Trailer maintenance

 I was going to take Teria out in Early October, but discovered that one tyre was leaking air.

So the trip was cancelled, the tyre and spare were removed and tyrefitter at Tuff tyres, in Currajong consulted.

He fitted a new tyre to the deflating rim and replaced my old spare tyre with the re-used slowly deflating tyre (it was a rim glue/sealant leak). $100 was good value. 

It was just as well regarding the spare tyre. It was decades way too old (fitter read the codes on tyre, have the date produced in them) and it was developing sun cracking on one side (north side). It may have failed if it were to be used.

Boat trailer tyre cover, facing winter sun side

Spare tyre cover

To avoid future sun damage i bought three vinyl tyre covers at Road Tech Marine. Two of these are used for the trailer, one on the spare tyre and one on the north facing tyre while in the yard (Being southern hemisphere most of our yearly sun come from the northward side). Also put the shade cloth over these tyres as well, to protect the covers from UV damage and IR heating.

The 3rd tyre cover is for my towing ute's tyre which is exposed to some morning northerly sun that gets under the car park shade cloths and shade trees. just need to remember to use it and take it off when leaving.!

UV sun damage is severe in the Tropics (between tropic of Cancer 23N, and tropic of Capricorn 23S) It takes a huge toll on rubber things like tyres and car window trim if the vehicle is left exposed. 

Electrical upgrades 2024

 Did some 12 volt electrical system upgrades this year. 

The addition of the tiller-pilot's extra power draw also meant the battery storage and solar charging system needed increased efficiency to keep up with increased power demands. 

Installed two LED dome lights in the cabin. One for the forepeak stowage area and another above the galley area. Both lights also have integral "red LED" night-vision switches too. They run cool, very bright and consume about 10% of the power that than the two original incandescent dome lights use.

Forepeak LED dome light

Galley area LED dome light

Galley LED dome, stainless body, ply backing.

Forepeak LED dome, plastic body, ply backing.

The LED dome lights have 10mm plywood backing pads as i didn't want to screw into the cored fiberglass deck (could leak/rot etc). The pads have silastic sealant holding them onto the fibreglass and the dome lights screwed into the plywood.

LED dome lights in red "night vision" mode (old domes still on bulkhead)

Next was the main deep cycle battery replacement. It was 4 years old, but got discharged/damaged while away overseas in 2022. Bought another Century N70T 102 AH flooded lead acid, made in Qld ("Anaconda" on special/ club price) It has 6 separate screw on cell filler caps which are larger and easier to see inside to check plates condition. It's dimensions are a couple cm thinner and a bit longer than the old battery (same height) and it fits into the old spot ok. 

New battery in sailing postion, clamped down.

New battery (top) old one (below)

New battery in shore maintenance position (electrolyte top up)

The solar recharging needed an upgrade, to pump more juice into the battery faster than before. So bought a 40W mono-crystaline solar PV panel from Bunnings. Found a 3m solar power lead with matching fittings at Supercheap auto. Added a watt meter with anderson plugs from Tentworld. 

Re-arranged electrical cabinet

40W solar panel stowage, with power lead

 The core of the system is a kings MPPT 20A solar charge controller from 4WD supercenter. This reletively new (to me) type of controller can output about 50% more juice than the ageing PWM type controller aboard. Once hooked up about 2-3amps at 14 volts were going into the battery at about 2pm (similar performance to my 240v shore power smart-charger on "medium" setting) Not being too electrically minded, hope it does the job.

MPPT solar controller

Solar charging battery

The problem was the MPPT controllers dimensions were reletively huge. Which required an enlargement of ply backing board area inside the electrical cabinet. This inturn required moving the master switch and lenghening/re-doing/ using some heavier sized wires etc.

Learnt how to use my very old multimeter in the process. (Installed a new 9v battery to it got it going again.) Then u-tube tutes to learn it's correct usage. It was needed to re-use/identify/check continuity of some old wires going to the forecabin (they were not color coded correctly. red=positive, black=negative) saved ripping everything out and starting from scratch. Used the old "steaming light" wires, that once went through the deck and lit up on the mast (removed it long ago, as bad for the boat cover tarp chafe), now these wires light up the forepeak LED dome light.

