Replacing a Steering Splash Well Plate on a Gemini 3200 Sailboat

The Gemini 3200 has 2 outboard rudders. These rudders have a steering arm that pushes them from side to side. The plates in the splash well area that serve as the conduit for the steering arm from inside the boat to the outside comes from the factory made out of metal. On the starboard side of our sailboat, the splash well plate was horrendously rusty. Given the plates function, keeping outside water outside, this is a dangerous condition. So, this weekend I went for it and replaced it.

Val had done some research on the issue and found another Gemini owner whom made these fancy plates out of fiberglass. Val reached out and the guy was willing to make us 2 plates (I wanted one for each side of the boat) plus send us 2 new aluminum tubes that the steering rods run through. Awesome.

After reading, re-reading, and re-reading again all the instructions from Mr. Fiberglass Plate Maker, I sat with all the parts and mentally walked through how to do this. After thinking, "oh crap, I could really screw something up here" I decided to try one of the oldest tricks in the trade, I asked Val to produce each of the supporting items needed (the various sealants, grease tubes, nuts, bolts, washers). Alas, she produced everything. Oh well, time to do the job.

Getting out the old rusty plate wasn't easy. The sealant holding it on was pretty good. Getting the bolts out did end up requiring a good whack of a hammer. When the bolts were out, I still had to go back with a razor blade and cut away the old rubber sealant to break free the old plate.

Once the old assembly was freed, I opened up the new stuff.

The aluminum tube was packed with grease. Not just any grease, but that unbelievably sticky get all over the place, even ones underwear, black stuff. With black grease all over, I was able to secure the new assembly into place, and put the new backing plate on. I had to re-drill the plate holes (drilling holes in the boat is uncomfortable), and dry fit the system. The unit was nice and snug!

Taking everything apart, I then loaded up all the surfaces with sealant. Every nut, bolt, washer, connecting surface .... everything. I then had 5 minutes before the stuff would start to cure so it was then a race to put it all back in. Within about 7 minutes, it was all back together.

With everything in place, and the curing having started, I decided to go back over all the surfaces exposed with more sealant. I recovered every exposed nut and bolt. One can't have too much sealant!

The entire effort took about 2 hours. Not bad for a rookie! But it got h-o-t. I started at 9:00am and by 11am it was already 93 degrees out.

Now it is time to wash off that old rust stain!

Trojan 6V 145s Installed In Boat!

On May 30th, one of those "must do" tasks was completed but I couldn't claim success quite yet. I had installed the new Trojan batteries but I needed the system to run for a week to be sure it worked right.

In one of the photos you can see the 5.5 year old swollen SeaVolt 115 batteries on the left, and the beautiful new T-145s stacked neatly on the right.

The batteries were very heavy; I'm so glad I went with the 6Vs as recommended by the Living Aboard members.

With one final double check of the connections, I deemed that the batteries were in. Switching from battery bank 1 to bank 2 to both to off, while operating the electronic equipment gave a quick and dirty proof of correct wiring. I also put a Volt meter on the wires and it showed the proper numbers.

Now that it is a week later, I can proclaim the transplant was a success! The batteries show a full charge (receiving charge from both the solar panel system and from the dock side plug in), all instruments work, and the event feels positive! :)

Yeah!

Gemini 3200 on the Hard - Getting Ready for Bottom Paint

Saturday's visit to Ariel was wonderful! We got an opportunity to see Ariel, talk to the boat yard owner, Dick Long, and take care of a few tasks.

Since our last visit with Ariel, she has been moved to her designated location in the boat yard, had all of the bottom paint blasted off of her, down to the gel coat, and fiberglass fixes below the waterline have begun. Ariel has some blisters; fortunately, almost all of the blisters are very small and are easily fixed.

We also got to inspect our 20 year old, wood centerboards. They are in perfect shape!

After all of the blisters have been fixed, the bottom and the centerboards will be ready to receive 4 to 5 coats of Interprotect 2000E and then 3 coats of Pettit Ultima SR-60 ablative antifouling bottom paint.

This should provide excellent protection for our Gemini 3200, in salt water.

Replacement of Steering Arm Plate -Part1

One of the major maintenance/repair items that has to be completed before we take off on our adventure is the replacement of our rusting splashwell plates. These plates connect the steering cables inside the boat to the rudder steering arms outside the boat. If these plates fail, we would have more difficult time steering the boat and would have a water entry point into the hull.

