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Friday

I spent part of the morning working on rewiring an existing fuel gauge and installing the engine panel and wiring harness, simple jobs made more time-consuming in the usual way by the tight access and convoluted wiring runs required.  The gauge required a wire to the tank sending unit, as well as a negative wire that I led forward to the port negative distribution buss, along with a power wire that I led over to the engine panel and connected to the hot side of the ignition switch, so the gauge would power up when the engine was running.

With those connections made, I ran the engine wiring harness along the port side of the engine room, securing it as needed, and eventually installed the engine gauge panel in its opening.

I had various other chores around the shop and yard, including some small, unrelated projects and various boat and yard moves to open up shop space for several other jobs I’d be working on in the coming weeks, but to round out the week’s work on Salty, I epoxied the mounting block for the RAM electronics base to the cockpit bulkhead in the chosen location.

Total time billed on this job today:  2.75 hours

0600 Weather  Observation:
Cloudy, showers, 40°.  Forecast for the day:  showers, maybe some sun, around 50°

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Thursday

At the fuel tank, I installed a shutoff valve near the pickup for the fuel supply line, then continued the line to the filter and on to the engine’s mechanical fuel pump connection.  I also ran a return line from the engine back to the tank, where I adapted it into the vent line near the tank itself, as there was no return fitting built into the tank.

I cut two lengths of hose to use for the engine raw water system–from the seacock to the filter, and from the filter to the pump connection on the front–but I left these hoses and the filter out of the engine room for now to keep space open for the moment.    Meanwhile, I was awaiting a new engine exhaust fitting to replace the high-rise version that was too tall for the engine room, so I couldn’t continue work on the exhaust system till that arrived.  So with little else to do on the engine at the moment, I found a spot for and installed a coolant recovery tank for the engine, located on the port side aft of the engine.  The hose for the tank was already attached to the overflow on the heat exchanger, but I decided to leave it off the tank till I finished the exhaust and other engine work.

I connected the throttle and engine control cables, which was uneventful.  I found that the transmission gear lever, when pushed down for reverse,  interfered slightly with part of the aft end of the engine foundation (or was it the other way around), so I’d have to make a cut in there to increase the clearance.

To mount and secure the house battery bank in its new box, I first dry-fit one battery and marked its forward end on the platform, then cut a hardwood cleat to screw in place, which would help hold the batteries in place along with a pre-existing cleat on the aft end.  Since the box itself wasn’t necessarily structural in terms of withholding the batteries, I installed a strap over the batteries, and bolted it to the platform beneath.

With the batteries in position, and the back side of the box screwed in place, I led in the cables through a length of flexible conduit for protection.  I’d planned to use terminal-mounted fuses for the overall system protection, but found that the studs were too tall to fit within the box, even if I cut off the excess.  So instead, I installed fuses at the other end of each of the two positive cables, where the fuses would serve the same function, albeit a few feet from the battery.

With all the cables connected to the batteries, and the two 6-volt batteries connected in series to create a 12-volt bank, I secured the top with a corner latch on one side, which was enough to hold it securely along with the cleats on the two opposite edges.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
Dusting of snow overnight, rain showers, 40°.  Forecast for the day:  showers, and then more steady rain in the afternoon, high around 50

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Wednesday

The first order of business was to widen the opening into the engine room, the second time I’d done this, as I was trying to avoid removing any more of the flange than necessary; otherwise I would have made the cut wide the first time around.  After cleaning up the cutting spoils, I pre-installed the after flex mounts on the engine, and prepared to lower it into the engine room.  Even with the extra cutout, it was still a tight fit, and I found I needed to widen it even more right next to the heat exchanger on the port side, which was too close to the cutout when the engine was approaching its final position.

Once I had the engine partially lowered, I paused so I could install the forward mounting flanges and flex mounts from the cabin access.

Now I dropped the engine the rest of the way till it rested on the foundations, and pushed it around a little so I could align the mounting bolt holes and get the bolts started.  At this point, every fastener–the mounting studs and bolts–was loose to allow future movement and alignment, but the engine was basically in its final position.

And sticking up an inch or so above the top of the engine room opening.

