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.