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.

....and we're back!

Forced myself to take a month off to prepare for some music jobs, which was well timed as it was really too cold to work outside at night.  Now that the weather is turning I've done a couple of half days this weekend, and will try and do some evenings here and there.

Firstly, made the last four rib patches in the series, these can be sealed and installed hopefully by next weekend.  Gingerly cut three stopped dado's in the middle cross floor (by hand, I don't have a router) and started making up the gear lever mount.

Talked to Herbert a while back about the wisdom of removing one of the big ugly sawn floors from under the engine.  It's not original, but it is stronger than the regular floors in that area, as they are cut right down under the engine.  The ribs through this area (replaced by Peter Murton) are all butt joined over the keelson, so also contribute nothing.  I believe from the one rib that wasn't replaced here (see pic) that these would have all been one continuous piece from deck to deck.  Herbert suggested scarfing in patches down the middle to re-create this effect.  It's what I've been doing for weeks with the cracked pieces at the turn of the bilges, however these will be easy - seven little straight links.  I cut a strip of oak, chamfered the top corners and notched out the seven offending bits with my trusty Fein Multimaster.  All done in a couple of hours, ready to seal, glue and rivet.

A Good Day

   Ahh, twas a very Good Day.  First, I decided to dismantle the Parsons gearbox as it is unbelievably filthy inside and out.  I had previously attacked the casing with paint stripper and a drill-mounted wire brush, but there was still lots of work to do.  Emptied the oil out, really horrible thick brown syrup with a bit of water on top.  The output flange came off easily and once both end plates were persuaded free the entire shaft and all it's associated machinery came out in one piece, leaving the bands and selector mechanism.  The whole housing can now be thoroughly de-loused.  The bands look fine, and brother Al thinks we can match up replacement front/rear seals and bearings from Saeco, an automotive supplier.  This beats sending it to a marine engineer for a  service, I probably saved hundreds.

   Also received a parcel from the postie.  I can hardly believe it, it's Jado's original bow roller!  I've been leaning on Peter Murton to send me this for months, especially once I saw it on the bow of another boat that he was advertising.  Months of unanswered emails and vague promises, and now it's here!