The Old Shipyard

richie compass overhauled

2011-05-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

Richie compass overhaul

2011-05-15T14:50:00.000-07:00

A few more things got done

2011-04-21T18:20:00.000-07:00

First I started the spiniker sock , lots of sewing , i did take some videos but it was more of a figure it out as you go project. The top is done now i have to measure its length, about 28 feet i figure.
second the compass is off and out for overhaul, its probably going to be the only accurate instrument on the boat
I have the new throttle and shift handles but the mounting shafts will have to be modified to mount them both
The curtains are in , and look great I do need a third set to make them look good parts are on order
I got a brass intake cover for the water intake ,Last year too much crap was sucked in and it kept clogging the filter . It was an eBay buy and I wasn't paying proper attention and i overpaid, bummer
The hull is polished out this year again and there is still some varnishing to do
The big item is the mast but i can do that once the boat is in the water
I also got the Bimini modified to accept the back stay, the old shift cover works well for that.
The Hobbs meter is mounted into the engine cover a good place
I also fixed the water pump that came out of the old sea-cats derelict, the pump had to be disassembled and all the rust cleaned out but it works.

The curtains

2011-04-15T14:38:00.001-07:00

The curtains didnt fit they were too tight Now I have to move the faster strip about one inch

Bummer

Rope clutch

2011-04-15T14:37:00.000-07:00

I have 2 double rope clutches , old stile that use plastic lock down handles, one broke last fall
You cannot buy them anymore so I went and made 4 of them out of hardwood today cut on a band saw and belt sanded It works just fine and dont look bad either, I almost lost a small stailess steel retainer clip, tha would have been bad and NOT REPLACEABLE I found it jammed under the lockdown plate
Thanks
I also cleaned and waxed the waterline It was cold and windy. The lake water is very high, almost to the clubhouse.

Fresh bottom paint

2011-04-14T15:44:00.002-07:00

Fresh bottom paint

2011-04-14T15:44:00.000-07:00

curtain sewing APRIL 2011

2011-04-14T14:33:00.000-07:00

Richie compass overhaul

2011-04-12T17:53:00.000-07:00

I posted a YouTube video on my Richie compass overhaul
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWNwAJCZzfg

2011 Season

2011-04-12T17:46:00.000-07:00

The boat is uncovered, it got an oil change , the engine is running. We have fresh bottom paint
I also put on the new curtain rods that i bought 2 years ago they came out of a Catalina.
The clips and attachments came from sailright

2011 Season

2011-01-10T03:48:00.000-08:00

The continuing saga of the mast step
That all so far unless I sell the other boat and get more working capital
Short on funds but not wind so things will float and move.

End of the season

2010-10-29T11:47:00.000-07:00

Its over the mast is coming down this weekend and we are going to winterize and put the boat to bed
I took the measurements of how far I have to move the mast u bolt out to fit into the ones on the deck
Once this is done everything will finally fit for the mast step next year I hope
The Bimini is also going to get an adjustment so that the back stay can pass thou without it taring everything up
The engine is fine and runs great now that i put in the voltage resister for the distributor
I do have to do something about the water intake it gets clogged constantly and is a pain to clean when the boat is in the water A project for next year

The fried coil in the Atomic 4

2010-09-02T09:45:00.000-07:00

On me last trip the coil got really hot. Its been an ongoing annoyance that the engine would quit just before my destination ,right after a power change. Also the batteries were draining quite rapidly .
Well it seems that the resistor wire had failed and was feeding 14.5v directly into the coil. The last trip it got so hot you could not hold it, ultimately frying the resister wire from the switch all the way back to the coil in a smoke test. It really stinks , literally.
I pulled out the old coil and trashed it. Some posts say you can still use it when it cools down, especially the ones that are oil filled (old style) but i did not want to take any more chances , I threw it in the trash and replaced it with another old style, I could have used one with an internal resistor but those are solid carbon pile coils also subject to a much higher rate of failure than liquid filled.
I placed a ceramic drop down external resistor on the wall mounting it on a cork spacer. The resistor gets hot when it drops the voltage down from 13.5 to 9, and mounting it to fiberglass bulkhead is not a wise move.
This repair has seemed to solve the problem, I have now run the engine for over 12 hours on and off with one run almost 8 hrs and no problem.
Yes the coil does get hot under normal use but not to the point where you cant touch it
Dropping the coil voltage also changed the way the engine runs I'm going to assume this is because of the spark to the plugs is much cleaner now. I no longer get that occasional misfire under load. This may also be because I changed all the wire harness while I made the adjustment. In any case the throttle throw to get the engine to 2000 rpm is now much larger and smoother, without changing any of the mechanical linkage divestments.
I also set the timing to 17 deg BTC under load at 1800 rpm this improved the shaft HP output quite a bit.
Reverse is now a pleasure instead of an adventure Time will tell but im happy with these changes

A solar charging system

2010-06-16T16:47:00.000-07:00

We installed a solar charging system in the boat because I was using more amps than I was charging. The constant charging was also burning up the battery cells and trickle charge took way too long. The new system is fully regulated and totally separate and independent of the boat system.

