Progress on "updating" Queequeg continues, but slowly.
Every time we fix one thing, something else goes wrong. We've put the heat exchanger problem on hold for a while, pending money to get a new one. Meanwhile, the engine runs fine on salt water.
We've developed a little leak in the pressure water system, so I'm busy tracking that down.
We've also discover MANY leaks in the portholes and deck hatches. I've been busy tracking them down and repairing them, but every time it rains we find a new one - or two - or three...you get the picture.
On a happier note, I will be starring in the upcoming production of "Act Now!" a new musical being produced - for the first time ever - at the Marathon Community Theater. The play is about auditions at a small community theater and I will be playing "Dave," the director.
If you are planning to be in the Keys this March, be sure to get tickets!
Friday, January 28, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
A setback
Well, we took Queequeg out for a half-day shakedown on Sunday. It was a beautiful day, ESE winds at about 10, lots of sun, etc. We had a great time sailing under jib alone with Bev quickly learning to handle the jib sheets. We came back to the mooring and picked up the ball easily. All was wonderful BUT...
Upon checking the engine afterward I found that the fresh water coolant had all leaked out. Investigating this today I discovered that the heat exchanger was bad. Yuck! I had no idea these little gizmos were so expensive! First of all the manufacturer, "Sen-Dure," no longer stocks this particular model. They very graciously said they could make one (they still have the specs on file) but it will cost $650 plus shipping. This is WAY out of our budget. So it looks like we sill be stuck in the harbor until 1) a rich relative neither of us knows about dies and leaves us money OR 2) we save up the bucks to buy it OR 3) some kind person reading this blog hits the "Donate" button and helps us out.
Our only real hope of a timely, reasonable cost solution will be if the local radiator shop can repair the unit. That will be tomorrow's project. Wish us luck.
Upon checking the engine afterward I found that the fresh water coolant had all leaked out. Investigating this today I discovered that the heat exchanger was bad. Yuck! I had no idea these little gizmos were so expensive! First of all the manufacturer, "Sen-Dure," no longer stocks this particular model. They very graciously said they could make one (they still have the specs on file) but it will cost $650 plus shipping. This is WAY out of our budget. So it looks like we sill be stuck in the harbor until 1) a rich relative neither of us knows about dies and leaves us money OR 2) we save up the bucks to buy it OR 3) some kind person reading this blog hits the "Donate" button and helps us out.
Our only real hope of a timely, reasonable cost solution will be if the local radiator shop can repair the unit. That will be tomorrow's project. Wish us luck.
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| Test haul-up of the main sail |
Sunday, December 26, 2010
It's a boat!
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| Our tree. |
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| First output from the oven. |
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| Pete, Carol, Bev and Mike at Christmas dinner. |
We launched her almost two weeks ago and have been busy moving all our gear from Walkure to Queequeg. It's a long and difficult chore and not quite complete. It is amazing how much stuff we had accumulated on that little boat!
When we launched, we noted that the bilge pump ran every few minutes. A leak! It turned out to be the speedometer transducer that was never properly bedded. Someone had used plumbers putty to bed an underwater fitting. We had to haul out (briefly), pull the fitting, clean it and re-bed it. Now we're dry. Whew! dodged a bullet again.
Last Wednesday (my birthday) Bev had to work, so our friends Carol and Peter from Crazy Cat served as crew for the delivery cruise. The wind was just about non-existent so we motored all the way. The boat did 5.5 knots on 2,000 rpm from the old Yanmar diesel. This is way better performance than the previous owner had claimed. I think changing the cutlass bearing made a big difference.
The diesel has been running a bit hot, so I changed out the impeller on the fresh water pump and now she runs cool as a cucumber.
It's a bit of an adjustment settling in to this big boat. We've not quite got all our systems and routines ironed out, but we are making progress. Case in point is the cake Bev made for my birthday (a couple of days late, but that was unavoidable.) With a little help from me getting the oven working, we managed to turn out a beautiful looking, great smelling and even better tasting Pineapple upside-down cake, complete with maraschino cherries!
Yesterday, in between calls to family for holiday wishes, we went to the club house for a fantastic Christmas dinner. Richard Tanner, the harbor master, and his wife put on a huge spread for all the boaters in the harbor. Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, the whole shootin' match. Thanks, Richard!
Right now we're hunkered down waiting out the latest cold front. The wind is howling outside, about 25 knots or so and the whole harbor is white caps. We had planned to go to the movies, but a dinghy ride today is a risk to life and limb and a movie just isn't worth the risk. So, with the solar panels providing the electrical juice, we're sitting here updating the blog.
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| Sporting new bottom paint, Queequeg goes flying! |
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| Kissing the water. |
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| A boat, at last! |
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| A champagne toast to a successful lanuch! |
Saturday, December 11, 2010
More progress
We're almost ready to launch.
