A bit of fill and antifoul will sort it out.

[Slacko]

After lots of trial and shaving bits off, I got the back end of the new engine bearer down to the same level as the other side.
At least the front end was fixed at the correct height easily as a datum point.


I then glued it down and dropped the metal engine cradle in to make sure it was in the correct place while curing.

Yesterday I made plywood shelf for the battery box to sit on. The rest of the under berth space provides great storage too.



The blocks locate the battery box, and there is a strap to hold it down.

[Slacko]

OK, the engine is now sitting in place, looking green and shiny!



It sits high enough that there isn't much to be gained by cutting down the bridge deck.
I probably will move the cabin entry to the centre at some stage, but I will put the current rear cabin panel and door back in for now.

[John B]

Great job, I feel encouraged... maybe I should reconsider the green death afterall.

[Garret]

Major milestone! Excellent.

[Slacko]

Today I got the rear of the cabin back on, so no more tarpaulin. It held well, but the weather played mostly nice or blew from the South which blew it down not up.
I started looking at the exhaust layout, and got the raw water hooked up.

I've also been attacking the rudder hull penetration which was leaking pretty bad after the last haul out at Christmas. This was why I pushed straight into the engine replacement, as I needed to come out for the leak.
The centreline timber is laminated from 25 x 90mm Kauri in 3 layers, and the laminations had failed (probably Resorcinal again).
I cut the top 2 layers back to a bulkhead forward and aft and will scarf in new timber.
There was no rot which is a bit frustrating to cut away good wood so I can glue in new.
The rear of the boat is a bit floppy now, with props up underneath and the twin backstays taking some load as well.
The penetration is about 70mm with a fibreglass tube in a 90 x 90 solid post up to the deck.
The 70 mm means there is only 10 mm of centreline either side of it.
There is a load spreading block sitting between the centreline and the post, but I will add blocks either side glued to the hull to beef it up.
The problem I've been dealing with is wet wood.
I've been drying it out for 3-4 days, but today I hit it with some meths which lifts moisture out.
I then left the hatches open with a fan heater blowing hot air through. A bit of sunshine even got on it, so I'm happy that it is dry enough for epoxy in there ,probably starting on Tuesday after work.
I was considering using some moisture cure glue, but this is a high load area so was a bit leery of that.

[Slacko]

I went to the timberyard and got the centreline timber for the rudder penetration repair.
The yard has been getting out of exotic timber for a few years now. They once had a shed stacked to the rafters with all sorts of goodies.
I got 25 x 150 NZ Kauri that seems pretty good. Not 1/4 sawn, but still straight and useable.
The only guy there who deals with the non-pine timber showed me a large piece of Kauri that was treated.
He then mentioned that it had been hanging around for as long as he had worked for the yard (14 years).

[Slacko]

Here are some photo's of the rudder penetration repair.

Looking forward,


The rudder tube is visible in there.
The block is detached from the rudder post and the ring frame across the front of the rudder post, so I will glue that back in first.
There was a brass coach bolt in there that I will replace with a 10mm diameter x 150 long coach screwed into the new keelson timbers.



The back end of the repair, scarfs cut ready for new timber.
There will be plenty of Epoxy in there so a tight fit isn't required, which is lucky cos working down there isn't easy.


I've made the new pieces now, so will shape the boat to fit them as required. This will tidy the faces up a bit.

[Slacko]

Some progress yesterday.
I glued the block back up to the rudder post using wedges to hold in place.
The wedges were inspired by watching the youtube channel "Sailing Yaba" where a boatyard in Brazil is rebuilding a wooden traditional boat.
Questionable construction and repair of the hull, but amazing what they get done with wedges, sledgehammers, a chainsaw and a bandsaw.
It looks like a slow motion train wreck to start with, but boy do they get some work done!

I got the exhaust connected from the engine to the waterlock exhaust and the riser after the waterlock installed.
I'm working on the control cables now. The engine needs a throttle that pulls, but the lever pushes. I found online that the morse controls can be switched, so one less thing that doesn't work.

