Such a lovely look, chunks of paint from the engine, screws and nuts that fell down into the Stygian depths of the bilge only to be slathered in a thick coating of oil and anti-freeze from countless years. Soooooooo.... I have made some amends. 

The bilge inside the cabin is connected to the main bilge under the engine so of course it too needed some love.

Since we had some nice weather for a couple of days in late January I also took a chance to pull out the canvas and see how it fits to the pilothouse. 

It looked pretty good except for the places where work had been done to the wood on the pilothouse and no one got around to replacing the fasteners in the wood. I guess that they never used it once it had been made?

But it will be easy for me to install those little fittings at little cost. I was just glad that the canvas and the isinglass was in excellent shape, very little use.

Next up was the instrument panel.

I will be reconditioning/replacing as needed. It is nice that the transmission has a pressure gauge but not as nice that it functions mechanically instead of electrically. It uses a long length of hose containing 200 - 400 psi of oil tapped directly from the gearbox; not so fun if that long skinny hose springs a leak. It will be replaced with an electric pressure sensor mounted to the gear case and a single wire to feed a signal to the sensor on the panel. Total cost about $60 for a bit more peace of mind. The big surprise was that none of the instruments had lights! I guess the previous owners just did not navigate at night? Anyway, another easy fix, a couple of bucks for each light fittings and some extra wire.

And now for my first tool casualty.

I was using this small ball peen hammer to pry up a floor panel that was swollen shut. Oops. Too bad, I have had that hammer for 30 years. But it may have been worth it. See the photo below of yet more bilge gunk.

I gave it a quick scoop out and wipe down and will wait for warmer weather to do a more thorough cleaning.

Oh. and one more thing. I discovered some more info to add to the story. The Chinese year of the dragon has more than one type of dragon, some years it is a fire dragon, some years an earth dragon or an air dragon, but 2012, the year that I pursued and purchased Dragon Lady is a WATER dragon. Additionally, she was built during a water dragon year and I was born during a water dragon year. Too groovy/celestial/whatever.


Cheers.

Head, Fridge and Engine Removal

The Head is Dead

Oh yumm, my favorite task of all, removing the rubber holding tank, hose and the head is D-O-N-E. Such a tasty project. The photo above shows the subject components resting quietly on the ground. A nice new head with fresh components is due for installation by yours truly sometime next month. PVC pipe will replace the hose wherever possible and a nice, heavy walled plastic holding tank will be located well aft under the platform. A Groco Model K manual head will do all the work of pumping and moving the product from here to there.

Fridge Removal

Next in line for replacement is the old refrigerator, I did not know why but it no longer worked. The photo below shows my custom device, similar to a wheel puller, that I had to design and build in order to remove the fridge.

The fit of the box in the cabinetry was so tight that the box did not simply slip out of the cabinet as I had hoped. I suppose that the foam insulation surrounding the outside of the box must have swelled over time which made this device necessary. There is a 2x6 that cannot be seen here that I slipped though a hole in the back of the fridge, it is connected to another 2x6 on the front with a piece of 3/8" all-thread. I used the all thread to clamp the fridge between the 2x6's. Judicious use of various pieces of scrap plywood and strips of hardwood scrap wedges were hammered in between the front face of the cabinet and the 2x6 in the front until the fridge eventually was pried free.

The photo above shows the back of the fridge. The rectangular hole near the top of the fridge was covered by a thin plastic panel that was the only barrier between the inside of the fridge and the compartment housing the compressor that was pulling heat from the fridge. This was a very, very poor design that probably only worked because the boat was in Maine sitting in 50 degree water.

Here is the compressor that was sitting behind the fridge, as mentioned, it was basically a heat generator sitting directly behind the fridge and heating up the compartment, there was no way for this heat to escape so as it was pulling heat from the fridge in order to make the fridge cold and at the same time it was heating up the outside of the fridge in a rather viscous cycle. This likely caused an early demise for the compressor.

The compressor was a nice little piece of equipment made in Italy, when I cut the refrigerant line it was completely empty of coolant, which is further confirmation for need to replace the the fridge. I should have a completely new unit installed sometime next month and will post photos and notes on that installation once it is complete.

Be Out Nasty Engine!

Keith Gunther at GPS Marine http://www.holidaypointmarina.com/page8.html has done a fine job checking out the engine and we have determined that she is running just fine, a big WOOWHOO! to my pocketbook. Accordingly, Keith has removed the engine and she is now resting quietly in his shop for a bit of fluff and puff.

There is a lot of flaking paint, heavy rust, tired hoses and bits that normaly wear out over time that will be replaced. The engine will be cleaned up and painted and a drip pan will be fabbed to sit under the great iron beast to catch any minor drips of oil or coolant to keep those fluids out of the bilge and then more importantly, out of the bay.

Now that the engine is out I will also have the opportunity to dig into all of the dark hidey holes that likely have not seen the light of day for 40 years.

I plan to do some house cleaning and painting. It won't be fun but needs to be done. Once it warms above 50 degrees I can paint those surfaces. The new clean paint will help in me the future after the engine is re-installed by making it easier to spot any unscheduled drips and address them before they turn into problems. And yes, that white bilge hose snaking along the stringer will be replaced with a free draining line that won't collect bilge water and freeze. I guess this arrangement working in Maine because it was filled with seawater but down here it will have bay water which will freeze and burst the hose if not allowed to drain.

All for now, cheers.