Trim

Lately we have been making trim and installing it in the boat. Its a very rewarding job and I have an ear to ear grin after each piece goes in as we stand back and admire our handy-work.

We made most of the trim out of Jatoba (Brazilian cherry) milling down the twenty foot long by six inch planks we bought over a year ago for this purpose. The wood is very dense and brutal on our tools. It dulls saw blades and smooths out sand paper very quickly compared to teak or mahogany. When using the router table to shape the pieces it would go along just fine and then randomly catch the grain just right and throw a chunk out of the piece on occasion. The Tech would utter a few colorful metaphors and start all over again, saving what he could in the hope it could be used elsewhere. It didn't seem to matter what depth or what shape of bit was used, or if it was new or old, every now and then it would throw a chip out and we got used to the fact.

Sometimes it enabled us to get creative as with the vertical trim going into the head....it threw a chip on the last run through after the piece had been milled and almost completely formed. We didn't want to start over so we cut a forty-five degree bevel along the one side of the face where the chip was. In the end we all liked it better than the original, it made the profile on the face look a little narrower and it balanced visually with the piece on the other side of the door frame.

When we milled the boards down we typically used the table saw to get the rough dimensions and then ran the boards though the thickness planer. After that it was shaped using the table saw and router table and then sanded starting with 80 grit and working up to 600 grit. All the pieces have soft corners with varying degrees of raduis on them. The radius had to be hand sanded and we quickly learned to wear gloves as the wood had fine splinters that were needle sharp that would cause a nasty sliver to the bare hand. Once the finish was applied the grain toughened right up and by the time we got six or seven coats on and the final 600 grit sanding done it was like polishing glass. The look was worth the hard work to get there!

Interior

The interior is coming together nicely and its been very rewarding to move off of sanding and sanding, and more sanding .........and move on to installing things. Over the last three years I have been purchasing items for the the boat and putting them in storage so I would have them on hand when it came time to install them.

Its been like Christmas morning every day as we open a box and pull some treasure out of storage and turn it over in hand, admiring it before carrying it up the ladder and into the boat to be installed. The electrical distribution panel was carried aboard, as was several plumbing parts and fixtures. The solar panel and wind generator was placed gently to one side, its not your time yet. The light fixtures and deck cowls were placed in line, soon to be carried aboard. The box containing the shortwave radio receiver and plotting tools, binoculars, etc. were carried up the ladder and placed about the area for the chart table to see how they'd fit.

The top for the chart table was then templated and cut out of half inch plywood. A five inch shelf was left along the bulkhead aft and outboard under the distribution panel to accommodate the shortwave, binoculars,etc.

A thin sheet of cork with self adhesive backing was laid down over the area. I went to the local sportsman outfitters looking for some cork sealer that is used by fishing rod builders but none carried it in stock. I remembered reading on-line that some of the rod builders also used "Tru-oil", the brand name of a product that is used to finish gun stocks. I found a bottle and purchased it but was very skeptical......I didn't care for oil finishes in the boat as they tend to pick up dust and dirt and our shop is on one very dusty road. I applied several coats to a scrap piece of cork and was impressed with the results. It hardened up to a tough shiny surface like an old fashioned shellac. I used it on the cork and it turned out just right, a hard shiny surface that still had some flexible properties to it that other users promised  would not crack or shrink over time.

Plumbing

The plumbing is moving right along. I tee'd off of the head intake pump and ran a line forward into the anchor locker for a deck wash-down and ran a line to the head sink for a seawater tap. There is no discharge anywhere near the intake thru-hull to contaminate the water. The toilet discharges into the holding tank and then the holding tank will have a discharge thu-hull and deck suction fitting aft near the cockpit.

The fresh water tank is located under the V-berth and I needed to vent it but did not want the vent outside the vessel and possibly contaminated with salt water etc. I ran the vent to the head sink and plumbed it into a brass spigot at the sink, that way its inside the boat and if the tank is overfilled the overflow goes harmlessly down the sink. We installed a whale foot pump for the head sink. We could not reach the lower fastener on the foot pump to install it so we cut a thin piece of aluminum and mounted it to that and then fastened the aluminum into place. 

We plumbed it to a chrome plated spigot at the head sink.

V - Berth

The V-berth is coming along nicely.

We cut Jatoba planks and used a thickness planer to clean them up and get them to a uniform size.

They were sanded up to 320 grit disks then several coats of Poly Wipe was applied, sanding with 600 grit every three coats thereafter. We have all but the little pieces installed now. They were screwed into place without any compound so that they can be easily removed to access the wiring and plumbing behind when required.

A fresh coat of paint was applied to the berth and the hatches were installed.

Cabin Sole

We had kicked around the idea of making a nice floor out of strips of Jatoba with iridescent wire laid between the strips for a nice lighting effect. We have all the materials on hand for it but decided that while it would look really nice, it would not provide for good footing at sea. So we decided that a good utilitarian floor with non-skid would be better suited for the task and set about installing one.

