Ashes to Ashes, Rust to Rust
After much hammering, disassembling, cursing and cleaning, the engine problems have been diagnosed.
Here is one of the starboard exhaust risers:
Note the rust and general state of distress.
June 14, 2007
May 25, 2007
The engines go...... (silence)
It's been a while! Where have you all been?
Oh, right.
So we're thiiiiiiiis close (holds fingers mere millimeters apart) to selling the boat, but before the transaction is complete the buyer wants to have the boat hauled out, pressure-washed, and surveyed. All fair and good requests (and things we had done back when we were in her shoes) but there turned out to be one minor hang-up with getting this dealt with - our engines. They haven't been run in a very long time (hands up if you can guess when the last time was), which I will point out is a very stupid thing to do.
June 27, 2006
Lake a'boil
It's been absurdly nice here in Seattle for the past three weeks, if not longer (I'll have to check the weather blog archives to verify this.) We nearly reached 90 the past two days, and there hasn't been a cloud to be seen in at least seven days. Thankfully, there's also been very little humidity, so it's been nothing short of spectacular (although the cats may beg to differ, but that's what a fur coat will get you.)
Of course, the lake is up to nearly 70 degrees, so the cold water pipe isn't very cold anymore, but that's a small sacrifice to make for such beautiful conditions.
Naturally, it's a great time to do a little hard labor!
January 19, 2006
Direct current events
The morning the boat was to be picked up in Raymond and transported to Seattle, Gary mailed me to say that the deep-cycle DC batteries had crapped out during the night and leaked out their acidic contents leaving a smelly, caustic mess in the corner of the engine hold. He cleaned everything up and quickly dropped in two spare batteries he had on hand, but cautioned me to look out for this issue in the future. His quick diagnosis was that the charger was probably kaput.
As it ends up, this was a spot-on conclusion and the charger needed replacement, but not before I procrastinated on it for a fair bit while other tasks occupied my time (brief update - the starboard rear corner repair is finally DONE! More on that later.)
August 4, 2005
Attack of the Killer Mold
The Adventures of Borax Boy & Tea Tree Girl
It was a sultry Seattle night. The kind of evening when the air feels guilty, like trouble is brewing and something serious is about to go down. The forces of evil stirred in the streets with electricity. A dark cloud descended on the landscape and threatened to consume the Space Needle. The city was in real danger! The citizens of Seattle gathered in the streets as the inky blackness spilled across the sky, snuffing out the moon. No one knew exactly what lurked behind that cloud, but one after another, the good people of Fremont and Queen Anne paled and swooned, crumpling on the hot asphalt. They coughed and gripped their throats, their chests. The black cloud appeared to be seeping into their lungs, and the sickness spread swiftly among them until they were all clutching their stomachs and gasping for air like freshly netted salmon.
July 5, 2005
Progress... not perfection.
I keep telling myself that. I post these photos only so you'll have something to gauge the "After" pictures by.
Nevadelia Lotus Blossom fully endorses Borax and the 20 Mule Team.
Hi. We live here. Repeat after me: "Before" pictures. "Before" pictures!
June 13, 2005
So happy together
...never to be pulled apart again.
There's the new piece of plywood, cut and ready to be installed.
We had a good no, GREAT stretch of weather for about a week, with sun and highs in the upper 80s, which gave ample time for the damp wood to dry and any fungus or mold to be killed off by fresh air, light, and a good heavy dose of antifreeze and borax. When that was done and the really rotten wood was removed (see previous post), it was time to get to the more boring part of things - reassembly.
May 26, 2005
Air it out
Today's forecast: Sun and upper 80s, chance of 90. Time to take the fiberglass paneling off, see just how far in the damage goes, and dry things out. Last night I unscrewed all of the flashing and prepped things, and this morning I drilled out the rivets and removed the ladder screws. Naturally the ladder is rust-welded on at the top, so that won't be coming off, but I was able to slide the panel out from behind.
Here's the entire thing with the rotted front plywood panel pulled off.
May 19, 2005
Rain rain, go away
So there we were, all ready to re-paint the stateroom. We went to Lowe's and purchased the paint (two lovely shades of blue that escape me at the moment), got some snazzy new flooring to put in, and had things plotted out. Saturday rolled around and I got to work removing the crappy patio rug and other accessories that were in there. I extracted the rear step and discovered something strange and wet.
No, it wasn't Delia's nose hiding in the dark. It was, in fact, wet wood.
May 4, 2005
Blister In The Sun
There's the remains of one of the blisters mentioned in the survey, now ground out and about to be filled in with epoxy and re-painted. Gary's been great about doing some of these last few things before the boat gets trucked up here. The following few images show the repairs done thus far...
May 3, 2005
Komi!
Yeah, that's us hard at work last weekend. Actually, this was the first time we've taken the opportunity to pull out my shiny new Go board to play since Kristin got it for me last Christmas. She played black, I was white. This is a very impressive showing, considering it's only her second time playing, and first time on a full-sized board! I'll leave it as an exercise to figure out the score, but for reference I went first, so she gets the 6.5 extra points. (I won 186 to 181.5, but don't tell anyone.)
Actually, there was some real work done as well...
April 25, 2005
Like art class, only bigger
Talk about a refresher course in grade school this past weekend! There was chemistry, art, politics, history, home economics...
I'll let Steve fill you in on all the technical details because he likes that sort of thing. I like to paint and drink coffee. Can I just tell you, only in Washington State would you drive out to the mad boonies of desolate Raymond, and find the *best* espresso at some little shack on the side of the road. I don't even think this town has a school, but it's got one killer coffee shop. Oh and the girls' softball team was holding a fundraising car wash, so my car, Verna, got all nice and polished. This was to make me feel better after having the windshield smashed by a rock on the highway en route.
But none of this really has anything to do with the fact that after a weekend under the hull with paintbrushes, I need a new pair of jeans and Steve had to shave his head. Sunday was kind of like art class, but bigger. And without smocks.
Boy, did we paint.
April 18, 2005
Earning it
So not surpisingly, there's a few things on the boat that need some care and attention. We went down to "Beautiful Downtown Raymond" (Gary's words, although he's really in the suburbs between Raymond and South Bend) and got to work on the major things that need dealing with before the boat gets inspected and dropped in the water.
Step 1 consisted of sealing miscelaneous gaps and cracks where rainwater might be leaking into the holds. The material used for this is a compound made by the 3M corporation called 5200, which comes in a caulk-type container and goes in a standard caulk gun. This compound is exceptionally slow to extrude from the container and gets everywhere it shouldn't be, such as on clothing, skin, and shoes. It also gets into the seals and gaskets where it needs to go, and is quite possibly the strongest adhesive available to the general public. If the Hoover Dam ever springs a leak, this is the stuff I'd go in with to seal it back up. The best part is that it actually cures better when wet, so the on-and-off drizzle we had over the weekend was a benefit. But enough about that, and enough about the fact that my fingerprints are now filled with some of the excess.
On to bigger and badder things, in several senses of those words.