Fuel tank removed and new curtains

This weekend promised to be nasty rainy.  Indeed friday and saturday it was either overcast or raining, so we attacked 3 major projects: removing the leaking fuel tank and sewing up and mounting new curtains.  For the curtains I taught Rosa how to sew using my big sailrite zigzag machine.  She did a great job, and the fabric she picked out is very nice.  Here are some pictures of the completed curtains.

This is our temporary sewing station.  It works quite well, but we need to find a storage home for the machine in the boat somewhere, as it's just been floating for a while.  When we get cruising we need it well secured as it's 40lbs.

The fun part was hacking up the fuel tank with a jigsaw.  I broke 4 blades doing it, but I somehow managed to avoid injuring myself or Rosa in the process.  At 30 years the tank had sprung a leak.  The tank was holding about 7 gallons which I pumped out with the fuel pump.  I put 5 of those gallons in Nadesico and am retaining the rest for future operations.  I opened up both sides of the lazaret and cut a large window into each side of the tank.  I then used this window to cut the forward and aft perts of the tank, and the baffle, until the whole top of the tank was freed.  This took about 6 hours total.  I also used a cup to get the last of the fuel into containers.  Here's a few pics of the removed tank, minus the windows.

But the best part of this experience is what gross slimy stuff was at the bottom of the tank.  It was about 1/2" thick at the bottom of the tank, nasty sludge.  The fuel that I pumped out was nice and clean, but the fuel I scooped into containers was GROSS.  So I know why all these boats always clog up their racors first time they go offshore.  Well I'll have a new tank, new fuel to go with the new engine.  Here's some pics of the nastiness,

But of course, I had to find the culprit.  It wasn't hard, the starboard aft section had a bunch of corrosion.

So overall, I will be very pleased to have new tanks in the boat.

Aircon installed!

It's the small things in life, or sometimes big heavy things in boxes that make things nice.  Well today was interesting, because after work I picked up a big box of stuff from Defender, and got the call that my new aircon was finally delivered.  Rosa and I rushed to get it, and at 85 lbs is no small thing.  We gleefully rolled it down the dock and gently got the huge box into the cockpit.  Rosa helped immensely to get the aircon to the position in the V-berth, but unfortunately she cut her hand on one of the box's big staples.  Here she was dripping blood as we carried this heavy thing up front, she's awesome!  I had previously installed a new mounting board coated with epoxy, so I just drop it in and...

I have a saying about boats.  "If it aint tight, it aint right."  Think about all those hundreds of gismos in your boat that just have to be wedged up into this space with just enough room for your No 1 phillips to barely reach.  And how many tight spaces are there ('holes' as we call them) that you have enough room to get half an arm while backwards and of course you can't see.

Well anyway, the aircon is evidently installed right. It's wedged up in there and I had to place the manifold just so as I set it down so that the manifold 'just' lined up right for me to bolt in place.  A very tight install, but it's all good.  It took me to 10:30 at night but I got it installed, plumbed, and wired up correctly, all thanks to Rosa's patience and excellent assistance.  So tonight we sleep happily with our new aircon thrumming under our bed. 

As far as the toys from Defender, man I wish it had arrived Friday so I could have got some work done this weekend!  I have wire for the AC outlets, curtain tracks for our new curtains, a new shorepower cord, a bunch of hose clamps, all good things to make the boat work better, and I have to work slowly throughout the week!  Hopefully the water pump will arrive this weekend so we can take the boat out this weekend, then we can post pics of fun stuff.

Not sailing yet...

Well I really wish I could have got the water pump this week, so maybe we'd be doing these maintenance tasks out at anchor, but I guess it wasn't to be.  So here's the newest list of boat work!

I finally replumbed the water system so the 12gpm pump doesn't cycle like crazy.  The culprit: there was a check valve installed after the pump.  So dumb!  Basically the pump was coming on every 2 minutes because the pressure got low on the pump side of the check.  And every time we used any faucet on low the check kept slamming back and forth causing a bad feedback loop with the pump.  So I replumbed everything, removed a few fittings so now it's pump-2 gal accumulator-manifold to 2x cold and water heater, and then after the heater everything was ok.  I also lowered the pressure a lot to slow the flow and take the strain off the system.

