Repair to Lazarette/Saloon Bulkhead

There was some delamination of the tabbing between the bottom of the bulkhead and the hull.  Removing the tabbing revealed some wet plywood behind it.

All but the most forward wet ply we're removed.  The single remaining ply was used as a form for the 1/2" of epoxy wetted 1708 fiberglass that was installed.

The repaired area was filled and faired.

Three coats of Rust-Oleum gloss white enamel finished the job.

Teak Deck Maintenance

All the teak pads on both the bow and dinghy deck got some TLC.  The perimeter of the pads was re-caulked with Teakdecking Systems SIS 440.

A sharp chisel makes fast work of seam topping.   New caulk was added as necessary to any seams with voids.  

Hull Wax and New Sending Unit

Waxed the hull and polished the rubrail, anchor strike plate, and cut water today.  

Out with the old.  

The homemade $8 press made easy work of extracting the well bedded, old sounder's sending unit.

In with the new.  The new sending unit is bedded in an abundant amount of BoatSeal.

The homemade deep-socket allowed the sounder's wire to pass through it as the socket tightened the sounder's 2-3/8" retaining nut--something a traditional socket would not have allowed.

Each of the last four days working on Nellie has gotten a little hotter.  As the car's thermometer shows, it was 108°F on the tarmac at 11 am this morning.

The Bottom Job

 

After being lifted out of the water Nellie was power washed then left drying on the hard for three weeks.  Any flaking bottom paint was scraped off and all underwater running gear (that needed it) was repainted with epoxy.  

The bottom was painted with 3-1/2 gallons of West Marine CPP ablative: one coat everywhere; two coats on the running gear; three coats on the bow and;  three coats from the waterline down three feet.  The remaining paint will be used when Nellie's back in the slings to double coat the area under the eight stand pads and three hull blocks.

Note: some of the old bottom paint had come off revealing the barrier coat.  The barrier coat is in excellent condition and no blisters were seen anywhere.  DBH

Removing Wall Finish

This very sharp paint scraper works well to get Tommy's two part finish out of the wainscot's chamfer.

Serendipitously Finding Engine Mount Natural Neutral

After installing Nellie's new Cushyfloat 45 engine mounts, the vibration data shown by the graph's red line were collected.  The amount of vibration was greater than expected.  I suspected that the aft, starboard mount was a little low.  So, with the engine running, I began the leveling procedure by loosening the mount's nut (shown in picture).

 I was surprised, to say the least, when the vibration instantly stopped. By loosening the nut with the engine running, the engine adjusted itself to find its own natural neutral. At this point I re-tightened the bolt.   The graph's blue line shows the marked improvement.  

Engine Mount Lessons Learned

I've learned a lot putting new engine mounts in Nellie.  One, it's not a hard job.  Two, selecting the proper engine mount is critical.  

Nellie's factory-original Cushyfloat mounts had no model number.

The first new set of mounts, Cushyfloat 65's, were dramatically noiser than Nellie's factory-original Cushyfloat mounts.  I then removed the 65's and installed Cushyfloat 45's.  The graph below compares the wheelhouse noise level with each mount type.

On average the 45's are more than 50% quieter (-12bB) than the 65's. 

Why?  Because as the graph above shows, they're better at dampening the engine's vibration. 

Bottom line, Nellie has never run been quieter or smoother.

An Update on Portlight Screens

Nellie's new bronze screen.

Nellie D. 37VT63 wasn't lucky enough to get factory window screens and it was a struggle to come up with a good alternative. Particularly irksome are the little portlights in the shower, head, and stateroom.  An effective, inexpensive and now time tested solution is to use the port's stainless ring to hold a screen in place.

Screen caulked inplace on backside of portlight ring.

The installation process is very straight forward. In fact, the hardest part of the job is removing the stainless ring. It is bedded in polysulfide but will yield with patience. I used a razor knife to cut the joint around the inside of the window. Then working around the inner circumference, with two screwdrivers and a putty knife, I gradually wedged the ring away from the cabin side. Two things to watch-out for: don't scratch the gel coat and don't bend the ring. With the ring off you'll note that the port itself is well bedded. If there are voids in the port's bedding, fix them now as I suggest the ring be reinstalled without bedding—it makes replacing a damaged screen much easier. Use the ring as a template but cut the screen about 1/4" smaller. A thin layer of silicone caulk will secure the screen to the ring. After the caulk is dry reinstall the ring. As always, make sure to bed the screws.

In 2013 I installed $3 worth of 18 x 16 mesh, aluminum screen in the four ports. Last month, after seven years in use, I noticed some galvanic corrosion on the aluminum screen.  The aluminum screen was easily replaced with $18 worth of bronze, 18 x 16 mesh, screen.  Why bronze screen?  Well, it should last longer than aluminum as it's closer in nobility to stainless steel.  But, more importantly, it looks cool!

By the way, worth considering too is the size of the screen's mesh. A 20 x 20 mesh will keep no-see-ums out.

Muffler Leak Repair

The muffler's fiberglass tube, that  connects to the exhaust hose, developed a crack.  Here's a picture of the tube.  

Clearly visible, thanks to the carbon in the exhaust, is the line of failure.  The line was along a seam in the fiberglass layup.  I suspect that's why the tube fractured the way it did.

The line of failure and the area around it was cutout with a 1/4" wide abrasive wheel.

Tape was temporarily put inside the tube along the length of the slot.  The slot was filled with West 404 thickened epoxy.  A layer of mat and cloth, wetted in West epoxy was wrapped around the entire circumference of the exhaust tube. 

After finishing the rough edges, the exhaust hose was reattached to the muffler.

An eight hour run, at 1800 rpm, confirmed that there are now no leaks.

Cummins Connector Box

Cummins connector box with Balmar ARS-5 regulator mounted on front.

