Window shades

Although we have the boat in our possession for several years we have been looking around for a suitable window shade.
Since this is interior decoration, I'm as a boat repairman less suitable to pick the right type, according to my wife.
We have discussing several options of which one is normal curtains but they will hang loose at the bottom especially at the front windows.
There are tricks of course to mount them in the bottom but we did not see this as the solution we were looking for.
First option was to install plastic window shades the type of small strips hanging from the top on ropes but those are rather wide and only can be used from bottom up.
We ended up with with Blackout Cellular shades, also called in Europe Plisse curtains.
Reason for the black out type is to prevent as much as possible daylight into the cabins to prevent discoloring of the wood as well as to keep the temperature as low as feasible , especially during the summer season. Additional benefit it is rather dark now in the boat in the aft and Main cabin.

As can be seen from the above picture the inside is a kind of aluminium foil, while the outside facing is white and the inside facing is a brown color.

To be able to use the sliding windows the shades were placed in such a way the ones in front of the other fixed windows were mounted against the window frame while the one in front of the sliding window was mounted on the ceiling support and cabin support.

Not only by installing the shades as mentioned above has the advantage that the sliding windows can be operated but also there is some overlap between the different shades which reduces the light coming into the cabins as well.

The shades are installed, ordered , that they can be used both ways so called top down and bottom up.

We are under the impression that this will give us more flexibility with regards to sun and light into the cabin and still have the privacy one sometimes prefers.

As can be seen from above picture top part of the shade is moved downwards .

As can be seen from above picture the bottom of the shade is move upwards.

The shades can of course be moved upwards and they are positioned in such a way that the full window is clear from the shades.

The outside of the shades are white which of course helps in reducing the temperature inside of the boat.

The front window of the main cabin became a challenge since the window is not only curved but is also not the same size comparing middle part and the outside part .

This is of course a result of the curved deck. The idea was to place one or two shades next to each other but making some samples from straight wood it showed that we would lose to much space inside and that the shades would not follow the window as nice as one would prefer.

The above resulted that it was decided to place 3 shades next to each other per window, so in total 6 shades next to each other.

As can be seen these shades are not overlapping but mounted against each other, this give a slight challenge with opening them but if one follows a routine from opening them from inside to outside they will not get damaged.

From outside this looks rather nice.

Kitchen area same principle was used for overlapping both shades .

For the aft cabin the same principle was used as for the main cabin sliding window overlapping the fixed window shade.

The corner window shades , 4 in total in the boat 2 forward and two in the aft cabin can only be top down since this is the only possible way to open them , this is since they are made to follow the window and cabin window frame , but since these are fixed windows I do not see this as an issue.

The shades for the aft cabin were more simpler than the ones fro the main cabin this since the windows are straight windows with only a slight curve in them.

We were able to place two shades next to each other per window.

From the outside this looks natural as well.

Although this is not the cheapest solution we are satisfied with the result , it takes some time to measure how to install the shades and some digging on the internet how they need to be measured and installed but in the end they were delivered ready to install no adjustments required and with good installation instructions.

Steering Gear Changes

During the reconstruction of the boat it was noticed that steering was rather heavy.
Checking the route of the steering cables nothing out of the ordinary could be found.
The steering cables were as good as possible cleaned lubricated etc. in the expectations that over time the steering would become more easier.
It was also during the construction period checked if the actual steering unit connected to the steering wheel could be taken apart but this looked not that easy as one would expect and was left as it is at that time.
While sailing with the boat it was noticed that there was no improvement in steering the boat, no real issues to keep the boat on track but the actual steering was still rather heavy and not that easy while maneuvering, although this could be compensated with both engines.

Since I was not satisfied with the situation it was checked if there would be anything incorrect with the rudders, cables were removed from the rudder arms but there was no improvement in rotating the steering wheel. Rudders could be moved freely.