The 3 gang switch/fuse board remained inplace. Just added the LED dome lights circuit to it (separate from the old incandescent dome light circuit). 

Fuse board and watt meter

Trailer #17 - Rims and tyres

The trailer runs 13" Holden rims with 13" light truck radial tyres. The rims fit a 5-stud Holden hub.

Decided to replace the trailer wheels with new ones.  Bought new tyres pre-fitted to galvanized rims for boat trailer use. The rims are a multi-fit generic type that fit onto both Ford or HT Holden hubs. "NQ wheels and Castors" in Townsville sold them at a reasonable price.

The tyres are 165R13C 94/92Q radials with load capacity of 670 kg on a single axle, the same specifications as the old tyres. The rims are hot-dip galvanized so should stand up to years of  salt water use. Maximum tyre pressure stamped on the tyres is 65 psi.

So now have the two vintage rim tyres as spares. ( I lost my spare in the Feb 2019 surprise flood, it certainly was gone after that weather event. Left it laying on the ground but never expected it to float away, unprecedented stuff!)

I did look into the possibility of finding a second-hand original Holden trailer rims but these are hard to find and greatly sought after by vintage car collectors / restorers, so their price is comparable or costlier than getting the brand new aftermarket rims.

Old and new wheels.

New wheel

Boat preparation

2 years is a long time out of the water. Equipment and supplies needed checking, finding and purchasing.

Got stuck into cleaning her up, leaves, dust, grime and some mold had to go, so got to it with the hose, bucket, sponge, dust pan and vacuum cleaner.

Set the rig up to check everything was there and functional.

Rig check

The new motor looked good but the wobbly bracket needed fixing.  A check of the bracket mount bolts involved removing them for inspection. The first bolt sheared off when the spanner turned it, long term crevice corrosion was caused by dissimilar metal use (galvanized washer on a stainless bolt! ).

Decided to beef up the backing plywood inside the locker while it was dismantled. Cut some 1/2" construction ply to fit across the available space (used a cardboard template first), re-used the smaller old 3/4" backing ply over that. Bought 4 brand new slightly longer  stainless bolts with matching stainless washers and nuts to hold it all together. Its easier to have 2 people to drill the holes through one inside and one outside. Added a small 3rd backing wood low down as the bolts were too long and more the merrier. The bracket was allot more solid than before, the flex in the thin fiberglass transom was almost eliminated.

Rigged outboard safety ropes as well, to guard against the slight chance of it falling off it mount.

Plywood backing and new bolts for outboard bracket

The bracket backing plywood, was treated with penetrating decking oil to prevent any future rot. This treatment soon escalated to other wooden parts of the boat -  gunwale timbers, hatch boards, locker floorboards.   The oil was on special at a well known large hardware chain website, 4 litres for $23, but it was hard to find.

The expired flares were replaced, they have a 3 year expiry date. The galley boxes were checked out and restocked - Tinned and dried food, stove fuel. The chemical Portable-loo was cleaned, watered and new chemical bottle bought. Water and fuel tanks were filled. The new outboard ran well in the test drum.

The new 12 volt deep cycle battery went in, the tie down clamp wouldn't fit over the top so temporary thin rope was rigged up to hold it. To re-cap, the deep cycle can discharge to around 20% capacity without damage so should be better and last longer than the previous starter battery. 75 amp hours is allot of capacity. It is re-charged by smart charger connected to a 240 volt power lead.

Upon re-connection,  nearly all "Terias" 10 watt bulb lights lit up immediately, only the stern light cast a weak glow so new bulb from the Caltex service station mini-mart fixed that cheaply. The VHF radio crackled to life and heard the coast guard weather forecast. The LED anchor light passed as did the navigation lights ( port is LED, starboard still 10 w bulb)

New deep cycle 12 volt battery - 75 amp hour capacity.

The old tail lights board was plugged to the ute's 12 volt system.  Red tail lights and brake lights, yellow turn indicators all good. It was a bit of a surprise as it uses old style 10 w bulbs which had a history of not working due to bulb terminal and connectors corrosion.   However, regular CRC (WD40) spray maintenance over the years I've owned it prevented this and kept it in working condition. Every boat needs a can of this amazing stuff aboard at all times, to spray electrical connections and working parts.

