In the last installment, I described the somewhat torturous path that led to the purchase of a 40 foot converted Navy Motor launch by my wife and I. With the goal of living on her for a year or more.
Since neither one of us has ever lived on a boat, this will be quite an adventure. But where to start? The boat needs a bit of work to be capable of liveaboard. The engine needs to be started. (For the first time in over a year.) and George had built an impressive but incomplete panel for the electrical systems, and that needed installing. One glance at the engine room showed the need for the new panel. There is a mish mash of various electrical switches, gauges, terminal strips and fuse blocks, mostly unlabeled. The panel would tie them all into a coherent, labeled system. There are 3 seperate electrical systems on board. The 24 volt DC engine system, the 12 volt DC "Hotel" power, and the 110 volt AC shore power hookup. There needs to be complete isolation between the three systems. The current rats nest of wires and splices is entirely unsatisfactory. I have replaced the old batteries used for the 24 VDC system, (8D's are heavy, grunt) and now there is plenty of power to crank the engine, run the air preheat etc. The preheat works, the engine cranks, but I haven't started it yet. That will be done sunday. I had to make a minor repair to the throttle solenoid. It's a rotary actuator from an aircraft. The rotary part had jammed, minor fix really, but without it, the throttle couldn't be adjusted. It's possible that the boat will be taken out of the dock on Sunday for a short trip, but not if there is even a hint of weather. Oh, and the bilge pumps work fine, and there isn't much seepage after the bilges are pumped. Sunday. Mar 29 Not a good day. The first class of the teach yourself diesel mechanics school was unimpressive. The Engine cranks, the fuel arrives at the fuel filter, there is a lot of noise, but no actual combustion. The fuel is uncontaminated by water or dirt or air at least to the injector pump. But little action coming out of the injector pump. Tomorrow after work, I will attempt to bleed the injector lines and try again. We are running up against a time pressure here, since we'd like to be out of our current slip by then, and we'd like to give our landlord notice before april, so that there is any one month overlap of expensive slip fees and rent on the house. Oh well, into every life, a little rain must fall. If I can't get the engine cranking tomorrow, I will be calling a professional mechanic to get it started. I can't take the time off work. So we shall see tomorrow. On other subjects, the galley will begin deconstruction this week, preperatory to moving it to the aft cabin, and putting in a double berth in the forward cabin. The new electrical panel is coming along nicely. I will hang it on the forward bulkhead of the engine room as soon as the engine starts. I will feel a lot better with the new panel than I do with the current crop of miscellaneous switches, dials & etc. Also, have discovered that putting the word "Marine" in front of the part increases the price by at least 50% :) Today is thursday, april 2. A lot has happened since sunday, I worked a 19 hr day on monday, followed by two 10 hour days, so not much time for the boat! But yesterday, Kat and I went to the boat and bled the injector lines, and started the engine! She ran fine for about 3 minutes and then something clogged and she died. Today, George and I went to the boat and tinkered. There was a clog in the fuel filter, I tore it down and cleaned it. (As an aside, the fuel and oil filters on these old diesels are a really neat design. A series of closely spaced brass disks which act as the filter. They rotate around the centre, and there is a wiper of mica or really thin brass sheets to remove the filtered gunk which falls to the bottom of the filter can.) After clearing the clogs and getting good fuel flow, i began the process of bleeding out the injector lines (again), I had only compleated one of the six, when the batteries began complaining. (A pair of brand new 8D starting batteries, but I have been drawing a lot out of them.) So I called it quits for the day. Unfortunately, I can't get back to the boat until after work on Saturday (6 days a week can be a drag at times) At least the batteries will have time to recharge somewhat by then. Hopefully the engine will start after the other 5 lines are bled out. On a related note, the surveyor surveyed the boat today. He found some minor problems, and one spot of rot (non-structural, but need to fix it real soon) The propane system is not up to snuff, and the electrical system is really poor. But the electrical system is already being modified (Lee, the surveyor, was quite impressed with George's panel ) and the propane will be brought up to snuff when we move the galley aft. All in all, Lee said that the boat is in great shape, especially considering her advanced age. We are trying to get ready to move her either next week, or next weekend (more likely the weekend given my schedule) George has agreed to help, given that Kat and I are neophytes at this boat biz.Last modified: Sun Jul 4 22:53:25 PDT 1999