Next fun thing, I removed the 2 aft lower chainplates.  They had been painted and showed a good bit of surface rust, so I was concerned.  However a short wirewheeling revealed very nice metal.  The paint actually caused the surface pitting corrosion, so never paint stainless loadbearing stuff!  I have the feeling these were replaced at some point because the main uppers are thinner metal and only bolted with 3 bolts, while these have 4 bolts.  I took measurements of the holes for future reference and rebedded them with butyl, very happy that it's at least something I don't have to replace right now!

Rosa really twisted my arm and got me to sand the deck's hand rails and eyebrow trim.  I really hate sanding but it wasn't so bad with the electric sander.  Then we manually sanded the parts I couldn't get, and Rosa washed down the wood with mineral spirits, and then she painted on the Cetol light.  Small things, and the boat looks nicer.  However there wasn't much wood left and it's on our to-do list to replace all the wood with new, when it fits in the budget.

The problem with having nice things...  well in my work fervor I managed to stain our brand new cushions.  So Rosa tried to clean it (unsuccessful) and put the cushion in the cockpit to dry.  While she was in the shower I got a wile hair and decided to replace the port water tank fill hose.  The old one was duct taped together and leaking a lot.  Anyway it took about 10 minutes to empty the shoe locker and cut out the hose.  Rosa got out of the shower and!!!  It's not that bad sweetie I'll be done asap.  Not!  The white flexy PVC I was replacing it with was not flexible, so I had to cut some holes to allow for the bends.  Then we wrestled the hose ends into place over the barbs.  I'm really proud of Rosa, she got in there and wrestled madly with me and got the same fiberglass itchies.  She's really awesome.  Anyway net result is that hose is replaced!

We're tired of working, so we'll go sailing on Nadesico tomorrow.

Boracay Star not working memorial weekend or for Bowlegs

Have been so busy!  Well, the AC unit on the boat leaked its guts out because the condenser and compressor were rusted out.  I knew about this, but the 1900$ for a new Mermaid unit hurt.  And I hadn't exactly planned for this expense.  But it's hot and I want AC.  In the mean time we have the window unit in the companionway which is a pain but works somewhat.

I managed to get a used Xantrax 40A charger for 80$, so score there.  And I went crazy and spent 100 on replacing some lamps with LED's.  Works well and looks nice but too early I think.

I finished the head project.  It seems to work quite well.

I started rebedding the deck hardware starting with the mast partner, mainsheet deck-mounted blocks, and dorade box screws.

So we have been having a major annoyance, the entire boat only has 2 AC receptacles!  So I need to wire the entire boat.  I will install wiring for port and starboard legs.  For now I'll keep them going to 1 breaker but may eventually split them.  I'm trying to not cut any holes in the pretty wood so the ones in the saloon are flush mounted on the bulkheads behind the cushions, quite invisible.  On stbd, I'll install a GFCI near the chart table and run a leg behind the quarterberth there, 3 receptacles,  into the head and replace the faulty GFCI there, and put 1 up in the V berth.  On port I'll replace the faulty GFCI in the galley, run 2 on the quarterberth, and a last one up in the vberth.  I'm also going to run a separate line for the microwave to a breaker marked as spare.

Showering is so nice and so is a separate head.  Rosa is getting things organized the way she likes them, we bought a bunch of plastic boxes.  The oven doesn't currently work, stove burners do.  I can try to fix it but I'd really like to just buy a new oven.  It will be safer with safety shutoff in case the wind blows them out.  But 1000$ vs. 200$.  I'll get to that.

I actually broke our FM stereo radio while trying to hook up the sirius satellite radio.  I don't know what's wrong.  So I think we'll need another stereo.

So I bought a rebuild kit for my salt water pump on the engine, supposing it came with a shaft.  No, just 2 seals and an impeller for 130$.  Crazy!  And I needed a shaft because mine was pitted and would chew up those seals fast.  So I ordered another one from torrenson, with a shaft for less than 100.  Returned the kit to Haynes, and bought a new pump for 260 from torrenson.  Now the bummer is that I have to wait for next week for everything to arrive.  That means the engine is nonfunctional for a little while.