We made templates of the floor and transferred it to 3/4 inch plywood and cut it out. Hatches were cut out of the floor to allow access to the holding tank fittings and bilge spaces and the pieces were sealed with a coat of epoxy. Once cured they were laid into place with a thin strip of foam around the edge to prevent a hard spot against the hull and a strip of glass tabbing was applied along the edges bonding it to the hull.

The floor was faired and then a coat of Kiwigrip non-skid deck paint was applied. The non-skid will provide a good grip underfoot while at sea and a small strip of carpet runner can be used in port to "gussy" her up a bit and provide for a softer footing. The only thing I've never liked about an aggressive nonskid in the cabin is that its a bugger to clean when the cook loses a pot of custard (an offshore favorite of mine) onto the floor......but better to have a tough cleaning job then an injured crew that slipped on a slick floor with a pot in hand.

Rudder Tube

Once the rudder was off the boat we were able to inspect the tube. There was a "hole" in the top of the tube below the packing gland near the bottom end of the tube. The bottom of the packing gland fitting was clearly visible. They had used some kind of putty or sealant that was blue in color and had become soft and degraded over the years and was falling out in little chunks. The area was picked clean of marine growth, shell remnants, dried algae, etc. and sanded as best we could given the tight location. The old compound was picked out  so new material could be added. West system epoxy was used with a 50/50 mix of colloidal silica and graphite powder and was pressed into the void to fill the hole and renew the flange seal.  A wooded dowel that was the same diameter as the rudder stock was coated with a mold release agent and pushed up in place of the rudder stock.

Once the epoxy was cured the dowel was removed and the repair inspected. The graphite and silica mixture provides a low friction bearing surface against the stock and has filled the void nicely.

Propulsion System

The old propeller shaft was a little worse for wear so a new Aquamet 22 shaft was ordered to replace it. The Stern tube assembly was removed and the old cutlass bearing was pressed out and a new one installed.

I wanted a dripless coupler but could not find a stock one with the correct shaft to tube sizing so I called the folks at Fisheries Supply to see what they suggested. They gave me the number for PYI, the manufactures of dripless couplers and suggested I give them a call. PYI said "can do" and had a custom one built for me at no extra charge and sent it out within the week. The old stuffing box will be tossed in a locker and kept as a spare.

 I'm going electric for the propulsion system and needed to replace the propeller but was unsure of what pitch I should use. I emailed Michigan wheel, a popular propeller manufacturer and gave them all the specs for the vessel and drive system. They had their design team look at it and a week later they came back with the response; use a 12x10 machine pitch propeller with a 7/8" tapered bore to fit my shaft requirements.

The machine pitch style has nice big rounded blades that are ideal for vessels under fifteen knots.

I asked our local prop supplier to get one for me. What showed up was a used beat up speed prop that looked like someone had taken a hammer and a grinder to it. The only thing it was appropriate for would be a door stop! I sent it back and specified new and gave the specs provided by Michigan Wheel. They are a Michigan wheel dealer so I figured it would be an easy sale for them. They stopped by a week later to drop off some props for another vessel and told me mine was a "Bastard child" and not available and the only way I'd find it was if someone had an old one on the shelf for years they would love to get rid of ......good luck finding it.

I told him that I thought that was an odd response given that Michigan Wheel had just spec'd it out so it must be available. He shrugged his shoulders as he headed for the door "I don't know what to tell ya, we don't have it and cant get it".

As soon as he left I went online and Googled it. Two sites came up with good results, one was in Portland Oregon and one in Florida. Deep Blue Yacht Supply Inc. in Forida was more than a hundred dollars cheaper for the same prop so I gave em a call. They were very knowledgeable and said it was no problem getting the prop however it is a special order and will take six weeks to get it made and shipped. I ordered the prop and shaft from them.

The shaft arrived promptly and looks good. I would have prefered the keyway to have radius corners and the end ramped but it seems hard to teach and old marine machinist  new methods......they want to stay with what they know works dang-it! I'm sure my shaft won't be the odd one that fatigues and cracks from the non-radius corners.....and the prop wont bind on the non-ramped keyway.  Once the prop arrives we will install the shaft and lap the prop to the shaft.

Sue Nelson has been working on the design of the reduction pulleys and drive belt for the system. Sue is an Application Services Specialist with Veyance Technologies Inc. They deal with power transmission products. Sue spec'd out the appropriate components for the system and we should get them ordered next week.  We are using a belt system with two pulleys and an idler and two to one reduction.

Gary made a template out of plywood  and the motor mounts, test fit it and made a few reference marks on the hull for their placement. Once he was done I climbed aboard to make the foundations for the motor mounts. I used some five minute epoxy and glued some foam blocks to the hull under the marks. Once the epoxy had set I used various sanding tools to contour the blocks to the hull leaving the tops flat for the motor mounts to rest on. Bi-axial fiberglass and roving was laid up over the blocks leaving the tops open. Once cured the foam was pried out and the fiberglass "cup" that was left was filled with west system and west 404 high density filler. Once that was cured the top was sanded flat and bi-axial cloth was laid-up down the hull, over the top of the mount and down its side to the hull again, tying it all together. Stainless steel inserts will be fit into the base and the motor mounts threaded into the inserts making for a very strong assembly.