If only we could predict the future

I have no doubt that had our friend Mike from the tugboat Flying Buzzard been able to see that his momentary visit to our boat yesterday was going to turn into more than an hour of work, he would have steered clear of us. Alas, he is no better at predicting the future than I am. 🙂

On Tuesday of this week we were able to bum a ride from our friend Mike (Hashmaster here in Grenada) to take us, and our windlass, to the machine shop in Westerhall. This was the windlass’ second visit to this shop, the first time to have the threads on the clutch cleaned up (I messed them up during an earlier repair attempt. Cost: $60.00 EC). This time I was looking to have a bit more work done and I left the entire unit in their hands. Late afternoon Wednesday I received a call from the shop telling me that the windlass was ready to be picked up. A phone call? Yes, we now have a phone, a gift from our buddy George. Isn’t it fitting that we get a Grenadian phone just days before we leave the country?

Thursday rolled around and again we were able to bum a ride to the shop, this time from our friend Caitlin. The shop did indeed have the windlass ready and it appeared as if they did a great job. They cleaned up some other threads, manufactured a new nut for it and had the whole thing put back together beautifully. (Cost: $285.00 EC). The machinist who worked on it did have a question about a space that existed in the now-put-together unit. I explained that the space was likely the result of a part or two that I didn’t give him, but we won’t dwell on that. I was eager to return to the boat to give it a try.

When I finally did get around to testing “the beast” by connecting the leads to our batteries, I was presented with silence. Silence: the sound of the windlass NOT working. And not the gears not working, what I just had repaired. This time it was the motor not working! I could insert an entire paragraph of expletives here but I think you can use your imagination.

The thing about the motor is that it would work if the two main bolts holding the housing together were backed off a bit but not if they were tightened down the way they should be. I disassembled and assembled the motor over and over. Same result. I tested every possibility (within the realm of my very limited knowledge). Same result. I had our neighbor Ken take a look at it and he had the same results. Frustration!

Yesterday morning, inspired to take a look at it once again (perhaps it was the morning sunshine that made me optimistic), I connected the motor’s leads to our battery. Same result. Grrrr! It was about this time that Mike from Flying Buzzard dropped by. Remember him from the first paragraph? Anyway, he came by to ask me a short and simple question but was lured into our cockpit to “take a quick look” at the errant motor. This quick look turned into a major bit of troubleshooting which, after much time, ultimately resulted in our finding that two of the motor’s brushes were jammed in place. Why? Who knows… it’s a boat.

Mike managed to get one brush free and told me to file it down a bit so it would slide in and out more smoothly. He then left me with the one that was really stuck. What did I do? I broke it of course. Sheepishly I followed Mike over to our neighbors’ boat where he was having coffee to tell him what I had done and to ask where I should go to purchase a new brush. Again, Mike’s inability to predict the future played havoc with him and he told me to follow him back to his boat where he might have one for me.

Did Mike have some brushes on board his boat? Yes. I will go out on a limb here and suggest that Mike and Julie may very well have one or two of every part needed to build an entire new boat on Flying Buzzard! I’m sure that the time needed to fit this brush to our motor took a lot longer than he had hoped. As every minute went by I felt more and more guilty about taking up his time. He did ultimately get it fitted though, repairing some mystery damage to the housing in order to do so. Thanks so much, Mike!

Once back on our boat with 4 properly-functioning brushes, it didn’t take me all that long to have the windlass put back together. Low and behold, it worked. Woo hoo! Even though I was able to test the windlass after getting it reinstalled on ZTC’s bow, I am not yet 100% convinced that it is perfect. Before I seal it to the deck again I want to see it raise and lower our anchor a few times. We are going to do our best to take better care of it in the future though, including keeping it covered from the elements with the nice new windlass cover that Rebecca sewed for it. Hopefully keeping some of the salt spray off of it will help. Fingers and toes are crossed.

Note:

1. It is often easy for cruisers to meet other cruisers but not so easy to really get to know residents. Our time here in Grenada has netted us both friends from both categories and for that, we are extremely grateful!
2. Before this whole troubleshooting experience, I had no idea what a brush on a motor even looked like (it does NOT look like a brush IMO). I joked on Facebook that I now know that windlass more intimately than a man should know any piece of machinery.