Back on the hard...

 As we reviewed the situation yesterday, we said out loud, "this is really gonna suck". Anyway it is what it is and Freedom is back up on the hard. We're not sure what the cause of the issue is, but it's better to get it resolved before we leave this marina and travel on risking more damage. Misaligned or bend shafts can lead to other failures that raise the cost of "poker".

 So what happened?

 At idle in gear tied down at the dock the port side propellor shaft was visably oscillating. One could look at the shaft seal and see it wooble quite a bit even at low speed. Good thing I checked it before we left.

 We're not sure yet but we suspect one of two things happened on the port side. The flange attached to the propellor shaft that mates the shaft with the transmission is warped or, the shaft is bent. I installed new shaft seals prior to the launch. That entailed separating the transmission and propellor shaft flanges, removing the flanges from the shafts, installing new seals, and then reattaching everything. The port side flange was a bear to remove from the propellor shaft. Quite a bit of pressure on the "gear puller" was required before it popped loose. That could have warped 1/2 inch steel. Tough to imagine I could do that with a few bolts while using a pattern of tightening to distribute the load but it's certainly possible. 

 Part of the process of reinstalling all of this was to hand lap the shafts into the flanges again. They are a self locking tapered fit with a key. While this was a chore considering the flange weighs about 15 pounds it all looked good. I should have stuck a dial indicator on it though. We all believe this was not the source of the issue. The pros removing everything this time have no explanation.

 So the running gear went to a shop for examination with all sorts of high tech gear and lathes. While all of this is happening we are dumping the GFO packing and Buck Algonquin spud type seals for Tide Marine dripless seals. Even though we were only idling at the dock in gear I could not get the temperature of the packing fittings on the shaft below a very hot to the touch temperature. Perhaps with two coils instead of three we'd get the temperature down but all recommendations were for three. Even with a large gap between the ends allowing for expansion on the starbord side, they both ran hot at a very loose setting of the spud.
 Fortunately we have great people around us here at Indiantown Marina. I can't say enough about them.

Life on the road and at Indiantown

 We left NY for Florida last Wednesday setting aside three days of driving at 8 hours per day. Traffic was good and on every day we made great time down I95 towards Florida. There was only one major delay where a bridge was being raised to allow taller traffic on I95. Several of the bridges passing over I95 have been raised already but as fate would have it while traversing North Carolina they had both Southbound lanes closed at one of the older I95 crossings. All traffic had to exit I95 then cross an intersection and then get back on I95. It sounds simple but the traffic had to squeeze down to a single lane. We were lucky we left early in the day so we were only backed up in traffic about a mile deep when it caught us. 

 Arriving in Savannah, we had a great Sushi dinner out with Michele where we combined efforts to consume 6 rolls. Great food at Miyabi in Savannah.  

 We were lucky we left NY when we did because that got us to Indiantown in the early afternoon on Friday. If we arrived on Saturday we would have lost the ability to work on Freedom for two days because they don't run the travelift on weekends and the boat was not in the work yard. After driving 8 hours, we unloaded the car hoisting everything up about 10 feet onto Freedom, and then we helped move the boat and reconnect it to some power. A long day. 

 The boat made it through the Summer very well. Having a dehumidifier running aboard with an over side drain kept the insides dry. This kept just about everything free of mildew. But grinding off all of the scale on the rudders, trim tabs and propeller shafts was a 2.5 day chore with 40 grit sand paper on a 5 inch random orbital sander. It was like trying to sand concrete. This photo of the aft most strut displays the level of encrustation that was common to all of hardware under the waterline. At first blush it doesn't look dense enough to be a problem and that's what we thought. We know much better now. There has to be a better way that works for the EPA. Anyway the shafts are cleaned up and can slide through the cutlass bearings easily and that facilitates removal and installation of shaft seals which let go and started leaking water into the bilge back in the Spring. When they quit working we were traveling to the Berry Islands across the Northwest Providence channel (big, deep water) from Lucaya. While the Eastern opening of this passage is mostly protected from the open Atlantic, it can still get ugly out there. But we waited quite while for calm weather and it paid dividends plus. The water was very calm for that crossing.

