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