BoatBanter.com - Project Reports

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If your exhaust elbow looks that bad and nees cleaning with a Dremel tool you
should just spring for a new one. Your probably not far away from pin hole
leaks.
S/V Express 30 "Ringmaster"
"No shirt, no skirt, full service"

Marc wrote:

Jeff: tip for the futu needing to pull the heat exchanger cores is
very rare. Just drop the end caps and use a 22 cal. bore brush.

DO NOT do this! At least, don't use a metal bristle. Heat exchanger
tubes are relatively soft, using a gun barrel cleaning brush will erode
them badly. Also the brush rod is a hazard to break the tube.

Use a thin wooden dowel to clean heat exchanger tubes.

DSK

I was out on the Sound two weeks ago. I was the
first in the club to go sailing. I made it half
way to middle ground (Stratford Shoal). That's a
cool lighthouse in the center of Long Island Sound.

So far only three of four members have their boats
in the water, and I haven't seen any of them with
their sails up.

Total, I've been out sailing three times so far on
the Etchells, the last two times I sailed solo but
cheated and used the mains'l alone. I still have
some tunning to do.

My goal is to get the big boat in the water by the
end of May, and then to move on it until I finish
off the interior. I've ripped out half the galley
and aft head, and need to finish putting that back
together.

Bart

"Jeff Morris" wrote

Are you coming up to Long Island Sound this year?

We're hoping to get to Maine this Summer. Also, it's likely we'll go to the
Vineyard and maybe Nantucket. Further South than Newport or Cutyhunk is
unlikely. When are you getting out out of the Sound?.

-jeff

Well make sure you don't mix them up!

Cheers

N1EE wrote:

My goal is to get the big boat in the water by the
end of May, and then to move on it until I finish
off the interior. I've ripped out half the galley
and aft head, and need to finish putting that back
together.

You may be right, but they've looked this bad for the last 500 hours, and
there's still a lot of metal in them. I think I'll buy a pair for the future,
since the price doesn't seem to go down. One advantage of pulling them
frequently is that I can swap them in about 30 minutes.

"SAIL LOCO" wrote in message
...
If your exhaust elbow looks that bad and nees cleaning with a Dremel tool you
should just spring for a new one. Your probably not far away from pin hole
leaks.
S/V Express 30 "Ringmaster"
"No shirt, no skirt, full service"

N1EE wrote:
Your spring project reports are due soon. (10 pts)

Well, since I'm working on the boat pretty much full time, I don't
really have any "spring" projects. But here is a list of what is
currently going on:

Final stages of installing heater: wiring 12V power to the main board,
insulating the exhaust (which involves wrapping a special hi-temp "spun
ceramic" (does that sound better then just plain "fiberglass"?) tape
around the exhaust pipe inside the welded-on heat shield... not fun),
filling & testing the water loop, finish the mounting & insulating of
the water loop hoses, route the air intake. Maybe by summer the heater
will be working!

Installing remote mike/speaker/control head for VHF radio.

Clean engine heate exchangers, install new hose.

Install new raw water impeller.

Rebuild battery platform (already done this for the genset start
battery)... btw a great source of strong rot & rust proof material is
thick plastic cutting board. It's resistant to battery acid too and a
really big one costs $7 at Wal-Mart or the like. Much cheaper than
Star-Board!

Remake fuel system connection with slow (1 drop every 3 days) leak.

Install check valve in fuel line to genset.

Build up spoke/hub of steering wheel to make it less wobbly. I have to
have at least one ongoing job invovling WEST epoxy.

Later this year I'm going to install a new house battery bank. To show
what involved, the first step is cutting a hatch in the fore cabin sole
to get access under that space. One reason the heater project has taken
so long is that every little step has required the massive amounts of
planning, re-planning, and eons of labor.

My report: Hull Fairing and Painting Project

Hoo-ee... now there's a LOT of labor. I've faired some boats 24' and
smaller. One thing to do that makes it easier to see what's happening is
to use different colors, just t little, in each successive batch of
fairing compound. I feel it should not take more than three passes to
get it all perfect (although on a 46' hull, each pass represents a HUGE
amount of labor) otherwise you're just plastering it on and sanding it
off. But the results are really nice... fairing the hull was the single
biggest go-fast improvement I did to the Lightning.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

How tight do you make up on the reverse threaded union?. Do you dope
the joint? Every time I've had to decouple, its taken a robust bench
vise, a 2' Stilson and a cheater pipe.

