Sailing Eximius to Miami

Sailing Eximius to Miami for Memorial Day Weekend

With the engine fixed, our sea trial was set for the trip down to Miami Florida over Memorial day weekend with the Hillsboro Inlet Sailing Club ( HISC ).

Our plan was to load the boat on Wednesday May 22nd. Then depart Thursday morning.

I prepared a quick and dirty Float Plan and sent it to our closest friends.

Thursday May 23rd 2024:

Eximius will be leaving the Dock in Fort Lauderdale approximately 08:45 Thursday May 23rd 2024

Crew - Paul & Peggy Alcock

Destination: Miami Stadium Marina https://maps.app.goo.gl/pWRrWJkJX7MDwk676

Route: North Fork of the New River - Port Everglades - South on the Atlantic Ocean - Government Cut of the Miami Inlet - ICW to Rickenbacker Causeway bridge - Miami Stadium Marina.

ETA by 16:00

Friday May 24th 2024 - Saturday May 25th 2024

Remain at Anchor at Miami Stadium Marina

Sunday May 26th.

Possible Day sail in North Biscayne Bay - returning to Miami Stadium Marina Sunday evening by 1800

Monday May 27th

Depart Miami Stadium Marina approximately 07:00

Destination - Eximius Dock in Fort Lauderdale

Route: Depart via Government Cut for Port Everglades via the Atlantic Ocean ( 2 miles out to catch the gulf steam ) to Port Everglades - New River - North Fork to dock.

ETA by 16:00

Attached is our Boat, Crew and Contact information from our Log Book.

The attachment was simply the front page of our boat's navigation log.

With the plan set, we reprovisioned the boat. I used the Cruising Planner Spreadsheet Cruising Planner Spreadsheet 

On Tuesday we went to the boat and finished cleaning up the cabin after the engine work. Turned the Fridges on and headed home. 

Wednesday we loaded the boat with both the Non-Perishables, Perishables and Drinks.

Thursday morning we left the dock as planned, running a little late, but not a big issue.

Once out of Port Everglades, we turned south and actually had the sails up! Sailing Eximius !!

With the wind on the beam but only around 7 knots and 1 know of current on our nose, we were not making a lot of progress. The forecast had promised a wind increase later in the afternoon so we started to motor sail on just the Genoa. 

As expected, the wind did start to pick up but we were much closer to Miami and the Government Cut, so we just continued to motor sail, we did have a max speed of 8.25knots which is really not shabby.

As we approached the entrance to Government Cut Miami, we furled the Genoa and motored in on the turbulent waters until we got inside of the jetty when the waters really quieted down.

Now the long motor up the Government cut and then turn to port into Fisherman's Cut, past the car ferries and down the long dock where ships get loaded by those huge gantry cranes.  We slowed down to allow a huge lux yacht to pass us and the continued on till we got to the ICW just about opposite the Miami River.

Turning South to follow the ICW down to Rickenbacker Causeway bridge via the often very narrow channel bounded by really skinny waters. Once close to the bridge fenders, we turned and followed our previous track towards the Miami Stadium Marina.

We anchored just East of the Rusty Pelican and South of Luijo's Island in about 9' of water pretty much at low tide - good, we need 5'7" so we're good.

There were a few people on Luijo's island despite the notices indicating that the Island was closed.  We watched NBC 6 News on our Tablet and saw a segment reporting that Miami had shut down all of the spoil Islands due to the amount of trash that visitors were leaving on the islands.  

During the evening, a lot of charter boats anchored pretty close to us. They seemed to have a competition as to which boat had the loudest and most obnoxious 'Music'. I used the term 'Music' loosly as it did not match any of my preconceived concept of 'Music'  It was awful.  They played until 4am Friday Morning! 

Despite not sleeping well, we were up for breakfast at 7am. I cooked Fried Eggs, Ham and Tomatoes as well as Skillet toast. Of course, a big pot of coffee and Brie Cheese for the toast.