We have also installed a master kill switch and an amp and volt gauge

new problems noticed

2010-05-19T07:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I stepped the mast the old way because the master hinge pin did not line up properly and my flimsy gallows that i built for the mast did not look safe. This means that the mast step project will continue next fall because im not taking down the mast again for the adjustment.

Also the new pedestal guard that we installed now interferes with the shift linkage arm and throttle arm. The throttle arm has to be backed off and readjusted . This may sound easy but because of the cable location its not. The shift arm will have to be bent back about 20% to properly fit. This means heating and bending a 1`/2 inch ss rod ,not an easy function I may take it to my local machine shop and have them do it

bimini

2010-05-15T17:37:00.000-07:00

The new binini looks good but the dodger that came off the westerly will not work

New screens

2010-05-15T17:34:00.000-07:00

We made up some new screens for the hatches and entrance doors so we can keep out the bugs this year

Electronic egnition

2010-05-03T17:19:00.000-07:00

The old points finality came out of the engine and we put in electronic ignition This should solve all the intermittent starting problems I also have a 70 amp alternator that I would like to install but this requires a new belt the right size, more measuring

The Head

2010-05-03T17:05:00.000-07:00

The Head sprung a leak over the winter so i picked up a rebuild kit and attacked the "shitter"

No much fun but now it has all new seals and will take a "crap load"\

2010-04-26T06:30:00.000-07:00

We also replaced the spreader boots and a new fuel vent line . This will hopefully stop my fuel flow problem,

2010-04-26T06:21:00.000-07:00

Step 3

The hinge pin and the side stablizers comming soon

Step 2 for the mast

2010-04-26T06:02:00.000-07:00

This is step 2 for the mast upgrade

Now level out the u bolts with your jin pole bar as shown, dont use a level because the boat is not level measure with a tape on each end within 1/8 inch is fine

You have determined the height of the U bolts and the one on the mast does clear the mast base plate right?

I hope so

Now set up your U bolt for the mast .

You must be exact on this or the mast will not step into position when you raise it and most likely something will break. Measure from the from the front of the mast to the front of your hindge tube ,this is the length the u bolt must extend from the mast .

The pics show my adjustment method just follow those steps and you wont have a problem.

2010-04-15T04:41:00.000-07:00

Step 1

The new mast step, I started by cutting off the standing water tube flush with the mast. Next, locate your first hole with a pilot drill from inside the cabin to make sure all your hardware clears the bulkhead. This is your starting point. set your first U bolt and then duplicate the other side. Do not tighten down anything . That will come later Ill post the mast next week. Remember ,to do this you must have all lines aft and lazy jack lines install or it will not work.

2010-04-15T04:26:00.000-07:00

We had to install a new battery selector switch and then i also replaced the blower circut breaker with a new one.

New Harken travler

2010-04-09T06:58:00.000-07:00

I needed a new traveler for the boom ,under load it would not slide as it should so I managed to assemble some of the parts I had to remove the old track and reposition the new one a bit further back because the slider had to clear the new ss pedestal arch that i installed.

All lines aft

2010-04-09T06:48:00.000-07:00

All lines aft will let me set up the new mast step system that I have been wanting to do for several years now. This also allows me to raise and lower the sails without having to go on deck, something that is getting harder to do now. This installation consisted of the turning block ,which was hard to locate on the deck because of the bathroom bulkhead. The jam cleats for the line, these are offset from the winch so that the line will not rub on its side when the winch is pulling the line. The winch is centered on the upper deck . This location is important because it has a heavy backing plate on the back side. The other 2 components pass through both inner and outer decks . The entire deck is wood sandwich so oil canning is not a problem, Making it look clean and neat is.

The windows

2010-04-09T06:40:00.000-07:00

Both port and starboard widows were replaced with some nice brass ones that open up.

The old ones did not come out easy. I had to resize the opening but this was not bad.

There was a wall thickness difference between each side so the brass bolts all had to be custom cut ,all 16 of them I would have liked to have them sit in a bit further but that would mean a custom built backing plate that would have stuck out in the cabin and would have looked trashy.

The Cleats

2010-04-09T06:34:00.000-07:00

The old cleats never held up after the quick repair last year so I replaced them with heavy bronze cleats. The old ones had to be hacksawed off, and the new ones mounted on a pad because of the irregular surface of the boat .The entire installation was backed up with a steel plate.

