Construction after Destruction.

I know, sweet title. Possibly the first good title out of all these posts. Everyone showed up for work today even though it snowed 10" last night. Most of the time someone will call in with a shoveling emergency or a leaky roof but everyone braved the elements and we got some work done.
The 36' Calvin (photo to the left) is in the beginning stages of being finished. Everything that need to be removed has been and all the work from here to the end is making this boat better than it ever was. The old lazarette bulkhead had to be moved forward to make space for the new fiberglass fuel tanks (2nd photo). Bulkheads aft of the wheelhouse will be the front of the below deck lobster tanks. A second bulkhead will be positioned 56" aft to make the rear of the lobster tanks. The nuts and washers on the back side of the lifting rails have been glassed over, and the stainless steel exhaust system (not pictured) is in the final stages of production.

The shop flood of last week slowed the progress on the new tanks. With the water gone Otto glassed the baffles in the second tank and put a top on the first tank. Barring major delays the tanks should be ready to pressure test by Wednesday night. After the tanks are done we can put the deck back down and send this boat back to Rhode Island. With the new lobster tanks I would advise the owner to haul all the gear he sees between Maine and RI and see if he could top off both tanks. Just don't get caught.

I was on the 38' Northern Bay again working on the fly bridge. I talked about some hatches that I was trying to make but I was having trouble drawing a picture with my limited verbal skills. The photo (#3) of the bench and hatch should make this easier. The hatch hangs over the inboard edge of the bench utilizing the overhang as a handle. Once the fiberglass channel arrives a U will be built on the bottom side of the seat. The forward part of this bench is removable to make it possible for a person to sit facing forward. When the 20" section is positioned as it is in the photo it makes a 6'10" couch for someone to lay down on. We tried to mock up a center console for the owner to approve complete with a cardboard steering wheel. If he can make final decisions on that console then the flybridge should be done by Thursday.

In other shop news: lots of heavy snow = Dan spent much of the morning shoveling off the roof where the snow from the main shop had fallen onto the wood shop/break room. 36' Calvin = tanks, bulkheads, and the other stuff that I already talked about nearer to the beginning of this post. 38' Northern Bay = performed a stress test on the arch, 595 lb on the center of the arch standing closer than any three people should ever be standing, sag in the arch 7/16", hopefully that will be acceptable. Welding shop = John skipped break to "finish something up" and I didn't see him the rest of the day, must have been busy.

I have a customer looking for a molded top for a 36' Calvin, so if anyone knows were I can find one, thanks in advance. No links today, 3 pictures, if I had to grade this post I would give it a 5.45 out of 10 (just slightly better than average). With only 11 posts left I would like to get at least one visit from every state in the USA so if you could send a link to the people in the following states..........OREGON, NEVADA, IDAHO.........it would help...........I'm filling in the map from left to right.

Why does this feel like homework?

30 posts in 30 days, what was I thinking. These self imposed deadlines are killing me. Most of the time I just burn off a post to not fall behind even further. What I should have promised was one post a week for a year, I would have been more posts but I wouldn't have to write one every day. Alright, enough complaining, lets get this over with.

Erika is fixing the site, pics are available to some of the older boats in the "launched" section. I will try to provide better, up to date, pictures to the boats that have been missed. Plus I have to learn how to link the posts up with other pictures on the site and pages within the blog to decrease the bounce rate and increase the average time on the site. You are all reading too fast. 48 visits yesterday with an "average time on site" of 1:48 and that number is higher than it should be, one of you was on the site for 14 min. Thanks.

Previous posts have talked about building new fiberglass fuel tanks for the 36' Calvin. Pictured is the tank mold used to make the tank shells. After the shell is completed the tanks are cut to the desired height. Baffles are added and glassed into place, this cuts down on the violence of the fuel splashing around inside the tank. A top is screwed on and then the entire tank is glassed with multiple layers of fiberglass. Once the tank is dry it is sanded and pressure tested. 2-3 psi of air is pumped into the tank then dish soap is brushed on the tank. If you see bubbles the tank fails the test. Do not exceed 5 psi, the tank could explode. This hasn't happened yet, but the fiberglass doesn't stand much of a chance against a compressor with over 80 psi in it.

