| Kaholee Refit |November
6, 2007 While I waited for the truck delivery containing the materials I needed to continue the head and exhaust installations around noontime, I worked on a few odds and ends, from measuring and pricing wood blinds for the saloon to milling a few bits of trim and miscellany. I also removed some excess gear and tools from the boat, and organized what was left since things were getting a little cluttered. Around lunchtime, Mike from Maloney Marine Rigging arrived to measure for the new lifelines on Kaholee, as well as several other jobs that I'd accumulated. The delivery truck arrived shortly thereafter, so I got right to work on completing the systems with the newly arrived materials. I began with the head. I installed bronze tailpieces in the two seacocks, and finished running the hoses as required. I also secured the hoses as appropriate with the proper size rubber-lined stainless clamps, which I had been awaiting. I added a piece of pre-made trim to the front of the head platform, and the head installation was done. |
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Next, I turned to the exhaust system. First, I pulled enough slack in the hose to form a loop as high as possible at the transom outlet, and secured it as necessary. Then, I made a cut in the hose inside the port cockpit locker, and installed a bronze shutoff valve that I'd ordered. With the valve in place, I secured the hose to a nearby block. |
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Over the weekend, I'd received an email from someone reading about the project, and he offered a suggestion that might help deal with the tight clearance for the exhaust hose around the propeller shaft. (Thanks, D.C.) He mentioned that he'd run into a similar problem and had used some cast iron pipe sections and fittings to run the exhaust past the shaft. I thought this idea had merit, but I modified it slightly and ordered, on a trial basis, a couple fiberglass exhaust elbows, which were acceptable for use because this portion of the hose was post water injection. One advantage of this was that the fittings were a bit slimmer in dimension than the hose, which might increase clearance sufficiently. With this plan in mind, I attached a long length of hose to the Vetus Waterlok inlet end, and maneuvered the thing beneath the engine. I determined what looked like the right length, removed the muffler and hose, and cut the hose to length before reinstalling one end to the muffler and squeezing everything back beneath the engine again. At this time, I was sufficiently confident in the overall placement of the muffler that I cut the outlet hose, which I'd run alongside the engine foundation to port, and secured it to the outlet port on the muffler. |
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Next, I worked from the aft end and secured a 45° fitting to the cut end of my hose; it seemed as if this fitting would be the choice given the various angles. I secured a scrap of hose of appropriate length, which I had cut off the end of the main length when making the connection of the outlet hose, and eventually got it secured and determined that it would reach the exhaust outlet on the engine nicely. But the fiberglass elbow wasn't in the right place, so I made some adjustments and managed to get things where I thought they would work. I slid in the mockup shaft, but determined that it was still too close and that perhaps the 90° elbow that I had on hand would work better. |
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Around this point, I came to an unhappy realization: not only did I need to clear the shaft, but I also needed to clear the bulky flexible coupling and steel shaft coupling, which I hadn't yet factored into the mix. This would force everything to move aft by several inches. I temporarily assembled these pieces to the transmission coupling, and quickly realized that the piece of hose I'd installed below the engine was too short to work in this situation, given the new obstructions. Reluctantly, I disassembled everything and cut a new length of hose a bit overlong for the task, and fed the muffler et al back into place. It was hard to tell whether there'd be enough clearance to run the hose or the fiberglass elbow through, but at this point it was rather late and I decided to wait till morning to continue. |
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