It was not possible to take advantage of the outhaul with the sail becoming a bit older, it was a missing feature. So after a bit of fighting with the boom, I was able to tear it down and see how it looked.
One of the challenge was to remove the end caps, I guess they haven’t been removed for a very long time, maybe never?
Hardware
On each end caps, I replaced the screws with 8 x ¼-20 x 1/2” SS Hex Head Bolts
The new system is composed of two ball-bearing Harken bullet blocks:
Protect the fuel line from chafing, not sure how I missed them during my last chafing protection mission.
Picture from the control cable to replace
New priority project on Hotel Catalina! Let’s see how many week-end will I need to get it fixed 🙂
Helm tear down and fixing
Most of this section is coming from this document from Edson Marine. Edson Marine has been very helpful to answer my questions about the different part numbers I was not able to find around.
Easier than expected! I was able to get it out pretty easily with an easy out screw extractor after I drilled a small hole in it with a 1/16″ cobalt drill bit.
1/16″ cobalt drill bit hole
Remove the compass
The 3 first ¼”-20 x 3 ½” ¼”-20 x 4” stainless machine screw came out very easily and of course as usual one didn’t come at all after a lot of drilling and one drill bit broken I succeeded to get the compass out with only one screw to replace!
compass broken screw
Remove housing
Remove broken ¼”-20 x 3 ½” ¼”-20 x 4” stainless machine screw
At the beginning based on documentation and online information I ordered by mistake 3 ½” machine screws where needed 4″ long screws.
broken screw removing method
¼”-20 x 4” stainless and should be coated with Tef Gel when installing.
On the way back from Catalina, it’s time to clean the boat after 4 days to the island. I check the bilge and realize a bit of water is there, pull up the switch to run the pump and nothing happen!
Corroded wires, after some troubleshooting and wiring the pump to by pass the switch, I was sure the issue was the switch.
Quick run to West Marine and I found the pump, of course $20 more expensive than what you can get on amazon, it was for me the first chance to try their new deal to match online price. And it works great!
Few minutes later the new switch was plugged! It’s pretty well done and you can keep the same base, so it’s really plug and play.