New anchor holder

2010-04-09T06:07:00.000-07:00

The old holders were broken and I kept loosing the anchor overboard while sailing. New holders are now installed .I like these better because they distribute the weight a bit better than the single lock kind. Less train on the pulpit.

Genoa cars

2010-03-03T04:59:00.000-08:00

This item is used to set your Genoa sails and allows you to sail upwind much tighter. They are E$XPENSIVE I picked up 2 on ebay that were unusable because the sheaves were destroyed and with the old style the sheaves were installed with a ss pin in an aluminum housing (very bad)

How to fix It. It took 3 days of research and study and about 1/2 hour each to repair.You cannot buy sheaves that size so to find one I wet to home depot and bought 2 wheel casters rated at 2k lbs ,make sure the have a rubber tire, which you will cut off you should end up with this . cost $18.00

To make them fit into the housing cot the end flush with the sheave and sand smooth done great job

Now for the hard part Removing the old sheave First do not try to push out the old ss pin on an arbor press because when it was made the ends of the pins were flared and after 30years in aluminum all your going to do is bend the housing. Take your saws all and cut thru the old sheave and the ss pin on one side avoid cutting into the housing stay away about 1/8 inch when you cut thru one side take a screwdriver and pry out the small cut sheave and slide the big side over . This will give you enough room to cut the other side. Pry out the cut sheave . You will end up with 2 end pins

Drive the pins out with a punch from the inside because the are flared. Apply a bit of heat (not much)30 seconds is enough . They will come out easy.

Drill out the aluminum housing to the same diameter as the sheave shaft that came with the casters. The shaft will fit perfectly without cutting. Time to assemble and You just saved yourself a $600.00 purchase for both of them. Good wheel casters work great for sheaves they are cheap and of good quality.

Bow cleats

2010-02-27T04:38:00.000-08:00

The Bow of the boat is going to be reworked this year, There is a lot of stress there and the old cleats that hold the dock lines are just not holding up anymore I guess 33 years is enough. So before anything gets really damaged we are installing some fine cast bronze 8 inch cleats. They have a nice patina that has developed over the years, but I chose to polish them up anyway, just to clean up the burrs on the cast. The color will return over time. The motor is being repaired for the electric winch, which will also have to be installed along with some new electrical work.

Planns for this year before the boat goes into the water

2010-01-28T12:42:00.000-08:00

The bottom paint gets redone (each year)

We will be designing and building a new mast step system (parts are in)

The 2 front windows are being replaced with some well purchased ones off eBay ( brass)

All lines aft 2 block only (parts and new winches are in)

Improve the lawrence system its not working the way i want it.

Install the new compass

A new electric winch for the anchor ( I hope)

We are going to start the interior woodwork and replace the temporary one that was installed when I bought the boat

All the life lines need replacing and because Torry will be on board this comming year I need to put up safety netting

The furler is not going to happen this year as much as I want.

I have some new instruments coming for installation but they too will take some work to set up

Im way over budget for the year on upgrades and its time to stop

The compas light

2010-01-28T12:40:00.000-08:00

well Im going to have to modify the light housing so, before I start cutting things up I want to make sure this is going to work.r

for 2010

2010-01-17T14:16:00.000-08:00

first there are a lot of things planned for this year but we will start with the new

Danforth constelation compass an ,ebay buy. We took the light housing off, it was just raw cast bronze that was never finnished, it got pollished and the light had the old 1940s bulb in it , it got modified and we mounted some LED lights into it , it looks much cleaner now.

2009-12-06T13:03:00.001-08:00

We have done a little cleanup here ready for the 2010 season

Upgrades

2009-05-27T10:14:00.000-07:00

2009 Season

2009-05-17T05:07:00.001-07:00

2009 Boat Improvement Notes and Pictures

Rub Rails
The old rails needed to be replaced, the rubber had broken down over the years and was leaving white streaks down the hull of the boat each year.
The rail came in one section 60 feet long , in black. The white was almost double the cost. Im going to wrap it around the front on the outside and then tie it off in the rear right corner so there is just one piece all around. In order to do this I had to reset the bow and stern plates and reseal it all.

Stern Rail Entry
I needed a better entry into the boat, so i split the stern rails. Cut out the upper and lower rails ,and later used them as two extra stations. The other parts came off an old boat and all got tied into the rear platform . Now its easer to get into the boat again. It turned out quite nice for as you go design work. There needs to be some rope work done on the rails to make them look nice. I started it with about 30 feet of 1/8 line but that did not even get me half way . It takes a lot of line and time to do the job.