The bottom has been sanded, the new cutlass bearing installed, new zinc put on the shaft, etc. We're just waiting for a fresh coat of bottom paint and..."SPLASH!"
The interior repairs are going well. The new floor is installed in the aft stateroom, the galley and the "office" (nav station.)
Bev has painted the interior of all 16 drawers. The unfinished wood was just too stained to leave as is, and we just couldn't see ourselves putting our clothing and other items in them. She also painted the lower portions of the galley. This will brighten the space and save us a lot of refinishing. While she had the paint going, she painted the fold-away seat in the office.
We installed a temporary floor in the salon (dining room.) The sub floor there is very damaged and will have to be completely rebuilt. That will take a lot of time, so it will have to wait. There are more pressing projects, most especially tracking down and stopping several leaks on deck and around the port lights. There's still some rewiring that needs to be done, etc. So we will have to put up with a plain plywood floor in the salon for a while. The forward stateroom/V-Berth has become a lumber yard, storing all of our construction materials. Bev and I will sleep in the aft stateroom until repairs are farther along.
So now, without further ado, here are some much awaited photos of the progress so far.
The bottom has been sanded, the new cutlass bearing installed, new zinc put on the shaft, etc. We're just waiting for a fresh coat of bottom paint and..."SPLASH!"
The interior repairs are going well. The new floor is installed in the aft stateroom, the galley and the "office" (nav station.)
Bev has painted the interior of all 16 drawers. The unfinished wood was just too stained to leave as is, and we just couldn't see ourselves putting our clothing and other items in them. She also painted the lower portions of the galley. This will brighten the space and save us a lot of refinishing. While she had the paint going, she painted the fold-away seat in the office.
We installed a temporary floor in the salon (dining room.) The sub floor there is very damaged and will have to be completely rebuilt. That will take a lot of time, so it will have to wait. There are more pressing projects, most especially tracking down and stopping several leaks on deck and around the port lights. There's still some rewiring that needs to be done, etc. So we will have to put up with a plain plywood floor in the salon for a while. The forward stateroom/V-Berth has become a lumber yard, storing all of our construction materials. Bev and I will sleep in the aft stateroom until repairs are farther along.
So now, without further ado, here are some much awaited photos of the progress so far.
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| New galley floor |
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| More new galley floor |
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| Nav station floor (note fresh paint on seat frame.) |
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| New stateroom floor |
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| The galley "freshened" |
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| The prop polished, new bearing and zinc installed. |
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| Bottom sanded and ready for paint. |
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Progress
Well I finally remembered to bring the camera one day this week, so here are a couple of pictures.
So far, we've done a lot of cleaning and some rewiring, so there's not a lot to see in terms of pictures. We've torn out the old floor from the companionway to the end of the galley. We've built the new floor in the aft stateroom and rebuilt the subfloor in the galley. Bev has been doing some painting in the galley, and I've installed some beadboard to replace the old plywood around the deadlights. The beadboard around all the windows will be painted "Country Dairy," an off-white color that closely matches the color of the fiberglass portions of the interior.
By the end of this week, the aft stateroom and the galley will be done. This will give us enough "living room" to start moving on board.
Our current plan is to swap boats sometime next week. We'll put "Walkure" on the hard where Queequeg is now and launch Queequeg. The folks at the marina say we can raft the two boats together for a few days while we move stuff. To minimize clutter on Queequeg, some "stuff" will stay on Walkure. It will be a good "triage" experience to find what we really need and what we can do without.
So far, we've done a lot of cleaning and some rewiring, so there's not a lot to see in terms of pictures. We've torn out the old floor from the companionway to the end of the galley. We've built the new floor in the aft stateroom and rebuilt the subfloor in the galley. Bev has been doing some painting in the galley, and I've installed some beadboard to replace the old plywood around the deadlights. The beadboard around all the windows will be painted "Country Dairy," an off-white color that closely matches the color of the fiberglass portions of the interior.
By the end of this week, the aft stateroom and the galley will be done. This will give us enough "living room" to start moving on board.
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| New subfloor in aft statroom |
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| Beadboard roughed in above galley |
Sunday, November 21, 2010
The work continues
We've been busy since returning from KW.
We've replaced all four "deadlights" (non-opening windows) in the galley, aft cabin and nav station. This will significantly reduce rain water leaks. We've also started stripping out the damaged woodwork around the windows and replacing it with new beadboard. We are going to paint the beadboard an ivory color to match the interior fiberglass on some of the walls. It should help brighten up the interior and make it less "cave like."
We started tacking down some temporary plywood on the floors. This will make the interior more livable so we can move in sometime next month. It's a hassle getting up to Driftwood to work on the boat, and once she's functional we can do the rest of the refit a room at a time while living aboard. Not ideal, but not having to travel 10 miles one way to work will save a lot of time.
There are still a few more details to work on (inverter, some of the lights, more batteries, etc.) but I think Queequeg will be more or less livable by mid December.
I promise to post some pictures as soon as I remember to bring the camera!
