Pleasant Surprise in the Engine Room

The plumbing goes to the left of the battery, and the genset where the tape measure is.  The black box in the foreground is the fuel tank.

The aft end of the engine room

Well I got a very pleasant surprise after I got the engine room cleaned up.  First, putting the battery against the forward bulkhead leaves enough room for a Vetus lift muffler next to the battery (shown as a paper cylinder) which is likely to make the exhaust easy to locate.  The second surprise is that the heat exchanger just (barely) fits under the shelf supporting the octopus heat storage container. (The tan cylinder barely showing on the left.)  This will make the plumbing easy to install and keep it out of the way.  The only problem is I still have to move the fuel tank about 8", which leaves me with the delima as to whether to move the fuel filler hole or curve the filler hose which will prevent me from using a stick to measure the fuel level without removing the vent hose (which isn't hard to do).  The tank monitor has been working without problems, so I haven't needed to use the stick to measure the fuel.

Out with the Glacier Bay Genset

I got the kevlar line bound to the wire to take the load and wrapped the line and wire with silicone tape and stuffed it back in the hole.  Then I started on the genset removal...

1. Take all the attachments off the genset
2. Remove the storage box
3. Mostly empty the fuel tank, detach all the fuel lines and remove the fuel tank
4. Remove the battery
5. Take the dingy out of the quarter berth and inflate it and cover and tie to the fore deck
6. Remove all the hurricane binding and wrapping on the boom and mast
7. Rig the reef line to the preventer, which runs along the boom, using a caribeener so it can slide along the preventer.  Then run the main halyard through the caribeener and down into the companionway. 
8. Remove all the bedding, sail, and other collected stuff from the quarter berth, remove the covers to the aft storage compartments and empty them completely.  Lay a carpet on the hull to slide the genset with.
9. Remove the companionway steps.
10. Un-bolt the genset from the plywood base and lift it off the bolts that are mounted into the base.  Then slide it up the side of the hull by the opening into the quarter bearth.  Then tip it over onto a carpet and drag it into the quarter berth.  Tilt it the other way up onto the deck of the quarter berth and slide it to the edge.
11. Tie a lifting harness onto the genset and attach it to the main halyard
12. Lay the fender board between the quarter berth edge and the electric motor box and slide the genset onto the board as we take some load on the halyard.
13. Crank it up out of the companionway above the cabin.  Tighten the reef line to pull the genset out farther to the end of the boom and swing the boom out over the dock
14. Put the genset into a wheelbarrow and put it under Paul's deck by tipping it up onto a piece of plywood with some dowels under it so we could roll it into position.
15. Scrub all the crud out of the engine room
16. Put the battery, fuel tank, full gerican , and storage box back into the engine room
17. Put all the stuff back into the storage area and replace the covers, bedding, and stuff.
18. Get all the rigging secured for the night

I am bushed...

I woke up in the middle of the night and realized that the way I finished the stress relief actually defeated the whole idea and put the stress back on the little wire.  I also thought of an easier way to use the ladder to reach the top.

Stern Light Installation

Kiwi and I came to the boat while Ruthie is in Boston at an "A" meet with Lori.  I put up my perch to work on the Utility Mast off the stern of the boat.

 I installed the new stern light up near the top of the utility mast.  Because the mast is on an angle I had to mold an epoxy wedge so the bracket could be vertical.

 That went very well.  I used "breaker tape" over some wood tabs I made.  I removed them while the epoxy was still flexible, but no longer sticky so I could trim the corners with a razor instead of sanding.  When it finished harding I drilled and tapped holes into the alum. mast for machine screws to mount the bracket.

I used a steel fish tape from the top to the opening in the bottom to pull the wire up and out the hole positioned just under the bracket.  I offset the butt connectors (heat shrinkable with glue inside) so they would fit through the hole.  Wiring under the cockpit was uncharacteristically easy.  The original stern light attached to a terminal block near the exit from the utility mast.  So I left it intact.  If I want to switch back to the lower stern light I just have to hook it up again.   By the time I got it wired it was dark.  Tomorrow I'm going to bind a kevlar line to the wire and lead it out the hole and tie it to the bracket to secure the wire without putting a load on the connectors or the small wire coming out of the fixture.

In the middle of the stern light project I motored out into the creek so Paul could move the boat he just put a new engine into out of the way so I could take that spot adjacent to the main dock so I can get the genset out.  I'm hoping to get the genset out the area cleaned out and the galley plumbing mocked up.  I'm looking forward to and dreading the the re-organizing of the engine room.

Under sink cont. Windlass & galley light

I got the heat exchanger mounted and all the proper fittings all fitted out with scrap hose -- boy do I have a lot of scrap hose.  I pulled out all the stuff I'm eliminating.  Gross!  One even had diesel contamination.  Must have been the unused one that sat open in the engine room.  I thought I would be filling the now unused holes with epoxy, but they are going to need serious cleaning, probably a little sanding to get down to bare wood.

I used the putty to seal around the wire exit from the mast and the holes in the base.  Now I need to wait for some good rain to test it.

I installed the contactor for the windlass, and it worked.  I wire brushed it a little and it is corroded all over.  I removed the bolts to try and remove it, but it is frozen tight.  No point in breaking it, I'm going to paint it in place.  I don't know how I'll clean it yet - I'd like to sand blast, but what a mess that will be.

I tried to install the 12v outlet over the sink.  I drilled the hole, but I was going to take the current from the wire going to the other deck outlet so it would be on the "Outlets" breaker.  Either I'm going to have to run the wire from the other outlet back 10' to the new  outlet, or I'll have to unbundle all that wire to trace it back where I can splice another wire into it for the new outlet.  I'll only use a foot of wire for that.  I'll need a #8 butt connector or a terminal block and some ring terminals.  Just running the wire back is looking better.

I wanted to finish something, so I installed a LED light over the sink.  I had to drill into the engine room from over the galley sink without drilling into a DC-DC converter for the motor controller or the motor controller itself, and they were only 3/4 apart.  I got it right in the center first time.

I taped all the containers in my tool bag together.  They were falling over and making a mess.  Looks good now, I'll see how it holds.

I went to the boat show and ordered ccushions for the cockpit.  I'm fitting them around the bimini support pole and attaching them with snaps on web tabs under the hatches.

In the midst of making the patterns I realized how I could make a much larger bimini using the same poles that I currently use.

The main sheet can pass between the bimini and dodger.  The boom is wrapped for hurricane season.  Here is an image from the cockpit sitting at the tiller looking 45 degrees port.

So I spent the day making patterns.    You can see more pictures at my Picassa Album.  Tomorrow I need to finish the plumbing under the sink.  It should be all put together and mounted with old hose and no clamps.  I also want to mount the new contactor for the windlass so I can see if it works.  If it does I need to brush it clean so I can evaluate how I'm going to paint it.

Plumbing inside and out

Well it rained about 2 feet and I got the plumbing shoe horned under the sink in the last two days.  Now I have to find the fittings to put it all together.