Jane’O is such a mess right now. I’m in the process of taking care of some things to prep for another passage, but it’s slow going. Although I wish I had more help, I have to balance that with the whole COVID risk, so I haven’t sent out too many requests. I’m starting to get a little depressed.

Here’s a breakdown of what I think I need to do before Jane’O is ready for Half Moon Bay or Monterey, which I plan on doing in March

Leaks

Seems like Jane’O isn’t as watertight as she used to be. The garage’s portlights were leaking pretty badly, which was fixed a while ago (thanks Dave) but some of the other portlights are leaking still, along with some hatch leaks. Here are areas that I want to fix or investigate.

  1. Nav desk. The forward-facing starboard window, above the nav desk, really started to leak badly, but Dave, Ed and Connor (who is only 9!) replaced that window when we were in Owl Harbor. Last week I was affixing the headliner and found that it was wet! I first suspected my window replacement crew’s malicious intent, but then I realized it turned out that the leak was coming from a spot further forward. A little investigation found that there was a small crack in the fiberglass just forward of the window area. A proper repair from the outside is warranted, but in the meantime some epoxy and some paint seems to have cured that. So that’s marked as “mitigated” for now, but see the next item.
  2. Headliners. It seems like since there was one crack, there’s a chance for more. Never did like cracks, or crackheads, or anything like that. I’d like to get all the headliners off in the settee area. Someone decided that the best way to secure these headliners was to screw them into the fiberglass. This is great to prevent the headliner from sagging, but over time, these holes in the fiberglass crack and cause leaks. I’m going to remove all the screws and switch to stainless steel snaps, using epoxy to hold one side to the fiberglass and attaching the other side to the headliner itself. I’m not sure if this is a reasonable approach. Most of the references on the web to solving this problem suggest using glue, but I really really don’t want to glue the headliner to the cabin top, and there are also lots of complaints about the glue failing over time. A good epoxy paint is also a last line of protection against leaks, so I’m also going to paint the inside completely.
  3. Galley Ceiling. When sailing from Hawaii, there was a slow drip in the galley area, looks like it was from behind the headliner as well. Once the headliners are off, this area needs a thorough look-see. I suspect the problem is the handrail connection, which means I may want to remove the handrail and reseal it. But it could be another crack somewhere too. It’s another one of those mysteries.
  4. Masthead Compartment. Seems almost like a design problem, but I need a solution. When it rains, there is a small compartment between the two forward cabins that seems to collect water. I believe it comes from the wiring entrance from the mast. Once the water gets in that small compartment, then it fills up to some height, and finally flows through a wiring hole between that area and one of the settee compartments, under the seat. It’s a lot of water though!
  5. Generator Compartment. Ed and I looked at this compartment very carefully to find the leak, which seems to keep this compartment wet. We have no idea where it comes from. Our only clue is that it happens from rainwater from the top because it filled very quickly when we were dealing with monsoon-like weather in Hilo.
  6. Starboard forward cabin. This I patched up. It was caused by someone who incorrectly filling some old holes, but the work isn’t finished -- it needs sanding, fairing, and some paint for it to look good again, as well as to protect the epoxy from UV damage. Since I am planning on repainting the whole boat anyway, this is a great opportunity for me to learn how to do that.
  7. Replacement Hatch. I purchased a new hatch for my cabin. these new hatches have a position you can use to ventilate without letting much water in. I think this will be great for when it rains! My old hatch isn’t staying open, is hard to latch, and the tension adjustment has broken, so it’s time for a replacement.
  8. Port Engine Room. Seems like there’s water in there all the time. I’m not sure where this is coming from, but I want that engine room completely dry. Every time I head out there, I pump it dry, but it’s coming from somewhere.
  9. Port forward compartment. This compartment flooded during the Hawaii passage. I need to remove the old muffler and properly cap the exhaust outlet (or inlet).

