Roll, roll, roll your boat....

Well, the day arrived at last.  Al came over and helped me finish off the riveting - fitting the last of the rib patches and tightening some old ones under the stern.  Once that was done we were able to fit the frame I built a year ago, and start winching.  The stress came when we reached the halfway point and I had to hold the hull upright - on a very windy day - while the chain block was rigged around the other side.  The whole routine took just over an hour.  Now ready for phase two....

Frustration....

The last floor - promise!

A frustrating time, I guess it comes along in every project.  Have been working fairly continuously on Jado but don't have much to show for it.  Little details, some sanding and fiddling. My borrowed heat gun died, so I had to buy my brother a new one.  The bandsaw blade broke. The guy who I hire to help with the riveting has cancelled the last two weekends due to health, and we went away for one weekend, so things have stalled.  The final batch of riveting is all that's left to do before she can be turned over and it just isn't happening.  My new plan is to go and visit the Traditional Boatbuilding School - conveniently located in Hobsonville - and see if any of their students want some extra work.  My other niggle is with the engineer who told me he could modify the gearbox input shaft in a couple of hours, and has had it for three weeks.

Keel bolts ready to install - 28/8

On the positive side progress has been made on a few fronts. The Savage heat exchanger I bought turned out to be a gem.  Pulled the end caps off to clean it and found the all the tubes were clear and everything looks healthy. Went through it with the waterblaster and reassembled it.  Assembled the manifolds and carb on the engine, just waiting on a fuel pump that will fit under that oversized marine exhaust header.  Made up all the copper bolts for the keel and engine beds and fitted those.  Did one last cross-floor near the bow.  The old one needed lots of patching and it kept bugging me so in the end it seemed a better option to replace it.  It was tricky though, and had to be done over a couple of evenings.

Transformation

As delivered: New floors and engine beds, Peter Murton's workshop, June 2009.

New floors and engine beds, August 24, 2010.

Wedge of mahogany will support the forward end of
the floorboard.

A wee update:  Have been working on the engine beds and various other details.  The beds are taking shape and  are at the finishing stage.  The stbd one is being test fitted below.  The square of plywood bolted to the prop shaft was my primitive means of marking the shaft angle onto the beds.  Made up the wedge that supports the for'ard end of the floorboards - a simple little item but like many things in boats not as simple as it at first appears....some to-ing and fro-ing with straight edges and dividers was needed to get it right.  Tonight filled the holes left by Peter Murton's floors and engine bed bolts with timber.

I have also accidentally found a guy who can adapt the gearbox input shaft to the 100E - Victor at Transconverters said about $120, which is good enough for me, so I'll do some drawings and get the flywheel and shaft over to him on Monday.  Also bought a heat exchanger off a BMC Commander for $40.00, this should be more than adequate, and some taps and dies so that I can fabricate my own keel bolts soon.

Starboard engine bed trial fitting.

Had a very significant email from Jim Donald last weekend donating Jado's original tiller back to her!  It's a very unexpected and generous gift, especially in light of the fact that Jim has kept it as a memento since it was removed in the 70's.  Thank you, Jim, I hope I can do some justice to your faith.

Nearly there...

Engine bed undersides.



For'ard floor ready for sealing and fitting.





 

Spent the afternoon noodling away happily in the bilges.  Made up the for'ard-most floor, that's ready to be sealed and fitted now.  Then began working on the engine beds.  Shaped both the undersides, tomorrow I'll double-check the shaft angle and the position of the gearbox mounts, then I'll be able to form the upper edges and drill bolt holes.  Next major job - making and fitting keel and engine bed bolts.

Parson's Progress



Before, and....



....well, hopefully it's obvious.


Finished the cosmetic and mechanical renovation of the Parsons gearbox, spraying a final coat of machinery grey on Sunday (8th).  As the "before" photo shows, this took some serious sanitising - waterblasting, paint stripping, scraping, elec. wire brushing, sanding, vinegar dipping, parts washing, more scraping, waterblasting, painting.... then new seals and bearings.  But ready to be filled with fluid and mated to the 100E motor now.

Progress

Forward rib patch, showing the kind of 3-dimensional form required
 to follow the hull shape.

   A frantic weekend as I'd booked Dave's help for today, and then decided to replace a couple of extra ribs at the forward end.  They weren't cracked or rotten, but it looks as though there had been no floorboards there for many years, the bottoms of them are trampled to ribbons.  They were, however, long and twisted, so they took most of Saturday evening to reproduce.  One I made in two halves to keep the grain as straight as possible through the length of the rib.

   Got up early this morning and went nuts with the primer and CEPS and, drilling holes in floors and so on.  Dave showed up at 11 and we riveted in the four rib patches that were ready to go, then two of the floors.  The little links I made to join the ribs over the keelson were glued and screwed in place.

   The engine beds are rough-cut to length and propped in place to check the alignment of the new floors.  When these are all fixed in place (next weekend?) I'll be able to remove the heavy-looking banana-style ones - yay - and start whittling away at the engine beds.  Looking forward to that.