The Hull
Rudder Port
The hole for the rudder has been moved. This was a bit tedious. Patched the outside with 6mm ply, then sanded the area down for both the new and old area. Then a layer of fibre glass. I have yet to paint the area. After that it was a simple matter to finally fit the rudder port. This has been sealed in with 3M 4200 sealant. According to the instructions this stuff can be removed if required but it wont be a fun job.
Raw Water Pickup
Next came the installation of the raw water pickup. I really wish I had done this will the boat was still upside down. I had to free hand router the notch for it to sit into. I practised this on the bench a couple of times and got pretty good, but doing it lying on my back under the boat was a different story. It still came out alright, and I guess aside from here no-one will ever see it. You can see a bit of a mark on the paint to the left of the pickup, this is from a dribble of resin I used to coat the hole after I cut it. I still need to clean this up properly.
Drain Bungs
I have also installed the drain bungs. That was a reasonably simply job. It a long way to dril through, there is about 16mm of skin, then the framing. The hole is about 70mm deep. I got the bungs which a chromed brass from a local chandlery. I bought them on line with raw water intake. There are ok but aren't exactly what was advertised. The raw water pickup was miles off what was advertised. The description called them brass, but it showed a picture of something that was chromed. Bit of a con.
Rudder
I have also fitted the rudder, this was after all why I jacked the boat up in the first place. I had to send it out for some machining, it needed a couple of key ways for the tiller arm, and for the haft to be cut shorter. It was quite expensive to get done, but I think value for money. You can see the rudder sticking out the bottom in the above photo.
Fuel Tank
I found a marine fuel tank on TradeMe and one the auction for about $250, which is somewhere between a 1/3rd and a 1/2 of what they cost new. I have it sitting in the back of the boat, but I am not entirely sure its going to work. One concern I do have is that the exhausts will run under the tank and I am not sure if there are any issues with this.
Exhaust Ports
My exhaust ports arrived today. Pretty stoked with them. Only minor complaint is they didn't come with a rubber gasket.
The Engine
Heat Exchanger
I have had some brackets made to hold the heat exchanger, but alas found that with the heat exchanger mounted in them the hoses interfered with the transmission mount, so I have had to order some extensions to them to get them out of the way. The welding was done by a friend at the station, he has done a nice job. I hope to receive the extensions in the next day or so and get him to fix it all up. Its a bit hard to see in the following photo.
Dip Stick
As part of fitting the manifolds the dip stick had to be moved. So I cut of the old bracket and bent / cut it to fit an existing bolt hole around the corner. Thankfully the tube itself could rotate in its hole to the new position and then Joe welded the retaining bracket back on. That has worked out very well.
Plumbing
I have the plumbing under control now, I bought a bunch of fittings that I need, I still need a few more but I should be able to complete about 90% of both the raw water and coolant side of the system with what I have. Stainless plumbing stuff is not cheap.
Engine Mounts
I have purchased the front engine mounts which is allowed me to start mocking up the engine logs. I am going to have to make so landing brackets for the front mounts to sit on. The only other way is to make the logs very wide (about 100mm). I have most of this in my head, but will post some pictures as it develops.
General
Been doing a lot of thinking about the following which are all the things that are coming up soon
- Steering
- Electrical
- Wet Exhausts
- Rear Cockpit fit-out
