Working on Sails

The last several days, well, ever since I got the main sail for the boat I've been working on two smaller sails.  The main needs to be re-stitched so I'm practicing sewing on the older sails.  They both had heavy cable edges and I'm removing it and putting soft rope.  Then I'm re-inforcing the grommets where you fasten the sail.

Well, now that I have the sail finished I'm going to need a new sail bag to store it in.

This is me making the sail bag.  Once I start sewing more for the boat I'll build a big table for my machine.  For now this little table works just fine.

Not bad for my first sail bag, huh

Kemp Boom

04/04/2014 ... 8 months ago I choose today for lauch day ... clearly that's not happening, but it was a very special day for the boat.  I went to San Diego and picked the boom for the mast.  I spent the late afternoon fitting the gooseneck fitting.  I know, it's still all laying horizontal but at least it's together.  It's a Kemp Boom with a single line reefing system for 3 reefing points.
Thanks Rig Works of San Diego.

Engine Day

Thursday, March 03, 2014 ... the little Perkins, that I've had for over 5 years, rebuilt over a year ago, finally rests on the mounting blocks in it's new home aboard Chasing Summer.  What an event, a milestone, to get Lil Perk where she belongs.
A big thank you goes out to Choice Nursery for the crane.

All hooked up and ready to lift

 



Sure hope that strap I sewed doesn't break :-(

Ok ... easy does it  ... down ... down ... down ...

Keep it coming ... just a little bit more

There she is :-) ... let's get 'er unhooked

 

Isn't she purdy :-)

Transmission

A year ago I rebuilt my Perkins 4-107 engine complete with new sleeves and pistons.  She run like brand new.  Poor ole rusty Borg Warner transmission has been sitting beside it for yet another year.  It's time to get it also rebuilt and get the power plant on board the boat.  Early last week I called Stewart Marine in Seattle for rebuild parts.  Not having cracked the casing open yet I didn't know the condition of the reversing plates.  Would they have to be replaced, too, which is normal not due to using them but from not using them.  The teeth wear from not using them.  ...  Great news :-) when I opened the case, after at least 25 years of idleness, the inside looked as if were brand new.  All the clutch plates were in perfect condition.  A tiny hase of rust on the inside top of the case but other than that ....
After removing all the parts I've been cleaning up the outside of the case, which wasn't "like new" at all.  There was no paint left on it.  There was no scale but was covered with rust.  The lighter parts i could wire wheel at the polisher.  I got a container of CLR and let the parts soak for a spell, then I put them in a heavy duty degrease to clean them.  After washing and carefully drying ... I'm ready for the first coat of self-etching primer.  ...  It's been cool and raining so I brought the casing in the motorhome, stood it up in front of my little heater to completely dry out the metal and keep it warm.
Yesterday was paint day.  ...  Oh, what's it standing on?  I needed to paint both the top and bottom so I stood it on a length of pipe with a couple in the middle for support.  Hope it doesn't tip over.  Hey, my new welding table works pretty good.

 

Welding Table

Early on in the boat project I borrowed a small TIG welder from a friend of mine to do the stainless steel work on the boat.  Last year during one of my welding sessions it gave up the ghost.  I still had work to do and it did belong to my friend so I bought another one ... naturally, a little bit bigger.  It worked well ... ok, it got the job done.  If you know anything about TIG machines, which I'm sure most of you do not, I wasn't happy with the way the argon gas was controled.  Periodically I look on Craig's List for a proper welder.  A few weeks ago I found just the welder I needed ... and at a price I could afford.  Most of the small portable machines are now incorporating A/C for doing aluminum so people are getting rid of machines that only do D/C.  I only need D/C.  My new machine is a Lincoln V200-T ... with pulse.  WOW, what a difference from the scratch start Harbor Frieght maching I learned on.  You simply press the foot peddle and the fire just jumps across ! ! !  Thanks to Arc Zone, https://www.arc-zone.com/ I got one of their trade-in foot peddles at a greatly reduced cost. Anyway, with a new welder naturally I needed a new work station. Here it is.

Bilge Pumps

Many years ago Whale Pumps upgraded their Gusher 25 pump.  I like the old model better ... and there were 6 of them at Minnie's Yacht Salvage ... at a really good price.  So, I bought 3 of them.  Two to install and one for a spare.  They looked pretty raged so my friend at Vista Brake glass bead blasted them for me.  Then I sprayed a coat of etching primer on them.  The final coat will be red so they will stand out.  They will be plumbed so I can use either or both pumps to pump the tanks or the bilge.

Cockpit Seat Locker

I've been planning this job for a couple years now.  There's a lot of wasted space under the cockpit seat.  I didn't want to do it during the rainy season so I've been putting it off.  Last year I even marked out where the lift-up was to be located.  Well, today's the day.  What do you think?

Now to get the bottom and sides glassed in so it's completely water tight. You hear stories of boats that took waves and the boats were flooded thru the cockpit lockers.

Next step is to make a lip with a water removal channels that the lid will rest on.  Here's the mold.  This is the second mold.  I wasn't happy with the way the first one turned out.  Remember, the mold is upside down.



Newfound Metal Portlights

Today the porlights from Newfound Metal arrived.  There will be 10 total.  Six large ones and four smaller ones.  Aren't they pretty?

Finally ... painting

It's the dawn of a new year ... ok, all I really did was tear another page off the calendar ... well, not really I don't have a paper calendar.

I'm ready to lay down the first coat of InterLux 2000 barrier epoxy paint.

No more raw glass or patches ... she's all one color ... isn't she purrrdy ???

Diesel stove vent pipe & Mast step

Hooray ... the vent pipes for my Sig Marine diesel stove came today.  That means another hole in the cabin top.  What's that make 7 now?  ...  yup  Hope I don't have to many more to cut.  That means one more hole to keep out the sea. 

Before I can cut the hole, though, I need to make a level place for the stack to sit.

 

Now, just fair, sand, cover with 5 layers of glass and I'm ready to cut the hole.

 

Just one more job on deck before I'm ready to start finish sanding and put down the barrier coat of epoxy paint.  I want to re-enforce the deck area where the mast step rests.



There ... all ready to finish grinding and sanding the cabin top.