After a visit to the west coast of Florida, we returned to Jacksonville in early April for a stopover. Barb jetted out to San Francisco for 3 weeks for the arrival of grandbaby #2. I stayed behind with Molly, and took care of a bunch of maintenance chores, the biggest of which was the replacement of the torsional coupler. Increasing vibration along with bits of rubber being ejected from the flywheel housing indicate a coupler beginning failure mode. Since the coupler was replaced fairly recently in 2012, I consulted the manufacturer to discuss the reason for the failure and measures to avoid a repeat. A likely combination of factors resulted in the failure, no single contributor, but there is an upgraded replacement, and that was ordered. Lead time from the factory in Germany is 4-5 weeks, and a premium cost, but well worth it for the improvement in design, plus the new coupler is designed with field-replaceable elements.
A haul is required to do the change, so it was scheduled for when Barb returned, and even though the bottom paint was OK, we decided to do the bottom and prop anyway. Along with that, 2 of our 3 depth transducers needed attention, one was leaking and was in need of re-bedding, the other was failing so a replacement was ordered.
Since the transmission must be disconnected to access the coupler, I removed the prop and pulled the shaft to correct misalignment of the transmission shaft coupler. I sent the shaft and coupler out to have the joint re-machined and faced for alignment. When all reassembled, I re-aligned the engine and shaft.
Haulout is always a maintenance marathon, completing as much maintenance as possible since being hauled affords opportunity to complete work that just isn’t possible afloat. So 11 days of intense activity and hard work was the general theme! Everything on the list was completed, and Maerin went back in the water spit shined and freshly painted! It was a successful haul!
