Let There Be Light and Soft Water and...

She said (actually she requested) “Let there be light … and soft water … and enough chairs at the kitchen table and ...” and there was. We may be off the boat, but David and his brother, Paul, have been up to their eyeballs in house projects. There always seems to be something to do and the guys have been busy. The kitchen lighting at the new house was the pits. Cathedral ceilings in the kitchen dispersed the light, which was already pretty anemic, making the lighting in the work areas shadowy and inadequate. Mary is a fan of the “industrial theme” and we chose lights (lots of them) that looked like inverted canning jars with brushed nickel trim and added vintage style LED bulbs. Since there were already light fixtures in place, the job of connecting them up was pretty straightforward other than the ceiling is about 12-14 feet high and required David's new super ladder to reach them. The result was bright, to say the least, and he's now thinking of adding a dimmer switch.

The water in the Las Vegas desert is hard, i.e. it contains lots of minerals, especially calcium and magnesium, which deposit and build up in pipes and eat away at sink fixtures. David did some research and was able to ascertain that on a scale where “1” is soft water, “2” is medium and “3” is hard water, Las Vegas' water is an 18. We needed a water softener to take care of the problem. We purchased one at Lowe's, the guys had it up and running in a day which included cutting into the incoming water main and then installing a drain for the regeneration outflow. There is a noticeable difference, especially in the shower. Soap actually lathers now.

The latest project was adding two pendant lights over the breakfast bar between the kitchen and family room which also provided more light over the sink. We kept with the industrial, brushed nickel theme and the result was awesome. This project was complicated by the fact that no lights existed in the area and thus new wiring for the lights and the switch had to be installed from the attic. Knowing me the way he does, David suggested that the girls find an outside diversion (go shopping) for the day while the guys tackled the light installation. Good thing because the mess was overwhelming. That said, the project was nearly done and the clean-up had begun when we returned home to find the lights in place and looking great.

Midst all the projects, we still find time to scour the local thrift shops and add to our home furnishings. We've added two dining room chairs, a sleeper-sofa and six new kitchen chairs plus a couple of lamps … all pre-owned and ridiculously priced. We also discovered a newly opened IKEA store on the west side of town and though we didn't purchase much, we got some great ideas.

It's time to start thinking about Nine of Cups again. Soon, we'll begin ordering boat parts and making our plans for heading back East at the beginning of September. Time flies when you're having fun.

The Blue View - How to Make a Rope Rug

A few years ago I did a blog on making a nautical rope rug, or in sailor's parlance, an ocean plaitt mat. As I was making my 50^th or so mat a couple of weeks ago, Marcie suggested doing it again as a video. It seemed like a good idea, so here is the video version.

The Blue View - Replacing the Shaft Seal

As part of the process of replacing the cutlass bearing, the old shaft seal had to be removed. I installed a 'dripless' shaft seal about 14 years ago, and while I've serviced it regularly over the years, I thought it might be a good time to replace it as well.

If you're not a yachtie or a boater, you may be asking “What the heck is a shaft seal and why do I care anyway”. Or, more likely, you've tuned out by now and decided to wait till Marcie's next blog tomorrow. If you're still with me, however, I'll talk about installing a new shaft seal.

The shaft seal, as its name implies, forms a seal around the propeller shaft as it exits the bottom of the boat through the stern tube. It prevents water gushing into the boat without causing any wear on the shaft while it rotates. Traditionally, this was accomplished by something called a stuffing box, which consisted of a threaded sleeve attached to the stern tube and a large nut. The sleeve was filled with wraps of a packing material – typically woven flax impregnated with wax, grease or lubricants, then the nut was tightened down until the flax was compressed against the shaft, forming a seal.

To keep the flax from drying out or overheating, it needed to be lubricated with seawater. The packing nut would be tightened or loosened from time to time to ensure the amount of water the stuffing box was leaking was optimal – on a sailboat this was about 10-15 drops per minute. Over time, the flax would harden and wouldn't seal effectively, so it had to be dug out and replaced every few years. Stuffing boxes are still quite common, but the packing material is now synthetic, rather than flax, and require less maintenance.

Nine of Cups originally had stuffing boxes on both the prop shaft and the rudder. Shortly after we bought her, I replaced the stuffing box with a new 'dripless' shaft seal. There were a few varieties available, and I chose the P.S.S. Shaft Seal made by PYI, Inc. It consists of a stainless steel rotor that attaches to the shaft and a carbon graphite flange that attaches to the stern tube with a bellow.

The stainless rotor is held in place with two set screws. I removed these, lubricated the shaft with some dishwashing soap, then slid the rotor off the shaft. The bellow is secured to the stern tube with two hose clamps. I removed these, worked the bellow free of the stern tube and slid it off the shaft as well. Note that we are on the hard... the stern tube will admit an amazing amount of water once the rotor is allowed to slide away from the flange if the boat is in the water.

Installing the new shaft seal is straightforward, and complete instructions are provided by the manufacturer. Slide the new bellow-flange assembly in place over the stern tube and secure it with two hose clamps. Lubricate the shaft with dishwashing soap and carefully slide the new rotor into place. The rotor has two o-rings that seal it against the shaft, and some care should be taken to avoid damaging them as it is slid over the end of the shaft. Position the rotor so that it just touches the flange, slide it another inch or so, compressing the bellow, then tighten the set screws.

A few years ago, while we were sailing along the south coast of Australia, the rotor slid back along the shaft and we began taking on water. There was an adrenaline-filled hour or so while we figured out the problem and corrected it. A friend, John on Active Transport, had the same problem, and he prevented the possibility of a re-occurrence by mounting a shaft anode on the prop shaft. That seemed like a good idea, so we did the same.

The shaft seal is lubricated and cooled by seawater. To make sure there is no airlock and that water is getting to the bearing, it is important to 'burp' the seal once the boat is back in the water. I do this by compressing the bellow, making sure water flows out.

So there you go … new shaft seal installed. Time to move on to the next project.