We're also working on sewing up curtains.  Rosa picked out a nice pattern that I'm working on sewing.  We're getting some boat curtain tracks.

I'm really hoping we can get the boat running again and soon.  We have Nadesico cleaned out and ready to sell, but the big boat is broken.  It will probably be that way a while, as I still have to replace the fuel tanks and replace the rigging.  Unfortunately we've been spending too much to currently afford those 2 projects, but i'll get to them as I can.

I'm just hoping this weekend I'll get the AC wiring done and get the marine AC unit installed and cranking out the cold.

Boracay Star at the dock and boatwork

What a busy few days!
Wednesday we went to the boatyard to put the prop together, a Max Prop is quite complicated.  Well it was raining and I was doing the work under the dripping boat.  The company sent me the wrong replacement bolts and retaining pin, so I machined a replacement pin with my dremel tool.  I got it back together and realized that I had installed the prop 'left-handed' instead of right-handed, dooh!  Anyway bugbitten and cranky we went home triumphant.
Thursday we decided to take it easy, went to turkey creek and took pictures with a borrowed DSLR.  Taking it easy.
Friday morning we called the boatyard and she was already in the slings, ready to dunk.  We were expecting a late afternoon dunking. Anyway we got her in the water and motored away.  I repitched the prop up a notch and the boat did really well.  Except for one thing, the bilge came on.
Then it came on again.
And again.  The boat's sinking!
So I had adjusted the rudder packing, but not well enough.  It was a veritable fountain!  Ok a few minutes with tools and contortions and that was fixed...   But it wasn't!  An hour of motoring and it was gushing again.  Still we kept bilging.  What's the deal.
Anyway we had a good motortrip.  I don't want to sail until I replace the rigging.  Rosa cleaned and cooked.  Mostly we just enjoyed it, and the autopilot did a real good job despite being 30yo with NO electronics.

We took the boat to Don's house to get the dinghy, bimini frame and some extras.  Well we had a good time but wrong bimini frame!  So Don put the wrong frame on another boat that was getting ready for shipment to california!  Anyway we traded frames with a beautiful Shannon 38 and got the bimini installed.  By now were hot and tired, but the bimini is really nice!
By the way the boat was still sinking, and the water pump wasn't working for the freshwater.
Anyway we got back, docked with some docklines from Nadesico, and cleaned up.  Off to Nadesico for showers and Rosa prepared a fantastic meal even though she was tired.  I woke up at 3am and the boat was still floating, but it was still sinking... grrr
Today I worked on installing new head hoses and lavac head.  I'm getting better at boatwork, no cursing!  Anyway I discovered why the boat's sinking.  The head discharge thru-hull won't close all the way, and it was letting a slow trickle through.  Well new hose installed fixed that leak.  Also discovered that the pickup for the freshwater was mislabeled, so that was fixed.
Anyway I got the head mostly installed, and Rosa cleaned the boat and started moving things over.  A fun tiring day.
Complete pictures at https://picasaweb.google.com/110765536047581031371/May192012?authkey=Gv1sRgCJjx-deT-sbMMg

More fun today, Rosa and I pulled out the head and all related hoses.  Thankfully the hoses only had a bit of stale, stinky urine in them.  The job only took 2 hours and didn't get either of us too nasty dirty.  Thank goodness I planned this at the start, because one hose was clogged at the anti-siphon loop with a barbasol cap and some nastiness, and never would have flushed even 1 turd.  Also there were 3 vintages of hose, some of which was original 30yo.  Suffice to say, we're glad we did this first, because it would have been a very nasty job otherwise.  I also sanded the fairings applied to the bottom of the boat, now she's ready for the yard to sand the bottom and paint!  Maybe we'll get Boracay Star this week.

Another bit of work at the boatyard.  Today the epoxy is mostly cured from the resin infusion, but is still a bit soft so I couldn't sand the fairings.  I sounded the entire previously hollow-sounding area and it's hard as a rock.  I think I'll be able to sand down all the fairings by either sunday or monday.  If I can just get the parts to reinstall my MaxProp I'll be good to go!