Next step was to take the steering unit apart but unfortunately I was not able to do so.
Removing all bolts and nuts was no issue but splitting the actual unit to reach the cables was not possible, without most likely damaging the unit.
I expect that the reason for not being able to open the unit is not only the age of the system but the cotter pins installed in the unit, see below pictures.

With this issue it was decided to look into a new steering unit with new cables, going through the internet for additional information and cost it was clear to me that there was not a lot of price difference between the cable system, complete unit and a hydraulic steering system.

It was then decided to switch from cable steering to hydraulic steering.

The original cable steering was removed and looking at the inner cable in the outer cable I could see that all was rusted, this was also mentioned on the internet in several websites that when the steering becomes heavy most likely the cables are rusted and that there is a great chance of a cable failure.

After the old steering unit and cables were removed the new hydraulic steering was installed.

Cabinet in the aft cabin was removed and position of the new plunger was checked that it would fit within the space available.

At this point I made a mistake, by counting the revolutions of the steering wheel hard starboard to hard port and comparing this to the instruction manual of he new steering unit, both were about the same amount of turns from hard port to hard starboard.

Therefore I was under the impression that I could use the same connection as where the original cables were connected.

A new support frame was made to fit the plunger and all looked as it would fit and work without any issues.

Reading the instruction manual more precise I noticed that instead of 35° rudder port and starboard I most likely would reach half of that steering angle.

New plan was made and the complete steering angle was drawn on carton and measured from the center line of the rudder stock with the information available in the instruction manual.

It became then clear that the original connection for the steering unit would not be the correct position of the connection to the hydraulic plunger.

A new hole was made in the rudder arm for the connection to the plunger.

From below picture it can be clearly seen the plunger stroke for full rudder movement between 35° port to starboard, Red line new position of the plunger stroke for full rudder movement.

Blue line if the plunger would be connected to the original position of the rudder arm.

This new position of the plunger resulted that a new hole needed to be made in the rudder arm, since this is brass it can be done without removing the rudder arm from the rudder, in my case this would not be possible since the boat is in the water.

Not only I made a new hole but I threaded the hole this to make sure that when the plunger would be connected that the rudder arm that it would have the less chance to get loose even under vibrations.

The hydraulic plunger was connected with a bolt and locking nut.

A new support was made for the plunger position and all was put in place before finally mounted.

An additional check was made to make sure that with the plunger stroke full rudder movement was possible.

Hydraulic hoses were ran between the steering pump and the plunger and all was mounted in place.

The hydraulic hoses were both kept at the same length this to prevent any steering delays between moving from port to starboard. Actual length of hydraulic hoses used was 7.5 meter per hose.

For filling the system with hydraulic oil and venting the air out of the system one needs to follow the instructions of the manufacturer.

The hydraulic pump, actual steering unit, was installed in the steering stand and although I had concerns that it would have a large impact on the actual steering stand it does not look to bad.

As can be seen the steering unit does not look that bad on the whole steering stand.

An issue was that the original steering wheel did not fit on the new steering unit.

The original steering wheel has a straight shaft while the new steering unit has a conical shaft, I have considered several option to make it "work" but in the end I ended up with buying a new steering wheel which is actually almost the same as the original one.

As can be seen from above pictures I moved the steering unit slightly up since I'm a tall person, but still there is enough clearance between the steering wheel and the steering stand.

Below old and new 

Sea Water Cooling pump

                                                              Sea Water Cooling Pump

After the boat went into the water and all overboard valves were checked as well as hose connections, the mud boxes were filled up and before the engines were started ,to prevent that the sea water pump would run to long dry, although prepared with acid free Vaseline,  I filled up the pump with water through one of the plugs above the pump.
With one engine there was not issue but the other engine the water ran straight out of the pump through the mechanical seal.
Although I'm familiar with these type of pumps they are not all the same and especially the older pumps from around 1970 are not the same as build as these days.