Trailer Ep16 - tow ball weight

The trailer needed to be balanced with the correct "ball weight". The weight on the tow ball is critical for safe towing and needs to be around 10% of the total trailer and boat weight. (sources - RACQ, Toyota truck manual, local mechanic and online forums) Trailer boat and gear's total weight (ATM = Aggregate Trailer Mass) is 1,200kg (found on my registration certificate).

So adjusted the trailer so the ball weight to around 10% of ATM, 115 kg, by moving the main axle back and the winch post forward. Both of these fixtures are clamped on by U-bolts so can be moved as needed. Correct ball weight eliminates "hobby-horsing" of the tow car and potential jack-knifing of the whole rig when braking hard.

I measured my ball weight with bathroom scales,  protected by wood. A piece of 4x2" timber cut to length went between scales and tow cup to take the load. The tow cup was raised and lowered with the jockey wheel.

Measuring tow-ball weight

The outboard's weight isn't included as it is always removed for transporting.

Flares, remove unused fittings and bimini deck lugs - Teria

Bought some new hand-held distress flares. RFD "crewsaver" brand. The old ones were nearly out of date so the boats legal again. The water resistant plastic box contains 4 flares - 2 daytime smoke flares  and 2  night flares. They fit nicely into the shelf.

Day smoke (left) night flare (right)

Flare box - Just the right width

In Australia hand held stick flares like these are the only ones for the general public. (We can't buy flare guns) Hand held stick parachute flares are also used on offshore boats, but one of these costs about the same as a coastal/inshore 4 pack.

Removed some unused deck and cabin fittings. An old radio antennae base o the quarter deck, quite a few lone or ex-fitting screws. A few pad eyes. On the cabin top-  a swivel pulley, and a deck fair-lead. It reduces clutter, a simpler deck and cabin make for fewer things to go wrong.

Some old fasteners to remove.

Aerial mount removed

Bimini deck pad-eyes - these were fitted to the top of the cockpit coamings. Checked old photos of the bimini raised to get an estimated position, hope its correct. This should improve walking access from cockpit to side deck.

Bimini pad eye on coaming

Then there's small jobs like fasten a loose bunk fiddle, by adding a couple of washers to let the screw hold onto the wood.

It's amazing how many small jobs there are on even a small yacht. I made a list in my design book it filled a page, mostly things that will improve operation, comfort of safety.

A few more things to make 

Electrical wiring maintenance -Teria

The electrical wiring system was still a bit too messy, so with the new 25w flouro work light in hand i set to cleaning it up.

Starboard saloon shelf box - The conduit was hanging down badly..so fastened it to the side deck-head using a galvanised nail into the chainplate block with cable tie. and a stainless screw with wire tie at the aft end. 

There was some disused wires outside the conduit,, on close inspection they were attached to nothing at both ends..they must've been an old stereo sound system wires, so they were removed.

The aft end of the saloon box was further cleaned up by removing the 12v cigarette lighter socket and wires. It disconnected itself so had to solder the end back onto the fitting. then refitted it under the cockpit deck-head close to the cockpit side, with wires going inside the fuse box area. (so the new accessories re-charging area is on the bunk foot)

Saloon shelf box aft end clear for stowage. Grey conduit fixed to deck-head

The 12v outlet socket relocated. 

The wiring area is neater

Wiring bundle, bit more shelf space

The cabin lights - These are old 12v bulb ones,,the switches weren't working. After dismantling the lights , i rewired them correctly - the electric soldering-iron needed  So now both lights can be operated from the light rather than at the switchboard.

The old dome light switch working again

In the forepeak - with the stereo wires gone this left 2 sets of 2 wires..one had gone up through he deck and was probably the old mast light (now removed). (Thinking it would be easy to add an LED cabin light to the end of that pair.) Another red pair were live, and no idea what they were for or where their switch is. Flagged them with tape and tucked them up.

