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Sunday

With some time on hand, I thought I’d take care of a couple small jobs, starting with a new engine installation template.  I’d had on hand an older template, left over from another Beta 14 installation some time ago, but the template was in rough shape and had been modified (I’d used it for some initial engine calculations on this project as well), and there had been some changes in the design of the engine since that time.

With an updated engine drawing, I prepared a plywood base that corresponded with the maximum length and width of the engine, and attached to its bottom an extension fore and aft, which mainly gave me the shaft centerline, which was the most critical dimension for proper alignment.  At the aft end, I built the extension to correspond with the depth of the transmission housing; the forward extension corresponded to the depth of the oil pan (though not the location).  This gave me all the maximum dimensions required to ensure that the engine would fit as expected.  I also noted the overall height above the platform.  I marked the engine mounting locations, using the drawing as a guide, and temporarily installed the adjustable mounts, starting with a 3″ depth, which was right in the middle of the mounts’ specified adjustment range.  In this specific instance, I’d ordered the new engine with 14.5″ mounting centers at the aft side, and 16″ at the forward, as this would work best with the existing engine foundations.  Because the “centerline” of the engine ( aka the shaft centerline) was actually not symmetrical with the overall dimensions, the starboard forward, at this wide dimension, was actually almost off the template completely, since the center of the mounting flange was wider than the overall width from engine center.

I quickly tested the new template in the boat to check the fit.  It looked good overall, but I thought my initial adjustment on the mounts was probably too high (the shaft centerline was above where it needed to be), but I’d adjust those and finalize the template (and therefore engine) position a little later on.  The template would be ready whenever I was.

Next I turned to the tiller.  The original tiller, made of solid wood, was in poor condition, and I was tasked with building a new one from laminated teak.  To start, I removed an old autopilot mount and the friction tape wrapping from the tip end, leaving the bare tiller to use as a guide for laminating the new one.

I dug out an old laminating template that I’d used on some project or another in the past, and removed the old blocking and plastic left over from that job.  With a clean, flat template re-covered in plastic sheeting, I used the tiller to mark the curvature on the plastic, then installed clamping blocks as needed against the line–enough blocking to bend the wood strips into the fair curve required, and to provide ample clamping area.  I like laminating templates built on the horizontal like this (as opposed to a vertical orientation, where the laminations are clamped on top of a form that is open on both sides) since it makes aligning the strips with one another (i.e. flush) much easier, since one can press and (if needed) clamp the whole assembly to the flat base, which ensures that the lower (template) side of the lamination will be flat and smooth.   Epoxy-coated laminations are extremely slippery, and the flat base means that one need not be fighting alignment through the clamping process.  The end result also makes shaping and dimensioning the finished piece that much easier since there’s a flat and consistent side from which to start, and it’s quick and simple to build the template.

From some leftover teak on hand, I milled a series of 1/4″ thick strips, each a bit over 1-3/4″ wide (the raw dimension of the rough stock), from which to laminate the new tiller.  The finished piece needed to be about 1-5/8″ thick.  These strips bent easily to the minimal curvature required.

The tiller was fairly consistent and relatively narrow over much of its length, but the butt end flared quickly into a depth almost twice that of the rest of the tiller.  Gluing the whole blank to that dimension would be wasteful of material, and more difficult to glue all at once, so with enough strips to complete the tiller other than the butt end, I cut some additional strips into shorter lengths, and these would become the deeper butt end later.  I’d glue up the main blank first, then add on these strips at the end afterwards.

The template would require a little more prep work, mainly some bits of plastic to prevent the blank from sticking to the template blocks, and as tempting as it was to continue and glue up the blank, I was running short on time and would continue sometime later.

Total time billed on this job today:  2.75 hours

0600 Weather Report:
50°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  sunny, high 60°

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Friday

Next on the agenda was to inspect and rebed the chainplates.  With no deck covers over the chainplate slots–and not enough room at the toerail end to allow stock covers to fit–the chainplates had been gooped up over the years with piles of silicone sealant, which was not only unsightly but was probably of dubious effectiveness.  So to begin, I removed all this excess sealant (removing and storing aside the toggles that were in place on five of the six chainplates), which also freed up the chainplates for further work.  The starboard side is shown in the top two photos; port in the lower.