To know which pump type was installed on the engine, engine manual does not informs you which pump actually is installed, I had to remove some paint from the cover and was able to check for the correct type. The one installed on my engines is a 1" type of pump.
I was a kind of lucky to find this information since from the other pump the original cover was removed and replaced by a stainless steel cover.

Going through the internet to find the correct drawing, which took me some time I found a Johnson manual with drawings and spare part numbers.
Going through this manual I also noticed that quite some parts are not available anymore which created some concerns from mys side, since I expected that the mechanical seal was broken.
The found drawing in the manual gave me an better idea how the pump was build together.
See below drawing.

Taking the pump apart after having removed the pump from the engine I directly noticed that the circlip , part of position 4, was not installed therefore preventing the mechanical seal rotating part being pushed against the stationary part.

As can be seen from the next picture of the other engines sea water pump the cir-clip is clearly visible.

To be able to run the engine and not filling up the bilges a rubber O-ring was placed between the housing and the stationary part of the mechanical seal and by installing the impeller the mechanical seal was compressed and in such way there was no leakage, although I know this is not the correct way of repairs it fits it purpose and in the man time I was able to search the internet for the correct parts.,

The idea was to completely overhaul the pump and replace all wear and tear parts, items 2, 4, 6, 8 on the drawing. Reason was that I have no idea how many running hours the pumps do have and if they are still able to give enough cooling water to the engines on long runs.
There the challenge started as I could not find any company in Holland who as able to supply all parts I required.and  I ended up in the USA with a company who was able to supply all required parts.

After the new parts were received  the first step was to remove the pump again from the engine and check the condition of the pump shaft to see if there was an issue to install the circlip. As can be seen from the below picture the groove for the circlip to keep the mechanical seal in place was completely filled with rust, most likely an incorrect type of material was used for the circlip when the last overhaul was performed.

After cleaning the rust and debris out of the shaft the groove became visible again.

The next step was to check if the circlip would fit in the groove and would remain in position after being installed, this was the case and the circlip was removed again.

The following step was to take the pump further apart and to check the dimensions of the old parts and the new parts, the wear might be less than I would expect and there might be no need to exchange the parts and safe the new parts for the future.

The cover as can be seen from the picture showed quite some wear actually the thickness of the old cover was 2.2 mm while the new cover is 2.5 mm.

The covers was replaced on both pumps.

The next part which was removed was part No. 2 the guidance piece for the impeller, it's simple to remove just unscrewing from outside.

On both pumps this part was not stuck. Checking the measurements at the thickest part I noticed quite some wear, old one 4.5 mm new one 6.3 mm and this was a good reason to replace this part on both pumps. On the picture this wear is also quite visible.

I do not think that this wear will reduce the capacity of the pump since the impeller will still be able to close the suction from discharge side.

The next part which was changed was item 8 the bottom wear plate where the impeller runs over.

The plate removed was 1.7 mm and the new plate 1.8 mm not much wear but one could see the area where the impeller had ran over.

The mechanical seals were inspected and I could not see any damage to the running surface nor excessive wear and therefore they were reinstalled and not replaced.

What I noticed that when i put all new parts in the pump housing that item 2 was slightly sticking out above the surface of the pump housing. This was solved by cleaning the bottom surface of the pump housing since over the years time some debris and corrosion had been building up preventing that the bottom wear plate item 8 could be completely going in its place.

Below picture shows all new parts installed including the ring between circlip and mechanical seal which was not found when taking the pump apart, might be that at earlier overhauls this ring was not installed but according to the drawing it is a part of the pump and therefore I did install the ring.

Pump installed on the engine and the circlip installed on the shaft, this went relatively easy and therefore I think that the ring between circlip and mechanical seal is a part of the original installation of this pump. The circlip is not from steel or stainless steel but from brass , therefore it does not stick out on the below picture, but can be seen.

The pump was further build together impeller installed and new cover with new screws completed the overhaul . A test run was done with the engine and although difficult to see it looks like that some more cooling water is running through the engine and I also have the impression that the pressure is a bit higher.