Weeks six and seven

“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.”

- Winston Churchill

On Saturday Ransom’s family came in for Christmas and their excitement for the boat has been refreshing.  Seeing our project through their eyes has opened ours to the amount of work we have completed.  It’s very encouraging to get oohs and aahs when we show them what we’ve done.

This week’s projects:

·     Cut front floor panel for v-berth and cut cubby hole for storage

·     Met Mark and Jim to talk about and order new Yanmar for Vitte.  

·     Prepped engine for removal.  Turns out we also need a new prop and prop shaft since the old Mercedes ran in reverse.

Prop (side view)

Exhaust pipe (rusty, dirty, nasty) 

·     Moved boat into yard for work

Prop

 Lining up the travel lift

Strapping her in

Her new home in the work yard

·     Installed v-berth panels, something was lost in translation from cardboard templates to wood panels.  We ended up with gaps and have no idea how this happened.  The plan is to install trim to hide the gaps.

Lost in translation...too bad Bill Murray and Scarlette Johansson aren't here to help us. 

  

·     Removed engine

All strapped in

Goodbye dinosaur

Ransom with the engine

·     After removing the engine we put it up for sale on Craigslist and it quickly sold to a man by the name of Buddy Greg (LOL).

Side view

Back view

Side view

Front view

Empty engine compartment

Empty engine compartment

·     Our new Yanmar came in last week.  As soon as we finish painting the engine compartment we’ll drop her in.

  

Side view

Front view

Side view

Side view

·     Removed starboard aft panels to remove exhaust pipes, clean, and paint (the hull was BLACK where the exhaust was).

  

Starboard aft cabin without exhaust pipes and with a fresh coat of primer…I forgot to get a before picture, but if you look to the right you can see an area that hasn’t been painted.

·     Cleaned engine compartment and painted with rust stop primer.

Ransom painting the engine room…isn’t he lovely?

·     Painted rust stop enamel top coat in v-berth

·     Built and installed custom electrical panel.  We haven't wired everything yet, but the nav lights are connected and in working order ^_^

The panel is hinged and has a clasp on the back for easy access

So much cleaner and organized than the old panel

·     Attached navigation lights

Stern nav light

Bow nav lights



 

Week Two (Mon 11.8 - Sun 11.14)

I thought I had been motivated in the past, college exams, little projects here and there, writing a thesis, planning a wedding….then I started working on Vitte.  The sight of her in dry dock without her rigging is enough to make you a little teary. 

I’m reminded of a quote from Jurassic Park, “T. Rex doesn't want to be fed, he wants to hunt.”

With this powerful drive to splash her, we work on her every day all day. 

 

This week’s projects:

·    Mike from the marina stopped by to inspect some areas in need of welding and found they are all cosmetic and not structural.  He also took a look at the diesel engine and got us in touch with an excellent mechanic, Jim (Jim #2, our neighbor is also Jim), who is experienced with old diesel engines.

o  SHE LIVES!!!!!!!!

·    Inflated tender to see if she’s leaking anywhere….and she is.  Another project for another day

·    Prepped radar mast step: sanded and epoxied

·    Met with sail maker, Captain Jimmy (Jim #3), who found the Profurl system we have is not the appropriate size for our boat.  A small setback, but now we can use all the cool Jibs that came with the boat  ^_^

·    Stripped the mast’s rigging and cleaned the ropes back to “like new”

·    Removed foam from inside the engine compartment to see what’s going on back there and if we can put a small water heater there.

It's pretty cramped in here...

Chipping away

Who's a happy worker?  I'm a happy worker  ^_^

·    We finished prepping the interior to paint (taping, scraping, sanding, and cleaning) and put two coats of primer and two coats of a semi gloss topcoat (which oddly smelled like bananas and milk to me).  After drying overnight, we removed the tape (but some paint came with).

mmmmm, bananas and (soy)milk

·   Ransom began cutting top off metal water tank…a job that never seems to end

This is the job that never ends.  Yes it goes on and on my friend!

Ransom started it not knowing all the pain and he'll continue

grinding it forever just because this is the job that never ends....

·    Started sanding and oiling the teak railing.  We decided not to varnish since that is a never ending battle with the sun and the natural look is more our speed

                          

                                    Ooh, lookin' good there teak!