Friday was pretty much a repeat of the night before. I did raise the dinghy off of the foredeck and lower it to the water, then I installed our new Solar Shades hoping they would help cool the boat.

They were a total success. The temperature of the deck under the shades was at least 10ºF below that out side of the shades. I think it's a combination of the deck being shaded and the flow of wind under the shades when we swung into wind on our anchor.

The cabin was quire bearable when it was scorching hot outside in the Sun. We ran the AC, powered by the Generator and the cabin was a balmy 83ºF.

So I'll markup the Solar Shade as a Ten! The shade is a prototype made from inexpensive shade fabric. Version 2 will be made from Phifertex and it will be White, not 'Tarp Blue', I'll post a separate post on the Solar Shades.

During the day, three more boats from the HISC arrived. Alebrije 2 with Hector & Lucy, then Chasing Blue with Chip & Mariel and a couple of guests, and finally, Anam Cara with Halit & Arzu. 

Alebrije 2 dropped anchor just to the NW of the Stadium ( The Dotted Red Arrow ) 

Hector stopped by in his Puggy Dingy and advised that the noise was much less where he was anchored on Alebrije 2. We thought about it and decided to stay put, thinking that the noise would most likely expand as more charter boats moved into the area.  -- NOT --

We had prepared meals for on the boat with plenty to spare in case we had any guests come over. But for them it was a choice of come over to Eximius or go to one of the huge Catamarans - Hmmmm. 

Saturday morning we gave up, it was 4:30am when the last charter boat decided to leave the anchorage so we planned to shift our anchor to be closer to the Cats and Anam Cara.

The cruise plan was to have a picnic on the Luij's Island at lunchtime Saturday. Well the locals spoilt that option. The Island is tiny, could probably walk around it a low tide in about 10 minutes. It does have a nice beach area which would have been great for a picnic and the club is very good at doing picnics.  However, the City of Miami closed all of the spoil Islands in Biscayne bay ( including Luij's Island ) due to the amount of Litter that the locals were leaving on the islands. Apparently it's not a small problem. The news of the closure was announced on all of the local TV stations and there were Police boats in the area ensuring that the closure was being observed.  So - NO PICNIC.

Don't get me wrong. We really enjoyed getting the boat out and it was a very successful Sea Trial of Eximius after the past month of working on the engine etc. etc. We're already planning our next trip down to Biscayne Bay - it just won't involve a weekend night at Miami Stadium Marina.

We got a ride with Hector to the rafted Catamarans and had an awesome Luncheon with all of the others that arrived by car, they parked by the Stadium and were shuttled from the beach ( rocks ) to the Cats.  The HISC always have great 'Bring Something To Share' events. As always, there was more food than we could eat, not sure if anyone took pics of the lunch dishes but they were delicious. Sea Stories spread like flies although there were no bugs on the food!

After lunch, Chip ( Chasing Blue ) gave us a ride back to Eximius which was much closer now. and we took a well earned Nap hoping to catch up on the lack of sleep on Thursday & Friday.   --- Didn't happen! The Charter boats were back and they seemed to follow us to our new location, at least were not alone.

Sunday morning, Peggy & I rowed our dink over to the Cats and we shared breakfast - another BSTS event. Astrid drove down with a couple more guests and brought a gallon of DD Coffee. there were Bagels & Lox, Fruits, English Muffins, cream Cheese and lots of Coffee. Chip and Mariel did a great job of hosting the Breakfast.

The plan was for the Cats to go for a Day Sail after breakfast, however, the plan changed so that Alebrije 2 would remain on the anchor and Chasing Blue would host everyone for a day sail out to the Ocean in order to watch the Miami Air & Sea Show anchored outside of the restricted area. 

While they all headed out on Chasing Blue, we dinked back to our boat and setup the Air Conditioning and hid out of the Sun. We had put up our Deck Sun Shade on day one of the cruise but dropped it during the move further into the Marina area.  That Shade makes a huge difference! My plan is to make a final version soon so that our shade doesn't make the boat look like it's under a Tarp! 

