Sailing Yabávideo
No Going Back: Moving our Boat Deeper into the Shipyard (and Further From Launching)
April 5, 2026 · 29 min · 84K views
Two men inspect boat engine gearbox in cramped engine room
What this video covers
After four years of rebuilding, Ben and MP move Yabá higher into the shipyard on a wooden crib system — lubricated with cow fat and hauled by a massive winch — to complete a concentrated burst of simultaneous projects before launching.▶ 2:30 The new boom, laminated from five planks to a 10×10 cm square section, is hand-planed and rough-sanded to shape; final measurements will go to a sailmaker once the ends are cut.▶ 5:24 The gaff tumblers get stainless-steel pipe inserts to eliminate metal-on-wood wear at the pivot holes.▶ 21:59 A hinge on the engine room hatch fails and is replaced with a triangular hinge, temporarily left uncovered.▶ 14:55 The most significant job is the gearbox: a ZF40 paired with a Mercedes OM352A had been clunking hard on every shift into forward or reverse.▶ 19:21 Mechanic Josia pulls the gearbox in two hours; it proves internally sound.▶ 20:54 The noise traces to play in the cardan shaft, which will be sent off for repair along with an oil seal and flange replacement.▶ 28:09 A neighboring boat is being lifted on the same crib system, and Ben plans to launch alongside it.▶ 23:42 The cardan shaft, not the gearbox internals, was the source of the hard-shifting clunk.▶ 28:12
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