We will be replacing our existing rusty splashwell plates with fiberglass plates made by a fellow Gemini owner, Jim Beckley. We received the plates and assembly from Jim on Wednesday, and they look great. We will install them before Ariel is put back in the water.

Repairing Sun Sacrifice with Sailrite Ultrafeed LSZ-1

I've started my first boat sewing project, replacing the torn sun sacrifice on one of our jibs. As you can see from the photo, it has been ripped to shreds. Fortunately, the jib is unharmed.

I started this project by removing the torn sun sacrifice and noting what I need to replace it. I will be placing another order with Sailrite soon for webbing, grommets, red thread, and Logo Red Sunbrella fabric. I'm going to order enough to sew a sun sacrifice on our other jib and maybe make a new main sail cover, too. This project should boost my sewing skill and confidence.

First Major Fix – Rudder Cage – Phase 5 Redux - Install Rudder Cage

Let's try this again. Yeah! We finally have completed our first major fix!! After the last time, I made doubly sure that nothing was missing.

I purchased a U-bolt from our local West Marine store and carried it and the rudder cage over to Capital City Machine Shop to have it welded. They had to cut the U-bolt down before welding it to the rudder cage (another $60). My mistake, I should have noticed that it was missing the first time around.

Again, we took everything to the boat. It took Bill a total of 30 minute to bolt the rudder cage onto the boat and then we took her out for a spin.

It's nice having her operational again!

To read all of the post on the First Major Fix click on the following links: Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, Phase 4, and Phase 5

First Major Fix – Rudder Cage – Phase 5 - Install Rudder Cage

Yeah! We're finally ready to install the fixed rudder cage.

To recap: we removed the rudder cage, had the stainless steel welded, located and acquired the hex bolt that Bill lost to the lake and the marine grade bungee, and cleaned and cured the stainless steel. (See First Major Fix Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4).

We took everything to the boat. We replaced the old, worn bungee with the new 3/8 inch marine grade bungee. Bill was ready to get into the water, when we noticed it. A piece of stainless was missing from the rudder cage. How could we have missed it? A U-shaped piece of stainless on top of the rudder cage was missing. It is the point where we secure the steering lines from the outboard engine to the rudder cage. Now we could have tied the steering line to the rudder cage itself, but that would just look tacky.

So, off to the welder I go. It's a good thing that we noticed it before Bill got into the water and before we bolted it back onto the boat.

First Major Fix – Rudder Cage – Phase 4 – Scavenger Hunt

If you've been following along, you know we've gone through 3 phases in repairing the rudder cage (phase 1, phase 2, phase 3). When we discovered the broken weld on the rudder cage, I thought that I might have a tough time finding someone who could weld stainless steel, but a scavenger hunt never crossed my mind.

During the removal of the rudder cage, Bill dropped one of the 1/2 inch by 5 inches long stainless steel hex bolt into the lake. Most boat owners can tell you that no magnet rivals a lake for attracting metal ;).

So, I need to replace a bolt. Big deal. Just go the your local Home Depot or Lowe's, right? Wrong! The Home Depots and Lowe's in my area didn't carry stainless steel hex bolt and the local Ace Hardware carried the bolts, but not that long. So the hunt was on. I gain decided to let my fingers do the walking in the Real Yellow Page (metaphorically speaking). After several phone call, I came across a company called Star Stainless Screw company, in Norcross, GA. With the help of Ann, I was able to acquire 3 stainless steel hex bolts, 1/2 inch by 5 inches long, coarse thread. Thank You Ann!!!

I also needed to find 3/8 inch to 1/2 inch marine grade bungee to replace the bungee that looped through the rudder cage. Here again, I tried the local name brand hardware and marine stores. No luck. I was finally able to find the bungee at a place called General Hardware off Peachtree Road NE in Atlanta. This hardware store specializes in hard to find items and was like stepping back in time. The store was small, compared to Home Depot, and stuff was everywhere. When I walked in I thought, how does anyone find anything here. Answer, the staff. The staff seem to know every item in stock and it's location. My Dad would love this place.

Now that we have all of the components, it's time to install!

Clean Stainless Steel for $.10

While getting the rudder cage fix, I decided it would be a good time to clean it. Beside the normal surface dirt, the stainless steel rudder cage also had rust and rusty water spots. I thought that stainless steel wasn't suppose to rust. Well, I was wrong. It can rust if it gets infected with less noble metals. The rusty water spots, I discovered were caused by trace metals in water.