Chasing Blue returned to the anchorage later, after we had hoisted our Dink onto the foredeck of Eximius. Chip managed to get some of this crew over to Alebrije without incident and we settled in for the evening with an early start planned for Monday morning.

When it cooled down, after dinner, I prepared the boat for an early dawn departure, set the alarm for 04:30am and we let the Generator run out of gasoline and left it off overnight. Other than the noisy neighbors partying long into the night, we slept well only getting awoken a couple of times by things bumping into the boat, probably coconut shells.

We made Coffee before 5am and I pulled the Anchor Snubber up as well as stowed the Anchor location ball. Peggy got up to the helm and started the Engine, we had our headsets on and so didn't have to talk too loudly as we passed the other boats still at anchor. The last Party Boat passed us just as were pulling the anchor.

Making our way out of the marina, we pretty well followed our track from Thursday. A non-event exit until we got to the ICW passage where it goes under the Rickenbacker bridge if we were going South, but were actually headed NW and that's where I lost the mark in the water and we motored too far to the West, towards shallow ground immediately West of the channel. Luckily, I realized it early enough that we did not go aground, but if you follow our track you'll see we moved too far west betwen 05:50am and 05:52am. Not an issue and the tide was coming in.

Navigating up the ICW from the bridge was pretty easy as long as we kept an eye out for the markers. Soon we were headed outbound in Fishermans Cut, past the early morning car ferrys and the huge freighter being guided inbound by Tugs. By the time we turned out of the Government Cut into the Ocean, it was full daylight and we could see that the sea state looked good, although there was not much wind.

Turning to the NW to head towards the Gulf Stream, we searched for wind, found none. We did hoist the sails for a while and managed 6knots for a while. By 08:30 the wind was dropping till eventually we Stowed the sails and went to motor. We called Alebrije and they were closer to Government Cut and still had wind but we could not see them.

We continued a leisurely motor all the way up to Port Everglades, turned into the port and began the final leg of the journey home.

By the time were got to the dock and unloaded, we were both done for the day.  Home, Shower, Change, Dinner and good night.  It's nearly always that way after a cruise. The good news that unloading the truck only takes about 20mins and that includes restocking cold food into the Fridge, other food into the Pantry, Laundry out of the bags and clean clothing back in our closets / bedroom.

A great weekend despite the noisy neighbors in Miami. Looking forward to going back down to Biscayne Bay, but certainly not into Miami Stadium Marina.

We really need to take more pictures and videos, but that's Peggy's Job. ( I'm sticking with that excuse ) 

See you on the water.

M25XP Damper Plate replacement Pt.11 ( Final part )

Finished the Damper Plate Replacement Project.

Ok, all done. The last few steps were easy.

Step 1 - Replace the Gearbox Oil

Step 2 - Check the engine at the dock.

Gearbox Oil Change.

Anyone that has had to change the gearbox oil on a C34 knows - Jack had be nimble - practice boat yoga often and you might be ready.

The good news is there is an easy way to change the gearbox oil.

Remove the Gearbox Oil Dipstick - this is located on the Port side of the gearbox near the forward edge. It's also beneath the Heat Exchanger so just unscrew the dipstick until it is free to lift up, then work it upwards between the heat exchanger and the engine. The dipstick is about 6" long. Pull it out and check the oil level. There's a single groove about 1/4" from the lower end of the dipstick that indicates the normal oil level. Wipe the dipstick down and reinsert it just till the threaded portion touches the body of the gearbox. Remove the dipstick again and note the oil level.

With the dipstick removed, move to the front of the engine and run a 'Fill Tube'  about 1/2" OD, down from the top of the engine just forward of the heat exchanger. The gearbox oil filler hole is just visible. Insert the tube as far down as it will go.

Make sure your oil suction pump is empty! You'll be measuring the amount of oil removed from the gearbox in order to determine how much fresh oil to put back into the gearbox.

Now insert the oil change pump suction tube into the Fill tube, again, as far down as it will reach.

With the suction tube in place, use your oil pump to suck out as much oil as you can.

