Wednesday July 27. Galati

Written by Jack van Ommen on July 27th, 2011

Last night I finished installing the second section of the port toe rail. It was a tough job, because there is a fair amount of bending involved to follow the tear drop shape of the hull. This morning I plugged the counter sunk screw holes with teak bungs and did some epoxy filling/fairing on the joints. Came out well. I am very much indebted to Mark Geertsma of Romtech for making up the replacement parts. Tomorrow I will sand and put a coat of finish on it and then I should be on my way to Tulcea.

For every one who has been so very helpful in suggestions on the overheating of my stuffing box: I think that I have the problem under control. Loosening up the nut that compresses the packing, and adding the one extra piece of packing, appears to have stopped the overheating shaft and stuffing box but it also introduces more water in the engine bilge than should be expected. The motor, transmission, flex coupling still feel unusual hot to me, compared to the raw water cooled (without radiator) Renault engine I was used to for the last 31 years. But the thermostat control gauge tells me that it is normal. So, I plan to just keep an eye on it and wait till I get to a place in Turkey with a travel lift, ideally next spring when a coat of bottom paint would be due, and check the shaft for possible replacement and replace the packing.

From Monday morning till now the river has changed. Apparently there were heavy rain storms in the last days in the tributaries of the Danube. Tons of flotsam, has been coming in mile long streams down river. The water has turned even murkier and muddier. From the pictures you can see that the Danubians are not the world’s best environmentalists. Water bottles are the worst of the garbage, I saw a great big sack, of what I figure was charcoal, floating down, sneakers. When I was working on the boat on the Danube’s edge the locals would just walk down to the river and throw their plastic bottles down the bank.

I have the ever present smell of the raw sewage that the city discharges into the river.

I have one more project that I am not a master in yet. Working with a volt meter. I have hooked up the wires again that were disconnected to the lights on the mast. But none work. I figure because not a single one of the 5 lights ( steaming, tri-color, strobe, anchor, spreader light) works that it has to be trying to find the one ground connection. And I can only do this in the dark be able to see the masthead lights. This evening I am going to dinner with Mark Geertsma.

 

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