| Kaholee Refit |
November 2, 2007 I spent part of the morning doing some figuring on the exhaust system. At immediate issue was determining, first of all, whether I had enough hose on hand (12.5') for both sections required (to and from the waterlift), and, secondly, whether my plan of installing the muffler in the narrow bilge beneath the engine would work as I'd hoped. Since I didn't yet have the replacement (stock) exhaust elbow for the engine (though at this point of the day I still hoped it would arrive with UPS in the afternoon), I couldn't know exactly how the hose from the engine to the muffler would run, nor how long it would have to be. First things first. I fed one end of my 12.5' section of 2" corrugated exhaust hose (Shields #252) in through the port cockpit locker hatch, and back to the outlet barb in the counter. I temporarily secured it here, formed a high loop beneath the deck, and then ran the other end of the hose length forward, cramming it through the available spaces. This length of hose was clearly long enough to reach the muffler beneath the engine, but I doubted there was enough extra to use for the inlet end. I ran into the first issue when I tried to get the muffler (Vetus Waterlok LP50) into the space beneath the engine. The fiberglass cross brace running between the two sides of the engine foundation was in the way; I could get the muffler past the opening on its side, but there was no room to twist it into place in the narrow confines. It was clear, however, that there was plenty of room beneath the engine, if I could just get the unit in place. My options included cutting out the cross piece, or lifting the engine up to increase clearance. Either way, there was no sense doing it right now, since without sufficient hose on hand to attach to the inlet end of the muffler (which I wanted to connect before sticking it in place, as access would be quite difficult or even impossible afterwards) and without the exhaust elbow on the engine, I couldn't make these connections anyway. However, I did take a moment to check the clearance for the inlet hose at the aft end of the engine compartment. I was worried about clearance next to the propeller shaft, since this hose, if the muffler was to be in the bilge, would have to somehow pass through next to the shaft and coupling in order to reach the muffler. With a spare length of 2" hose leftover from another project some years ago, I mocked this up along with an old shaft that I put temporarily in place. Clearance was, at best, extraordinarily tight, and I wasn't sure whether it would be workable or not. Perhaps there's another way to run the inlet hose, though I couldn't imagine how. Further investigation required. Sorry...I seem to have neglected to photograph this riveting process. Meantime, I applied some primer to the new panel behind the head. Finishing up the paint on the panel was required before I could continue with the head installation. |
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After a bit of time spent on other, non-related shop duties, I spent the afternoon laying out, drilling, and filling (as required) the holes for several bits of deck hardware that were on hand, and which I wanted to install now. I located four bronze padeyes for jacklines--two at the bow, located where hopefully they will provide fair leads for the jacklines, and another pair at the stern, one on each sidedeck forward of the sheet winches. I also located a breast cleat on each side, a bit aft of the chainplates, and stern cleats on the poop deck. As required, I overbored the holes and filled them with thickened epoxy to eliminate core in those areas (outboard holes on the breast cleats were core-free thanks to the tapering nature of the core as it nears the deck edge), and drilled and tapped the other holes for the required fasteners where possible. I protected the nearby decks with tape, as usual. |
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While I was at it, I laid out backing plates for these pieces on a square of 1/2" prefabricated FRP that I had for the purpose, drilled the holes, and cut the various plates to size, ready for installation. |
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Things are starting to wrap up with this project. The plan was to spend another week working on the boat, with the ultimate goal of successfully firing the engine by the end. In addition, I expect to have all major systems up and running; only the completion of the sanitation system and bilge pump hoses stand in the way of this goal, and I should be able to easily complete these tasks in the time allotted. For now, I held off on the bilge pump hoses until I could determine the muffler's placement in the bilge, rather than further complicate an already tight installation with yet more hoses. With the successful completion of this rather short--yet important--list, and the requisite cleanup, and engine winterizing after the test run, I was prepared to call the project as complete as possible during this stage. Additional work would be required near launch time in April 2008, mostly surrounding the boat's rigging, some final installations (including radar mast, solar panel, and various bits of sailing hardware best left till the actual rigging of the boat), and the inevitable odds and ends. |
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