In early March, when the COLUMBIA III was just about ready to get pulled out for her annual underwater maintenance and I stopped at the machine shop. They were completing the final reassembly. Here is the old starboard chain wildcat with new babbitt bearing installed.

. . .  new modern hydraulic motor . . .

. . . new main shaft which both winch drums ride on . . .with the new machined end-plate mating perfectly with the new machined housing . .

And then the big day arrived. With the COLUMBIA III on the hard it was easy for the crane truck to place the over-hauled winch directly onto the front deck. So much easier than loading into a skiff, transporting it home and then having to come-along it onto the front deck with the tackle hanging from the rafters of the boat shed!!

It lowered so easily into place!

And then we spent 10 days on the hard . . .  then tested the winch by anchoring for lunch on our way home and then the ship sat in her boat shed for a couple of weeks before the big April Sand & Paintathon began . . .

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But you know . . . . you really do know!

My dear Lovely needed just that little, teeny, weeny, extra bit of TLC before she could settle down for the next 70 years of trouble free operation  . . . .

After the winch had been installed on the front deck for a few weeks we began our sanding and painting . . .  and Nadya came to me and said, “Ross, there is oil on the front deck . . . ”  And I casually brushed off her concern (Patriarchally? Dismissively? Rudely?) and said, “Yes, yes, I am aware of the issue, we’ve done a lot of work on the winch this winter and its a bit messy. It’s no big deal . . .”

Yes, yes, my Instant Karma was winding up to clobber me!

About an hour later, chance would take me to the front deck and it was a freaking oil spill disaster! Well, maybe 3-4 liters of oil on my pristine deck!!!!

Oil on the decks and hull is seriously sub-optimal during painting . . . paint doesn’t stick to oil.

I called the machinist and of course he was surprised and we devised a solution. The new gear box was mounted to the new housing and the machined tolerances should have been fine enough to not require a gasket . . . but I guess it DID require a gasket.

It was with a heavy heart . . . . (read “very grumbly”) that I drained the winch-housing of its oil, dissembled part of the standing hydraulic valving, and removed the new gearbox. I was not supposed to be inside this contraption for the next 70 years.

But I did get to see the incredibly heavy duty new gearing in the gear case which was already assembled when I last saw the winch back in the shop. 

Here is a glimpse of the old, damaged bronze drive gear sitting alongside the new, more robust gear.

I then created a new 9″ x 11″ paper gasket, cleaned all the surfaces with brake clearer fluid, and gooped the faces with oil resistant gasket sealant and reassembled.

I was pretty grumpy when done.

Ok, ok, my Lovely . . . I do not want to think about you, nor write about you, nor take photos of you . . .  except for one. In April 2096 I will make an entry in this blog with one photo of you gracing the front deck of the COLUMBIA III. The caption will be “Dear Lovely, Thanks for the 70 years of impeccable service.”