There is no room on the shaft for an anode, as the new cutlass bearing cannot handle that much shaft between the prop and bearing with the soft engine mounts and flexible coupling.
A shaft wiper to connect the shaft to the keel anode is the solution.
There are no BEP marine wipers available in NZ it seems ($85), so the only solution is a complicated $350 unit.
Or, I have to make one. A piece of copper pipe, metal strap and some fasteners are in my future.
I have a keelbolt with a tapped hole already that I can connect to, so I'm part way there now.
As I said, this install is fighting me every step of the way.

[Stiletto]

As I said, this install is fighting me every step of the way.

It seems to me that you are well ahead on points! It's looking good.

[Slacko]

Today I got the internal centreline timber shaped and glued into place.
I was running hot with the gluing, as it was pretty warm and I was using the fast hardener.
Nothing like putting the pressure on.
I got there, just!
There will be some cleanup of lumps and drips, But I was happy with the result.

[Slacko]

On the engine front I've got the battery cables in (the ones I had were 100mm too short).
I need to finalise the control cables operation and setup,
the electrical panel cables are just long enough, so are plug and play,
and I need to put a 10 micron filter in the full line.

I've listed the old engine online as components rather than as a unit, and have sold the Savage heat exchanger for 1/2 purchase price which was better than expected, and got $300 for the dead engine.
The gearbox, oil cooler and propeller are still listed so I hope to claw back a reasonable amount.

[Slacko]

The fuel filter, control cables and earth strap for the prop shaft have all been ticked of the list now so the engine is ready to go once the exhaust pipe to the back is put back in.
It is out while I'm doing the rudder leak repair.
I'll build a new box around the engine once I'm back in the water.

The earth strap is sitting in place here, I had to put a slight twist on the arm so it sits flat on the shaft when screwed down.
IMG20230320200052.jpg
The wire is attached to one of the studs sticking up from the end of it.

The rudder repair is still in progress, as I will redo the attachment of the skeg to the hull between the rudder and the propeller.
Inside is going to get some beefing up too, either fiberglass or timber depending on how I feel at the time.
Both options require time under the cockpit, which I've already seen a lot of already in the last month.

[Slacko]

I moved to the outside last night after sanding the daggy bits of glue on the rudder repair.
I removed the stainless steel brackets that attached the top of the rudder skeg to the hull.
This has never been very successful, the screws to the hull were the cause of the leak that I'm dealing with and always came loose.
I dug all the loose gunge out from between the hull and skeg with the multitool, then stripped all the paint off the skeg.
IMG20230323193710.jpg
I have some heavy monoaxial Carbonfibre cloth that I'm going to layer up over a nice fat fillet to the skeg/hull join and stiffen up the skeg at the same time.

[Slacko]

Yesterday I stripped some of the paint off the hull above where the skeg is, then cut a 5mm deep 90 x 30 trench into the hull both sides beside the skeg.
I've made a pair of blocks that will be glued into them, and the carbon will lay over the top.
It was a bit punky in there, so I spent the day painting methylated spirits in there to dry the wood out.
It is working well enough that hopefully I can do the glue up tomorrow.
I switched back to inside the hull while the drying is going on, and made a pair 50 x 30 timbers to go either side of the rudder penetration and got them glued into place.

IMG20230325161748.jpg

IMG20230325161807.jpg

I'm basically ready for paint in there now, then I can reconnect all the plumbing.

[Slacko]

This afternoon I worked on the rudder keg attachment.
I painted everything with neat epoxy,
Glued and screwed the Jarrah locating blocks into the cutouts in the hull,
then laid 3 of 90 mm wide layers of 400gsm cloth that starting with a 200 mm long one,
then longer each layer.
Finally a cover of peel ply over the top to flatten it all down.

IMG20230326173536.jpg

[Slacko]

Today I stripped the peel ply, light sand and filled the rudder skeg with West 413.