Below, access to four of the six chainplates was good, and without drama I removed the bolts securing the plates to the knees and pushed the chainplates up through the slots, so I could remove them from on deck later.  I also removed at this time the old and deteriorated  copper lightning “protection” system that had basically corroded away to dust in many areas anyway.  The knees appeared sound and in good condition.

The chainplates for the uppers (the middle set) posed a problem because the knees were located so close to the bulkheads (those that defined the forward edge of the galley) that it was not possible to access the nuts on the aft sides of these chainplates.  Past experience with a sistership had prepared me for this in advance, and for days I’d been wishing the chainplates to simply unbolt themselves and rise airily from the boat, as I knew the only other way I was going to remove them was to remove the two bulkhead sections.  This was a shame since it seems like it could have been so easy to avoid this access issue, but at least in this case the bulkheads were simply screwed to the fiberglass interior structure, so removal was possible, but it was still a lot of extra work just to access three bolts that really should have been accessible anyway–and with an inch more clearance would have been.

The port bulkhead came out without much issue, though there was one hidden screw that had been broken off during installation (I supposed), and since it had no head it was not visible, nor would it have been removable even if I’d known it was there.  But it wasn’t much of a problem to free the bulkhead from it, as there was plenty of room in the empty hanging locker forward.  Space between the knee and the glassed-in liner behind it was still tight, but at least I could now remove the bolts.

On the starboard side, there was a lot more in the way, and before beginning I had to remove the cookstove vent pipe and all its enclosure leading up to the deck fitting.  The marine toilet was mounted very close to the bulkhead at the bottom, but the bulkhead would have to come out around it since I had no intention of trying to remove the head.  Fortunately, I could access all the bulkhead screws around the toilet base; my worst fear had been that one screw could be inaccessible next to the base.

With extraneous gear out of the way, and all the screws removed, I finally got the bulkhead out, but with difficulty since I had to slide it straight inboard, as I couldn’t tip the top forward as I had on the other side since the head got in the way.  The plywood was also very tight–i.e. friction fit–with the protruding bolt ends of the chainplate, a closer tolerance than on the other side, but finally the bulkhead was out.  There was just enough room for a wrench on the nut side of the knee, and I thought I could manage to thread new nuts on by hand when I reinstalled the chainplate later.

While I had good access to everything, I cleaned up the head and hanging locker areas, removing spilled teak oil from the liner where it’d been slopped off the bulkheads, and just a general cleanup, which brightened both sides of the space considerably.

I also cleaned up around the various chainplate knees and the locker areas surrounding them; these areas, and the knees themselves, were in good condition.  While the bulkheads were out, I cleaned them up a bit and inspected them; they were structurally sound.

I ordered new bolts for the chainplates, as I didn’t have this type on hand, and since I’d found surface rust on a few of the originals (though most were in good condition).  Meanwhile, I pulled the chainplates out from above and cleaned up the stainless, which was polished only on the top half of the plates.  There was a bit of surface rust on a couple of the chainplates, but nothing significant, and they all cleaned up well and looked good.  I also cleaned out any excess sealant from the deck slots.  These photos show both sides of all the chainplates after cleanup.  I’d reinstall them as soon as the new bolts arrived, and I planned to make simple deck covers that would help more effectively seal the slots and look better than the mess that had been there before.

Next, I painted the engine room and around the other through hull pads as required, using gray Bilgekote.

To round out the day, I continued with some more hardware removal, starting with the water fill deck plate, since I’d had to remove the hose from beneath during the chainplate and bulkhead removal process earlier.  This section of sidedeck had a plywood core.

The nearby vente fittings for the water and waste tanks were rusted on the inside, and I planned to replace them in kind.  The old clear vent hoses that had been installed, and which I’d removed for better access during the chainplate work, required replacement as well, for appearance if nothing else.

At the bow, I laid out the position of a new latch for the anchor well, and removed the deck side of the hinges so I could rebed those.  I’d also soon be creating access to the bow cleats so I could rebed them.

 

Total time billed on this job today:  6 hours

0600 Weather Report:
32°, cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Becoming sunny, high around 50

 

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Thursday

I inventoried the new through hull hardware to determine what pieces I was missing, as a number of things had been originally backordered and had dribbled in over the past few days.  I still needed a few pieces before I could continue with the installation, but most of the hardware was on hand, though I discovered that according to my invoices I was supposed to have four of the 1-1/2″ valves already on hand, but only had three.  (This proved to be a picking error at the supplier, and a new valve would be sent.)