Pour the removed oil into a measuring cup ( or a Paper cup will do ) and measure the amount of oil removed. If using a paper cup, then simply have a second cup of the same size and mark it where the fresh oil level needs to be to match that amount that was removed.

Remove the Oil suction hose from the  Fill tube and insert a small funnel into the top end of the Fill tube which should still be inserted into the fill hole of the gearbox.

Now pour the measured amount of fresh gearbox oil into the small funnel and let it drain down.

Remove the fill tube and reinsert the dipstick to check the oil level is correct. If needed, reinsert the fill tube and add a small amount of gearbox oil and then check the level again. Remember, use the lower en of the dipstick without screwing it into the gearbox.

Once the level is correct then replace the dipstick.

Check it again after running the engine for a while.

Phew!

Ok, Next Check the coolant level.

As a lot of the coolant was drained out when I removed the engine and heat exchanger, there's quite lot of coolant to replace.

I removed the coolant filler cap and poured in coolant until it reached the rim just below the overflow outlet. 

Next we ran the engine quite hard! I pushed it up to 2800rpm and let it run until I saw the coolant temperature rise above 150 and shut the engine down before it got to 200ºF.

Giving the engine a few minutes rest and with a large rag covering the coolant fill cap, I released the cap. As I had not let the engine get too hot there was not a lot of pressure on the cap.

The coolant level was down, a good sign, as this meant that some of the air in the system was getting purged into the coolant tank. Again, top up the coolant to the rim and replace the cap. Run the engine again. Same process, push the engine until the temp starts to rise and shut it down before reaching 200ºF. Check the coolant level again as earlier and repeat.

I did this 4 times and the last time as soon as I started the engine, the temp was over 150ºF but it started to drop down within a minute. The temp stayed at the 150ºF mark and I allowed the engine to run for another 10 minutes. During that time I tested the gear shift, it easily shifted into Forwards, Neutral Reverse, Neutral several times and we tried to move the dock. The boat put a strain ou our dock lines and the engine temp stayed around 150ºF which has been our normal engine temp for the past 9 years.

Again: Phew!

I called Greg the Mechanic and gave him the good news. The engine ran a whole lot smoother than before, no more cackaling from the damper plate. All looked good

I checked the engine oil level again, we're still good. I'll check the gearbox oil when we get back from out trip.

So, it took 3 weeks but worked out great and really was not that expensive.

Now I can really say "See you on the water" in earnest.

See you on the water!

M25XP Damper Plate replacement Pt.10

1st Start of our Universal M24XP after Damper Plate Change

Quick update on progress.

Today I reconnected the Oil Pressure Switch cable then the Alternator +ve Cable, the Starter Power Cable and then topped up the Coolant.

To bleed the fuel system I opened the Fuel Cock on top of the Fuel Tank, Turned on the engine so that the Fuel Pump would start to circulate the diesel fuel. Then once fuel leaked out of the top of the Fuel Filter I left the pump running for 20 minutes. My idea was that by that time, all of the air in the system should have been pumped into the fuel tank via the fuel return line.

Next was to run the engine. Engine Power Key to On, Raw Water valve opened, Ignition key to on, hearing the Low Oil Pressure warning, that's good. Next hold down the Glow Plug switch for 20 seconds. Make sure the Shut off is in the down position and Throttle a minimum and Gear in Neutral ( Prop Shaft is not currently connected to the gearbox coupling ) than Stab the Start Button. The engine started up without any hesitation. Life is good.

All that is left to do is the Alignment, change the Transmission Gearbox Oil and replace the Anti Syphon valve in the line from the heat exchanger to the Nipple on the exhaust riser.

Greg came down to the boat and between us we got the alignment completed, just as well because this was the last day of temps below 90ºF. We got the engine to shaft alignment to within 0.002" WooHoo.

I have to run the engine for an hour or so and then recheck the alignment and that all of the engine mount nuts and bolts are still tight.

Then I screwed up! 

