Galvanic Isolator, Wheelhouse Trims and Removal of Damaged Duo Prop

www.safeshoremarine.com

On Thursday we collected our Galvanic Isolator from safeshoremarine.com as they are based not far from where we live.  We needed to fit this before the winter set in, to help prevent galvanic corrosion of skin fittings, outdrives and propellers etc when plugged into shore power. This can also help to reduce anode wear. In fact this was installed this morning as the first job of the day.
You can see from the website that they have a very good selection of galvanic isolators at more than competitive prices.

 

Galvanic Isolator fitted in void space above aft cabin,
and status indicator fitted inside aft cabin wardrobe

 

 

 

 

Last Sunday we removed all of the vinyl covered trims including the white powder coated aluminium trims on the back of the hardtop and on the interior of the sunroof apertures.

 

 

 

 

All of the vinyl has been removed from the wooden panels.  Where there has been damage caused by water ingress, these have been repaired and the rest of the panels cleaned. They will be painted on the back to help prevent further damp/water penetration and recovered with new vinyl.  The white panels will be recovered in white once again, however the turquoise panels will be covered in black.  The lighting panel has had the lamp fittings removed ready for new led lamps to be fitted. 

www.bedazzled.uk.com

 

The original wheelhouse lighting was very dim with 4x 10w festoon lamps.  The light fittings themselves are good quality Aqua Signal fittings, a good reason in itself for not replacing them.  Therefore, we purchased new 21 led lamps with wires, which are designed for adapting existing light fittings.  To hold these particular lamps in place off the lens some spacers were required to be made.  An old silicone tube was exactly the correct diameter and this was cut down and glued in place.  Then this assembly was glued into the lens with a dab of silicone.  We have used these lamps before from Bedazzled on our smaller Hardy Seawings 305 Luro, and have found them to give excellent light with a long service life and give no electrical interference, however they do come at a cost of £14 each.

 

www.lsn-coatings.co.uk
 

The once white powder coated aluminium wheelhouse trims that again had suffered from damp and salt corrosion were dropped off on Monday at www.lsn-coatings.co.uk in Castleford, West Yorkshire.  They were ready for collection on Friday, and have been chemically stripped back to bare metal, re-coated  in silver and finally given 2 coats of clear lacquer all for £60. The end result looks fantastic.

 

Wading in the water

 

Damaged Duo Prop

 

After discovering the damaged 3 blade prop and a slight bend on the other 3 blade duo prop (port side) on our River Trent tidal trip the other week, these needed to be removed and repaired before going tidal again, due to potential damage that could be caused at high speed caused by the vibration to the engine mounts. These were going to be removed last weekend, but an idea was had to purchase a pair of chest waders to make the job a tad more comfortable.
Upon discussing this idea with a fellow SYBC comrade we were told he had a pair that his work had provided for the purpose of one job several years ago, and that since these were surplus to his requirements we could have them.  To be honest it was this or a wet suit, and Peter wasn't that keen on the idea of donning a tight wet suit for all to see!
As a temporary measure an old 4 blade pair of duo props from Luro were fitted to the port outdrive to give us good  maneuverability back to our mooring.
Hopefully these will be taken to Woodwards in Hull (www.aewoodwards.co.uk) for repair this week.