I hadn’t planned on repainting the engine room, but looking at the space as I contemplated the final prep on the new through hull pads, I thought there was no way I could leave it as is, so along with lightly sanding the new epoxy and through hull pads, I gave the whole engine room a quick scuff so I could give it a coat of paint later.  It didn’t make any sense to start a brand-new engine and systems installation in this space unless the space itself was truly ready.

In order to move ahead sooner than later on painting the engine room and other through hull pads, after cleaning up from the light sanding I applied a coat of my “impatience primer” to the new epoxy.  One-part paints don’t cure properly over fresh epoxy, and the options were to wait a few weeks for the epoxy to reach its ultimate cure state (impossible), or apply a quick coat of epoxy-based 2-part primer to the new epoxy, which primer would cure properly on its own and then provide a decent substrate for paint.

My goal of these first few weeks was to work on and finish all the significant fixed or structural installations that would affect–and set the course of–the remaining systems installations, so high on my mind was the new battery storage situation.  With the port cockpit locker already chosen in concept as the house bank location, I worked on a basic platform template made of scrap plywood to prove the concept and work out any final details before moving on with construction.  Thinking that it’d be nice if all three batteries (including the start battery) could fit in here, I started with a platform designed to hold both house batteries and the starting bank.  While there was plenty of room for this itself, the other requirements of the locker would preclude installing all three batteries like this, as I needed some of the locker real estate for other purposes.

One reason this wouldn’t work is that I needed space on the locker wall–and also inside the locker itself–to install a second manual bilge pump, which would require clear access from both sides.  The height of the batteries and/or battery box would get in the way of the space I needed for the bilge pump, and there was nowhere else logical that the pump could–or should–be mounted.  In order for this to work, the battery platform and box would need to end further forward, so I cut off the tho

Eventually, I turned the template sideways, to orient the batteries athwartships rather than longitudinally, and I liked this position best.  The platform size–not even accounting for potential sides of a box–was too large to fit through the locker opening, so I’d have to build the box in place, and this meant I hoped to keep the installation as simple as possible, so I could use the existing locker sides as two sides of the new box.  The owner also approved of this plan, and I’d move forward with construction soon.

The starting battery had two potential mounting locations:  on a platform in front of the engine (this is where the battery had been installed in the original setup), or in a locker beneath the cabin sole.  Neither location was perfect, but both had their advantages also.

One concern with the engine room location was that the battery might interfere with reasonable access to the front of the engine and related components (such as fuel and raw water filters, and the raw water pump housing), but only further time would tell whether this was an issue, since at this early stage I wasn’t sure exactly how the space would come together with the engine.  There was room for a normal group 24 starting battery here, however, and if it could be installed so as not to be in the way of normal access requirements, this might end up being the spot.

The storage space beneath the cabin sole, a bit forward of the engine room, was where batteries had been previously installed, and there was ample room, but the low location was potentially vulnerable to water problems, and while it was a good and reasonable option if the engine room didn’t work out, for the moment we were hoping to go in the other direction.  The tight access to this space also meant that the battery would have to be installed and hooked up while in the open area, then pushed back to its final location beneath the aft part of the sole.

With the important battery question now resolved–the proof of concept and a clear direction for the house battery bank–I continued work on the deck hardware rebedding, this time the stern quarters of the boat, which included the fuel fill and waste pumpout, stern pulpit, and various other hardware.

Because of the limited access through the locker lids, some of these fasteners were at (or almost beyond) my ultimate reach, at least while being required to also work the top end of the fastener.  Fortunately, despite some  fairly long exposed thread on some of the fasteners, I found that the nuts came off easily, making this job far less onerous than it could have been, a tiny moment of relative pleasure for which I was most grateful.  I even had little trouble removing the hoses from their barbs on the two deck fills, and in relatively short order I had the area cleared of hardware, other than a couple pieces that I’d attend to later on their own.  There were also several old pass-through wiring connections on the aft deck, which were abandoned but I’d have to deal with their old locations somehow.

Afterwards, I cleaned off old sealant and the like, and prepared the fastener holes (where needed) by boring larger holes at each location, removing any core material from about the hole.    The small poop deck itself, at least the center 2/3 or so, featured a plywood core–visible through the plastic vent openings–and the forward pulpit bases were on those raised platforms like the stanchions, but the sidedeck in way of the two deck fills was uncored, and I had no need to do any further preparatory work on those openings or fastener holes.