We've replaced all four "deadlights" (non-opening windows) in the galley, aft cabin and nav station. This will significantly reduce rain water leaks. We've also started stripping out the damaged woodwork around the windows and replacing it with new beadboard. We are going to paint the beadboard an ivory color to match the interior fiberglass on some of the walls. It should help brighten up the interior and make it less "cave like."
We started tacking down some temporary plywood on the floors. This will make the interior more livable so we can move in sometime next month. It's a hassle getting up to Driftwood to work on the boat, and once she's functional we can do the rest of the refit a room at a time while living aboard. Not ideal, but not having to travel 10 miles one way to work will save a lot of time.
There are still a few more details to work on (inverter, some of the lights, more batteries, etc.) but I think Queequeg will be more or less livable by mid December.
I promise to post some pictures as soon as I remember to bring the camera!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
It works!
Well folks, here's the really BIG news:
After two weeks of busted knuckles, scraped shins, bruised knees and long strings of salty language, we finally have Queequeg in reasonably good working order. She's by no means livable yet. There's a lot of cleaning to do and of course the floor still has to be rebuilt but...here's a list of what we know actually WORKS:
Radar
GPS
Refrigerator
Fresh water system (new pump)
Hot water heater
Bilge pump (new pump)
and...drum roll please...after replacing the alternator and the starter, changing the oil several times, bleeding the air out of the fuel system...are you ready? Yes! It's the ENGINE!
Thursday, I hooked up a garden hose to the water intake, gave the engine a few turns by hand to make sure everything moved, I perched myself in a safe spot in the engine "room" (I use the term loosely), told Bev to hit the starter and BOOM! A puff of gray smoke from the tail pipe and a startled yell from Bev and chug, chug, chug the engine started running!
Our one big worry in taking over this boat has been the engine. Remember, it's a 30 year old boat and it sat full of rain water for two years. It was always a big question if the engine would ever run again, but, thankfully, it not only runs, it even sound good. (If I'm any judge of diesel engine sounds.) It idles smoothly at the proper speed and revs up just as smoothly.
So now it's really starting to look like we have a boat.
As soon as we get back from our little excursion to Key West (see update on the Walkure blog) we will put in the work order for the yard to replace the cutlass bearing and paint the bottom. Then we will "splash" the boat and sail her down to Boot Key Harbor. We're still not sure exactly where she'll end up (in the harbor itself or down Sisters' Creek but at least it won't be 10 miles away as it is now. Our trips back and forth between here and Driftwood Boat Yard have involved either taxis or borrowed cars, so having the boat a dinghy ride away will be a relief.
Just to be sure, we tried the engine again on Friday and sure enough, it started right up.
When we get back from Key West and get ready to launch, I'll have some pictures. Up till now we've been too busy concentrating on getting the boat ready for launching. Now that some of the pressure is off, maybe we'll get some photos.
Look for an update in about two weeks.
After two weeks of busted knuckles, scraped shins, bruised knees and long strings of salty language, we finally have Queequeg in reasonably good working order. She's by no means livable yet. There's a lot of cleaning to do and of course the floor still has to be rebuilt but...here's a list of what we know actually WORKS:
Radar
GPS
Refrigerator
Fresh water system (new pump)
Hot water heater
Bilge pump (new pump)
and...drum roll please...after replacing the alternator and the starter, changing the oil several times, bleeding the air out of the fuel system...are you ready? Yes! It's the ENGINE!
Thursday, I hooked up a garden hose to the water intake, gave the engine a few turns by hand to make sure everything moved, I perched myself in a safe spot in the engine "room" (I use the term loosely), told Bev to hit the starter and BOOM! A puff of gray smoke from the tail pipe and a startled yell from Bev and chug, chug, chug the engine started running!
Our one big worry in taking over this boat has been the engine. Remember, it's a 30 year old boat and it sat full of rain water for two years. It was always a big question if the engine would ever run again, but, thankfully, it not only runs, it even sound good. (If I'm any judge of diesel engine sounds.) It idles smoothly at the proper speed and revs up just as smoothly.
So now it's really starting to look like we have a boat.
As soon as we get back from our little excursion to Key West (see update on the Walkure blog) we will put in the work order for the yard to replace the cutlass bearing and paint the bottom. Then we will "splash" the boat and sail her down to Boot Key Harbor. We're still not sure exactly where she'll end up (in the harbor itself or down Sisters' Creek but at least it won't be 10 miles away as it is now. Our trips back and forth between here and Driftwood Boat Yard have involved either taxis or borrowed cars, so having the boat a dinghy ride away will be a relief.
Just to be sure, we tried the engine again on Friday and sure enough, it started right up.
When we get back from Key West and get ready to launch, I'll have some pictures. Up till now we've been too busy concentrating on getting the boat ready for launching. Now that some of the pressure is off, maybe we'll get some photos.
Look for an update in about two weeks.
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