Trip 85/86 - Sunday and Tuesday - June 28/30

Well, more progress.

I went down to clean up the engine compartment pan which the paint stripper did a job on and to size up the installation of the engine. By the evidence, I doubt the factory (30 yrs ago) did a great job in alignment. If, each motor mount was with a quarter inch of where it should be? Absolutely good enough. I want to fix that.

I asked Tom to drop by and he and I got the engine inside Empty Pockets. We also bumped around a few ideas of how to align it, and I gotta tell you, that young man is pretty smart. He came up with a splendid idea to make the task easy. The goal being to have the centerline of shaft coming from the transmission aligned to the centerline of the propellor shaft. That shaft has a bearing within the strut at the far end and must be centered in the tube that comes thru the hull. The "Factory Tolerance" of the hubs that face each other on both shafts is 0.002" between the faces of both when horizontal and when vertical.

Folks, that is not much! Less than the width of you hair.

So, all the engine stuff is there and waiting.

I went down on Tuesday to fetch the tubing that connects the head to the holding tank and the tank to the deck pumpout fitting. With all new parts, we should not have any septic smell to contend with. Only the sweet aroma of a Happy Boat.

 

Each day I check on my little family. The two chicks are growing way too fast. Once, in our previous home, some wrens made their home in a hanging flower basket in our front entrance. We used the side and back door until they decided to move out. Hence, I have done nothing with the algae ridden pool til these little fellows decide to move on as well.

Here is a blurry image a few days later July 4th. This little one is getting ready to try to fly.

 

I took my grinder and freshened the surfaces to be redone. At the top of the "T" I also smoothed a lip that extended vertically to the left and right. So, now, I can reach back there and not get tangled nor cut.

 

For "practice" I laid three layers on the gravel/resin combination the factory used as some sort of filler. This is nice and smooth now and after I scuff it with some sandpaper, I will coat it with gelcoat and make it white again.

 

When the paint stripper did its job, the middle of this trough is quite a bit lower than the edges. Hard to see, but I laid some narrow strips in there to build it up somewhat even with the edges. About 6-7 layers of various widths in total.

One thing nice of working with epoxy/glas cloth. It is really hard to do a perfect job when working with resin the consistency of snot and glas cloth that unravels and will not wrap around an edge etc.

One has to accept when the job is "Good Enough" and learn how to handle defeat and move on. Plus, the vessels are not built to a critical standard like the Space Shuttle. One has a lot of leeway in most instances and "Good Enough" is indeed "Good Enough". This makes the task at hand a bit more fun and less frustrating.

 

I intend to go up to where the shaft/tube enter the hull and fan out quite a ways on each side. Just to clean it up and make it smooth for ease of keeping this are clean.

 

3-4 layers, all done.

 

The project is finished and waiting for gelcoat.

 

The leftovers from the painting. I think it looks pretty good and I may hang it in the garage as some form of art.

 

I was probably the only man in Woodbury waiting to get his new sewing machine. Well, it came. Packed really well, and will make cushion covers, repair a sail cover, a deck cover, boat cover and whatever else I can think up, and do.

 

This is not a machine for a man's suitcoat or delicate lingerie. This little puppy can do the job. That is alot of fabric to go thru.

 

Remember all the glue on the post? The belt sander does a great job and leaves everything nice and flat without rounding any edges.

 

The remaining teak woodwork in and around the companionway.

 

The Evidence. Half the dust on the floor, the other half in my lungs. A hot shower will help bring it up ...

 

Time for the Signature Image to return ...

Haul the head downstairs, clean it up and install the rebuild kit I bought. Interestingly, the kit was $60 or so, I can buy a brand unit for $110 on sale, after rebate. But, this will do for now.

 

Later ...