Forepeak shelf refit -Teria

Re-fitted the portside shelf box stowage in Teria's forepeak. It had been removed before i bought the boat, but the owner had kept the parts in his shed they came with the sale. The starboard shelf box proved very useful, the openings a bit wider than the main cabin shelves, so to double this stowage seemed good.

Investigators seem to have slightly different interior (and rigging) details and this cabinet work may have been either an optional extra for a new boat or. added by an early owner.

First up was to belt sand and coat the wood with varnish and decking oil while it was apart. It was a nice fine-grained lightweight wood (cedar or oregon?)  Loosely fitted the shelf box, then i noticed that the top of the vertical face board was about 1" below the deck, this was because the top 1" had been broken off by a sudden removal and was missing (perhaps someone grabbed it like a handrail in rough seas, it's certainly not designed to take this - the grain is longitudinal and the tops only 40-50mm wide)  ((If building a shelf-box from scratch i would use 6-8mm plywood and make wider top attachments about 100mm long, then it might stand up to handrail type use at times))

Made  4 extensions were needed. I had spare plywood so put the shelf box face back in place and measured the extensions heights, by holding them against deck-head and pencil marking each one.  then cut and planed them to fit in the gaps. Everything was removed from the boat back to the workshop and the extensions butt joins were glued on with "epiglue" a 2 part epoxy, which makes a very strong join (analagous to welding two bits of steel together) A surform and sanding block shaped them and a coat of deck oil sealed them.

Plywood extensions to the front face

Extension sanded down - epoxy glue fills wide gaps

Some 30mm aluminium angle tags were made up to help fasten it to the deck head. The front face basically hangs down from the deck head and holds the outer edge of the shelf box up.

On any boat cabinetwork should be easily removable, so all the hull is accessible. It takes a bit of pre-planning/design and the shelf was reassembled with this in mind. A look at the starboard one showed that this was not the case there and is probably the reason the port one was broken out.

I loosely fitted the shelf and front face, holding them together with light nails half in, and propped up with some items aboard. The position of angles and the shelf was marked with pencil on the deck head and bulkhead. (the inner side already had a glassed in cedar strip to hold it up)

Propped up while fitting the tags

The forepeak is regaining its symmetry!

With all removed the aluminium angle tags were drilled and stainless screws to fasten. The shelf-bow was refitted and fastened to the tags by drilling through and fastening with thin stainless bolts. Then the inner side held with 2 galv nails. Added a pair of angle tags stainless screwed under the front of both shelves at the front bulkhead to hold that up better.

Tag to hold shelf box up at anchor locker bulkhead. A glassed in batten holds the inner edge up.

Tags to hold the front face of shelf box to deck-head

My screw driver was a very short one with multiple head choices ($6 at bunnings). The short length makes all the difference on a small boat for cabinet work etc. easy to get it into the tight "corners" (and they are never square or straight ones either) ..A power drill driver could only be used occasionally. (A battery powered drill/driver is on the wish list.)

noticed the other shelf was not fastened on its inner edge, so a couple of galv nails fixed that. (I left the heads out by 1-2mm so they can be pulled out for quick disassembly.)

Shelf box finished , the GPS bag fits in nicely.

new tools for this work. The light enabled longer working hours into the night or just to see into dark corners.

240v flouro worklight with switch, clamp, hang hook and reflector cowl. $22

 The short driver was the only one i had which could get into the shelf box to fix the tags to the deck.

Short handled ratchet screwdriver set with many tip inserts. $7

 This solder iron fixed old connections in the wiring, (some of these were very small and you cant buy them nowdays)

240v soldering iron for wiring work with self fluxing wire

Rudder maintenance on Teria

The lower gudgeon fitting developed some metal fatigue cracking in the 1.6mm stainless plate strap, it's likely to be over 30 years old. It's a critical fitting its failure would mean loosing the rudder and steering.

The gudgeon fittings straps were glassed into the stock, removing them would require some major angle grinder surgery..

So took the rudder to an engineering shop who could repair the existing fitting with TIG welding (less heat to burn the fibreglass)  they also added a 3mm stainless plate to span the front of the stock and it was welded to the existing side straps which protrude from the fibreglass gel coat..

