There's always something more to do after you think you're done.
My very last task every Spring is to scrape and paint my anchor with white Rustoleum. And why do I do that? Good question. Its because some of the grounds that I fish every late Fall/Winter have "ghost" lobster pot lines laying on top of them. When pulling them to the surface they are much more apparent when wrapped around a white anchor - making it a bit easier to reach down from the bow with a serrated knife duct-taped to a boat hook and cut my anchor loose.
So this week I reached that happy point in my boat prep, went ahead and lowered the anchor for its scrapping/painting treatment, looked up - and WTF! Check this out:
I freakin' HATE bad late-inning surprises, whether its with the boat, or my Metsies, for that matter. Geez, I've broken lots of stuff on my boat - and fixed all of it, but in the 25 years of owning the Lep, never have I encountered this particular conundrum. Must have happened on our last trip this past December, while "bulling" a hung anchor out of a snag. Now I can see why my anchor line took some significant chaffing last Winter.
I know lots of guys that use a Good Windlass and davit, but none I know of have ever cracked a solid aluminum pulley. That davit (as an assembly) currently sells for $500, so needless to say I was VERY unhappy.
Next day I called Tom Ring Jr., the co-owner of Good Windlass (they ALWAYS answer the phone btw, try that with Simpson-Lawrence or any other windlass manufacturer), and he had the solution. Apparently this isn't an uncommon occurrence, though I've never heard of it. New roller kit (including the secondary rear delrin roller) $98, shipped overnight. Wow, I'll take it!
Tom told me its an easy repair - just take down the davit, knock out the knurled cross-pins and reverse the process with the new rollers and pins. He called it "A piece of cake." Ever notice how manufacturers ALWAY make a job sound easy? Yeah, well not on a davit that's been out in the elements for 25 seasons.
Stainless steel and aluminum don't really love each other, not at all. I must have hit that cross pin with a 30oz ball peen and steel punch at least 500 times, no dice - not a micron of movement. Then I repeatedly heated the aluminum around the pin on both sides with my MAPP gas torch. For sure I thought that would do it. Nope, zero results - no discernable movement. Its at this point in a repair job that I start to sweat. Geez, what to do?
When confronted with a tough job that seemingly has no good solution, I have found that it really helps to sit down, catch my breath, and brew up a cup of coffee. As I was mulling this nightmare over, the lightbulb over my head finally clicked on. I took the davit into the garage, got out my trusty Snap-on hack saw and cut through the stainless steel pin - which gave me enough room to wiggle off one side of the cracked roller. Then I locked a Vise-grip on it and using the ball-peen against the Vise-grip, I knocked the pin halves inwards, and out of the pulpit's two sides. Sometimes I arrive at the right technique just a little slower than someone else might, but I always seem to get it done:
A HUGE relief! The smaller rear Delrin roller met the same fate and so a potential launch-delaying issue became a not-too-bad repair - once I arrived at the "proper" technique. Now the anchor is all spiffed up and back on the boat, and I'm doing my final cleanup - with a targeted launch date of next weekend. I'm hoping my transmission repair and engine wiring job both work out as well as this did. And after that? On to the ocean fluking!
