Tag Archives: golden arrow

Servicing / Technical / Nav

Play d’eau’s holiday technical issues

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The gearbox oil leak throws oil out of the flywheel housing
click to enlarge
Play d’eau has been brilliant and had very few engineering problems over the years. Maybe it’s a sign of her age (she’s 13 now), but we’ve had a few coming to the surface, recently.

Technical Log

So here’s a list of issues from our Tech Log which remain outstanding, together with ones we solved during the holiday.

Stabilisers, port fin – RESOLVED

The stabiliser ram seal and actuator plate seal both failed. Brian George of Golden Arrow drove from the UK to La Rochelle and corrected the faults.

Gearbox, starboard engine – NOT RESOLVED

Gearbox oil started to weep past the shaft seal into the flywheel housing and be thrown out of an inspection hole in 2014.

MDS Marine of Hamble replaced the shaft seal in late 2014, but the issue reappeared soon thereafter and again during this holiday. Oil appears to be thrown when operating above approx 1300 rpm (WOT = 2,600 rpm).

An associated problem is the tacho sensor, located within the flywheel housing, which has had gearbox oil thrown on it causing it to display erroneous readings at low rpm. It needs cleaning after the seal has been replaced.

Since MDS cannot attend for some time, an engineer from MIT Group, the main UK TwinDisc gearbox distributors, will fly to Play d’eau this coming Thursday and Friday to effect repairs. I will report in more detail later.

Alternators – NOT RESOLVED

Given unusual starboard engine instrument readings including low voltage whilst underway, action to investigate and correct will be,

  • having not be touched for 13 years, both will be rebuilt
  • having been installed in April 2006, all will be replaced

Note that the battery charger (new Mastervolt in 2013) checks OK.

Electronics – NOT RESOLVED

Ever since the new electronics were installed, we’ve suffered endless problems with the Furuno SC50 Satellite Compass and various NMEA sentences either failing to be sent or received.

Robin of RES Electronics (Guernsey) has been a great help in:

  • Replacing all three failed aerials in the satellite compass (warranty claim)
  • Changing some of the wiring where it was incorrect
  • Changing an NMEA converter to a high speed version

The remaining issues are,

  • ‘Heading missing’ on the Furuno NN3D when configured to the Satellite Compass for the heading source. Average 2 warnings per cruise leg
  • ‘Heading missing’ on the Furuno NN3D when confiugred to the Furuno PG500 fluxgate compass for the heading source. Average 1 warning per every other cruise leg
  • ‘Aborting’ and ‘Output Error’ warnings on the Furuno SC50 satellite compass. No 3 GPS aerial fails at least once a week. Is the satellite compass ever going to work reliably?
  • Navtex fails to read incoming messages when we continued south on holiday, but jumped back into action when north of Camaret

There has been an additional fault with the AC Services panel:

  • Starboard bus, shore power selected, current indicator gives wild readings for many minutes before it settles down. This may be a faulty sensor coil

Robin will attend to the above later in the year after the work on the alternators and batteries has been concluded, as above.

Salt water pump – NOT RESOLVED

The Headhunter XRS-124 that provides salt water around the boat has failed. Replacement on order.

Air Conditioning – NOT RESOLVED

The ‘pump trigger circuit board’ which controls water pump activation for air conditioning in the master cabin has failed. Replacement on order.

Apart from the above, everything is working well.

Piers
from the workshop of
Play d’eau
Fleming 55

Servicing / Technical / Nav

Golden Arrow – International Rescue

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Brian George of Golden Arrow’s International Rescue
click to enlarge
The slight hydraulic leak from the port stabiliser ram had been sufficient for me to isolate it from use.

The last thing we needed was for the ram’s seal to blow under 1,500psi and spray litres and litres of fluid into the engine room creating a highly flammable if not explosive oil mist.

Thankfully, this didn’t happen. By isolating the port fin, we were safe, although it meant the starboard fin would be left to do all the work on its own.

