Major Repairs in the Keys

Rigging

Our first significant excursion with Windragon since buying her in 2013 turned into quite a maintenance event. She is a 1995 IP-37 with almost 3900 hours on the engine/transmission and who knows how many hours cruising the Caribbean with here two previous owners. Since the purchase, we have been methodically upgrading and repairing systems on the boat, nothing unusual, she had been well-maintained.
With appropriate thanks to the good Lord, this is our view of this adventure.

So on arrival to Sunset Marina in Key West, we had Keys Rigging (Marathon) come out to Windragon to repair a broken reefing line. The first thing to know is, everyone charges travel time on the Keys. So, one trick is to get a visit to your boat in combination with other service calls nearby. The next thing to know, most repair folks travel in pairs. Which means every repair is billed at double rates. Even if the repair only requires one person, you will be paying for two.

Nevertheless, the guys came out and made short and efficient repair of our line. To their credit, as they departed the boat they noticed some corrosion on the Bobstay chain plate.










That led to a complete rigging inspection, the replacement of two stays and the chain plate.





With some careful planning of the work; and being aboard to help with the reinstallation, we managed to keep our total costs under some control.


Engine-Transmission
Our transmission output shaft retaining nut failure is already documented on the Forum. We want to share some insights managing this major job.
1. Boat US deserves kudos all around. They came out the NE channel to get us in less than 90 minutes from the time we called. They had relay tows in place to move us from the open water all the way dockside back at Sunset Marina. Moreover, they came out ASAP when we decided the boat needed to be hauled out urgently. Professional and cheerful. A great group of people.

2. Deciding on the vendor(s) for this job was done with inadequate knowledge of the local customs. We have been spoiled living and maintaining in St Petersburg. So here goes:
A. Many vendors are independent and share a common boat yard
B. They don't necessairily coordinate with each other. We coordinated fiberglass repairs, haul out and splash, sea-trial etc. Essentially, Irene was contractor for the entire process, all the while getting up to speed on this area of the boat.
C. If you are using a Dealer to work on your engine and transmission; you are now in the Dealership system for estimating and parts acquisition, and that significantly hampers your participation in the processes leading to the final repair decisions. In our case we used Marine Diesel of the Florida Keys on Stock Island. Mark de Jong has been in this business for over 40 years and is well known in St Petersburg and Miami-Ft Lauderdale. The alternative was to use a Marathon diesel repair facility. Back to our first point, every visit to our boat on Stock Island would include travel time and two mechanics traveling.
Once we got the hang of working in the Dealership system the rough spots in communicating with Mark improved. Essentially, we made calls and exchanged emails with folks in St Petersburg and Maine, once we were educated we could make intelligent decisions while working with Mark. We had unexpected costs and add-ones which kept us constantly double checking and researching to verify the issues we encountered. This is not an ideal system if you are used to being hands on with your boat repairs and working with local vendors in your home port. Nevertheless, the repairs were done as (finally) estimated, the workmanship was excellent, and only trivial adjustments were made during sea trials. Considering the final scope of the work, Mark did an excellent job. In retrospect, we probably would have made the same decisions, but, knowing how people communicate and the subtleties of the Dealership system would have lowered our stress levels.

3. Finally, remember. Get the insurance company involved with major repairs immediately. They were called as soon as we understood the extent of damage to our boat. The field reps were out to the boat and to the transmission shop, plus they were helpful educating us too! Having our maintenance records was critical to verifying past repairs to the engine and transmission.

Safe travels and always have the wind at your back.

That crack has been forming long before 2013 and should have been caught in the survey. Regarding your gear box failure. Many people do not realize that catastrophic engine/transmission failures may be covered under their insurance unless expressly excluded on the policy or can be deemed a failure due to maintenance.

Good point. The Bobstay attachment at the waterline was replaced after survey in 2013 and that Chainplate was in good condition on visual inspection. We had it reinspected once again in 2014 along with the entire Bobstay rigging. This failure came on in the interval.

That is incredible for it to go that far in such a short time. Glad you got it when you did.

We think so too. We don't have pictures of the area anymore from 2013. The riggers think the problem came from a mismatch of the Bobstay retaining pin to the chainplate. Credit goes to Key Riggers. They had sharp eyes. We are very grateful.

As for the hold down bolts. Two of the four fractured on removal. For sure Hayden. This area should be looked at annually and those hold down bolts should be replaced on a schedule.

Dan - nice write up. Bummer to have this cruise turn into such major repairs. Hopefully all the big stuff is behind you now and the next time out will be nothing but pleasure sailing.

In rebuilding my antique wind vane I learned a lot about stainless steel. 304 is most commonly used, especially for bolts, but it is prone to crevice crack corrosion. 316 is slightly weaker but doesn't seem to have the corrosion problem. I've found that stainless from China is junk and will corrode in quick time. I wonder if that chain plate wasn't made with 304 or worse yet, Chinese 304! I would think the combination of stress and salt water corrosion would point to 316 for this location.

Tom Ward
IP420-35
La Vida Dulce