Finished at last!

New Years Day - Finished all of the work that I have been doing this year on the Lagoon 450 that is soon to start on a round the world excursion.  I plan to put a web page together at some point to document all of the work that we did on the boat which was extremely extensive.

Last minute problems cropped up with the dual 160amp alternators that we added.  These alternators have temperature sensors mounted on them and the regulator was programmed to start shutting the output down at 100 degrees C and then complete shutoff at 130.  We had to modify that shutoff setting to 110 deg C. 

Looks like the alternator MIGHT(?) have overheated a bit.

Finished last minute work and waiting on one order of automotive type resettable ATC breakers which was supposed to ship on 12 Dec but I've not yet been able to speak to a real person to find out what happened due to a possible holiday shutdown.

Tomorrow is a day off and will go for a long walk with Lesley and Lewis and then start putting spares and stuff back on our boat.

HAPPY NEW YEAR - were did 2014 go?

Partiotic (?) duty

Well, we did it, rented "The Interview" from YouTube and watched it via our WD Media Player on the home TV.

이제 무엇을

Merry Christmas 

Bow Rail

I've managed to spend a little time working on our boat recently.  Latest project was to remove the bow rail and clean up the anchor pulpit teak.  While I had the rail off I cleaned the mounting pads really well and polished everything.

Next project is to get the rail back on and properly rebedded and then I have two stanchions to replace.  In the meantime I'm going to work on a water maker and AIS interface on an IP-380 and put some under cabinet carpentry back together on an IP-32.

Lesley has our Christmas tree up and the reindeer are in place.  Lewis likes the reindeer - would love to get them down of the TV cabinet so he could do some chewing.

Merry Christmas to everyone.

Happy Birthday Lewis

Time has been flying.  This time last year we were in the USVI heading to Puerto Rico to replace a cutlass bearing and continue our trip back to Florida.  Lesley was already cued for a puppy and Lewis was born on the 15th of December so tomorrow is his 1st birthday.

Cyndi, the breeder, sent Lewis a combo Christmas/Birthday present that came in yesterdays mail.  Some stuffed toys, bully bones, and a nice card.

This morning Lewis was lounging and playing with one of the toys.

Bone in ribeye on the menu for tomorrow and will remove the bone before grilling so he can have a special birthday treat.

Happy Birthday to me!

I had a great day today - chalk up another...  Started off the day with a great breakfast and then headed off to work on this years project boat.  Arrived and did some wiring (heaviest gauge wire I've ever dealt with 4/0) and had a nice surprise from Steve and Rob with a Birthday card and bottle of La Crema Chardonnay (one of our favorites from a long time ago and a new story for later).

I worked on the Lagoon till about 1 and then came home to continue my special day.  Preps underway for a Prime Rib dinner and a walk with Lewis.  Dinner is nearly ready and will post a few comments on it later.

Hoping to get our dink in the water in the morning and start waxing the topsides and tackle the teak.  Boat is in great shape - glad it was here this summer and not in the Caribbean - at least I could find time to do some work on it over the summer.

Big project for me now is to finish a fresh water hose replacement on an IP-35 - more on this later as this has been the worst that I've had to deal with to the point of having to remove hull panels!  Photos and more narrative later.  Have another 35 with plumbing issues waiting and also Mike's boat up int Tampa to finish before we take the great winter siesta!

In the meantime - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME......  

Dinghy Ride

We borrowed Alan's (IP-420 Flatlander) dinghy today so we could take Lewis out and let him ride and run the beach.

He enjoyed the ride and was watching all of the wildlife around us, birds, fish, and fishermen!

We beached the boat and took a short walk when Lewis decided to hitch a ride on a kayak!

Short ride and safely delivered back ashore.


Then we walked out around the corner and talked to some people on stand up paddle boards.  Lewis walked the boards, did some digging, then decided he wanted to take s swim - remember - this breed does not like the water!

He chased some birds and then we loaded up for the ride home.  I didn't get a picture but as we left the island Lewis decided to jump in off the dink and take another swim.  I think he was shocked as we quickly killed the engined and had him swim back to the boat.

The prop is on!

I had some time after my PSA test today so I drove to the boat yard and finished installing the shaft gland and prop.  The reconditioned prop and new shaft parts make me think twice about getting this stuff wet!

After all this work I don't want to loose the shine!

Next, teak and bottom paint and perhaps some Macrolon in the dodger front window.

Minor Electrical Upgrade

I've been spending some time on a Lagoon 450 recently doing some electrical work upgrading the AC/DC distribution system from this:

To something a bit more functional, to this:

The boat was a real mess from the factory.  It had 50 amp service but for some reason only half of it was wired and that powered 4 AC units.  The other half was not wired in.  The remaining AC loads on the boat were powered from an additional 30 amp 120vac service connector.