Hull Repairs
Some minor scrapes in the fiberglass from last summer needed to be repaired . Since the hull is blue , a color die added to the jell coat to match the color as best i could. Problem solved ,and the hull looks ok for a boat that is 30 years old . It got a coat of penitrol and some some wax and we will be all set for another year. The bottom got a follow up coat of bottom paint .

Safety Lines and Rail Posts
The rail posts were always in the way because of the way the rails were set. I tried to bend one post about 10 degree and it did not work ,all i did was dimple it in an arbor press, after putting on about 2000k of force on it. I also lost the bids on ebay for the replacement one in case i damaged this one now i am out a stanchion, it can still be used but i am not happy about it. I took the stern rail cutouts and manufactured 2 new posts. We set an extra one on the center of the deck because i wanted more walking room. All were removed and reseated in 3M 4200 to stop the deck leaks, it worked .No more problems. The live lines are out to the max at this point because of the extra post, and should be replaced. They are showing some wear, this is for next year.

Chain Plates
Serviced all the Chain plates attach points. inspected and cleaned out the fitting holes ,filled with foam and prepped the plate covers for installation The covers were sealed with 3M 4200 and re beaded with longer ss deck screws this stopped any more water intrusion.

Mast Spreader Brackets
We took the mast off the boat with a forklift, because the spreader bracket had broken last fall. I was given some new brackets form my best fiend Jim's Catalina 25 and modified them to work on my mast. The mast fittings were removed from the spreader plates. To match the hole patterns. Then the outer plate was removed by cutting off the welds to accommodate my original plates which are much heavier. The tubing was cut in half after drilling the holes larger to put the old spreader insert into the new bracket, one is round ,the other flat. The mast spreader bars are also repaired and rewired because the wire routing is different and had to be moved also. It was a lot of work and fitting especially for the wiring which needed to be re routed . It looks good ,the new halyard is on its way and the new extra lines i picked up for 9 bucks looks cleaner. The one item that was a bit of a concern was that the spreader bars did not have enough flex. In some older ships they were actually hinged. I believe because the upper stanchion cable is not tightly secured into the spreaders and does move this should not be an issue, but still a close eye should be kept on it this year.

Lawrence Electronics
A new depth sounder is installed in billage. We are going to try and see if the radio waves will go through the hull when installed to bottom of billage electric pump. The speed ,temp sensor was installed through one of the old overboard hull drains. The brass fitting had to be modified just like the one I did last year for one of the new intakes on the other side. A collar had to be cut off and a larger hole made, same as the last time. I forgot how much of a mess it makes. I fits well and looks good.

The New Hatch Doors
The New Hatch Doors got their final of 6 coats of varnish . The hardware was costly but i can remove the doors without a problem now. The plastic glass was cut and screens still need to be manufactured w with this pattern. The door opening did not fit well and needed a small adjustment for everything to line up. A slow process and some refinishing had to be done ,but they turned out great.

The Hatch Cover
I decided to replace the top laminate with cedar. This is working out well, it just takes forever to glue up the laminates one section at a time. The wood is also soft so my finish will have to be a bit different, epoxy under 6 coats of varnish It looks good but time will tell.

Engine Service
I needed to repair the intake hose again this year. This time i installed a water strainer . This will help to save the water impeller from getting damaged. The impeller is hard to install and very expensive.

A new Overboard Drain System
The ob drain system for the manual billage pump needed to be retired . The old one leaked and was oil soaked. The new one is in with black pipe and has a large check valve to stop back flow. It works great but it was a dirty job to replace. The electric system is also rerouted to a new OB drain above the waterline to stop back flow . It no longer runs out of the sink drain which is below the water line.

A New Water Strainer
The sink then got a new water strainer system for filtering the drinking water. All new pipes and fittings were installed. This will keep the drinking water clean and the sink water can now be run through the original lines without violation the new pollution laws in effect this year.

The Bimany Top
The old Bimany top got destroyed during a wind storm this spring ,so I took the old pattern and re cut one on Joy's new dinning room table. It looks ok ,but definitely not professional. While at it i also made a new canopy cover. I liked the way the old one worked before the wind took care of that one also. The project was made out of painters tarp so time will tell how well it does.

Teak Cockpit Flooring
The teak cockpit flooring looks good . I took 10 square feet of it just to do the front cockpit , I need another box for rear section. BJ picked one up when he went to Burlington. This project is costing a lot. The 10 sq ft of teak flooring is almost $40 .00 and i needed 2 boxes to finish the project. It fits fine and looks good. I had to make a half inch adjustment on the one side to make it fit better . Now to do the back half.

Carpet
A new carpet purchased for the floor. It was cut from the original pattern and fits perfect. Seems they only last about 2 years.