Almost launched and a "I did it to myself" episode.

The repaired shaft with two (2) new bronze nuts holding the prop on. I have secured the prop four (4) ways; 1) the first nut hard against the prop, 2) the jam nut, or the second nut, jammed hard against the first nut, 3) blue thread locking compound on the jam nut, 4) I then drilled a 1/8" hole through the jam nut and shaft then inserted a stainless steel cotter pin.

There is a shot of the ruined tip. I had http://www.stolkmachine.com/ braze bronze around the end then machine new 7/8" x 9 TPI (Threads Per Inch). Looks perfect. The machine shop cost me $150, the nuts were $19 each. Cotter pin was on the boat already.

Now to the good part, or "How I Did It To Myself Again session of the program.

I am converting the empty spaces beneath the pilot and quarter berths to storage bins and a house battery bank compartment.So, after careful measuring and cutting I dry fit the front face of the bins. Perfect! I can't believe it! It is a perfect fit! I take it out and mesure for the dividing pieces and cut it. I fit that and then try and fit the front face to that. Guess what? I cut the divider from the front face:(

Yup, I did that. Sadly, my replacement piece was not as good a fit as the first....

We were supposed to have launched last Tuesday but the travel lift blew a tire, then a second one, on the same wheel. So they ordered a whole new wheel from the States and we should launch this comming week.

Engineering Ninja with a bent tip on his shaft!

Here I am jubilant after getting two (2) ridiculous hard to get to bolts off the shaft coupling. No, the shaft is still there:(

Did some damage to the prop nuts. Had to apply the fire wrench, (heat), to them, bent and destroyed the threads. Not a big deal, says the man who has bent and destroyed things his whole career. I will just braze up the end, machine it down to size and re-thread it. Eazy-peasy.

Hand rail before my wife started sanding them.

Rail after she sanded them. Don't know why I did not snap a photo after she oiled them up. My wife is a trooper, after this, she went below, stripped her top off and went shoulder deep into the diesel tank. Grease all over her....Sexiest stoker alive. Sorry, no pictures allowed to be posted.

2 1/2 jerry cans of cleaned diesel fuel. That is 50 salvaged litres! $$$. Once the fuel tank is thoroughly mucked out, (it was awful!), we will pour the fuel back in. We ran out of rags! Anybody else got a wife who jumps in to do a filthy job like that? I am one lucky S.O.B!

A lathe, a machine for all ocasions

I work at a small hospital. I am one of 9 maintenance men there. n a back room, used for storage, I found this gem.

Last Thursday I loaded it up on furniture dollie, wheeled it around the hospitals parking lot to the chain hoist leading to the boiler room where I work. Lowered the beast n to the boiler room and set it up in my shop.

When I was in the Navy my trade was Marine Engineer, or stoker. Part of my training was a six months machinists' course. Of course, after that course I did very little work as a machinist.

So I am re-learning some skills here. One of my projects is to make two (2) bronze propeller nuts for my shaft. Trying to locate a source for hexagonal bronze rod is a bit of a chore though.

This has the potential to save me a bundle of money.

Thru-hull, dried sealant and some quaint houses.

Here is our brand new 3/4" raw water sea cock dry fitted into place.You can see the 1/2" backing plate and the thickened epoxy resin oozing out from underneath said backing plate. The backing plate was coated in epoxy to waterproof it further. You can also see three 1/4" stainless steel bolt sticking through the sea cock base. The cock is only dry fitted because my tube of sealant, 3M 5200, or God Glue, was dried up and being a long weekend, no stores were open to buy more.

Here is an exterior shot of the raw water inlet. When we get more god Glue, the screws get coated and a dab goes in the holes, some God Glue is put under the base of the sea cock and it is threaded onto the other end of this fitting. The stainless steel bolts are then inserted and washers, lockwashers and nuts are fitted and then this whole , difficult but extremely necessary project is finished.

My first BBQ on the boat, a chicken and a beef burger.

My first beer on the boat.

On the way home, the Q.E.W., our main highway, was very congested so we took some side roads back to HHamilton. This is what we found in Grimsby. It reminds me of houses down in the CCaribbean. There were more like these two. It made me realize just how highways take away from the daily experience. It was worth the extra time just to see these beauties. 

Fuel polishing.

Here is my wife, Ellie, polishing the fuel. A slow process. sadly, we went through two filter changes and then ran out of elements. the fuel was very dirty.

Here is a shot of the primary element, 10 microns, clogged solid. The Racor 2 micron water separator is doing fine.

The whole unit was set in a plastic bin just in case there was a leak. Unlikely as I used rated fuel hoses and double clamped every connection. And yes, those are safety sandals. I bought them along with my safety contacts.

We still have a ways to go before we finish polishing the fuel. I bough four jerry cans but that won't be enough. I don't want to buy more. I'll figure something out, I always do.

Portable fuel polishing system

I went to Ontario Boat wreckers, http://www.ontarioboatwreckers.com/, and scavenged a couple of fuel pumps and filter assmbles and made my self a fuel polishing system for about $150.

It is not the most powerful beast, but the plan is to fill our boat from jerry cans, through this set up. I am also going to clean the tank soonest.

The second fuel pump will be plumbed in the existing fuel supply to the mighty perkins and used if the mechanical fuel pump gives up the ghost sometime in the future.

Other than the Racor filter, ($27), the second most expensive part the the $19 cutting board from Target, http://www.target.ca/en/.

You may have noticed I am able to make links. Heh, heh.

Warmer weather?...Perhaps!

Supposed to be in the mid to high teens this weekend, enough to start some fiberglassing:)

Our toe rail comes in four (4) sections. Took off the aft, port quarter last weekend to re-bed them. Found they were held down with bronze screws, some which were eroded, (or corroded), to the shape of 2" tacks, not a lot but enough. These screws hold the deck to the hull.

So, we bought 300, 3 1/2" long 1/4 20 stainless steel flathead bolt with corrosponding locknuts and flatwashers to beging the thankless job of bolting the deck THROUGH the hull.

Love the boat, but using screws to fasten such a critical structure was just cheap and lazy.

And the spring spending begins

We just spent $300 on bottom paint.

A maintenance poem

My life is defined by cold dirty oil
My clothes are all gross, and terribly soiled
I smell like shop solvent, most of the time
But other than that, I'm doing just fine

The motor appears to be in good shape
The big problem was a bad damper plate
It was all worn and had lost half the springs
They rattled around and made a few dings

The trouble you see is in making a start
And in knowing just what to do with the parts
Soon though the sad truth will surely sink in
I must put the thing back together again

I got this from the following blogger: 

http://www.sailblogs.com/member/blackbird/

I also got a book on how to write HTML. I am hoping to jazz up the blog visually but I am no techno nut so it is slow going.

Weather has been nuts in southern Ontario; Thunderstorms with the temperature 15 Celsius, then the next day it was minus 10 degrees with whiteouts. A 25 degree differential in less than 24 hours.

Raw Water Pump Woes

I am having a dickens of a time finding a rebuild kit for my raw water pump. General consensus was that it was a Jabsco pump which, if it was true, would have been a godsend for parts availability. It wasn't. Through the casting marks, I, Sherlock Holmes, have determined is a Sherwood model B06 (obsolete) with a repair kit # 11421 available.I have passed that information to my contact on Vancouver Island in British Columbia and will get a kit.

Meanwhile, back here, I am sourcing out the bearings, seals and impeller from various sources, hoping to save some $$$ in the future.

The sad thing about this whole endeavor is that here in Ontario, supposedly the industrial centre of Canada, I can barely get Perkins people to even respond to me. Go figure.