I'll post more photos later but the major effort at this point is converting the boat to 50amp 240vac, installing a multi-voltage isolation transformer, replacing the 120vac water heater element with a 240 unit, and replacing all the AC unit and pumps with 240vac 50/60hz units.

I've never used so many crimp lugs at one time in my life.

The new power panel is a custom BlueSea 360 series panel made to my design.  The breakers on the left most vertical column are 12vdc with the remaing 3 a mix of 240 and 120 AC.

The lower row of breakers are all DC units.

Dust no more!

I finished installing the new pulleys, alternator and serpentine belt yesterday.  A beauty to behold!

I purchased everything from ElectroMaax and other than the belt being one size to long everything was great.

Now to finish cleaning up the old belt dust.

Serpentine belt and new alternator

I've been really busy with other peoples boats lately but was able to work on Grainne some this morning.  Todays project was the installation of an ElectroMaax alternator with serpentine belt drive.

The kit included slip on pulleys for the crank and water pump and everything went together without issue.  Bolted the new alternator on and then checked the belt fit and it went right on - a 10 spline belt that should eliminate belt dust that we had from our single vbelt drive AmpTech alternator.

I plan to order a new belt 1" shorter to see if it will fit any better and then need to run a new field wire and ground wire and the installation should be complete.

We plan to take off in the morning for our first road trip with Lewis.  Driving to Atlanta to visit family and take a much needed break.

I'll post some photos of the new belt and alternator later in the week on our return.

Next on the list is a visit to Mack sails to pick up our new stay sail and have our main trimmed a bit.

Drive Train Refit

All of the parts are back and ready to go back on the boat.

KBW-10  Transmission front and rear seals replaced

New Cutlass Bearing

New prop shaft and transmission shaft flanges

Newly tuned prop

New stern tube hose and clamps

Ready to install tomorrow

Transmission

We've had an oil leak from the rear of the transmission for several years.  Not a bad leak but annoying with transmission fluid staining our engine absorbent pads.  Since I have the shaft out of the boat I decided to go ahead and pull the transmission.

I first removed the rear motor mount lock nuts so that I could raise the engine a few inches.  Once the eninge was up I removed the motor mount brackets that are bolted to the transmission/engine block.  The transmission bolts came out easily using a 1/2 socket wrench.  The lower two bolts were not so easy as I could not get the socket on the bolt heads but had to use a small box end wrench and a small breaker bar.  Once the bolts were loose I could remove them easily.  The transmission slid out easily and I brought it home yesterday.

I cleaned the housing up, removed the output shaft, installed a new inner O Ring and pressed in a new rear seal.  I did not have a new front seal so decided to go ahead and or a replacement and install while the transmission is out.

Rear of the transmission with new seal and O Ring in place and new output coupling lock nut.

 KBW10 transmission.  Will spot paint the case and reinstall everything this weekend.

Stern tube and packing gland

Here is a picture of the cleaned up stern tube and packing glad (less hose) .  Visited the prop shop this morning and will have a new prop shaft, flange, packing gland hose, and cutlass bearing along with a newly tuned prop by this weekend.

Decided to go ahead and replace the shaft and flange due to some minor scoring and since everything is out makes sense to me to go ahead and replace.

Hope to remove the transmission this weekend so that I can replace the rear seal which has been leaking for years!

Drive line and prop

The prop is off and in Coastal Prop for tuning and balancing.  I have the prop shaft off and all of the other parts ready to check out in the morning.  Will replace the cutlass bearing just because everything is apart.  Will also replace the stuffing box hose, clamps, etc.  Nice to have time to refurb the drive train while we are not moving!  Pretty sure that I will replace the propshaft, flange, and replace the transmission rear seal while everything is apart.

But first I have an appointment with my dermatologist - critical as I've had Melanoma and other forms of skin cancer so trying to maintain body Bob as well.  Wish I could go in for a refit!  Like someone said, you have to be strong as you age, I'm strong and glad I'm not aging! 

Got back home from the yard today and Lewis crowed and welcomed me back home.  Nice to have him tell me that he missed me today!  He is getting more vocal whenever either of us leave and then return home.  Love our puppy!

DIY Refit

Alan (420 Flatlander) helped me move Gra'inne to the yard on Sunday and then we had her hauled yesterday for summer storage.  I plan to continue the refit there but it will not be as convenient as the yard is over an hour from the house.