This was a vexing–if not altogether unexpected–development.  During my first attempt at engine placement the day before, I’d thought the engine seemed miles above where it needed to end up as I got it close to its final position, but since I never got the engine fully on the beds at that time, I chalked it up to visual misperception and hoped it would turn out OK.  As it turned out, however, my eye was right (as it usually is).

Even worse was the high-rise exhaust elbow, which I’d thought would be a challenge to fit even under better circumstances, and now I knew that no matter what I did from here, there was no way to accommodate the higher elbow.  I’d have to exchange it for the normal elbow.

All throughout the engine process, dating back to some months before when I removed the original engine and made various measurements, I’d known the clearance inside the engine room was a tight fit, but I’d installed the same basic engine in a sistership seven years before (the engine had changed somewhat since then, and the new version was actually shorter and narrower than the one I’d put in before).  It was surprising how different the space apparently was.  That previous installation was also easier to fit through the cockpit opening too, and had required a lot less widening.

The engine was right where it needed to be according to the propeller shaft, however, so there wasn’t any way I could lower it meaningfully with the engine mounts.  The shaft log was where it was, and the engine had to fit it.  And did.

Other than the basic manipulations required for final alignment, the center of the transmission coupling was right in line with the stern tube.  There wasn’t room to move the stern tube even if that had been an approach that made sense, so now I had to put all the questions aside and move forward with a way to cope with the fact that the engine was taller than the space afforded it.

Complicating the issue a bit, the engine hatch–i.e. the cockpit sole–featured a cored center section that protruded down into the opening, so in order to clear that I had to raise the edges even further.  Eventually I determined that I’d need to raise the hatch by 1-1/2″ in order to safely clear the engine.

With some 1-1/2″ blocking on all four sides of the hatch opening, I test-fit the hatch over the top, and checked clearances from beneath.  This just cleared the highest part of the engine.  Fortunately, this would have a minimal practical effect on the hatch or the cockpit, other than creating a small step between the hatch surface and the after part of the cockpit (something that could be conceivably taken care of with a wooden grate over the aft part, if needed down the road).  So, after discussing the issues with the owner, I moved forward with a plan to add a 1-1/2″ fiberglass lip to the underside of the hatch–a fairly straightfoward fix, fortunately.

Next, I wanted to measure for the propeller shaft so I could get that ordered without delay.  Clearance was quite tight in the aperture, and the original shaft had extended to within a relative hair’s breadth from the rudder.  I wanted to allow just a bit more clearance there if I could, which really was the one measurement that would define everything else about the shaft (rather than coming up with an idealized version based on other measurements), so I decided to assemble a false shaft with all the critical pieces in place in order to get the most accurate shaft-only measurement.  From previous jobs, I had a length of 1″ fiberglass tubing on hand just for this purpose, and I fit this into the new coupling at the correct place, making a mark on the aft side for later reference when assembling this in the boat.

With the new Cutless bearing just started in the tube–I didn’t want to fully install it yet–I ran in the fiberglass shaft, and inside the boat I assembled it with the coupling and a sacrificial coupling, dry-fitting it all to the transmission hub as needed.

After ensuring that the shaft extended the right amount into the coupling (based on my mark), I went outside the boat and made various marks to indicate where the rudder hit the shaft, as well as a mark 5″ aft of the stern tube, which was the same amount the original shaft had extended.

After double-checking the whole arrangement 12 or 13 times, I removed the “shaft” and measured the overall length from the coupling end to the final mark I’d made, erring on the short side.  Then I could order the shaft, and I boxed up the coupling to ship off to the machine shop as well so it could be properly fitted to the end of the shaft.  The final measurement was 36-7/8″.

With all that out of the way, I could move forward with the various final connections to the engine.  I reinstalled the fuel filter–permanently, this time–and was preparing to install the rest of the fuel system, but decided instead to finalize the start battery position and therefore the last set of battery cables.

With the actual start battery now on hand, I test-fit it on the platform ahead of the engine, which looked workable, as I’d hoped.  I’d strap it in place and cover the terminals, and that would be that.  So now I could make up the final cable ends, starting with the two cables leading to the engine starter and ground,  and then the three cables to the battery from the switch, ACR, and the required position on the monitor shunt, along with another temperature sensor for the battery monitor.

