Pics for Bermuda.

Another Day.

Walking around the Osmond

I expect the visual excitment of that video to lead to 2 or 3 boat sales within the next 48 hours.

Back to Normal (Day 2)

The bulkheads in the 38' Northern Bay are being installed in accordance with the the drawings that we were provided with at the start of this project.  Stringers will be fiberglassed into the hull to provide a resting place for the fuel tanks.  Aluminum has been ordered for our welder to make the fuel tanks that are going to fit between these bulkheads on either side of the boat.

These two fiberglass panels will support the shaft tube.  Unlike the 32' Osmond, this tube will run the full length of the shaft and have a cutlass bearing on either end.  Engine bed preparation will be next on the agenda while we try to get the motor and gear into the boat before "real winter" arrives. 

Another day at the shop and lots of stuff happening.  Check back tomorrow for more pics.

Back to Normal.

A couple months ago I started to explain how an engine installation was going to go and in between my slack blog postings the engine is completely installed now.  This first picture shows the completed outside stuffing box.  The area around the base of the box has been built up to the correct size (the footprint of the box) and drilled and tapped with 5/8" bronze studs.  A zinc bar has been attached to the starboard side of the box and connected with a copper strap.  3/8" Gortex packing is in the stuffing box providing a bearing surface for the 2" stainless steel shaft to turn on.

The inside "box" is a PSS Dripless Shaft Seal.  A cutlass bearing is fitted into a fiberglass tube and that tube is fiberglassed in at the shaft angle (preferably with the shaft thru both boxes).  The PSS consists of a rubber boot that is clamped onto the fiberglass tube housing the cutlass bearing........on the other end of the rubber boot there is a graphite ring......and on the boatshaft is a stainless steel ring......the rubber boot is compressed back and that pressure holds the graphite against the stainless steel ring............and the dripless shaft seal is complete. (except for a water feed line that has to be run from the motor).

With both boxes locked down the engine alignment could begin.  Because this engine is soft mounted the adjustments are simplified, anytime the engine needs to be moved vertically the nuts on the soft mounts can be turned.  The horizontal movements tended to be more problematic because of the nature of the mounts.  Pushing the front of the motor to the port and then having the mounts flex more/less than you were anticipating.....we were able to combat this problem by putting the weight of the motor on a jack when we need to move side to side.  With soft mounts the engine will always be moving but it should be oscillating around the shaft coupling face so the initial line up is still very important.

Once the engine was taken care of the wheelhouse floor stringers were fired into place and the wheelhouse sides and top became top priority.  Communication between myself and the owner should allow for the windows and doors to be cut out and for any wheelhouse "furniture" to be built.  Wires, hoses, batteries, electronics, paint, sanding, air cond, genset, and more in the coming days so check back in.  Sorry for the hiatus.