In this episode of Sailing A B Sea we find out how to remove a cutlass bearing without damaging the boat. After watching several YouTube videos with both ama...

Closed Captions (CC):
So now we come to removing the cutlass

bearing and I've watched a couple of

videos from professional boat yards and

they use a saber saw and they cut

through the bronze of the compass

bearings making sure that they don't put

any damage into this part of the

P-bracket. Well seeing that it's our first

time doing this we've made an executive

decision

Before we even attempt to

remove this we should get the other

one that we bought new and just check the diameter is

correct. It should be. All right that's a perfect fit

Yeah that will be too I think. Could you - oh no.

No you don't do that!

You know what I was going to say don't you?

I know exactly what you were going to say

I just asked one of the other guys in the yard

who's working on his boat if he happened

to have a bearing puller but he doesn't

but he came up with a great idea

and that was to use a very large socket

This is the largest socket I have, it

is a 32ml. Pretty perfect

Yeah so let's get a hammering

No. Nothing.

Okay, well we've come this far we're not

turning back now in fact we can't

because just looking at the state of

this cutlass bearing, it definitely needs

changing out so it's back to the

questions and answer session from you

guys and tell us apart from going to the

local hardware store and buying a puller

for cutlass bearing which is not gonna

happen because we're on an island in

Greece remember, what brute force (in lockdown) method can we use to make this budge? So

far a 32ml socket and a bloody

big lump hammer haven't

made it move. Another nemesis

Speak to me Baz

I love your haircut. Thanks. Who did that?

The local hairdresser!

Back in Australia when we were planning

this whole adventure journey I had visions of being

out on the water for pretty much most

of the year maybe hauling out for a

month at the peak of winter to get some

maintenance done and apply anti foul and

to be honest with you I think it's both

years we've spent six months not out on

the water sailing. I mean admittedly when

we were in Kaş we were actually in the

harbour so we were technically on the

water but we never really left. I mean we

could have done if we'd wanted, we could

have gone out but we didn't. There was

more rain in Turkey last winter as well

and that that really did impact I think

on the possibility for sailing.

We were new sailors as well.

Yeah not enough

experience, not enough confidence at that

point and of course this winter the

original plan was to haul out for four

months maybe five and ride out the

worst of the winter and of course now

we're already in May so we've been here

for six months now and probably another

month so that'll be seven months out of

the water or seven months not sailing so

it's really been very different than I anticipated.

Lots of things often are though aren't they?

Thanks!

Especially when time's involved with you. Yeah...

I'll only take five minutes.

Three days later

I think that's been more of a frustration for you than it has for me hasn't it?

Yeah I mean you know I bout a boat

I didn't buy a house. No. I get that.

I mean look I love

sailing and I love travelling and I love

having that freedom to move from place

to place whenever we want and oddly

enough when the pandemic self-isolation

lockdown thing happened a part of me, I

have to say, felt sort of like quietly

relieved because it's an enforced

stillness. When we're on the water

even if we're at anchor for a while you

know there's always that thought well if

the wind changes we've got to move

around to the other side of the island

or find somewhere else so there's always

that sense that you may be moving

whereas here for me personally I've had

the opportunity just to like really get

still and yeah I've actually kind of

appreciated it and enjoyed it having

said that really looking forward to

sailing again because I do love that

freedom and that's one of the reasons

why I also came on board you, you know

I think when we get back to Turkey and we

have the marina contract in Kaş, I think

next winter is going to be very

different from this winter. Obviously we'll

be in the water and with the

Marineros there who are excellent

Marineros we'll be able to come and go as

we please from the marina and there are

plenty of days for sailing in the winter in Turkey

You know I mean obviously storms do come

through but there's a lot of

time when it's not stormy and you

could definitely go out and the Marineros

there will make it easy for us to leave

and more importantly get back to our berth.

Yeah I am looking forward to that aspect of it.