I couldn’t resist the chance to temporarily connect the battery and, through the “combine” position on the battery switch, energize the ship’s power to check out the operation of what I could–namely all the cabin lights and running lights.  Afterwards, I disconnected and removed the battery for now, and cleaned up from the wiring project since that was essentially done and I needed to get some things off the boat to make way for the remaining work.

Total time billed on this job today:  8 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
20°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  increasing clouds, 35

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Tuesday

The owner requested an electronics mounting base near the companionway, similar (or identical) to an installation I completed on a sistership, and in order to support the base I needed to prepare a wooden mounting base to glue to the bulkhead, since there was no other way to secure the mount without bolting through the cockpit wall.  Using the aluminum base as a guide, I built a simple teak block, and installed flush screws from the back side to create mounting studs for the electronics base.

I planned to epoxy the block–and the studs–to the bulkhead, but since clamping it in place would impede access through the companionway, I set it aside, planning to install it at the end of the day, but as it happened I didn’t get back to it this day.

In the engine room, I installed a plywood panel to close off the bilge access forward of the engine, and hopefully to support the starting battery later.  I’d cut this and painted it earlier.

I mounted the fuel filter on the starboard side of the engine room, as far forward and as low as possible to leave room for access.

On the opposite side, I installed the brackets for the raw water strainer, though I didn’t permanently install the filter at this time to leave more room for engine installation access (since the filter was simple to install once the brackets were in place).

I had to leave the shop for an appointment, but after returning I worked on the engine itself to prepare a few things before installation.  The engine raw water impeller’s cover place came equipped with six small screws to secure it, but I liked to replace these screws with knurled fasteners to make access for inspection and maintenance easier going forward.

The clamps required to support the gear and throttle control cables were fussy enough by design, with two separate pieces and small fasteners, but the slim slotted screws that came with the engine made these just that much more challenging to work with in tight, dark engine rooms, so I replaced these fasteners with socket cap screws to allow a positive engagement with the installation tool.

Knowing full well how difficult access into this engine room  would be once the engine was in place, I pre-installed two lengths of battery cable to the stater solenoid and engine ground bolt.  I cut these generously to length up in the boat first, to determine how long they should be, then made up one end with the required lugs before installing them and tucking the cable length into the engine to keep it out of the way for now.    This would streamline the final connection chores later.

I hoped to make the installation easier by pre-installing the four flex mounts to the engine beds, since access to these bolts was always tough once the engine was in place.  So with the newly-arrived bolts now on hand, I secured the mounts in place in the pre-drilled holes I made earlier.  Then, I rechecked the positioning and alignment with my template and shaft string once more.

By now it was mid-afternoon, but I thought that with a little luck I had time to actually get the engine in the boat, so I went ahead and hooked up the crane and raised the engine into the boat.  Before doing so, I removed the two forward mounting flanges, which I knew would be too wide on their own to fit through the tight engine room opening.  These were secured to the engine block with two bolts each.

In an ideal world, it should have been no problem to lift and place the engine in the engine room in the hour and a half or so remaining in the day, but in my gut I knew it’d not be that easy, and of course it wasn’t.  Despite already widening the engine room opening, it was simply too tight to get the engine in for all practical purposes.  There’s always a fair bit of jockeying for position when inserting an engine into the typically small sailboat engine room, but here, even with that sort of game playing, there really wasn’t enough width as it stood.  I got the engine partway into the opening, and even reinstalled (from inside the cabin) the forward mounting flanges in preparation for dropping onto the mounts, but it soon became clear that I needed to widen the opening further.  It was also clear, from the way the engine fit into the space and what I’d have to do to actually get it onto the foundations, that having the flex mounts pre-installed wasn’t going to work, so I’d have to install them on the flanges first, then bolt them to the engine beds afterwards.  I had to remove a coolant hose from the port side during this initial trial, and even though the coolant reservoir was dry, there was a surprising amount of coolant somewhere in the engine passages that spilled out and required cleanup.