Wire connections to the 15-place terminal strip inside the connector box.

Nellie has a Balmar 9115 alternator.

Chafe Guard

Added a chafe guard on the turbo's oil supply line.  

Water Heater Hose Split

During this morning's engine check water started leaking from the upper hotwater tank hose--drip, drip, drip.  The hose's outer layer had split.  I suspect that my back repetitivly pressing against the hose during engine check caused the fatigue failure.  The hoses' damaged end was removed.  The remaining hose was more than long enough, so it was reattached to the hot water tank.

Note to self: don't lean back so hard during engine check ;-)

Wheelhouse Noise Level

The following was recorded in calm seas at 1800 rpm.

Electrical Outlets

Yesterday I noticed that the OEM Jimbo outlet, located under the saloon's middle, starboard side window was cracked.  After pulling off the wood faceplate all the broken pieces just fell out.  Apparently the 1987 electrical code didn't require the receptacle to be polarized--both upper apertures on the Jimbo ("Before" picture) are the same size.  It's nice that the shape of the outlets hasn't changed in 32 years and the wood faceplate fits the new outlet perfectly.  By the way, the teak faceplates were hand made by the Yard.

Makeup Table Light, Yamaha Carburetor, etc.

 I wasn't able to find a satisfactory replacement light for above the stateroom's makeup table, so I made one. 

  Don't laugh, it's made of three, Dollar Tree, battery powered, LED lights.  However, rather than being powered by individual AAA batteries, I connected them to the boat's 12V system.  Plugging a 4.5V device into a 12V supply is a sure way to let the magic smoke out.  The connection was made possible by the use of a 12V to 5V buck converter.  A buck converter is what's inside those ubiquitious, 12V, USB, phone chargers.

They're available everywhere, including at, drum roll please, Dollar Tree.  I removed the buck from it's cigarette lighter enclosure and soldered it into the light's switch.  Then I soldered the buck's 5V power to each of the three lights.  I used Dollar Tree doubled-sided tape to hold the lights firmly and closely together.  Then 1" round magnets, also from Dollar Tree, were affixed, using doubled-sided tape, to the back of each light and to corresponding points on the ceiling.  Yup, got the magnets at Dollar Tree too. Total material cost $6.36.  Total labor cost... hey, not everything is about money!

The dink has been running rough for several years.  Today I took the carb apart and found lots of sticky stuff inside it.  The low speed jet, which has very small holes, was badly blocked.  After a thorough cleaning the engine started and ran much better.  

Re-painted the windshield wiper arms black.  Also, sanded and and Cetoled the wiper wells where they finish was damaged during the new wiper installation.

Sanded and polyurethaned the leading edge on the nav station insert above the stateroom steps.

Sea Trials

We ran Nellie up to 2600 rpm without a hiccup.  I spent a lot of the time looking over the engine.  Other than a small oil leak near the base of the dipstick all was nominal.  Even the Cummins' water temperature didn't go up much.

Once back at the dock the we found transmission fluid in the bilge.  The smoking gun was a loose hose fitting at the hear exchanger.  I apparently forgot to fully tighten it after changing the transmission fluid.  The ATF level was topped up.

The heat exchanger's zinc was in good shape albeit covered in a hard, brown, mineral deposit.  It was scrapped clean and returned to service.

The rear engine mounting bolts were tightened.  Actually, I just confirmed they're tight as I couldn't budge them.

Things are looking good.

Splash!

The winds were under 20kts, the rain was intermittent, and the temperature was approaching 50°F.  No more excuses, we went feet wet at 8:30AM.  The engine started right up.  There was dramatically less exhaust smoke as compared to last year.  Thank you new injector pump and new injectors.

 The dinghy, which wintered on the O2 deck, was winched down and its engine attached.  The 15HP Yamaha started reluctantly but then ran well.  The dink is back on the davits.

The 35 lb CQR was traded out for the 80 lb Babeth.  More rock anchorages than mud anchorages are in Nellie's immediate future.

The water tanks were filled and the water lines pressurized.  No leaks.  The hotwater tank is working too.

Tomorrow, seas trials.

New Wheelhouse Cushions

The wheelhouse seat cushions were looking old and tired.  So, new foam and new micro-suede fabric was ordered ($889) from John at the Canvas Shop, Belleville, Ontario.  Bicki made the throw pillows.  Looking good now.

Today's splash was called on account of wind and rain.  We'll try to float Nellie again tomorrow morning.

Wipers and Rubrail Paint

The Schmitt & Ongaro two-speed, heavy duty wipers with 2.5" shaft ($102.79 on Amazon) can be set up to park on either the right side of the window or the left side of the window.  Picture below is how I want them.  However, they did exactly the opposite.  Well that's frustrating.

It was then that I realized that the wiper motors are installed upside down.  While that's not a problem, it does reverse the parking side.  Duh.

Replaced the 17" wipers with 21" ones.  

Touched up the rubrail's black paint with Rust-Oleum enamel.

Bottom Paint, Boot Stripe and Wipers

Off came the plastic wrap...

On goes one gallon of West Marine CPP Ablative bottom paint.  It takes three gallons to do the bottom, but since everything is in good shape, we're just doing the waterline, rudder and prop.  

Before painting Bicki washed the hull with water to remove the flaking paint.

After the bottom paint dried, Bicki refreshed the boot stripe with a coat of Rust-Oleum gloss white enamel.

I installed two new windshield wiper motors on the wheelhouse's starboard and center windows.  Since there was little difference between hi and low wiper speeds, I repurposed the low speed wire to power the self parking feature.  Now it makes no difference when the wiper is turned off, it will keep going until it reaches its designated home position.  Now all three wiper motors are the same type and run very smoothly and quietly.