on the valve to get it to turn more freely, but when he went to tighten it – the whole valve fell apart.
The valve was completely rotten and we were lucky that it chose here and now to fall apart and not when Lanikai was back in the water!
We were going into town this afternoon anyway to pick up our repaired parts from the shop, so when we went into town, we took the bad valve and the fittings that screw into it (to size a new valve correctly). We lucked out as the shop that had repaired our many other bad parts also had a nice replacement valve. They needed to cut a new key for the main engine prop but everything else was repaired and ready for us. We waited for the key to be cut and they even cleaned up the fittings that we had brought.
Best of all they drove us and our parts back to the yacht club!! It was quite a walk (in the mid-afternoon heat and humidity) from where we left the bus to the shop, which is right next door to the ferry terminal at the far west end of the sand spit that forms Puntarenas. The parts were quite heavy so the ride was much appreciated.
A few beers, some nice ceviche, and the day is over…
The last two days Bill and I got a lot accomplished on Lanikai. We spent the mornings working on the two big projects that needed to be done during this haul out, besides the bottom painting that we hired out. Today both of them are nearly finished. It took much effort on Saturday to get the cutlass bearing out, but Bill finally got it out. The prop shaft came out much easier than expected and by late Saturday the new cutlass bearing was in place and the shaft back in. This morning Bill got the shaft attached to the transmission and a first pass at adjusting the shaft seal. The shaft seal will need to await being in the water for final adjustment. Bill also got a new valve on the head outlet and today we got the new hose run and attached to the valve. We have spent the afternoons napping, typing on computers or reading. The internet has been up and down here the last few days, although connection to the hotel wifi has been always good.
Of course, once the boat is out of the water, we always discover other needed repairs. Tomorrow we plan to tackle a few of those. Although we are hoping that they will be minor, you never know on a boat until you actually do the work. The workers finished the bottom painting except where the pads of the stands sit. They saved paint to paint those areas when we get back into the travel lift to be moved back into the water. There is not enough water to float Lanikai here until the end of the week. We are also waiting for parts that have been shipped out to the shop and we at least need to install our prop and raw water pump for the engine before we can hit the water.
This is a nice place to haul out. The staff is wonderful, the restaurant has good food and the hotel is very convenient.
This morning early Bill and I went over to the work-yard to get going on replacing a thru hull valve and to start work on replacing the cutlass bearing. Bill got the old rather smelly head outlet hoses disconnected from the bad valve, removed the old valve and screwed in the new one with no hang ups, but then the new ell that we had purchased (to go into the new valve) would not fit under the floor. Bill removed the old ell from the bad valve and cleaned it up. Almost ready to re-install the head outlet hose.
While he was doing that I was cutting thru the old cutlass bearing with the prop shaft still installed, so I was using a thinned down hack saw blade. I almost got thru the soft metal in two places (we think) before Bill took over. After Bill spent some time at it, he decided that to remove the “always stuck” prop shaft might actually be easier. So he climbed into the engine room and got started on that process. Perhaps he got the “hard” half of the work done. But by then we were both too tired to do much more, so we caught a panga, crossed over the estero to the hotel room, showered, ate lunch and took a nap.