Golden Arrow & International Rescue

Having spoken with Brian George, Golden Arrow’s TRAC stabiliser commissioning specialist, a master plan was hatched.

Brian, based in Southampton, would take the ferry to Cherbourg and drive to La Rochelle with a van load of tools, spares and oil, to repair Play d’eau on 30 June.

30 June 2015

Squeezed between the port engine, the aft fuel tank and engine room bulkhead
click to enlarge
At 8am sharp, Brian arrived and parked his sign written van immediately adjacent to Play d’eau on the Quai d’Honneur. A welcome sight.

Without delay, he disappeared into the engine room, squeezed between the port engine and the bulkhead and began disassembling the top plate and ram.

‘Aha. That’s the problem. The yoke’s misaligned with the ram causing the piston to operate slightly out of true, putting uneven pressure on the seal.’

Repairs

Having realigned the yoke, replaced the ram with new, centred the fin’s electronic sensor, replaced a weeping hose and topped up the oil reservoir, we were ready for a test.

‘Start the engine,’ Brian called. I did. ‘Perfect,’ said Brian. ‘No leaks, accurately aligned, and working a treat.’

With some small adjustments to the system’s operating parameters to bring Play d’eau more accurately level when cruising, the job was complete in seemingly no time at all.

What magnificent service. What a star!

Piers
from the Technical Log of
Play d’eau
Fleming 55

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Cruising

Leg 4 (2015) – Audierne to Port la Fôret

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The final act of defiance – a dramatic downpour
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We knew we were in for a week of strong winds. That’s why we’d kept moving.

The NE F6/7 had been relentless, howling across Audierne ever since we arrived accompanied mostly by strong sunshine with the occasional spot of rain.

But the weather was no match for Play d’eau. She was becoming uneasy and wanting to move on with her holiday. Play d’eau won, of course.

The weather suddenly gave in and the wind dropped, yet in the same way as a teenager mumbles after being told off, the blue skies were replaced by grey cloud as a warm front moved overhead and a gentle rainfall began.

As the door slammed in the final show of defiance, a sudden heavy downpour was the final flourish of ‘I don’t care’ before leaving the stage to a grey sky and no wind as evening fell to night.

We’d leave tomorrow, mid-morning.

Hydraulic leaks

The blue oil spill from the port stabiliser ram
click to enlarge
Annoyingly, we’d found two hydraulic leaks associated with the port stabilser. The first was from a seal on the ram and the second was a weep on a gear oil feed pipe connection. Contacting Golden Arrow, the European distributor, we began discussing options with their stabiliser guru, Brian George. As far as continuing the cruise we could simply immobilise the port fin but continue using the starboard fin.

That would be fine provided there wasn’t a sudden increase in leakage so we needed to plan for Brian to attend Play d’eau in La Rochelle or sooner. It would be a day’s work.

Au revoir, Audierne

We awoke early. Although it was misty it was ‘good to go’. The wind was calm.

Piers bought the croissants, took some final photos, visited le propriétaire de la cave d’Audierne (from whom we’d bought an outstanding Armagnac and Alsace dessert wine), and the Harbour Monster to say, ‘Au Revoir’, and we cast off at 1115 just as the sun appeared.

En route

An unhappy house near the entrance to Port la Forét
click to enlarge
Completely uneventful. Calm seas, a warm sun and a gentle breeze from the SW helping us along.

Working with a single stabiliser fin was fine. Not as precise, but perfectly acceptable. Mind you, the sea was kind today.

Nav data

Times are FST.

Departed Audierne: 1115, 12 June 2015

Pinchpoints: Access over the sand bars at the entrances to Audierne and Port la Fôret
Arrived Port la Fôret: 1620
Time en route: 5hr 5min
Planned distance: 39nm

Tech issues:

  • With no return of the previously reported vibration, the Tech Log entry was altered to ‘resolved’
  • The oil leak from the port Trac stabiliser ram is concerning. Discussions are ongoing with the European agents, Golden Arrow

Piers and Lin
from the navigation table of
Play d’eau
Fleming 55