March 1, 2013 Update

I have been busy this past month with some visible progress towards completing the fridge, battery relocation, engine instrument panel renovation, navigation lights update and companionway door re-finishing. I plan to complete the fridge and battery installation during the next week and then move immediately to installation of a stereo so that I can listen to music while I work on the next system renewal and installation.  So my report for February.....

Yuck!  The condition of throttle and gear selector is showing the results of pure salt water exposure and lack of regular maintenance so when I removed the instrument panel for a rework this was the first item that I was able to quickly remedy.

Here she is part way through the renovation, a Dremel tool (thanks Steve) helped remove the heavy corrosion.

Here is the final result with the appropriate RED knob on the throttle.

The cabinet design and construction has taken the lions share of my time this past month, first up
is the PLAN, the picture is a little fuzzy but so is the plan!

Next up is the concept...

 So now we need a book to keep the plan and the sketches safe and sound..

 and of course, more sketches...

So now, the full scale cardboard model to prove we can get the box through the companionway and into place so I built...

 So I have constructed a plethora of panels to build the new cabinetry to support the 100 pound fridge and restrain the 440 amp house bank of batteries to keep this puppy running and the beer cold!

here is the shelf for the fridge to sit on...

here is where three of the batteries will sit...

the lid to cover the batteries is shown with two finger holes for lifting it out.

 one battery will live on the panel at left and the fridge compressor will sit on the shelf to the right

Look for the finished product in the blog update later this month.

While getting the mock up of the fridge through the companionway I removed the door and took it to Raul's shop for a refinish, the two pictures below show the condition of the existing varnish and cabinet fit, not quite up to my standard.

Navigation lights, yes, these too needed and upgrade. This is one of the side lights, it is covered in corrosion and the other one was missing...

so I will upgrade to some nice solid bronze lights manufactured in Italy for Peters and Bey

The main running light is a nice bronze number that needs some reconditioning but at the end of the day it is a bit small for this boat

 And the stern light and anchor light were mix of stuff, some nice, some no so nice

So I will replace these with one running light that will double as and anchor light, a nice big solid bronze number from Perko with an LED bulb for low power draw and long life.

I have started the model for the holding tank using a part of a styrofoam box, shown here in a cabinet right next to the head and directly under the side deck where the pump out will be located so short easy runs for the hoses. The tank is on order from Holland so it may be a month or so before this installation is complete. In the meantime there always is the good old cedar bucket!

New wipers for the windscreen are on order so that too will be for next month. In the meantime I will need to do a bit of house keeping on wiring for the power distribution panel. This was installed five years ago but not a very neat job? I do lose sleep over this stuff, not really sure why.

Okay kids, that is all for now. Next update this time next month. Cheers to all.

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.

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