What to do with Dive Tanks on the Boat

Those pesky dive tanks are never easily stowed on a sailing vessel and so I decided to have a suitable bracket made up. This one clamps to the lower railing near the stern and secures both bottles with velcro. I used a couple of Bimini clamps and had them welded to the  stainless bracket made from scraps of ss left over in the workshop. All welding done with a TIG welder and I did my best to polish the stainless. I'm still learning on that aspect. Neat and tidy.  Cost $0.00 but 8hrs of labor. Many thanks to Tim for his help

Stove Top Recondition

This attempt at controlling the rust was unsuccessful. I have left the post here as an example of how the things we do, don't always go to plan. A newer post tells of how I have now chromed the stove tops to see if that will keep the rust at bay.
The stove top plates on our Force 10 stove, has, over the years become rusty and leaves the rust on top of the stainless stove. Unable to get replacements, I ground all remaining paint off and buffed the rust off; then using  a paint designed for heat (fire boxes and chimneys ) I repainted the plates and then following the instructions, baked the item for an hour at 250 degrees C. This will initially give off fumes. Best done in an old oven outside or the BBQ. It seems after a couple of months use, it has worked; and I have a spare can in case we need to readdress the issue in a year or so

Remote oil filter

Having a oil filter in a very difficult position can make changing the oil very frustrating. So it was decided to put a remote oil filter  in a place that will make the chore so much nicer. You can see the location of the old filter here. The filter is white and located way down in the bilge and behind an engine mount

Very difficult to get out and had to be removed in heavy duty plastic bags to feed under the engine.
Components were gathered together and a mount made for the filter end. This I installed behind a door near the secondary fuel filter.
Removing the old filter then allowed me to install the adapter plate to the oil filter mount (where the old filter use to sit) and route the hoses. Special spanners were required to do up the the hoses (Crows feet spanners).
Filled up the new filter with oil and connected the hoses and filter.
You can see the ease now of replacing the oil filter.

Hoses and adapter plate

Finished solution

New bracket made for oil filter

Rudder Shaft Seal Upgrade

The packing gland on the rudder shaft of my Hylas 44 never did prevent water from  coming into the boat; with rate of about a drop every 10 seconds, I wanted something drier; like no water ingress.

First I removed the rudder quadrant to access the packing gland flange and cleaned up both the removable flange, (top left in photo below) and the area to be resealed (left).  I obtained a double lipped seal with stainless steel spring for my shaft which was 2.25 inches. Measuring the flange which use to press down on the packing gland, (and now inverting that flange) the sleeve measured three inches. So a seal of 2.25 ID and 3.00 OD would do it. Then I obtained a reinforced hose of 3.00 ID. I used a silicone hose but you could use a good quality rubber hose.

Next, some hose clips and gasket maker and lithium grease. I used a silicone RTV type gasket maker for motor vehicles. Having removed the packing gland material, I started to assemble my new shaft seal. I only had about 2.75 inches of shaft to work with placing the seal on and the up turned packing gland flange took most of that.
I applied grease down the shaft where the packing gland use to sit and gasket maker to the surface of the flange where the upturned packing gland flange will bolt to.
Slid the flange over the shaft and mated the surfaces and secured with the four bolts.

Grease down shaft & gasket maker applied

As the bolts tightened the RTV squeesed out and I left this for 24 hours to set.
After the RTV had set, the hose was placed over the flange and I applied grease to the seal and inside the hose, pushing the grease as far down as I could get it. Then I cleaned out the surface area to where the seal would sit. This is going to have some of your favorite sealant applied here for the seal. Without the sealant, the seal will tend to slip out of the hose when pressure is applied to the hose clamp.The lower hose clamp was applied and I used my RTV sealant to the OD side of the seal and the ID of the hose. I slipped in the seal to the hose and applied the hose clamp loosely and left for 24 hrs to set before tightening a little bit more.
Finally, everything was reassembled and the boat placed back in the water. I now have a very dry rudder shaft. Now, if I can just get rid of the rain water that comes down the mast.

Grease applied before seal

Costs; $30 for the seal; $18 for the hose; grease and gasket maker $20. Hose clips I had already.
Paul
s/v Solace
http://web.mac.com/paulngina/site_1/Home.html

Finished product