Author: admin

This week I finally found a source for an I-beam to make a lifting rig for the old generator and starboard engine.  I’d found the rest of the gear for hoisting (chain hoist, beam trolley, etc.) for a reasonable price (yay, Harbor Freight!).

So I took Friday off work to add a work-day at the boat, and meet the delivery.  Some lumber, and a 15 foot, 15 pounds-per-foot, 4 inch by 8 inch steel beam.  That’s 225 pounds for those of you keeping score.  Six hours later, I had a “swing-set” assembled that reached from the forward end of the pilot-house, almost to the transom. 

I was able to move the beam over the transom by myself a bit at a time, work on it on the deck (it balanced nicely on the threshold of the salon), and lift each end onto my shoulder to fit it into the “A”-frame end supports.  Got the bruises on my shoulders to prove it!

Then, opened the hatches, hooked up the hoist, and had the generator mobile.

The trolley made it simple to slide it out the door and onto the back deck.  No more big lump of non-functional generator in my hold! 

One of the denizens here at Tall Timbers (we all call him Fiberglass Mike) has a crane-truck, and he offered to pluck the generator off the deck for me.  We chatted at lunch-time before he left to get the crane– turns out he’s selling it soon, so he might not be able to help me with the starboard engine if/when I need to pull it.  No time like the present!  Especially since once the lift rig was done, it only took me about 20 minutes to move the generator.

So while he was gone fetching the crane, I unmounted the starboard engine and made sure it was free and ready to move.  Mike plucked the generator from the deck, and a half-hour later, the starboard engine, too.  It’s sitting on-shore just behind the boat, waiting for me to decide how to move forward.  (Sorry, but I don’t have any pictures of that, since other people were helping and I didn’t want to scurry around with a camera while hauling away on the lifting chain, etc.)

The boat sits high out of the water, and lists to port now, since I just removed about a ton of steel from her gut. That’ll change once the engine goes back in and I fill some fuel tanks and water tanks.

So, major progress!  I’ve got a line on a guy who can help rebuild that engine for me, so it doesn’t take until Christmas. Next up– engine controls on the bridge, and steering.

Fair winds,

Kirk

This spring (while waiting for penerating oil to penetrate the stuck piston in the starboard engine) I put together a fuel polishing and distribution system for Blanca.

I had an issue with water in the fuel tanks–  they sat mostly empty all winter, and when I started the port engine, the water separator did its thing.  I had to shut down and empty the sludge bowl every 3 minutes or so!  I’d been ruminating about a fuel polishing system, so I decided to move that up in the schedule.

Here’s the result!  The two “original” Racor filters can now be used to polish the fuel, or feed the engines.  Or one one way and the other the other.  Or take one offline and use a single Racor for both engines.  That will come in handy for changing filters while underway.  I was able to run the polisher to remove the water from the tanks– it was probably 5 gallons or so.  Not sure how that much got in there; maybe one of the fill pipes wasn’t tightly closed.

Here’s a picture of the completed system– the two bulbs on the sludge bowls let me suck the sediment out without opening up the top of the filters and letting air into the system.

I drew up a diagram to help explain how the thing works.  Because I was bored during the week.  😛 Click here for the diagram.

 

Next time I should have some pictures of the starboard engine work.

–Kirk

Awhile back, I discovered that Blanca’s sister ship (the other of only two made) was docked in Alameda, California.  She (oddly, named “Gypsy”) recently underwent a change of ownership and was relocated to Ohio.  I’ve traded emails and phone-calls with the owners, and they shared some pictures of her as she was being relocated.  So strange, to see “my boat” (with slight differences), being partly disassembled and trailered!

Here she is, with her fly-bridge sliced off and placed on the bow.  This got her total height low enough for transport.

And here she is, being reassembled in Ohio.  I’m told they’ll keep her on the hard for awhile, to do some hull-work before re-launching her.

Our plans to visit Mystic Seaport have gelled this summer, so I’ll be possession of plans and design notes in August.  The new owners of Gypsy will be interested in them, too.

FWAFS,

Kirk