The engineer commented that the fittings looked a bit too light weight for the size of the rudder and boat. So next time it starts cracking up the plan is the beef up gudgeon and pintles with thicker steel.

Boat Storage

I keep Teria out of the way in the back yard. The spot is not too far from the house and workshop for easier maintenance and trip preparation.

Get full headroom under the tarpaulin by raising the mast with a wooden A-frame. This gives good access via an 8ft ladder. The cockpit lifelines are unshackled to make it easier to get on board.

The solar panel is hung from the lifelines on the northern side of the hull so the battery is always kept topped up and ready to go.

The tarp keeps the sun off the decks and hull which prevents UV damage to the gel coat.  The hull is also kept dry and well ventilated, so no mould can grow inside the cabin or lockers. (Townsville has a semi-dry climate, it's allot more wet and humid on the coast further north)  This is the simplest and cheapest way to cover and look after the boat on a low budget in a cyclonic area. When a cyclone approaches, it's easy to remove the tarp, lower the mast, stow everything, lash down and batten the hatches.

The tarp is a good quality one which lasts for several years in the tropics. I buy them at Churches disposal store.  

For final trip preparation, I remove the tarp and tow the boat about 6m forward, closer to the house/workshop so easier for provisioning. In cyclone mode the boat is moved to a safer spot next to the house, away from trees.

Solar panel power

Finally set up a solar panel to re-charge the 12v battery. Also get Teria "off-grid" and gain a new level of freedom.

The 35 watt solar panel once powered-up my Endeavor 24 sloop for about 6 months in the late 1980s. Since then it has lived in various sheds etc for 27 years, so fingers crossed that it still can pump-out enough power. It was made by BP solar  in 1987. I can't remember the exact power specs but a modern 35W panel has a maximum output of just under 18 volts @ 2 amps

35W solar panel on deck during set-up testing

Connected some heavy duty 12v wires to the battery terminals and the other ends went to the regulator box.

Solar power wires (in white casing) connected (yellow) to battery terminals

Installed a 20 amp 12v solar regulator in the fuse/storage box. They need to be in a fairly dry spot less than 1m from the battery. It also needs to be easily visible.

End connectors were crimped onto the ends of the panel wires and ends of the battery wires, keeping with black negative and red positive.

It should control power input into the battery, shut down the power if the battery charge is full so it won't overcharge. This should stop battery damage and let the battery live a long healthy life.

The red LED fired up immediately - like a small sun in the middle of the word "solar",,it indicates that the battery is charging from the panel but is not at full charge yet.

LED red - battery charging up

Found that these 20A regulators are still available at Jaycar electronics . 20A may be allot but it allows for system expansion and will be not working too hard.

Tidied up the system. Siliconed the regulator onto the bulkhead inside the locker. Cable-tied the battery wire out of the way. 

On the panel cable tied the power cable to the panel frame to stop it pulling on the black box underneath (could be a diode to stop back flow current).

Added 4 lengths of 4mm braided cord line to the corners of the panel - for attaching it it various things around the boat. Idea is to keep the panel mobile. So it can be best positioned to catch the maximum amount of sunlight, or be stowed below when rough sailing. For now i put it on top of the lowered mast tied to the spreaders.

Solar panel position with mast lowered.

The red LED light turned off at dusk. indicates the regulator has switched off the solar input wires.

12V electrical tools, materials on the "workbench"

Next morning around 10am found the LED was green indicating a full battery charge (14.4v) . I put the panel inside then the LED went red again (charges up from about 13v). So put the panel out -tied onto the aft rail quarter. The LED went orange then yellow to indicate charge was nearly at peak.

LED going orange..

LED going yellow..nearly full charge

LED Green  - full charge

The regulator has an intermittent charging cycle - every 20 minutes it disconnects from the solar array for a few minutes. This is good for deep cycle battery lifespan (hopefully this 60 Amp Hour heavy duty battery too).

The solar regulator is doing this

Dry location in the fuse/stowage locker

Louvred door

So far it looks like the system can  keep the battery topped up when no electrics are turned on in the boat. Hope it can stay on top of it when sailing.

With luck the system is good enough and it's the end of the "grid-connected" era.  Teria's potential range has been further extended.