All the raw water hoses, engine exhaust, genset exhaust,  and scupper hoses are new.   Completed installation of the new holding tank, waste hoses, diverter valve and macerator, and tank monitor.  Running rigging is all new and also completed the replacement of all standing rigging.

Planned work:

Inspect and replace as necessary underwater thruhulls.

Remove prop and driveline and have them trued and balanced.

Remove the Kato Davits and send them back to Kato so they can replace the lower mounting/swivel bolts. 

Replace the fresh water hoses.

Remount the main outhaul track and replace the car.

Install new Lifeline house batteries.

Redo the teak.

Make new Sunbrella hatch covers.

New salon upholstery.

Refinish the salon sole.  

Have our Rocna anchor and chain re galvanized.

Replace HF Radio feed cable to the backstay.

Rescreen overheads, and portlights, entry doors.

New switches in salon sidelights.

I'm sure I've forgotten something!

Lewis has a new car

Lewis is to big for the crate that we used in our Toyota Tacoma and no way we could get him in and out of our 98 Chevy Cavalier 2 door.  We looked around and found this nice 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe that he really likes so we bought it.  The new crate fits easily in the back seat and we still have room for cargo and passengers plus if we need to move the crate we can with no hassle.  Donated the old car to a charitable organization - 187k miles and still running fine...

Quite a 6 month present...

 
Nice car so now when we saddle up and head North we can visit the Doods in style.

Now, back to boat work - getting ready for haulout and summer storage next week.

What's next?

Lesley said I can't become a used car salesman so we talked and decided that Lewis can support us by joining the Circus.  He does so well on the ball that we think we will work on training him over the next few months and then see what he can bring in, salary and tips!

I'm joking of course but just has to say that!

Lewis is doing so well in obedience training and he is such a joy.  So glad we've added him to our family.

Plan now is to hang out in the Florida Keys for a few months this winter then perhaps move the boat up to the Chesapeake next year and let him enjoy the area and friends there.

Big plus is he says he keeps hearing about something called "Doods" and he wants to check them out!

More Rigging

Bill (owner of IP-40 Florida Buoy) came over to the boat several days ago and helped me while I removed the backstays.  I ordered the new wire and fittings and was able to save and reuse the Stalock insulators.  One of the old backstays on the left.

I'm waiting on 2 Norseman studs for the lower turnbuckles now but everything else is ready and one more trip up the mast to install the backstays and we will have completed full replacement of the standing rigging with the mast in place.

Nice to be completing this project.

New holding Tank Project

I completed installing the tank level sensor and calibrated it with fresh water.

The final installation in the boat and level sensor wired to the monitor.

And then installed the new floor panel.

Once I complete the plumbing to the tank will refinish the sole with Minwax Polyurethane.  I hope I have time to finish this while I have the boat here in the marina.

It fits!

I did a test fit with the new holding tank and it fits.  I need to make a support for the bottom of the tank and finish the new hatch but very happy with the progress to date. 

Once the support is in I'll screw in some hold downs at the front and back of the tank and also run a hatch support brace.  I'm waiting for some teak trim strips now - hope they arrive before the weekend so I can complete the new hatch.

Tank exposed!

I finished cutting the teak and holly ply and exposed the cabin sole fiberglass.

I marked cut lines on the fiberglass and cut 1/2" away from the teak so that I could maintain a lip for the new floor to rest on.  Front to back dimensions are good but not sure if side to side dimensions will allow new tank to fit.  Will try once I get the old one out.

Tomorrow I'm going to start cutting the tank up!

Holding tank replacement begins

I spent the morning laying out guide strips so that I could begin cutting the floor for holding tank removal.  My first shore is to cut a clean outline in the teak and holly plywood floor.  I decided to use my small laminate router and some oak 1x2 strips as guides.  My first cut was along the door into the head.  I can not continue the router cut near the doorway so will save that for the JobMax.  I then mounted my cut guide to the floor in the area where I will destroy the existing teak so that I will have a clean cut on the outside of my cut.

I then made two cuts inside my guide before moving one hold down so that I could continue cutting.

Eventually, after moving the guide around the floor I was able to cut everything that was accessible with the router.  This morning I will use the JobMax and some aluminum cut guides to finish the cutout before digging in for the heavy cutting.

You can see screw holes inside the cut area - these are from the cut guides but this material will be destroyed anyway

More rigging

I made good progress on reinstalling the forestay inside the Harken Roller Furling unit foils.

New topcap with toggle ready to be hauled back up the mast.

Test installation of the Norseman swagless fitting.  I still need to take the fitting off, trim the lower foil then reinstall the foil, torque tube and then permanently install the Norseman.

Next, the head stay - longer and heavier!