With everything prepared and cleaned up, I masked around the fastener holes to protect the deck, and filled all the enlarged holes with thickened epoxy, and coated the exposed core in the two larger openings.

Total time billed on this job today:  7.25 hours

0600 Weather Report:
55°, cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Cloudy,  temperatures falling, rain by evening.

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Wednesday

I got started with what could seem like an odd tangent, but earlier, I’d spread various parts for the Wallas cook stove out on my bench, so I could inspect the original stove and a new blower lid that the owner had ordered, and now these parts were still there and in the way.  Rather than pack them up as is, I decided to install the blower lid and have that job completed–it all had to be done at one time or another, after all.  It didn’t look like a major job, but it was something I’d never seen nor done before.

The idea of the blower lid is that when the stove is operated with the lid lowered, it activates a blower that forces air across the stove top (no open flames) and then into the cabin, like a mini forced-air heater.  For such a small boat, this seemed an ideal option for basic cabin heating of the type one would normal experience on those chill days during the sailing season in temperate climates.  When the lid is raised, one operates the stove top normally.

To install the lid on this cooktop, I first had to remove a few parts from the old, and initially this caused a little confusion since the illustrations were just slightly different (or so it seemed) from the stove in front of me.  But shortly I realized that the stove itself was actually installed in a stand-alone base, and that in order to install the blower lid I’d have to temporarily remove the base to return the actual cooktop to its essence.  This was easy enough with four fasteners and little spacers to remove, plus one wire connector to the control knob.

Now, with the cooktop stripped down as required by the instructions (essentially removing a couple aluminum cross bars from the back edge, where the blower would be fitted), I figured out how the blower lid fit into the stove housing, and secured it with the four machine screws provided.  Then I removed an existing wiring harness from the works of the stove, and plugged in its stead the harness from the blower lid, all as directed.

Finally, I reinstalled the external stand-alone base (which required removing one more trim piece, as it happened), and this completed the installation.  The blower lid was frankly a handsome addition to this little stove, and I hoped it operated well and did the job.

Now I could set the stove aside for safekeeping till I wanted to put it back in the boat, and with my bench cleared I could move on with other projects at hand.

Before starting in a new direction, I finished up the solar vent installation, now that the epoxy filling was cured and ready for the final steps.  From below, I installed the plastic trim ring, then, back on deck I dry-fit the vent housing so I could mark and drill the three fastener holes.  Afterwards, I applied sealant (butyl tape in this case) to the deck around the large hole, and on the housing itself, and pressed into plate the foam gasket provided with the vent before securing the base to the deck.

The vent came with an on/off switch, which was nice, but I tested it for operation before shutting it down once more.  The vent came with (I think) an exhaust fan blade installed, but there was also a second (intake) blade included to reverse the direction of flow if desired.

Back at the bench, I got ready to prepare six fiberglass backing blocks for the new seacocks.  On a sheet (plus a little scrap) of 3/4″ thick prefab fiberglass, I laid out blocks for three large (1-1/2″) bases  and three smaller (3/4″) bases, then drilled holes for the through hulls before cutting out the bases and, finally, sanding the edges clean and slightly easing the top edges for looks and tactile feel.

Now I cleaned out any old sealant from within the original hull holes, using a knife and then a drum sander.  I found that the original holes leftover from the larger fittings (scuppers and head discharge) were just slightly smaller than the diameter of the new through hulls, so I used a drum sander to open up the holes enough for the new fittings to slip in properly.  The old engine intake had been something like a 1/2″ fitting, but I found that the hole in the hull was actually larger, and only required a little enlarging to fit the new 3/4″ fitting.

After cleaning inside and out around all the locations with acetone, I installed the new fiberglass backing blocks in beds of very thick epoxy, which held the blocks in place even in the near-vertical orientation back at the cockpit scuppers.  I smoothed the new epoxy to form fillets around the bases, and cleaned out the insides of the holes.  Then, not wanting to unnecessarily shake the boat and possibly make these blocks move before they were cured, I spent the rest of the day, as it were, on a couple smaller tasks that didn’t require me clambering around on board, all punctuated by some unrelated goings-on at the shop that required my at-least sporadic attention.

One of these tasks was to check the fit of the actual engine panel.  Years earlier, I’d made a template of these panels, and I taped it in place over the old panel hole to ensure that the new panel would indeed fit.  It did.  Meanwhile I prepared the large panel enclosure for return shipment.

