WHO - WHERE - HOW - TIPS - TECHNIQUES
This
page is here to help you with the maintenance of your boat. I plan to give
you information about the places that I have taken my boat for maintenance, how
to do maintenance tasks that are "creative" as I have experienced them and any
special tips and techniques that I come across that I think might be of interest
to you. This is a "work in progress" so be patient -- I
will be putting information here periodically
FREEMAN MARINE IS YOUR BEST RESOURCE FOR ALL
BOAT MAINTENANCE AND REPAIRS!
The Headline above is, of course, my personal opinion. When I first developed this page I intended to put information about the places I took my boat for maintenance and repairs. This is the only referral I intend to put here for boat maintenance and repair. Freeman Marine does outstanding work at very reasonable prices and I do not plan on using anyone else for work on my boat from now on!
Last year a friend of mine referred me to Lowell Freeman, owner of Freeman Marine, when I wanted to fix some electrical problems on the Viking Lady, my Newport 30-III. I called Lowell and he came to the boat to determine what was wrong and give me an estimate. To make a long story short he ended up doing the following:
1. Installed a new DC control panel and as part of that repaired the port side interior lights on the boat that have not functioned since I bought the boat.
2. Installed an automatic bilge switch and a control panel for the switch.
3. Set up a fuse panel in the battery box compartment so that all DC wires are now fused properly.
4. Grounded all wires in the engine compartment properly with a central terminal block.
5. Discovered that the reason the mast lights were not working was because the conduit that holds the wires inside the mast had come loose, at the top, from the pop rivets that held it against the mast. The conduit was swinging around inside the mast and had pulled most of the wires loose from the light connections. As a result all of the wiring is now replaced inside of the mast inside a new conduit securely attached to the inside of the mast. The new wiring included new VHF wiring and connectors at the base of the mast. In addition the Masthead, Steaming and Foredeck light fixtures were all replaced.
6. Number 5 required that the mast be taken off the boat which was done at the San Rafael Boatyard. The boat was also hauled out at the same time and the bottom painted by Freeman Marine. The total cost at San Rafael Boatyard for the haul out, bottom painting and mast removal was just under one half of what it would have cost me for the same thing at KKMI where I have previously taken the boat. I went to this Boatyard at the recommendation of Freeman Marine.
I was totally and completely satisfied with all of the work done by Freeman Marine and in addition to that, very impressed with the integrity and work ethic of Lowell and his employees. The boat was at San Rafael in the month of January and the weather was terrible for a good part of the 4 days that the mast wiring was being done. Lowell worked all through the 2 days that there was pouring cold rain and wind. The mast was on sawhorses, exposed to all the "elements" and the conditions were absolutely miserable most of the time. Anyone else would have postponed the work until conditions were better but Lowell Freeman does not work that way -- and earned my respect for what he did.
You can reach Freeman Marine through this cell phone number:
(925) 497-4874.
-------Here Are Some Pictures Taken At The San Rafael Boatyard -------
(The pictures are all "THUMBNAILS" - to see a full sized picture Left Click on them
#1
#2
#3
#1- The Viking Lady on stands with mast removed
#2 - Lowell (in hat) and Jaime working on wiring
#3 - The "Lady" on its way to having the mast put back on at the end of its time at the San Rafael Boatyard
TIP #1
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View Show |
TIP #2
While having a second throttle cable installed -- the first cable was installed wrong and only lasted one and a half day sails -- I asked the mechanic for any ideas he had that were a little unusual and that he has found handy when working on boat engines.
He ducked into the cabin and came back with a small square of paper towel torn off of a roll from the galley in his hand. He placed a small square of paper towel into the open end of a socket so that the piece of paper lined the sides and bottom of the socket.
The bolt or nut goes into the socket with the paper toweling around the outside of it. The friction provided by the paper towel holds the bolt or nut in the socket when the socket is straight up and down and he cannot get his hand or finger into the space to retain the item. He said this is one of the things he uses a lot when working in tight spaces and most work on boat engines is in tight spaces!
TIP #3
I do not know if this qualifies as a "Tip" but I thought I would put it here as it relates to the above Tip # 2. The first mechanic I had install my boat's throttle cable that had broken from corrosion did the job and it looked okay to me but then what do I know? Not much about stuff like that! I was really pleased with the job at the time as all he charged me was $40.00 an hour. It took 2 hours (it's a time consuming job and I had to help with getting the cables back up into the pedestal). The cable cost $40.00 and I also replaced the shift cable at the same time (another $40.00). All told for just the throttle cable replacement the job cost me about $100.00. Good price except for the fact that the cable was installed wrong and only lasted a very short time as noted above. The cable tip ended up being bent forward against the wheel chain that controls the rudder when the throttle was pushed down to kill the engine.
To get it fixed right I took it to a boat yard mechanic. The cost this time was $96.00 per hour for one hour and a new throttle cable purchased at a 50% discount for $20.00 - sum total of $116.00.
Moral to this story: It pays to get the job done right the first time and the $40.00 an hour was no bargain as I ended up wasting about $100!
Click on the red
sailboat and you will arrive at a web site done by John Kohnen titled "The
Mother Of All Maritime Links". It is absolutely amazing and I
guarantee that you will also find that to be true. I have links to his
site throughout The Sailors Place because the information he provides is
"encyclopedic" and covers so many things a sailor needs to reference.
This site was last updated 07/09/08