The pressure is on!

I have booked my launch date! They pick me up Wednesday afternoon (June 10th) at 14h30 and leave me hanging in the slings overnight so I can install my depth sounder and paint my cradle pad spots. then, first thing Thursday morning (June 11th), S/V Fugu splashes for the first time. The funny thing is that this is exactly 1 year minus a day that I bought my boat. I transported the boat to the yacht club on June 12th from Lake Champlain on June 12th, 2008.

Now, I have to do my de-naming / re-naming ceremony, according to John Vigor:
http://www.48north.com/mr_offline/denaming.htm


Gotta go, there is copy to be written!

Countdown to splash time.

There are a few critical steps to complete before I can put the boat in the water.

1. install raw water intake through hull
2. finish bottom paint
3. install new hose and packing gland and flax packing

Then, I get to book the travel-lift appointment and when they have me in the slings, I install my DST800 instrument and slap on a bit more bottom paint. The next morning, the boat goes in and hopefully, all is well.

1. Install raw water intake through-hull
1. cut hole for through-hull -- 30 minutes
2. sand exterior to epoxy around hole (just a circle) -- 5 minutes
3. clean area with acetone -- 5 minutes
   
4. cut through-hull to length -- 30 minutes
5. dry install through hull for positioning -- 10 minutes
6. drill 3 through-bolt holes, drill one, drop screw in hole, do next, etc. -- 30 minutes
7. countersink holes, inside and out for good seal -- 30 minutes
8. clean up both sides of hull -- 10 minutes
9. apply sikaflex to screws and apply from outside -- 5 minutes
10. apply sikaflex to flange and centre over screw holes -- 5 minutes
11. tighten down screws -- 15 minutes
12. apply sikaflex to through-hull and install, tighten -- 10 minutes
    
13. clean up squeeze-out, inside and out -- 10 minutes
14. apply fairing compound -- 20 mintues, overnight cure
15. light sand fairing, clean with acetone -- 5 minutes
    
16. Interprotect the area
    
2. Finish bottom paint
1. sand colloidal silica -- 10 minutes
2. wash hull to remove sanding dust -- 1 hour
3. fair patch -- 20 minutes, 6 hours cure time -- which means overnight.
4. paint with Interprotect -- 45 minutes, a few hours to cure, ie: overnight.
5. apply VC17 to rest of hull (except patched area) -- 3+ hours (end of day task)
3. Install new hose and packing
1. cut hose to length -- 5 minutes
2. fit hose over stern tube -- 5 minutes
   
3. install packing gland -- 5 minutes
4. fit double clamps (4 total) -- 10 minutes
5. cut packing rings (4 total) -- 15 minutes
6. install packing rings -- 15 minutes
7. tighten packing gland, not too much -- 10 minutes
   

It's a big list, but it is made up of a lot of small tasks so getting through it shouldn't be too difficult. This weekend will be a long one, however. I am goign to call to book my "mise à l'eau", ideally for Thursday evening to hang in the slings so I can drop Friday morning (the 12th).


/Jason

Inspecting the prop shaft through hull

So my boat is 31 years old and I don't doubt that in that time, the only thing done in the area of the prop shaft through hull is sporadic replacing of the flax packing in the stuffing box. This week, with the help of my brother in-law, I removed the prop-shaft from the coupler and slid it back far enough to remove the stuffing box and the hose that connects it to the shaft log. The stern tube is bronze and is in fine shape. The stuffing box is also bronze but was rather caked with gunk. The hose between the two was definitely showing its age. It was still water tight but the outer skin was cracking and the inner skin was cracking when flexed. The only reason it lasted this long was that due to its rather short length (about 4") it never really had to flex that much.