 With four full days of work done we still have two more and if we keep at it Freedom will be in the water Friday! But we still have install new shaft seals, lap the shafts into the flanges, connect the shafts to the transmissions and repack the rudders before we wash and wax the hull. By hand of course. I have to work off all of the conch fritters I consumed last season in the Bahamas somehow.

 Once in the water we are thinking it will be another week afloat before we start moving again. With all of the work going into Freedom we want to make sure she hasn't sprung a leak or two. And there are all of the electronics to reconnect and check out also.    

Tropical "storm" Nicole and getting ready

 Nicole came up our way and left quite a bit of rain in the hills to the Northwest of Kingston. Given some of the roads up around the Rondout Reservoir and Askokan offer good scenery we opted to go for a ride.

  The roads of particular interest were Route 42 and 55A. The later was open for all we wanted and so was Route 46 leading to 42. But 42 was closed somewhere along the way so we could not traverse the entire length. We did go up the road from each end, and while traveling from one side to the other we were able to locate many waterfalls that were in full force. As you can see the leaves have not started to change much yet so perhaps we'll need another ride so we get to see them before heading South.

 Parts are coming in all the time and we have a mountain in the basement that has to fit into the car. By the way, I am hoping our new webcam will behave well when we are hooked up to hotspots that play well with it. As it turns out some hotspots don't allow people to sign into the cam so merely looking at the photo will have to do. I'll update the blog with the link to the camera when it's stabilized as much as it can.

Battleship Cove

 Looking for anything boating related we can occupy ourselves with these days without Freedom we happened upon the opportunity to get out to Fall River Massachusetts where Battleship Cove has been set up. Here everyone can find a collection of warships that is open to the public at a reasonable price.

 In this shot I am standing within the bridge of Big Mamie, the USS Massachusetts. There are several restoration efforts under way and one of them is the bridge. This view is so clear because at this time there are no forward windows in the bridge. Most of the bridge related equipment has been removed as well.

 Even though Big Mamie is not one of our largest battleships, being a member of the South-Dakota class at 680 feet and 35,000 tons, it's immense. Everyone is free to walk around the boat and visit all of the decks. We spent quite a bit of time aboard and managed to get lost a couple of times. There are many passage ways that wind around the lower levels of the turrets, and they do extend down into the boat many levels.
 Nothing is held back and people may also review the engine rooms if they want to. There are safety shields in places and the catwalks are open so it's easy to get the full perspective.

 We toured all of the other warships in the cove and the USS Lionfish stood out as my personal favorite. It's a Balao-class submarine and if you want to know how cramped things can get in a submarine this is the place to learn. It won't take long to develop a special respect for submariners. Last year aboard the USS New Jersey at Camden I was informed by crew that I was "too tall for battleship duty". Having banged around aboard the Lionfish I'm thinking I'm not fit for submariner duty either.

Included in the list of exhibits are helicopters, airplanes, armament, beautiful examples of accurately restored PT boats complete with engines and drive gear, and even a Russian built missile corvette. With so much to look at make sure you have sneakers as opposed to brand new sandals that carve into your feet. Note to self, don't do that again.  

 Outside Battleship Cove, we were happy to have a long overdue dinner out with our boating buddies from the Bahamas and spend some additional quality time aboard their yacht. Another plus came our way since they gave us a tour of the locale aboard their dink, even making it around Bassetts Island in spite of the chop coming in from Buzzard's Bay. All in all it was a great weekend to be out and about in spite of the looming danger presented by Hurricane Earl. Fortunately Earl turned out to be an excuse to have a hurricane drill. Certainly it was a chore for those that had their boats hauled but I'm thinking it's cheap insurance to make the effort and be ready. 

 Earl barely lived up to a Winter weekend in the Abacos and hopefully that trend continues with the Hurricane season leaving everyone without any more damage that it has already caused.

 Added a link to the bucket folder for 2010 through 2011.