And, although this is also a leak, it’s not exactly water coming in that’s a problem:

  1. Port water tank. After we left Hawaii, we found that tank was empty. I attempted to fill it at port here and it’s leaking, pretty badly, into the bilge. This means take the inspection cover off and see what’s wrong. I’m going to guess it’s corroded somewhere, which means I might need to fabricate a new tank. The inlet and outlet valves are messed up anyway. I think this is a big project, but would encourage me to get set up to weld some stainless steel again, or at least talk to my favorite welder in Alameda. Removing the tank and reinstalling it aren’t easy either.

Engine

New engines, new problems. Plenty to do here:

  1. Exhaust Leak. I installed a CO detector in my cabin some time ago. During the last trip to Ashby Shoal it went off. While it’s possible the cause is that there was some wind that blew the exhaust into the cabin, I think it may be something worse than that. This warrants a full inspection of the entire exhaust system for any possible leaks. Might as well do both engines. My plan is to drain the mufflers and force air into the exhaust output, then head inside the engine room and look for any air moving around. Top suspect is the starboard muffler, followed closely by the exhaust hose. Both of these were not replaced (I did replace the port muffler since it was damaged).
  2. Alignment. I think I have a bad motor mount. There is a squeal at lower RPMs around the shaft. I think this is because the mount isn’t holding the engine in the same spot. Both engines are again in need of an alignment, which was last done in Hawaii (thanks Ed for the help).
  3. Port Engine Coolant. The coolant container keeps running low. I don’t know where it’s going -- the port bilge doesn’t have coolant in it. I suspect that some of the hoses I am now using are making some of it evaporate -- they are slightly permeable. I’m not sure this is a real problem, but I need to add some coolant and keep a closer eye on it.
  4. Starboard Fuel Separator. A leak in the port engine fuel strainer made it so we couldn’t use most of the fuel in the port tank. That’s been fixed by replacing the separator -- this is the device that holds the fuel filter and gets the water out of the diesel. The port side is now down to about 1⁄3 full and the engine is still running fine. I also purchased a rebuild kit and rebuilt the old separator, which I’d like to install on the starboard engine.
  5. Oil in Starboard bilge. This might be fuel (see the previous item) but I think there is an oil leak. I’m hoping it’s something as simple as the oil filter a little loose, but I need to find this. The oil level is a little low and the oil rag in the engine is black after a few replacements. This isn’t supposed to happen with a newer engine!
  6. Routine Stuff. Time for another oil change, but I’d like to fix these other problems first, especially figuring out why the starboard engine is a bit lower.

Appliances

Perhaps the best addition to the boat last year was an electric kettle. It’s so nice and easy to make hot water when in port or with the inverter on, especially for making hot french pressed coffee. Hot water is also great for cleaning and sanitizing. But there are other small projects:

  1. Watermaker. This thing needs a full service run. It’s a day of work, maybe more. The motor itself could use cleaning and repainting. The overpressure port still leaks; the vendor said to just cap it off.
  2. Freezer. It seems to have lost coolant again. I’m sure there’s a leak now. I’m going to have to spend a day on this project as well. Probably the right answer is to rent one of those freon sniffers, fire it up, and see if I can find any refrigerant.
  3. Refrigerator. Hey this is fixed! The freezer door was broken and the light assembly broke. I ordered new parts and now it works great. I would love to add an alarm that starts beeping after a short interval, but I’m not up to designing a circuit for that yet. It would also be awesome to have a temperature monitor that fed into the NMEA 2000 bus so I can see how cold the fridge is. But now I’m just dreaming.

Power

Power projects will be in another post, but a wind generator is in the works!

The Garage

The port aft cabin needs some work to make it more habitable:

  1. Cabinets. I found some great IP67 containers. I’d like to buy a few more of these and then build cabinets or at least supports to keep them in place so they don’t fall on the occupant.
  2. Fan. The fan needs to pull air in from the outside.
  3. Charger. I need a USB port installed somewhere, probably in the cabinet somewhere. That plus a place to put your phone while you sleep, ideally visible to the sleeper.
  4. Light. Right now, there’s only this high power LED light. To make this usable as a single person cabin, a reading light or something else seems like a good idea.

Anyway this is a lot to do, so expect to see some requests out there for help.