Once the tanks are finished they will be pushed to the stern of the boat and fiberglassed into place. I was going to hold them in place with 2-part foam but I wouldn't want the person ripping them out in 40 years to blog about how much of a pain it is to chizzle out old foam.

In other shop news: 36' Calvin = exhaust across the engine room and through the deck, removed the windows, built supports for the fuel tanks to sit on. 38' Northern Bay = sanding, glassing and cleaning. 35' Lobster Boat = prepped the forward floor for gray gel. The CAT salesman stopped by the shop and said that the new boat market is slower than he has ever seen. Rumors of another couple of repair jobs surfaced from multiple sources. Good thing boats always break.

The boss is back from his extended vacation. I'm sure that the posts will get better now that I can do more work during the day. Focusing on the 38' Northern Bay will be my task for the day. I was going to take a couple of days off and go to Hull, MA. That plan was canceled due to the weather, so I have to go to work. Tough to believe how boring this post is until you read it. I can't do any better...........maybe someone will fall down at work today. Reader suggestions on future posts would be helpful. Click a link, hang out, leave a comment.

www.clarkislandboatworks.com

Tanks out. Gross out.

Hello people of the world. If this is your first visit to the blog then I would recommend reading the previous posts before you continue. After you read those other posts this post will make more sense and you can see how much my posts have improved over the last 8 days. 27 visits on day two of the stat tracker. Site traffic is up 200% in one day!!! If this trend continues by the end of the 30 days we'll be rolling everyone on the planet (do the math if you don't believe me). If you first-timers disregarded my advice at the beginning of the post and are still reading........nice.

Dan Jr. and Clay started in with the crowbars and freed the tanks from the boat first thing this morning. Ropes, blocks, pry bars, and 4 workers were need to dislodge the tanks from the boat. Then once the tanks were pulled up we tipped them to the side to pump out the rest of the diesel fuel (I subcontracted that job to one of my employees the thought of diesel makes me want to vomit). After the tanks were totally empty we tied ropes around both ends and lowered them off the boat and onto the floor.

Photographic proof that the tanks are indeed on the floor of the shop. Also pictured are the parts of the deck that were removed yesterday. The scum line that you see on the tanks is where the foam was attaching the tank to the hull. The foam ended up being the toughest part of this job so far. All the foam was drenched in fuel, water, and slime. Even though the foam had been softened by the fuel it still was very tough and could only be broken out in small pieces. Dan Jr. and Clay deserve all the credit in the world for sticking to this job, I worked on other projects as soon as the tanks were on the floor (pictured). After using the vacuum to pick up all the water/fuel they used flat bars to break up the foam. I was going to bring the crew out to lunch today but after 30 min of playing in that scuzzy foam Dan and Clay reeked and we would have been kicked out of most dining establishments. I can't even explain the foam without using profanity and even then I don't think that words can do the odor justice. So..... If you are interested in getting a sample of the diseased foam please leave a comment that says "I need to know what that foam was all about" and your address and I will be happy to send you a small sample, for 6 dollars.

As you can see we have plenty of samples and most of them are in mint condition, limit one per customer. Supplies are limited so act fast, all sales are final, satisfaction guaranteed.

In other shop news I put a radar stand back on a 40' Wayne Beal after John (our welder) had shorted the aluminum stand. The owner had been having troubles getting the boat in and out of buildings and even transporting it over the road. Now with the shorter stand these problems should be eliminated. The entire crew was involved in the tank circus in the morning but afterward Jeff focused on the arch on the 38' Northern Bay. Pictures of a completed arch should be available by the end of the weekend. John began fabrication on a stainless steel 8" exhaust port. Someone brought us donuts for break, which we all appreciated.

Post number 9 in the books. Three pics (so lazy), by post number 23 it will be all pics no words, then maybe when I have nothing left, video post. My favorite part of these posts is the forced comments that I make at the end, I hope you are as uncomfortable reading them as I am writing them. The boat stuff should be enough.

Of the 16 unique viewers to this blog, 1 from Brazil and 1 from India. I thought that was cool so I decided to share. Its probably just a computer that scans all the blogs in the world gathering information on people to use against them when they least expect it. Or not.