SD60 rattle noise

 

An intermittent rattling noise was heard coming from the SD60 saildrive. Greg was able to suppress it by adjusting the lever control plate precisely. Now all is back to normal.

The revised Karver lock (KHL5) is now functioning. When the main halyard is cycled it releases fine.

 Here is the mast head view of the 3Di J2, it has aged. But IdeesfixVIII is now sailing.

The Karver lock system did not latch off when tested yesterday, it needs servicing. This is why it was not possible to off hook the mainsail recently causing a lot of trouble as the halyard tension was increased to break loads with no effect.

 The masthead platform allows working efficiently at head of mast.

The new slider and attachment shown in full hoisted position. The slider is lashed to the shackle.

 

The new VHF antenna bracket is fiberglass and provides full electrical isolation from the mast.

 

 

The fitted slider has a diameter of 12mm and length of 12cm, it is latched directly to the shackle using M5 screws filed to 4.5mm. The track slot is 5mm. The track itself is around 12.7mm diameter or half inch. The precise measurement is difficult.

 The bottom slider has a wood handle to sandpaper the track. The top black slider is the original plastic coated slider which jammed. The VHF bracket is on the left. The red container is Swiss cow milking grease, it could be a good replacement for McLube.

The repair of the top Port damaged lip went very well. We hoisted the platform to the correct level. The lip was held closed tightly during the drilling of the injector holes spaced 4cm and 15mm from slot. The lip was then forced open using the lever tool. Epoxy was injected using the 3M gun. The lip was then pushed closed against the mast. Glue came out of the holes and a bit in the track that was wiped clean. A lashing held around the mast held the lip in place. The lip made a good fit back to the mast.

Yesterday we tested the slider and it jams into the slot. The inside of both lips needs to be very smooth. The slider runs against the inside of lips which are impossible to check visually. Also a lot of force is applied from the slider forcing the lips open and any irregularity will make the slider jam in the gap. It then acts as a wedge. An improved slider is needed.

 Here are the required tools, the top wood holds a steel plate 3mm which allows the opening of the lip. The drill with stopper for the holes and the gun with the mixing nozzle allowing the epoxy injection. The drilling caused debris to interfere with pushing the lip back into place, cleaning the crack is not so easy.

Elastic lashing help hold the Starboard lip back into place. Due to drilling debris the fit was not perfect and a small bump resulted.

The repair at the junction of the two mast track profiles. If the main sail top slider gets a bit worn it may wedge into the gap. The gap is 5mm wide and as the slider ages it tends to "stick" into the gap formed by the lips. At places the gap could be a little over 5mm and cause the wedging problem.