On Monday Moonshine had her annual lift out at Goole Boathouse. She was pulled out and pressure washed off on the slipway before being moved into the yard on the hard standing for the week.
It soon became apparent that we had lost the bow propeller, shear pin and fixing bolt. It turns out it was a good call ordering the two propeller kits the previous week from Sweden as we now have a spare.
Previously the propeller was secured by a bolt with the head bearing onto the plastic propeller, this method of fixing didn't allow much torque on the bolt without compressing the propeller. We think the plastic must have given, resulting in the bolt loosening and thus losing the propeller.
This time we have used a longer bolt with a dab of Loctite tightened fully home into the drive shaft with a nyloc nut and washer bearing on the propeller to hopefully avoid this problem again.
Whilst out two coats of anti fouling were applied, and the hull given a compounding and polish.
Whilst out of the water the opportunity was taken to descale the raw water side of the engines cooling system, using Aquasafe Descaler from Hitek in Scunthorpe. This was done by removing the impellers, connecting a return hose from the connection to the exhaust injection bend and disconnecting the water pick up pipe from the transom shield, and was circulated for 24 hours using a central heating circulation pump (on the slow setting) using a bucket to circulate the water. The power steering cooler on the starboard engine was also checked for any blockages of which there were none. A lot of debris was picked up in the strainers and there was a fair amount of sediment collected in the bucket, also the solution went very dark at the end of the process so it was obvious this was working.
After removing the impellers for this task the port one was starting to split so this was changed on reassembly, but we could do to stock up on spares as we are now getting low.
An easier task this last week has been to replace the shower mixer valve as the old one didn't look aesthetically pleasing. This job involved removing the moulded pod which whilst removed was compounded and polished, then refitted with new mould resistant silicone sealant. The new valve was sourced from Ebay at a cost of £48 which was quite a good deal, and this has smartened the shower up.
The stern drives were given their annual oil change and repaint. There were a few dings in the propellers, and these were straightened out using heat on the bench at home and were in turn recoated with three coats of black metal paint. New ring anodes were fitted but the bar ones on the shields were still ok and these left alone.
This lift out has highlighted a few jobs on the stern drives that will need doing in the near future. Next winter we are planning on lifting out again but this time for 2 to 3 months. This will enable us to have a full rebuild and repaint of the outdrives. As you can see from the above photo the gear selector covers are secured by tie wraps for extra security as the threads for the securing screws are worn, this is one of the jobs which will be sorted upon refurbishment as we had to replace one the other year at a cost of nearly £100, also this will tie in nicely with a bellow change.
We feel it is prudent to take preventative measures before a big mechanical failure which would hit us harder in the pocket . Volvo also recommend a rebuild every 1000 hours, and we don't know if or when this has ever been done.
Moonshine was re-launched at lunchtime on Friday, and was given a short test run to check everything was ok and to flush out the descaler from the raw water systems. She is now safely back on her berth with everything functioning as it should.