It also seemed a good time to replace the bulb in the bicolor bow light, mounted on the pulpit.  Originally fitted with a standard incandescent festoon bulb, I sourced a replacement LED bulb for the fixture, and installed it now.  The original stern light, also mounted on the pulpit, would be superseded in this case by a stern light mounted on the new Monitor windvane, and I’d remove the old light later.

While working on the solar vent installation the past couple days, I took the opportunity to prepare and epoxy-fill the cracked area of the aluminum mast step, which, after curing and sanding, cleaned up the damage and made it look good as new.  Later, after I resealed around the edges, I’d paint the step to protect the epoxy and, come to that, the step itself.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.5 hours

0600 Weather Report:
38°, mostly cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Partly sunny, high 60°

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Tuesday

After going through several boxes of newly-arrived parts and supplies, I decided to continue with the solar vent installation, as this would require some additional hole and deck preparations.  The location was preordained, more or less, but to determine exactly where to install the vent over the newly-filled deck hole left over from the old cabin heater, I started in the cabin with the included plastic trim ring so I could locate the vent where it’d be clear of the hanging locker bulkhead, which was nearby to port.  Once I’d determined that, I drilled a pilothole from inside, which allowed me to start the hole saw in the right location from the deck surface.  This fitting required a 3-3/4″ hole.  The deck was in good condition within this opening.  The only core visible was a layer of what appeared to be Coremat or similar laminate bulker, which was low in the opening near the tightly-fitting inner liner.   This  laminate schedule was mirrored elsewhere in the decks where I’d so far drilled holes (such as the midships cleat locations and bow pulpit).

The plastic trim ring that would help dress up the inside of the opening was too tall for the thickness of the deck, so I used a fine saw to cut off the excess, allowing for a flush fit within.  Then, with the trim temporarily installed from within, I could insert the top portion of the vent (with the top removed for access) and mark the fastener holes.  Even though there wasn’t much for core material, and the fasteners might not even penetrate what passed for it. I overbored the fastener location as a matter of course, and filled the voids with thickened epoxy.  I also coated the inside of the large hole with epoxy to seal it.

While working in the cockpit the day before, I’d noticed that the space available where the old engine instrument panel had been was a lot smaller than I remembered, and, having recently unpacked a special molded and covered recess for the new panel (which I’d never used before, as it was a fairly new offering), it occurred to me that there’d not be room for the insert.  While the panel itself was nearly the same size as the old one, the insert was substantially bigger, and a quick test-fit confirmed my fears:  there simply wasn’t enough space in this small cockpit to fit the large enclosure.  It interfered with the locker lid gutters and the cockpit sole.  I’d have to send this back, unfortunately, and install the panel normally.

Now that the hardware holes for the stanchion bases and other sidedeck hardware were epoxy-filled and cured, I decided to move on with the reinstallation and rebedding of the hardware that I’d removed.  So at each location, I prepared the deck by marking, drilling, and tapping the new epoxy for the appropriate size machine screws, and masking around the hardware to protect the deck from sealant (mainly nonskid areas).  Because of the raised, smooth-gelcoated platforms on which the stanchion bases sat, after masking all three on the port side I decided that it really wasn’t required for the second side, so I skipped this step for the stanchion bases on starboard, which saved time and effort.

With all the locations prepared, I started at the bow and installed all the hardware.  The pulpit and forward spinnaker pole chock was easy enough to complete.

Moving on to the forwardmost stanchion bases, things slowed down considerably.  If I thought that removing the old fasteners from those liner-hidden inboard locations of the stanchion bases  the reinstallation proved me wrong:  removal had been a day at the beach.  Trying to thread nuts and washers onto these fasteners–blind and without even room for a pair of fingers–proved to be frustrating and time-consuming, and ultimately the only way it  could happen was for me to open up the edge of the liner in way of the fasteners, just to allow a way to get the nuts started.  I’d determined at the onset that there was no practical means of installing backing plates, nice as that would have been; as it happened, there was barely room for nuts and washers on these inside locations.  I tried everything I could before resorting to using a drum sander to create a rounded notch in the molded liner in order to reach the inner fastener on each stanchion base, but there simply wasn’t enough access to start the nuts and washers till I made some room.

Even the after pole chock was challenging, since the forward bolt was directly above the bulkhead, and I had to leave the bolt partially unthreaded (from above) in order to leave enough room beneath for me to start the washer and nut, after which I could tighten down the bolt the rest of the way.