The stuffing box is not the common large packing nut style. It is more like the packing glands offered by Buck Algonquin here: http://www.buckalgonquin.com/pages/ProductPages/drivetrain/pbs_page.html
Unfortunately, they do not offer them in a 22mm shaft size so replacing what I have is not an option. I have found out that the studs in my stuffing box are metric, just like everything else on the boat, M7 x 50mm to be precise. It is not easy to find bronze studs in metric sizes. Actually, M7 is not a very common size at all.I wonder if I could have the holes enlarged at a machine shop to take 5/16 or 9/32 studs. Those might be easier to find here. I would like to replace them since one of the studs has crushed threads at the end and came unscrewed from the stuffing box when I added my packing. At any rate, when I brought the stuffing box home for a good cleanup, I noticed that there were six (?!) rings of flax packing in there. Normally, 3 or 4 suffice. when I put the boat in the water last year, the stuffing box was leaking. So I opened it up and removed what I though was all the packing and was only able to put in 3 rings. What apparently happened was there were 4 rings, I removed 1 and added 3 more. Ugh. At least the prop shaft wasn't scored. With the packing fully removed, there should be enough room to cut off the bad threads from the stud and still have room for 4 rings of flax. Next chance I get, I will stock up on some M7 bronze threaded rod and nuts.

As for the stern tube hose, the existing is much to old and too short to have any useful markings on it for getting the same part. So I found what I think is suitable hose from Thermoid at my local hardware store. It is Thermoid Valuflex/GS red hose, 1-1/4" inner diameter. The hose is abrasion resistant and can handle 200psi working pressure at 200F (93C). I purchased a 1" length for $10 and should be able to get 3 or 4 parts out of that.

Fugu is almost ready for the water.

sanding, patching, sanding, filling, sanding...

If there is one constant in boat ownership, it has to be sanding. In the past 3 weeks, I have bought:

• a 4-1/2" angle grinder and sanding discs for it
• a 5" random orbital palm sander
• an electric (non-cordless) drill with a myriad of wire and nylon brush bits.
• multiple "job-packs" of sanding discs
• a valu-pack of dust masks

At this point, my hull is nearly ready for launch. I have patched two holes, filled and faired my keel and applied Interprotect epoxy barrier to those areas. Yesterday (June 4th) my plan was to give the bottom a quick sanding all over and then start applying the VC17m bottom paint. Unfortunately, my sanding uncovered a poorly filled void about the size of a dime. I couldn't leave well enough alone so I had to get to the bottom of the void literally. I switched to a heavier grit sanding disc and went to town on the patch. It turned out to be just a little void that only went one layer of glass deep. The total patch was about the size of a slice of tomato fit for a burger. By this point in time, epoxy work has become rather easy so 20 minutes later, the area was cleaned, brushed with un-thickened epoxy, glassed and coated with some colloidal silca thickened epoxy and faired. Today I intend to hose down the hull and give it a good wash after all that sanding yesterday, then sand the latest patch and fill with the last of my fairing compound. I won't have time to sand that since I am using the slow-cure hardener, but I should have some time left to start on the bottom painting. I really can't wait to get the VC17 on the patches. Then they will become invisible and the repairs will be complete.

Of course, one of the repairs was for the raw water intake. On that front, I have received some hardware. Specifically:

• a 3/4" bronze mushroom head through hull fitting
  
• a 3/4" full-flow bronze NPS-NPT flange adapter
• a 3/4" full-flow bronze ball valve
• a 3/4" full-flow bronze 90 degree hose adapter

In order to install the through hull flange adapter, I will need to drill a hole in my brand new patch. Actually, 4 holes. One for the through hull fitting and 3 for the through bolts to hold it in place.

On the inside of the water intake patch, I had to prepare the surface for the adapter. For this, I added 5 layers of biaxial roving and mat. This is pretty thick stuff. And then after that had cured, I place a blob of peanut-butter thickened epoxy and spread it around. I then pressed in place a square of cardboard covered with packing tape as a release membrane. I place a heavy weight on top of it (the flange adapter with ball valve and hose bard assembly) and let that cure. A day later, the cardboard came off easily and left a mirror smooth surface for the flange adapter.

And now, on to the prop shaft through hull.