Looking at the pandemic numbers

Greece has managed to keep its numbers

very very low - super low, yeah - Oh

wonderful they acted very

quickly and self-isolation you know

methods have been very well done - yeah

and on Monday - so we're recording this

what's today Saturday - so on Monday the

4th of May 2020 they're starting

to ease some of the restrictions. Slowly but

surely you'll see how the numbers go which

is - step by step - Looking at pandemic

numbers in Turkey they're huge in

comparison and so I would be very

surprised if Turkey relaxes its

restrictions as quickly as Greece. Where

I'm going with this is when we do get

back in the wate, when we're allowed to sail

when Greece opens up its borders

around the islands so that we can go

there as well, we'll be able to do a bit

more island hopping while we wait for

the situation to change in Turkey. What do you think?

Yeah obviously I'd like to head towards Turkey

and I think you know obviously we've got

to check in with the Turkish Coast Guard

or whoever is the authority for keeping

the borders secure and find out whether

we're actually allowed into Turkey and

if we are allowed in will we have to

self quarantine there for 14 days - at anchor or - can we

go into the marina? So there's a lot of

unknowns still about that and I guess we'll just wait for

time to pass and when the time is right

we'll ask the relevant authorities and see what they say

So these have just been our musings that we thought

we'd pass along to you especially if

you're considering this lifestyle that

we've chosen. As well as our weekly video

on YouTube we also write a his-and-hers

perspective blog which is on our website

and the website address is on the screen

right now. So if you want more in-depth

stuff like we've just shared then check

out the blogs because they go into a lot

more depth and detail than we ever could

on video. Yah because the videos you

know got time restraint and you're not

gonna sort of share all of your feelings

about everything, not that we do on the

blog's either but we do give more in

depth and also you know costs of things

and what-have-you. So check those out

I think you'll enjoy them

So now we come to removing

the cutlass bearing and I have watched a couple of

videos on YouTube from professional

boatyards and the method they use is

they use a saber saw. Yes Nikos, I can

hear you saying I told you so

and they use a saber saw and they cut

through the bronze of the cutlass

bearing, making sure that they don't put

any damage into this part of the

P-bracket. Well seeing as it's our first

time at doing this and we have no other

method to do it apart from the one that

we could really really make an expensive

mistake we've made an executive decision

and we've called in one of the local

like a mechanic engineer guy. We have it

on good authority that he is the guy to

do it - if anyone can do it he can do it

so you know I don't know what it's gonna

cost us but it's probably gonna be a lot

cheaper than the stress, the strain, the

frustration and the potential damage

that we could do to the P-bracket if

we really mess things up here. So as soon

as the guy arrives we'll let you know

Well I think the engineer's just arrived

I've had a car pull up

Absolutely brilliant, he's just managed to

do this in only, I don't know, maybe ten

minutes using that contraption. We're at

the final stage now so there's obviously

gonna be another method to get the last

little bit out

Fantastic!

Efcharisto. Brilliant!

Well there it is - it's out

and it took about fifteen minutes in total

and cost fifty euros. The best fifty

euros I've ever spent. And there is the

P-brackeet with the bearing removed. All

we've got to do now is get some

sandpaper in here to make this internal

surface as smooth as possible so that

the new bearing goes in as easily as

possible

and one little trick that a couple of

our viewers have suggested is currently in

action. The new bearing has been in the

freezer for a couple of days and what

that does is it makes the metal contract

because this is such a tight

fit tolerance wise so when the new

bearing is is contracted metal you've

got a small window of opportunity to get

that in there as easy as possible so

we'll do that tomorrow

And if ever you

find yourself and your boat here in

Lividatis boatyard the contact

details for the guy who helped us out with

this are in the description down below

Here at the boatyard they're getting

things ready for the summer season that may

or may not happen. Things are very

uncertain at the moment. The only thing I

can definitely tell you is that next

week on Sailing A B Sea we have a boat job

that seemed to be quite daunting and in

the end turned out to be quite easy and

it's all to do with the bow thruster

battery in the forward sail locker. So

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