Moving on from the forward cabin, I thought the worst was past, but the access for threading nuts onto the inner sets of bolts on the stanchion bases and midships cleats was no better here than it had been in the v-berth.  What’s worse is I could almost get the nuts started on the middle stanchion base and nearby cleat, but despite all efforts I just couldn’t succeed despite many frustrating attempts and varied techniques.  So in the end, I was forced to use the drum sander again, just to gain barely enough access to complete the installations.   I’d started with the port side, so with this hard-won knowledge  I got smart on the starboard side and pre-notched the liner where I needed to, which made the final installations late in the afternoon go much more quickly.  I used large washers wherever possible, but had to resort to regular-sized washers for the innermost fastener on the stanchion bases, as there simply wasn’t room for a fender washer.  The final set of stanchion bases, which I could access from inside the electrical panel areas, was almost a treat with luxurious one-hand blind access but no liner in the way.  The angle and closeness of the photos make the notches look huge and much worse than they are; in reality they’re not really visible from normal cabin attitudes, but I’d think about a simple way to cover them nonetheless.

Total time billed on this job today:   8.25 hours

0600 Weather Report:
25°, mostly cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Mostly sunny, high around 50°

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Monday

After removing a final piece of hardware (at least for this particular round) from the starboard sidedeck, which had resisted efforts last time (and I’d run out of time before I could finish it), I prepared all the hardware locations  by boring 1/2″ holes at each fastener location (this kept the larger hole within the footprint of the hardware in all instances), which removed the core material (plywood) from about the fasteners for future core isolation.  I also cleaned off old sealant from the deck and hardware bases.  Then, I masked around the holes (and from the underside of the deck) to prepare for epoxy filling.

Next, I filled all the prepared holes with a thickened epoxy mixture, and removed the tape afterwards.

At the bow, I removed the anchor, chain, and rode from  the roller and anchor well, exposing a filthy anchor locker that I cleaned up afterwards.

At the mast step, I removed three old wiring fittings, which we’d not be reusing, and prepared the holes for patching.  For cosmetic reasons on the molded nonskid pattern, I’d be building a simple cover to secure to the deck over the patched holes (the undersides were hidden in a wooden trim box).

I took this opportunity to clean off unsightly gobs of old sealant from around and the top of the mast step plate, which was head-scratchingly secured into a molded recess in the deck that, frankly, seemed only like a trap for water and offered no benefits whatever.  This process exposed a pre-existing crack in the aft starboard corner of the plate, which didn’t appear to cause any structural concerns with the integrity of the step itself, but made me wary of attempting any further removal of the step for rebedding, since there was hardly any way to get under the piece anyway thanks to the recess, and I worried the casting might fall to pieces if I tried.  Sometimes well enough is best left alone.   With a cleaned-out groove about the step I could later refill with new sealant applied in a more uniform manner, and perhaps force some epoxy into the aft corner to shore up the crack.

Next, I masked around the old wiring holes (now prepared for filling), and, nearby, around the hole left over from the old cabin heater vent.  I filled these voids with thickened epoxy–the wiring holes as a permanent closure, and the old vent hole as a temporary means of providing a place for a hole saw to enlarge the opening, since we’d decided to install a solar deck vent in its place, which required a larger opening.

Following my inspection of the through hull fittings earlier, the owner had requested that I change out all the underwater fittings with new bronze through hulls and flanged seacocks to replace the ill-threaded valves directly on the existing through hull necks.  However, since the outlets were above the waterline, we decided to keep the two through hulls that had serviced the bilge pump outlets and simply replace the valves inside with new bronze ones.  So I got started in the cockpit locker, and removed the two valves from those through hulls, pending arrival of the new valves later.  Fortunately the valves unthreaded without any particular issue.

Moving on to the cockpit scupper drains, after a brief attempt to unthread the valves and through-hull nuts from inside, I quickly gave that up as a waste of time and, with a reciprocating saw, simply cut the through hulls off from inside, working the blade through the wooden backing blocks and quickly through the fittings themselves, after which I could remove the remnants of the plywood blocks and push the through hull fitting out from inside.

I continued with the engine raw water intake, located at the forward end of the engine room to port.  This fitting featured an external bronze strainer, which I removed for access to the through hull beneath.

In similar fashion, I removed the galley sink drain, and the heat intake and overboard fittings.

