The plan was to start the major refit of Roxia after making it through the fall with a couple more weekend trips. I think Roxia was like a thoroughbred that needed some attention before going out on the track. The sub-title of this post could have been ” Remember Chafe Protection”. As it turns out when a piece of equipment was added 10 years ago there was one missing piece of chafe protection.

Do you know how long it takes to empty a 20 hydraulic tank when there is a one quarter inch tear in a 3,000 psi #12 (” ID) hose? Less than two minutes is the answer. It also makes such a big mess in the Engineroom that it took me almost 8 hours to find the source. I spent two full days cleaning up the mess but I am sure I will be finding pockets of oil for the next year. I pumped 12 gallons of oil out of the bilge and yes I got the bilge pump turned off in time. The rest of the oil was soaked up in my clothes, a bin of oil absorb sheets or my hair. A big THANK YOU goes to Greg Harmon of Harmon Marine Service for finding the leak and solving the problem. Another big THANK YOU goes to Barry at Dunlap Industrial Hardware in Everett, WA. Barry made a new hose while we waited and stocks all the sizes of hose and fittings including stainless steel and the dies for the Parker swage machine.

When a water pump for a Wesmar APU300 was added the hydraulic hose supplying oil to the stern thruster was bent when the floorboard was screwed down. Two things could have prevented the issue: First the floorboard could have been cut out an additional inch to keep it from touching the hose. Or Two, chafe protection could have been added to sacrificially protect the hose from wear. When Roxia was built the floorboard was not screwed down and it looks like it was pushed tighter to make more room on the other side. For the repair I took out the pump, cut the board and added chafe protection.

As long as everything was apart I cleaned things up and removed the Denso tape from most of the fittings. I left it on some of the steel connectors.

The moral of the story is to make sure you have chafe protection and check it to make sure it stays in place. When a system is added double check the work. The hydraulic APU was a backup to the backup (wing engine) so I will be removing itif you need a backup.