VILISAR RAILROAD TRIP; ON THE MARINE WAYS AT BALBOA
Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Thursday, April 09, 2009

(This blog is way overdue! I had wanted to write a bit about the repair job on Vilisar’s rudder that took place weeks ago now. But meanwhile I have been travelling and have rather let it slip. But, here it is at last.)

Fellow mariners and avid readers of The Vilisar Times will recall that, when Vilisar arrived in the Islas Las Perlas off the Darien Coast of Panamá on Boxing Day last, we noticed that the uppermost gudgeon had separated from the deadwood. The deadwood is that vertical piece of wood at the stern of the boat). The gudgeon is what the rudder (via its pintels) is hung from when you have a rudder like ours that is “out-hung” instead of being tucked invisibly underneath the boat like many modern vessels. However, as you can see in the photos, the wooden rudder is quite large – larger perhaps than on many modern yachts. Like an iceberg, only a small portion of it is above the water; most of it sweeps in a curve underneath the stern right down to the lowest part of the hull. Including the bottom one, there are three attachment points (pintels hooked into gudgeons; one of the points of attachment is above the water).

With some help from Roger Olsen of Panamá City, we had jury-rigged the rudder out in the islands using a long strip of webbing we had on board; it normally functions as one of our jacklines for tethering ourselves to the boat when at sea. Winching it in tight, it forced the gudgeon and therefore the rudder back up tight to the deadwood. This worked very well and allowed us to motor-sail the half day up to La Playita anchorage at Balboa, the Pacific entrance to the Panamá Canal. Roger also gave us the name of someone who could help us deal with the repairs.

I got in touch with Jim Lang, a New Zealander who has been resident in Panamá for some years, and has a lot of experience with wooden boats. He generally works out of the commercial yard at Vacamonte about 40 Km away along the coast to the west. But it was no problem to bring the shipwrights over to the Balboa Yacht Club, he assured me, where we pulled Vilisar up on Balboa Yacht Club’s marine railway for a few days.

On the first day, Piti, the carpentero navale, showed up at about 0730 with his assistant, Ismael. I learned from others that Piti is considered to be one of the best shipwrights in Panamá. Ismael was very competent too; he is a cameronero (a shrimper) on a large vessel in season, but works in the boatyards the rest of the year. He comes from Pedregal in Western Panamá.

I was eager to see how the shipwrights intended to deal with Vilisar’s big, heavy wooden rudder. I could imagine how they might get it down to the ground using tackle. But getting it back up and set into place was going to be a real job.

This only shows how little I know about repairing wooden boats! Instead of trying to manhandle the rudder, they simply pulled out all the bronze through-bolts that hold the straps of the pintel to the rudder leaving only one in place at the very bottom of the rudder. Then they simply tipped the whole rudder astern on the remaining bolt far enough to permit Piti to wiggle the whole gudgeon and pintel assembly free. Then, they just knocked out the two big, 15” x ½”, silicon-bronze bolts by tapping on them from inside the lazarette hold where they were easily accessible. When they came out, they were seriously corroded (presumably because although above the water line the bolt holes were continually damp) and broken into several pieces.



Pita drove off to Vacamonte to tailor two new bronze bolts while Ismael did small jobs around the boat and cleaned up the bronze gudgeon and pintel. Ninety minutes later Piti was back with the new bolts and a couple of smaller rudder through-bolts that he thought should be replaced as well. The two men set to work re-fastening the rudder. All the pieces were bedded using 3M 5200 sealant. Six hours after arriving at the dock and well before the tide waters started rising, the job was finished.

I had discussed with both Jim Lang and Piti about caulking the hull both below the waterline and above it (we take water mainly when we are heeled over). The next day Piti and Ismael arrived with two other shipwrights and they re-caulked most of the underwater planking and filled the gaps with epoxy. I had hired two local guys to clean the bottom using a pressure hose. Once the shipwrights had finished their work, the local guys applied a fast coat of Hempel Olympic 86900 anti-fouling paint over the newly-caulked seams as well as underneath the wormshoe where there was serious collections of mussels. This was just to hold things over until we could get to the next step.


Piti and I agreed that we would put Vilisar back up on the marine ways for 5-6 days in May after my return. At that time the remaining caulking would be done, the complete hull “wooded” (i.e., all paint removed) and everything newly painted with either anti-fouling or two-part polyurethane (spray) paint. At the same time, we would cut open the bulwarks/caprails amidships to see what is causing the red streaks that run down over the white topside planks. Presumably some fasteners are corroding from the seawater that gets up under there when we are heeled over. At present one cannot see under there at all. We will therefore also modify the bulwarks so that, in the future, they can be inspected underneath easily at any time.

Once Vilisar slipped back into the water, we sailed to Islas Las Perlas, this time with my son Andrew and Susan, for a few days of lolling in the sunshine. I had not been too worried about leaving the boat at anchor at La Playita anchorage for most of the dry season. But, with the NE Trade Winds coming to an end, and the weather threatening to become more unstable with strong southerlies, I decided that Vilisar needed to be in a safer place. So, once Andrew and Susan were safely off to the aeropuerto, I moved Vilisar the seven miles to Isla Taboga and attached her to one of Taboga Mooring’s stout buoys. There she is floating, in about 65 feet of water. The bay at Taboga is charming by any comparison with the busy, rolly and somewhat dirty anchorage at Balboa. Chuy and Susan have taken on the job of looking after the boat while I fly back to Germany for treatment of the small cancerous spots that have been adorning my head.

The haul-out on the small marine ways cost $258 (incl. taxes) for four days (I actually only needed three days but couldn’t get off on the tide) plus another $60 ($30 each way) to the marine railway boys. The rudder repair, the caulking and some of the materials (basically only the ½-inch bronze rod and some epoxy; I provided the paint and the cotton caulking materials) cost $460 including one Sunday at time and one-half. I paid $25 to have the bottom cleaned and another $25 to the local guy to put on the bottom paint. Altogether $828 but still cheaper than in the U.S.A. or Canada, I should think. On my next trip on the RR, I shall avoid Sundays and make sure I can get off on any tide.