I also sanded and primed the internal repairs. Starting to look good in there.

[Slacko]

Since the last post I've got 2 coats of top coat paint on the internal repairs, looking good!
After some drying time, (the Altex single pack paint stays really soft for a long time after it has "cured"), I reinstated all the hoses to the transom.
Cockpit drains, bilge pumps, then the exhaust hose. Wrestling a python with that one!
Today I sanded the rudder skeg filler, primed it then got the first coat of antifoul on this and the new propeller.

[Slacko]

I've got the rear of the engine box, and the sides forward to the cockpit floor installed.


It looks like there is plenty of space to get pieces in there until you cut them. I thought I could do the rear with 2 pieces, but ended up with 5 in the end.

The water seperator/filter unit will sit behind the entry steps as it will be too tight with the insulation.


I'm making patterns for the box that will cover the rest of the engine from MDF door skin.
I'm tapering everything to try to make it less boxy sitting there.


I've also been spending time finishing off some of the list of small jobs.
Lights in the rear lockers,
filling and painting around the old engine box demolition,
fitted the arm on the bottom of the tiller for the autopilot. I made a new arm a couple of years ago, but for some reason thought it wouldn't fit/work.
It fitted perfectly and looks great. It will be great to have autopilot again.
I have a Raymarine ST2000 I think. It doesn't have the power to sail to windward, but is fine for other points of sail and is awesome when motoring long distance.
I hooked up the depth and speed sensor wiring in the new panel, and freed up the paddlewheel with some fine sandpaper on the shaft. I'm not sure how it got the little burr on it that was stopping it from working.

Tomorrow is relaunch day and engine trials with the mechanic. Fingers crossed!

[Garret]

We're rooting for ya!

[Slacko]

That went really well.
The weather was more Spring than Autumn, with a tornado wreaking some havoc 50km's away on the West Coast.
After coffee and a sausage roll at the boatyard cafe, she got dropped in the water.




The engine fired up straight away and settled to a slightly fast idle.
After testing the gear shifting was correctly connected, the idle was adjusted down, the water and oil levels in the engine and gearbox oil double checked, so we headed out for a sea trial.
There was up to 30 knots blowing on the nose out of the marina, but we were seeing 8.5 Knots at 2900 revs full throttle pushing into it.
Spinning around we got 8.9 Knots with the wind behind, with a stern wave up around the top of the transom and the hull trying to climb out of the hole we were digging.
We dropped off the mechanics at the dock, and took off for town running at around 7.5 knots at 2000 rpm, varying the revs up and down every few minutes as advised by the mechanics.
It was a bit of a wet ride across the harbour with wind on the stern quarter whipping spray into the cockpit.
Happy days with a beer to celebrate getting the job done.

[Garret]

Excellent! I hope the boat enjoyed the "coffee and a sausage roll at the boatyard cafe"...

[John B]

8.5 knots!
Neat companionway hatch/ door, I haven't noticed that before.

[Stiletto]

Congratulations! I'm glad it worked out so well.

[Slacko]

Some of you may have noticed I'm a little distracted at the moment from other threads on here.
I have been working away making the new engine box.
It is in primer as I write.
Plywood, that will hinge from the floor, forward and have the break apart hinges from the old box.
The lid is cut from the old box so retains the paint finish and the noise insulation underneath that is "quite" expensive I thought when I got a 1200 square piece to line the rest of the box.

[Slacko]

I took the box, which now has a fiddle rail around the top to check for fit.
It was pretty good considering templates I made were difficult to keep in place while making them
IMG20230508162116.jpg

I now need to install a piece of timber across the ends of the engine bed to install hinges. Once these are on, the final fettling can be done to make it sealed for noise.
There is a bit of rework around the box to tidy the area as well.
I've been making a stainless bracket for the boom winch, which has been upgraded to a 2 speed. This frees up the one I pulled off to go onto he Reactor for Halyard to replace the Murray ones in that.