The heart of the Dragon Lady is exposed

 Well, there she is, what a beauty ;-)   This is a good example of 40 years of poor maintenance. I really will be surprised if she runs. Also, each of those access hatches weighs about 50 pounds and take two people to move each one. I have asked Joe to consider an upgrade.

 The good news is that there is a lot of room for access to remove or replace this pile of flaking white painted rust blooms. It is entirely possible that she does run but for the time being we don't know, one battery is dead and the other only has some juice. It will likely be mid January before any real work can be done but that should be plenty of time to do the work necessary to get the boat running.

 Some real good news is that the tanks are (as reported) made from stainless steel and appear to be in pretty good shape. It took some well directed work with a crow bar to get the cover panel off.

Fuel tank connections and battery cable connections to a shunt for the ammeter readout on the power distribution panel. The panel was renewed in 2007.

 More evidence of clean dry construction (for a 40 year old boat.) Note that the tanks do not sit on the bottom of the hull which can be a great source of corrosion as moisture collects between the tanks and the hull and remains trapped until, over time, it burrows through the metal or the welds and results in an unexpected fuel spill.

 The bilge will need some scrubbing and check out that cool bronze wye fixture (used for annual winterization) attached to the engine cooling water intake valve. Neato.

 I do wonder how well this sleeve bearing is holding up. We used these on some of the cooling towers that I managed, they tend to be very durable and forgiving as long as they are selected correctly, installed correctly and lubed regularly. Some good news is that it has an extended lube line and is filled with fresh grease. Another woohoo! But, what the heck is that big spring doing back there in the top right of the photo? Inscrutable.

Merry Christmas to all and to all, good night.

Dennis

December 20, 2012

Well, she made it safe and sound late yesterday afternoon just before the yard closed for the day. I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. The photo above is from Maine, just before she left on her journey. I will go back today to take a better inventory of the items that were stowed for shipping and discuss a plan of attack with Joe Reid at Mast&Mallet.

I used a trucker that I picked from an internet service called U-Ship. With them you post your needs (what is shipping from where to where and when) and an auction ensues. You pick who to work for what price and conditions and U-Ship then shares complete contact information to each party and you complete the transaction from there. It worked well. I saved $1000 from the highest quote that I got, most were close to the final quote.  Malcolm at Big Orange Marine bigorangemarine.com was great to work with, he was on top of things with email and cell communication and he has a nice hydraulic trailer that was perfect for this job. Malcolm also arrived with his faithful companion Shoghi, pictured below, what a sweet and happy pooch he is. He had a great and good time playing with Joe's dog.

Here is a photo of the truck and trailer, the folks at Holiday Point jumped right to it and the boat was unloaded in minutes.

 And here she sits until we figure out whether or not to bring her into the building and start work right away or keep her right here for the time being.

Dennis

The Dragon Lady is on her way south. She left today at noon, will overnight in New York and arrive tomorrow afternoon. I had to have some items removed from the pilothouse roof and stowed below for shipping. She was picked up this morning in the pouring rain which was rapidly melting the snow that had fallen the day before so I got her out just in time.

Delivery photos should post tomorrow or the next day.

Dennis

12/12/12, According to the Mayan Calendar this date is the end of the world. It is also the beginning of my adventure with Dragon Lady, a 40 year old Jarvis Newman 36 lobster boat. She is being readied for shipment today in Southport, Maine and will be trucked to Holiday Point Marina in Edgewater, MD for a winter puff and fluff...well, maybe a bit more than that, but I will enlist Joe Reid at Mast&Mallet to help me get her ready for the 2013 season. The plan is to get her operational for daytime cruising and the occasional spartan overnight adventures.

I have done a lot of research on these boats and this one seemed to be the best fit for me, a bit of a project but something that I can attack a little bit at a time in my dotage. The original builder is still building on Great Cranberry Island, Maine under the business name of Newman and Gray. Check out their website http://www.newmanandgrayboatyard.com/ to see more about them and their current reconstructions of these well regarded boats. I spoke at length with Ed Gray and his son about building one of these using a similar vintage used hull as they have one available. The boats that they have redone are stunning, in a spartan kind of way. It is real easy to spend $200k+ for what they are showing pictures of in their website. A recent rebuild that is seven years old, simple and looks like new sold for $135k. As long as I don't overdo it with the Dragon Lady she may work out to be a reasonable bang for the buck when the time comes to sell her.

Once she is here (Wednesday or Thursday next week) and Joe has a chance to see her and then ask me "what came over me and why I am doing this?" we will come up with a plan of attack. We will certainly need to pull the 210 HP 1972 Caterpillar 3160 V8 diesel engine and see if she still runs. The boat has been sitting under cover on the hard for 3 years so she may or may not work. Everyone says she was working when the pulled her 3 years ago, yea, right. Cosmetically the engine has a lot to be desired. The fuel in the tanks and the tanks themselves may or may not be any good. The fuel lines and connected components certainly appear ready for replacement. Access to the tanks is pretty much non-existent, the deck over them (called the platform) is 1-1/2" T&G douglas fir and was built without access hatches or ports to allow for inspection, that's just the way they liked to build them; the concept was no hatches, no leaks. The platform is generally good but will need some work, it may or may not make the cut depending on what Joe thinks is better to do based on the engine/tanks/exhaust/etc systems that are underneath and need work.

See below...view under the platform looking forward at the back of the engine. exhaust tubes on either side block any chance to see the engine. the white corrugated bilge hose snaking its way aft is due for replacement to allow proper drainage.

The good news is that the hull is a thick and solid hand laid fiberglass beast with a recent coat of white Awlgrip, the pilothouse and decks are sound and recently painted.

There are a lot of nice bronze fittings: ports, mooring bitts, cleats, running light fixtures and those sweet bronze Kahlenburg dual trumpet air horns.

The interior is in fair shape, needs some paint and cleaning.

The head/holding tank system needs to be upgraded. Freshwater plumbing and galley fixtures will need some updating, maybe next year. There is a recent electric windlass and electrical panel so that is a bonus. Electronics, hmmmm...we will have to wait and see, anything that works is a bonus.

Oh, and then there is the name, Dragon Lady. Apparently the owners are friends with Milton Caniff the comic strip artist who developed Terry and the Pirates in the 30's and 40's and Steve Canyon shortly thereafter. The Dragon Lady was a very popular character that has been used ever since to express the fascination with the mythical, mysterious and exotic oriental woman with unusual powers of persuasion. In Terry and the Pirates she was a pirate that turned to her skills to fight the Japanese invaders and so she graced many WWII warplanes and the lockers of the soldiers fighting that war and later in Korea and Vietnam. Also of note, the U2 spy plane is nicknamed Dragon Lady.
This is a copy of the signed artwork that is posted on the forward face of the cabin. Like the lady says, I don't think that they were doing all the sacrificing for her "hand."

Here is an explanation of her mystique that I found on the web

So, in any case, it seemed to be the right thing to keep her name as it is in remembrance of those that sacrificed so much for all of us...and she'll be nice to think about when I am driving her through that nasty 4-6 foot Chesapeake chop.

That's all for now, wish me luck.