AC Problem

While we were working on the staysail stay the AC suddenly quit working.  I had a chance to do some troubleshooting today and the AC runs fine - except the compressor does not try to start or run.  Voltage checks show that everything else is working as told to by the thermostat so I removed the control board.

Luckily I snagged a schematic for the entire unit in 2004 so it was fairly easy to troubleshoot - appears that the compressor run relay was being energized but no AC power to the compressor.

 

A closer look with the control board out shows a melted solder joint on the compressor power lead on the relay.

Joint has been resoldered and I will reinstall in the next day or two.

Hope to finish an electrical upgrade on a Pacific Seacraft tomorrow then back to AC and rigging on Gra'inne.

New rigging?

We started working on the staysail stay this morning which involves removing the forestay (foil still attached) and laying it out on the dock.  As soon as we had the old stay on the dock we realized we had a problem!

The old head fitting is different than the new one we got from Seco South.  Not a big deal as the new wire is long enough but I will have to order a new double jaw toggle or have the old fitting cut off and a new jaw toggle installed.  I'm going with a new double jaw toggle.

Turns out that the head stay already has one of these attached so once we finish both fore stays will be configured the same.


Once we have the new fitting we will pull the old wire out of the foil, pull in the new wire, mark and cut (after measuring 5 times) the new wire, install the new Norseman stud terminal, reassemble the furling unit and pull everything back up the mast.


Rigging on this boat has been quite interesting!

Beef Satay

We've been working on our boat as well as several others this summer.  We are right in the middle of replacing the forestays and stern hoses on our boat but have had time to enjoying cooking and eating as well. 

Lesley picked up some spicy Thai noodles at a farmers market last week and we decided to do a combo Asian meal - beef satay and spicy Thai noodles with veggies.  The beef is marinated tenderloin cooked lightly on the grill served over the noodles and veggies with a spicy peanut sauce over the beef. 

Really yummy!

Wonder what's for dinner tonight?

Replacing Hoses

We've done a great job with preventive maintenance on the boat but now that we have the boat back here we are finding that it is really easy to tackle some of the jobs that we had put off.  I knew the cockpit scupper hoses needed to be replaced and to gain access to them I had to remove the generator exhaust hose, electric bilge pump hose, etc.  While I was in the area I also removed the engine exhaust hose - a real pain but as the pictures will show it was waiting to fail.  The wire reinforcement was gone at the exhaust flange and a few rust spots were showing elsewhere on the hose.

Engine Exhaust hose

 Cockpit scupper hose - dry rotted and cracked but not leaking - yet!

Collection of hoses removed from the boat.

New hose is on the way and will start reinstalling in the next several days. 

Also on the agenda is replacing the rigging (Forestay and Staysail stay wire) with parts on order.  WE have already replaced all of the other standing rigging over the past several years.

Dingy ride for Lewis

We had planned to take Lewis out for his first dinghy ride over the weekend but it was windy and chilly so waited till this morning..

 Basenji's are known to not like the water but with a little coaxing we got him to follow us through some shallow water to another small island.

 He did good in the dinghy.  We first got him in and there was no issue with that.  Drifted for a little while then started the outboard and he was fine.

 He wanted to see where we were going.

 Coming back in - he is sticking his tongue out at another boater!

Comfort.

This Week

I've been in Islamorada this week working on an IP-38 - lots of work done and lots to do.  Lesley has been sending me photos of our new buddy Lewis and I just figured out how to download pics from the camera to the laptop so will post a couple below.

Our morning routine.  Lewis get up and out of his crate and goes to the litter box then comes up on the bed and helps me with my morning coffee.

Then, after dinner he helps with the dishes - what a great puppy!

Easter Sunday will be his first ride in the dinghy.

Grillin

I've been so busy with boat projects I haven't had a chance to post anything about food.  Worked on our boat replacing cockpit speakers and moving food today but wanted to grill something so here's the menu.

First, I roasted several years of corn and Lesley whipped up a Bobby Flay recipe of roasted corn, several types of cheese, spices, chopped green onions, and left for me.  I cut open some fresh Jalapeno's and then stuffed them with the corn/cheese mix.

Next, I just started new charcoal and will grill a NY Strip steak seasoned with medium hot New Mexico red chili power, garlic, sea salt, and cracked pepper.

Will grill the steak and then smother it with Anaheim chili's, grated sharp cheddar cheese and then warm that till the cheese melts.

Steak Ranchero, fried potatoes, stuffed Jalapeno's,  roasted corn, baracho beans!  Yum......

Picture of the stuffed peppers follows.

I loaded up the car and will be headed to the Key's tomorrow for a week to do some work on an IP-38.

Guten Appetit!  