So reluctantly, I lifted the engine back out and rested it (well-padded) in the cockpit for now while I got better prepared for final installation.  I removed the mounts from the engine room, and also removed the fuel filter, not because it was in the way of the engine, but because I’d determined it made access around the side of the engine to the mounts difficult or impossible.  I marked the engine room flange where I’d need to cut it wider(by now it was late, and I didn’t want to do the cut now), and then, finally, I removed a clamp that had held the engine wiring harness plug annoyingly in the way during my test fit, and wasn’t directing the plug the right direction for this installation anyway, so it would have forced a sharp bend in the wires that wouldn’t have done them any good over time.  With the clamp–bolted and well-painted into place–removed, the harness had some freedom of movement, and would be out of the way next time I lowered the engine into place.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
12°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, high 32°

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Monday

With other business away from the shop at the end of last week, I took care of some errands at the same time, and picked up the new batteries for the boat.

During the weekend, I sanded and varnished the tiller, completing the coating for now with the 6th coat.

To finish up the electronics locker, I installed a continuous hinge along the bottom edge, securing it to the existing cabinetry.  For now, I used only a few screws on the bottom leaf of the hinge since I’d need to remove the panel to install some of the electronics.  To secure the panel when in place, I added two screws at the top edge, and also installed a simple handle to allow the panel to be easily swung down or removed as needed.

Meanwhile, I removed the tape and excess sealant from around the mast wiring chase and mast step.

Next up in the electrical system was the battery cables.  Each battery bank would require three cables–two positive wires (leading from the battery switch and ACR) and a negative cable in each case.  With the final start battery position still up in the air pending the engine installation, I started with the cables to the house bank in the port cockpit locker.  Eventually, after consideration of various alternatives, I decided to run these cables out from the battery switch area (port settee) into the engine room, then aft and through a small bulkhead that connected with the locker containing the batteries.  After determining the lengths required, and making up the ends, I led the three cables (plus a small wire for the battery monitor temperature sensor) aft, securing them along the way and running the cables through short conduits where they passed through the bulkheads.  At the battery end, I provided enough slack to allow the cables to run up, over, and through the battery enclosure.

Back in the battery switch area, I made up the other ends of these cables, along with the positive and negative cables running between the distribution busses and the electrical panels on each side.  I’d finish up the st art battery and engine cables soon, once the engine was in place and I could determine the cables’ requirements.

To that end, I next turned to the engine layout so I could pre-adjust the engine mounts and determine their locations in the engine room.  Using existing foundations, I’d long ago determined that the basic layout was adaptable to the replacement engine, but since I didn’t build the foundations specifically for this installation, the final fit and placement wasn’t preordained.

To begin, I set up a layout/centerline string to represent the shaft centerline, leading it through a pair of centering plugs in the stern tube and into the boat, where I adjusted it as needed to center it in the shaft log before securing the string on a temporary cleat.

I placed my engine template over the string, slipping the string into the slots leading to the shaft center holes in the jig, and adjusted the mounts as needed to eventually align the jig properly with the string–and the boat.  The front end needed to be raised a bit, too much to do with just the mounts’ adjustment studs, so I added 1/2″ fiberglass blocks beneath the forward mounts.  At length, I adjusted everything so the engine was centered and level.

I marked the position of the mounting feet–easy at the forward end, but hard to reach at the aft end with the curvature of the hull and overhang of the template–then, with the “engine” removed and the mounts placed back on the rough marks, I pre-drilled pilot holes for the mounting bolts.

There were some additional installations to complete before I actually put the engine in place, and I also wanted to address the engine opening, which still had the old rivets left over from a long-ago removed gasket system (there’d been an ineffective gasket made of flattened foam pipe insulation in place when the boat arrived here).  I drilled out the rivets so I could start fresh with a new gasket, and also opened up the forward end of the opening as much as I could on each side, since the opening was not wide enough for the engine (even with the widening), and I wanted to minimize how much I needed to remove from the engine itself in order to squeeze it through.   I knew I’d have to remove the forward mounting flanges, which stuck out an inch or two beyond the actual engine dimensions, but hoped to avoid removing the alternator or anything else if I could.   These photos show the before and after.

 

Total time billed on this job today:    8 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
12°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  increasing clouds, chance of snow, high around 30°.