So how do you clean stainless steel. There are a lot of expensive boat stainless steel cleaners. I beginning to believe that if the words boat or marine are on a product the cost automatically goes up by $10 to $15.

I decided to do a little research and discovered that I could clean the stainless steel for pennies. First, obtain regular baking soda and add a little water to make a paste. Smear the paste onto the stainless steel and let it set for a couple of minutes. Then take a piece of regular aluminium foil and scrub the stainless steel, going with the grain (if you have a grain). The rust comes off with little effort.

Works great, not only on boat stainless steel, but also on stainless steel appilances!

Below are before and after pictures.

Repairing Joy

The recent repair events have absorbed much of our boating life lately. Unlike any repairs I've ever done on my car or home or motorcycle, this experience was both pleasurable and fulfilling. Each bolt slip and knuckle crash, each drop of a nut (in the damn lake never to be retrieved from the 20 foot deep bottom), each scratching of the head trying to figure out how to pull things apart resulted in a wonderful, confidence building experience. Intellectually, I know that I must become capable of repairing this boat all by my self, under extreme conditions. It could be this knowledge that makes the whole experience, of fixing a problem, more of an experience than a task.

First Major Fix – Rudder Cage – Phase 3 – Getting Rudder Cage Welded

If my Dad lived in town, getting the rudder cage welded would have been easy. I would have simply ask Daddy to weld it, but he lives in Northwest Alabama. So I decided to let my fingers do the walking in the yellow pages, metaphorically speaking. I googled machine shop for northern Atlanta. After calling the first 5 machine shops in my area and find out that they were no longer in business, I decided to call the local West Marine store to see if they had any recommendation. They had two, but neither of them answered their phones. I called our marina to see if they did stainless steel welding. The lady at the service shop stated that they had someone who came by once a week and who charged $90/hr with a one hour minimum, but she was not sure when he would be by. I was beginning to think that I needed to take a road trip to go see my Dad. I decided to try one more machine shop off of Buford Highway in Doraville, GA. I was in luck, Capital City Machine Shop was able and willing to fix my rudder cage. Capital City Machine Shop ( http://www.capitalcitymachine.com )is full service machine shop. They do everything from repairs to cnc milling and turning to fabrication.

I took the rudder cage over to Capital City Machine Shop where I handed off to Mr. Willis Pratt, the lead welder. Mr. Pratt took time out of his busy day to inspect the rudder cage, ask questions regarding it use, and when I needed it. We exchanged cards and he told me that he would call me once the repair was finished., this was about 1:30pm. Before 3pm, I had received a call from Mr. Pratt stating that the repair was finish and that I could pick-up the rudder cage whenever I like. So the next morning I went to pick-up the cage. Mr. Pratt did a fantastic job. Not only had he fixed the weld that I had pointed out, but he had also fixed another broken weld that I had not noticed and checked all of the remaining welds. All of this for $65.

I highly recommend Capital City Machine Shop to anyone. The staff is very nice, professional, and meticulous. http://www.capitalcitymachine.com 770.447.9545

I would like to say a special Thank You to Mr. Pratt and Ms. Charlotte!

First Major Fix – Rudder Cage – Phase 2 – Removing Cage from Boat

After finding the broken weld and researching the best way to proceed, we took the plung (literally). Bill used a socket wrench to loosen the bolts and nuts on the hinges. This took some effort since one hinge under water.

First Bill tackled the 1/2”-5” stainless steel hex bolt, 2 nuts, and end nut that were underneath the water. Once he had handed the bolt and nuts to me, he disconnected the steering strut from the rudder cage. Finally, he took off the top hinge bolt and nuts and the shock cord.

Voila! The rudder cage is off and now it can be carried to a local machine shop to be fixed.

First Major Fix – Rudder Cage - Phase 1 – Problem Identified

Recently, we went to take Ariel out for an afternoon cruise. While placing the rudder boards into the rudder cages we noticed that one of the board was kicking out. After further inspection we discovered that the bungee that holds the board in place had slipped down the rudder cage. This was just a symptom. The real problem was that a weld on the rudder cage had broken.

Our first thought was that we were going to have to have Ariel hauled out of the water so that the weld could be fix. Thankfully, there is a very active, yahoo users group for Gemini catamarans. I was able to post the problem and within 30 minutes I had an answer/solution. Paul from s/v Double Exposure hull #238 told me that all we had to do is to remove the hinge and steering strut bolts and then we could remove the cage without taking Ariel out of the water. It was as Paul had described. Thank you Paul!! Picture below shows the broken weld.