Great News - Medically

I had an appointment with my Oncologist yesterday fully expecting that I was going to have to start radiation treatment for post Prostate Cancer Surgery.  I was very very very surprised when the Doc indicated that my PSA ( I don't have a prostate any longer) level appears to have stabilized at or near the magic number of .1ng/mL.

For now at least we can celebrate as radiation treatment is on hold! So we did celebrate - had a nice lunch and a few good drafts beers at Fords Garage for lunch.  The a grilled ribeye, baked potato, and asparagus for dinner.  So what if I blew my cholesterol level all to hell, at last the PSA level seems to have stabilized.

Matanzas Pass Brige in a Bosuns Chair

I helped friend Steve move a Leopard 44 to Fort Myers Beach this morning and had a very interesting experience in the process.

We arrived at the USCG Station just North of the Bridge a little after high tide - the bridge was supposed to have 65 feet of vertical clearance at a high tide of 3.6ft.  We arrived just after a high tide of 2.6 feet and the depth board was showing only 64 ft.

We did all kinds of checking and waited the till depth board showed 65 ft then I went up the mast in the chair.  I removed the wind transducer and Windex and because I could not get the whip off the mount I bent it horizontally.  Steve slowly approached the bridge with me up the mast and with some shouting and hand signals I had him proceed.  As we neared the bridge I gave him the high sign to proceed and we cleared the bridge with perhaps a foot to 18" to spare!

Not the way I would do the ICW or any bridge but we got the boat into the yard.  The return trip will be equally thrilling I'm sure!

The Leopard was "Modified" at the factory to be OK for the ICW - this makes me wonder if ICW means something else in South Africa?

Selfie?

Lewis was playing with Lesley's smart phone yesterday and here is the end result.  A puppy selfie!

Fixed the image.

Mom, he is touching me!

Lewis has been a great addition to the crew.  Fun, crazy, loving, a really great puppy.  Lesley has been working with him on the leash, obedience, socialization, etc.  This pic is from an encounter with our friends cat "Brodie"

Early last week friends Alan and Kathy (IP420 Flatlander) and Bill and Sue (IP40 Florida Bouy) had a new puppy shower.  Thanks Alan and Kathy for letting Lewis check out the new house and carpet!

Oil Pan update

I got the remaining four bolts out and replaced the oil pan after some confusion from the local Yanmar parts folks over a spacer that is mounted between the block and oil pan.  The Sears tool helped but were not the same as the Turbo tool shown on the internet - the Sears tool had fewer flutes to catch the bolt head so it was harder getting a good bite.

New motor mounts are in place and now I have to do an engine alignment and correct some wiring issues with the Balmar alternator and regulator - something for later. 

Replacing the oil pan

I've spent several days recently helping friend Randy with a leaking oil pan on his IP-350.  The boat had been in charter in Rock Hall and at some point had a major water leak that put the lower portion of the engine in the water for a long period of time.

The plan was to raise the engine, replace the pan and at the same time the motor mounts.  We got the engine up and remove all but the 4 of the pan bolts.  The heads on the back four bolts were rusted and I could not get them out.  It looked at first like we were going to have to remove the engine from the boat and use a bolt extractor. 

I did some searching on the Internet and discovered "Turbo Sockets".  Sears sells them so Randy is going to get a set and we will see if we can get these last four bolts out.

We went ahead and replaced the engine mounts and I've ordered some fuse holders and will clean up the alternator wiring once we change the pan and have the engine back in place.

Busy as can be

We've been back here about 2 weeks now and we've both been really busy.  Lesley getting setup and taking care of the new puppy and me taking care of a few boat projects on other peoples boats.  Water pump and windshield wipers on a Mainship.  Watermaker and electrical work on a new Leopard 44.  Hydraulic RAM/Autopilot on a Caliber.  Overhead hatches and roll shades/screens on an IP-32.  Planning on two reefer rebuilds this summer and going to help friend Randy replace the oil pan and engine mounts on his 350.

More work also planned on an IP-38.

We've serviced our Yanmar and genset and pickled the watermaker since arriving here in Cape Coral.  Also completed installation of Sirius/XM with our new Alpine Stereo and installed a new TV antenna and a Digital to Analog TV converter.

Also plan to do SOME work on our 350 at some point.

Puppy on board

We drove up to Lakeland on Sunday to pick up our new boat buddy, Lewis.  On the way up we stopped and had breakfast with Kate and Greg and Lesley got to meet the Doods for the first time.

After bringing Lewis home he has really enjoyed exploring the boat and today was his first day meeting folks on shore.  He's a great puppy and we both love him to death.

These pictures were taken this morning while I was enjoying my first cup of coffee.