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Thursday

I’d forgotten to run a wire pair forward for the owner’s planned and eventual Sat Phone, which would mount in the electronics locker, so to begin, I completed that circuit, adding another terminal block for easy connection and disconnection at will.

During the rest of the morning, I finished up the wiring on the port electrical panel, including the rest of the negative distribution buss and all the positive wires, many of which I attached to a separate terminal block to reduce the number of wires leading to the panel, and to minimize wire numbers on any single terminal stud.  The top half of the terminal block serviced the various electronics, which shared a panel circuit, and the lower half serviced three separate power and charging outlets on the port side.   Then, I connected the circuits to the new panel, completing various panel wiring that was required as well (side-by-side panels don’t come with the two sections jumped together).  Afterwards, I installed the panel in its opening, and added appropriate labels to the six circuits.

I spent the remainder of the day repeating the process on the starboard panel, where I terminated all the wires and finalized the installation there.  To prepare ahead for an eventual stereo speaker installation in the molded panel beneath, I led the wire down through the aft side of the electrical enclosure and into the space beneath, covering it with some split loom as there was no way to interconnect without this short exposed span.

Total time billed  on this job today:  8 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
40°, cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  possible shower, clouds, high around 65

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Wednesday

Moving forward with the battery buss assembly, now that the epoxy-coated platform had cured, I pre-assembled the various components on the board.  Considering how the wires would eventually lead, I decided to turn the ACR around so the wires would come out cleanly on the free side of the platform.  Before final installation, I pre-wired anything I could, including a negative lead between the shunt and negative distribution, and a small fused  ground wire from the ACR  Then, with the hull prepared in the bonding area and a small block hot-glued in to hold the platform against sliding, I epoxied the assembly to the hull and left it to cure.

To wire the stern light, built into the Monitor windvane, I led aft a wire pair along a pre-determined route behind the cockpit coaming, then, next to the support tube base containing the stern light wire, installed a side-entry cable clam to accept the wire.  This section of the deck was non-cored, so I didn’t need to do any special hole preparations.   To allow for possible removal of the windvane, I made up the stern light wiring with removable connectors, leaving enough slack belowdecks to allow the wiring to be disconnected if needed.  Back at the electrical panels, I ran the bitter end of the wire across from port to starboard, so I could join it with the bow light wiring to a common breaker on that side.

Meanwhile, I continued with the final wire runs on the port side, beginning with three circuits up into the new electronics locker, where I installed terminal blocks to allow easy removal of the entire front panel (which would include the various electronics), which the owner had requested.  For now, I tucked in spare speaker and VHF cable wire while awaiting the final connections of those items.

I connected the required five wires to the RTE control box, including a power supply from the panel, then the three wires from the mast wiring.  I led aft the two wires that would supply power to the masthead all-round white light, which would be switched separately.  I wired the RTE box from the bottom, highlighting why I needed the extra space carved out of the back of the panel.  To access the screws that clamped the wires in place, I had to remove the control box from the mounting kit temporarily.  There was a set of back wire terminals a little higher up, but I didn’t have any sort of connectors in my inventory that fit the terminals therein.

Later, I installed a simple pull switch to operate the LED night light in the panel (which would be incorporated into the cabin lights circuit), and secured the various wiring in the new electronics locker.

I thought that was pretty much it for bulk wiring circuits, and now I was ready to move on to the final termination of all the new wires.  To begin, I untaped the glued-on terminal blocks in the two locker areas, and, on the port side, secured up and out of th e way a mass of transducer cable for the knotmeter.

To connect the panels and distribution busses with the battery system, I ran battery cable into each of the two electric locker areas through the hidden wire conduit behind the bulkhead, hopefully the last wires I’d have to lead through.

Then, I made up the ends, connecting the yellow wire to the negative distribution buss on each side, and leaving enough slack in the positive wire to allow for connection to the panel later, and to allow removal of the panels for wiring and servicing.

Finally, I began to make up the negative wire ends, starting on the port side.  I labeled each wire with its circuit number as I went.  I’d continue this process with the remaining wires, and eventually make up the positive ends to the panels and terminal blocks as required.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
25°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 50