      

Meanwhile back on the nautical theme

 We've been out and about up here on the Hudson River visiting lighthouses. There are several open to the public and they are all worth a stop. So far we have been to Saugerties and Kingston but Esopus and Athens are also on our list. While none of these lights are located in a romantic spot like Hopetown Harbour on Elbow Cay, they certainly lend themselves to visitors as interesting stops. Besides the Hopetown light is not open for overnight guests. But on the flip side the Hopetown light is open all day without an admission fee. It's just the travel expense that will set one back a bit.
 Anyway - Kingston and Saugerties both have operational lighthouses that double as museums. Saugerties also offers an additional pleasant surprise as being an operational Bed and Breakfast located on the edge of the Hudson. It's open all year by the way.
 But it wasn't always good for these lights.
 Both of these lights have been brought back from the brink of demolition, and we are fortunate considerate people looked out for them and took control of their destiny. As I said the Saugerties light is well equipted as a Bed and Breakfast with comfortable sleeping quarters and plenty of space. Prospective guests may arrive by either boat or car. I'd say folks arriving by car have an advantage because they can travel into town for a meal if they like but from what I have heard the breakfasts at the light (included if I am not mistaken) are quite good.
 Because the Saugerties Light is currently open to the public as a Bed and Breakfast in addition to being open for tours it gets the edge as my favorite thus far but I am sure young families will also enjoy visiting these places given their location and the content within them. People with young children will need to keep a lookout.

 But the Kingston Light needs our support so stop in and look around. Ultimately the dollars will help with the restoration. Given how many communities have taken an interest in their lighthouses it's only fair that Kingston grow in this direction as well. These sites make interesting tourist attractions and Kingston has missed out on this revenue for too long. It's not all bad as far as the Kingston light goes, don't get me wrong. The Hudson Maritime museum has grown over the years and this also make an interesting stop loaded with artifacts from the industrial revolution. The museum more than makes up for the spartan musty environment the light contains.

 And, the maritime museum frequently sponsors activities that many will enjoy. For instance this past weekend they held the steam boat rendezvous. While not many of them showed up this time, those that did were crewed by pleasant folks that were willing to discuss their hobby at length.

 For further information see:

 http://saugertieslighthouse.com/

 http://www.kingstonlighthouse.com/

 http://www.hrmm.org/


 And you never know what you will find at the Hundson River Maritime Museum:

The Summer of 2004 Cruise

 For kicks I have uploaded the server with the Garmin data in Google Earth format of our trip up the Erie Canal to the Thousand Islands.
 It's under the http://home.roadrunner.com/~danmapes/Summer04.kmz heading. The boundary markings and a route I had plotted may confuse the display a bit but you "get the drift".

A day in Lower Manhattan

 While it's not exactly what many would think is a great hike, it certainly is interesting. What we decided to do was drive down to Jersey City and then take the water taxi over to Manhattan for a walk. This all worked out quite well. As it turned out the parking was reasonably priced and there was plenty of it for a week day. All one has to do is follow the signs to Liberty Park. The ferry is a short walk and it runs every 30 minutes. At 14 bucks round trip it might seem a bit on the expensive side but if the weather is good the view will make it worth while.

 The weather could not have been better for a walk in the city given the temperature was not predicted to exceed 75 degrees. About the only thing wrong with the view is the lack of the WTC but progress is being made. There are many cranes sweeping across the sky helping to raise up what was torn down. I can recall standing in front of the towers as a child with dad as they were going up. We looked up and almost fell backwards in amazement. And now we look up again while new towers are being built. All around lower Manhattan we see how the times have changed. Barricades are everywhere and pop up road blocks appear out of the side walk to prevent unwanted entrance into buildings with cars. I wonder what it would be like to be standing on atop one when they are raised. Not too fast I would assume. 

 Anyway we worked our way over to China town and it is every bit as busy as it was when I drove a taxi in Manhattan during the college days. All sorts of wares spill out into the sidewalks on shaky stands where passersby can examine them for purchase.  

 Once past China town and on Mulberry street, in the center of Little Italy the restaurant hawkers flash Menes at us and attempt to convince us into their establishment for lunch, but we know where we are going. And that is Pelligrino's. Over the years we came to know this place for good calamari and veal and they didn't let us down this time either. 

 After a large lunch the walked back to the West side a bit slower than we did on the way over but we managed. The rough part was leaving the city behind on the water taxi and then driving back North.