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 07:05:03 -0400, "Jeff Morris"
wrote:

You may be right, but they've looked this bad for the last 500 hours, and
there's still a lot of metal in them. I think I'll buy a pair for the future,
since the price doesn't seem to go down. One advantage of pulling them
frequently is that I can swap them in about 30 minutes.

"SAIL LOCO" wrote in message
...
If your exhaust elbow looks that bad and nees cleaning with a Dremel tool you
should just spring for a new one. Your probably not far away from pin hole
leaks.
S/V Express 30 "Ringmaster"
"No shirt, no skirt, full service"

Actually, I haven't pulled them apart since the first time - most of the buildup
seems to be where the water hits the exhaust. The time they did come apart was
at the mechanic's bench, with a large pipe wrench, a cheater, and a few nasty
words.

When the time comes, I'll probably get both the elbow and mixer together. I
suppose I should have at least one set ready to put in when it blows out in the
middle of a cruise. This is the two sides of having twin engines - twice the
expense of parts like this, but I do have the luxury of the ultimate backup.

"Marc" wrote in message
...
How tight do you make up on the reverse threaded union?. Do you dope
the joint? Every time I've had to decouple, its taken a robust bench
vise, a 2' Stilson and a cheater pipe.

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 07:05:03 -0400, "Jeff Morris"
wrote:

You may be right, but they've looked this bad for the last 500 hours, and
there's still a lot of metal in them. I think I'll buy a pair for the
future,
since the price doesn't seem to go down. One advantage of pulling them
frequently is that I can swap them in about 30 minutes.

"SAIL LOCO" wrote in message
...
If your exhaust elbow looks that bad and nees cleaning with a Dremel tool
you
should just spring for a new one. Your probably not far away from pin hole
leaks.
S/V Express 30 "Ringmaster"
"No shirt, no skirt, full service"

I replace them as a matter of maintenence every 400 hrs (4 years) or
when I feel the top plate beginning to get warm, which ever comes
first.. The weak point in the mixer is the septum between the water
injection and the gas injection point. As the septum corrodes back,
the mixing point moves back towards the engine.

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 11:02:04 -0400, "Jeff Morris"
wrote:

Actually, I haven't pulled them apart since the first time - most of the buildup
seems to be where the water hits the exhaust. The time they did come apart was
at the mechanic's bench, with a large pipe wrench, a cheater, and a few nasty
words.

When the time comes, I'll probably get both the elbow and mixer together. I
suppose I should have at least one set ready to put in when it blows out in the
middle of a cruise. This is the two sides of having twin engines - twice the
expense of parts like this, but I do have the luxury of the ultimate backup.

"Marc" wrote in message
.. .
How tight do you make up on the reverse threaded union?. Do you dope
the joint? Every time I've had to decouple, its taken a robust bench
vise, a 2' Stilson and a cheater pipe.

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 07:05:03 -0400, "Jeff Morris"
wrote:

You may be right, but they've looked this bad for the last 500 hours, and
there's still a lot of metal in them. I think I'll buy a pair for the
future,
since the price doesn't seem to go down. One advantage of pulling them
frequently is that I can swap them in about 30 minutes.

"SAIL LOCO" wrote in message
...
If your exhaust elbow looks that bad and nees cleaning with a Dremel tool
you
should just spring for a new one. Your probably not far away from pin hole
leaks.
S/V Express 30 "Ringmaster"
"No shirt, no skirt, full service"

Ok, I'm backing using a differenet newsgroup reader, so I can
see your posts Oz.

I wrote for more information on them.

The pictures don't give enough detail. What sort of sandpaper
do you use?

Well at this point, I'm nearly done fairing. My friend Marty
thinks what I've done so far is fine. I know better, I still
have a few probelm areas to fix, plus the areas under the
poppets. Still the end is in sight and I'll be painting soon.

Today it is raining so I have a day off. I'm worn out. I can
feel every tendon and ligament in both shoulders and arms.
Sanding a boat would be great training for a boxer.

OzOne wrote

But the Powerboard product seems very interesting

Yep, they are superb.
When you first look at em you think Kerist, that things gonna weigh a
ton but they are pretty light and the suction helps hold em to the
surface.
Virtually no dust!

Beg to differ, but the BEST sander to use is the Powerboard
http://www.atlcomposites.com/product...powerboard.htm