Oops! Post Script on the December Lift

Hello readers!

It's been almost four months since my last blog article.  Why the silence? Well quite frankly Diana and I (and of course the Furry Kid) have been just enjoying life in beautiful Sarasota and I have been lazy.  However, it is now mid April and the climate has changed.  It's hot (average mid-day temperature in the high 80s) so its cool to get back to blogging.  You may also notice my previous article, the "Open Letter to eBay President Donahoe" which gave me a good excuse to get back to writing.

Over the next few days I intend to write about living aboard the 63, which at this point we have been doing for 14 months, and our cruising plans for the trip back to Hingham.  But first a few words and photos regarding the December lift at Snead Island Boat Works.

Guided Discovery on the hard at Snead Island

Darrel and I return to Snead Island Boat Works on Wednesday December 17th to pick up the boat and cruise back to Sarasota.  The folks at Snead Island put her back in the water.

Enroute to the lifting bay

Backing her in

Ready to launch

The operator lowered Guided Discovery into the water and we began a series of critical pre-departure checks to verify that she was ready to go.

Explanatory Note:  When a boat is lifted the sea strainer valves are closed to hold water in the strainers.  When it's returned to the water the valves are re-opened.  It is then critical to check that the raw water pumps that draw it salt water for the engines, generators, hydraulics and HVAC are working.  All of these systems rely on salt water for cooling and if an air lock occurs the equipment can quickly overheat.

The first step was starting the 12KW and 16KW generators.  We verified that raw water was circulating through these engines.  Next we activated the Chilled Water System (HVAC) and oops, no water.  Snead Island to the rescue.  They immediately had a technician on board and he determined that there was an air lock in the HVAC sea strainer.  The problem was quickly resolved.

Main engine bilge with HVAC sea strainer to port (your left)

Next we started the main engines and verified that sea water was coming through the exhausts.  At this point the operator lowered the lifting straps.  Next was a basic check of the engine and thruster controls using the remote.  This involves briefly engaging the transmissions and each of the thruster controls. All appeared to be well and we starting backing out of the lifting bay, which is when I noticed that the bow and stern thruster were messed up.

Explanatory Note: The thruster controls on the remote are buttons on the corners of the panel.  You push the button in the direction you wish to go.  In other words to move the bow to starboard you push the starboard button.

When I pushed the starboard bow thruster button the bow moved to port. Turned out the stern thrusters were also backward.  We informed the lift operator, who immediately declared that the props had been put on backward, re positioned the boat and up she went again.  As she came out of the water we noticed yet another problem: paint was missing on several of the thruster propeller blades.  No problem said the folks at Snead Island, "we'll take care of it."  Slight problem for Darrel and I.  No cruising today.

Bow thruster propeller with missing paint on the blades

Same with the stern thruster

Re-priming the propellers

Back on the hard

We return the following day and went through the process of putting her back in the water.  This time we were successful and off we went.

Goodbye Snead Island Boat Works

The cruise back to Marina Jack was smooth and uneventful (although we did run the boat through a sea trial to verify speeds at each 100 RPM).

Written by Les.
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