Afterwards, to prepare for new installations I sanded away the paint from the outside of every fitting, and any remnants of old sealant, adhesive, and factory interior gelcoat on the inside of the hull at all locations.  Sometime soon I’d finish the basic prep work by cleaning out any sealant remaining in the old through hull holes themselves, but for now the day was over.

Total time billed on this job today:  8.5 hours

0600 Weather Report:
20°, partly cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  mostly cloudy, chance of snow and rain showers, high around 40°

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Friday

Next on the agenda was to rebed the deck hardware, which required, of course, removing it all first.   Hardware fastener access across the boat varied from nonexistent to excellent, with a good dose of frustrating production shortsightedness thrown in just for fun and to make sure no one enjoyed the process too much at any given time.

I decided to start with the items along the sidedecks, since the access to these fasteners shared the wiring access panels in the cabin, and the sooner I finished up with the hardware, the sooner I could start work on new wiring runs.  The fasteners for some of the stanchion bases, deck cleats, and spinnaker pole chocks were kind of accessible from these chases, but unfortunately the inner liner and the removable plywood cover panels were ill-conceived and actually still covered most of the nuts for these pieces of hardware, prohibiting access.  In particular, this affected access to four stanchion bases and the breast cleats.

To allow access to the inner sets of fasteners at each location, as well as increase the access to those that were sort of exposed outboard of the liner, I used a small cutting tool to remove some of the liner in way of each piece of hardware, as far inboard as the molded lip that defined the edge of the cover panel.  Unfortunately,  even with this portion cut away, the innermost fasteners were only just barely reachable, and not fully exposed.  While removal was possible now–and indeed I could and did now remove all this hardware–it was still far more difficult than it should have been, and reinstallation later would be similarly complicated by the liner design, which could (should) have been better designed to actually allow access rather than just tease at the idea.

All fruitless whining aside, once I’d opened up the access where I needed it, I started at the bow and worked aft, removing the pulpit, pole chocks, and stanchion bases as far aft as the cockpit.  Since I’d be turning around and reinstalling/rebedding these items as soon as possible, I simply left them on the deck from whence they came.

The new engine had arrived at a nearby trucking terminal, and I headed out to pick it up, unloading it in the shop and inventorying the included accessories, which this time included a plastic water-resistant cover panel for the instrument panel, a spare parts kit, coolant reservoir and vent loop, and all the usual accessories.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.75 hours

0600 Weather Report:
10°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  sunny, high in the 20s

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Thursday

This ended up being mainly a planning and ordering day, punctuated by my departure for a few hours in the middle of the day to help another boatowner with some rigging-related measuring tasks.

One question we resolved, at least in concept, was battery placement.  The new electrical system would feature an engine start battery along with a house bank of two 6-volt batteries in series, and with limited space available my first task was to find the best (or a possible) location.  The original house batteries had been in a locker beneath the cabin sole, which the owner didn’t care for, and as it happened the space would hardly–if at all–allow the planned batteries to fit.  Some time ago, since I use these batteries often, I’d built a plywood mockup of the batteries, a simple box that included the height of the terminals in its overall size.    Using this as a guide, I found that the “battery” didn’t quite fit beneath the cabin sole, and that the length of the locker was barely able to accommodate the two in line.  I thought there might be enough sloppiness in the size of the rough mockup that an actual battery might just fit, in in any event it was close, and with the desire to use a different space anyway, I continued to search, but felt that there was at least a probable fallback position.

I tried the mockup in one of the settee lockers, but the fit there wasn’t even close.

Nowhere else fit the bill of the basic requirements (i.e. space available, room for safe and proper terminal coverage, close to the engine room and electrical service to limit cable runs, etc.) except for the port cockpit locker, where there was plenty of room and where I could build a platform or box to accommodate the batteries and which made sense for various other reasons.  The owner seemed to like this location, and I’d move forward with some additional mockups to finalize the idea.

With most of the dismantling and old systems’ removal mostly complete, it was time to turn to preparing for new installations, specifically the electrical system, engine-related systems, and through hulls.  This inevitably led to various questions in terms of logistics, specific requirements from the owner, and more, and with tracking down and eventually ordering the bulk of the materials required for these varied installations, the day disappeared with a murmur and nothing particularly to show for it, at least not till the overloaded boxes started to arrive in a day or so.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.5 hours

0600 Weather Report:
8°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  sunny, high around 23°