My Post 42 (Kinda Long...Sorry)

Thanks RT46 - Not sure what else to photograph at this point. If there's something you think you want to see let me know. Some things aren't very glamorous!

IR

Thanks for the encouragement cptnpete. I will try to soldier on. Best wishes on your project and I hope it all comes together for you a lot quicker than it has for me.

IR

OK - went back and looked at some photos and found some I thought were worth posting for those who are interested in these things.

First - overhaul time! Yay! We get to spend a LOT of money just to get to go again!

A shot looking aft at the new electrical panel. Note also the paneled ceiling.

The revamped entrance to the flybridge. One of the best changes I made. No more water entering the cockpit through the giant hole. Aft bulkhead (new) stays nice and dry. I put a lot of time and effort into eliminating ways water can get into the boat.

Here's a glamourous shot of the port shelf for rudder support. We take these things for granted. Until we need new ones. All new rudder support shelves (P&S), new Tides dripless shaft seals, new Tides upper rudder bearing block. New shelf for hydraulic steering ram, new steering system (cylinder, lines, relief valve, reservoir, helm pumps, etc. Only kept drag link and tiller arms.) All done by yours truly. Shelves fabricated in my garage.....

Entry door glass frame repainted to match.

Found a shot earlier in the project. The new tanks are in but not plumbed. The new decking is in and all is painted out. I mentioned it before but to repeat, all of the decking areas around the engines and under the cockpit were torn out and new decking made from 3/4" marine ply encapsulated in WEST epoxy and 6 oz cloth on both sides and all edges.

Final shot of bench seat in front of helm showing glassed in all hatch openings flush and then installed watertight hatches. No more water getting in. Inside of the helm stays dry as a bone.

Sorry for the confusion - pulled out some older photos in trying to capture some of the details over the years. After a while you lose track of it all and some things may be out of sequence.

Prior to overhaul I had replaced all fuel lines, all hoses, new turbos, added Airseps, repainted, etc. and they looked like a recent overhaul. But then the time finally came to do the insides. Good part ws all the other stuff was still good so it cut the cost of the overhaul quite a bit. Parts were under $5K/eng.

I have changed out the cooling system on both engines. Got rid of the old J&T cast iron tanks that were marginal for our warm waters and replaced them with Lenco coolers that are nice and big and make the engines very cool and happy. Since the J&T tanks had the gear oil coolers in the bottom of the tank (and the Lenco does not) I had to replace the fuel coolers with a longer double duty cooler - part fuel and part gear oil. As with everything else it's never as easy it looks.....

Fabricated a bracket to mount the new Lenco tanks from ply, glass & epoxy. The mount is my own design (for better or for worse.) So far I am very pleased. Stout and secure.
Had to recut some gear oil hoses and replace a few pieces of plumbing here and there but all in all a very successful outcome.

Final shots of the cooling system upgrade.

Tank set in place

After shot of completed project.

Applied new sound insulation on underside of hatch cover.

By the way - notice the new white cover over the centerline tank. I decided the continued practice of stepping and crawling around on the top of the tank would not be good for the tank over the long term so I made a cover. The cover is 1/2 ply with the familar WEST epoxy and 6 oz cloth on both sides and edges. The underside of the top has cleat stock spaced to land exactly on top of where the tank baffles are located so the load is transferred to the baffles (otherwise what's the point?) Perimeter is trimmed in a raised edge to collect liquids that may spill and the top has non-skid paint applied. Sounds simple when stated in a few sentences but there's a couple more weeks of my life......

It's been working great for the past 7+ years. No charred wood anyway! The boat had those when I got it but I had new duplicates made for them plus new turbo blankets. They seem to do the job but I can't take credit for the idea.

Thanks for the compliment weto but I have enough challenges taking credible photographs. I don't think I'm ready to star in my own video..... But thanks for askin'!

IR

Thanks RT46. Of course you know I am careful to only share the good photos! Kinda like the movie star who only allows photographs of her good side. The old girl has her fair share of warts too.

IR