I removed the Cap and valve from the top of the Anti Syphon, it's located inside the cupboard in the head and inside it is located just below the bathroom countertop as far aft as it could be.

I removed the old Anti Syphon cap and the 'duckbill' valve. Then I reached in with the new replacement and the duckbill valve promptly fell out of the cap and disappeared in the gap between the engine bulkhead and the hull - gone never to be seen again!  Oh CARP.

The reason for replacing the valve was that it no longer was air tight and would allow sea water to be syphoned into the exhaust from the muffler into the engine - DO NOT ALLOW THAT! So I didn't want to risk putting the old valve back in place. Greg agreed it was not worth the risk.  New valves ( yes, spares! ) are on their way, probably arrive by Monday next week :(

Ok, back to work. Next was the Gearbox Oil Change, this should be easy, but then it's on a boat not a tractor. 

Step 1: Remove the dipstick, wipe it clean reinsert it to the threads and withdraw it to check the oil level - it's up to the groove near the lower end of the dipstick.

Step 2: Suck out the Oil from the oil filler hole.  I used our Oil Extractor Pump, normally used for our engine oil changes, it only took less than a minute.

Step 3: Measure the Oil extracted so that I know how much to put back in.

Step 4: Pour the measured fresh oil back into the gearbox - This did not go well!

Good to see the
Cabin Steps
back in place.

The space below the aft berth is not a nice place to be, definitely high on the Boat Yoga Positions Index, I still have bruises on my left ribs from the contortions of trying to get two hands on the gearbox while trying, unsuccessfully to pour oil into the hole which is just below the heat exchanger.

After trying multiple methods of refilling the gearbox oil, I finally figured on getting a tube down into the gearbox filler hole from on top of the engine. Now all I need is get a funnel that fits that tube and refill the gearbox up to the dipstick mark.  Doing that this weekend.

We started to clean up the cabin, but cannot put the aft cabin back together as I need to complete the gearbox oil change, we did get a lot of tools put away so things are getting back to normal.

No pressure - we're preparing for the Memorial Day cruise next weekend. Plan is to leave the dock on Thursday just before High Tide and head straight down to Miami, about a 31mile trip via the Ocean, I detest the ICW trip which is long motor, no sailing. We'll be back to the dock on Tuesday/Wednesday.

Ok, nearly wrapped up this project.  One more update and we should be done.

 

Running AC on a Catalina 34 with Batteries

We ran our AC for hours on battery

Working on the boat in May it was HOT!

So we decided to connect shore power at the dock and run the AC, we have a Dometic - ECD10K - Retrofit Kit 410A 115V - MFG NO.207500310. It's located under the V-Berth and has vents in the V-Berth and Main Salon ( ok, so we only have one salon :) )

After connecting Shore power ( 30amp 110V ) and setting the Victron to On, we noticed that the Multiplus 3000 was not running, we tried resetting it but no luck - Hmmmm. Perhaps the issue is with the shore power. I physically disconnected the shore power and reconnected it. Check that the Polarity was correct ( to our knowledge there has been no electrical work on the dock pedestal ) and all was ok. The Multiplus was now working - we're good to go. So I opened the thru hulls for the AC ( inlet and discharge ) and the AC started it's usual start up cycle. We had to move some of the cushions that were covering the cabin air outlet grill ( cushions were from the Aft Berth where we're working on the engine & transmission. ).

Down to work. There was a lot to do as we had only reinstalled the engine a couple of days ago and we needed to reconnect all of the water hoses, coolant hoses, electrical connections, throttle, Gear Change and engine stop cables and install the Alternator.

Just before 3pm both of were beat! Time to go home, finish this job on Monday. That's when I realized that the AC was running off of the Inverter! Not Shore power - Shore power was not even connected! What !!!!!

Seems that the shore power had disconnected ( at the pedestal ) and we had been running the Multiplus, it was inverting the 12v battery power to 110v AC and powering both our outlets which had a couple of battery chargers connected and the Air Conditioning all that time.

Later, at home, I pulled up the Victron VRM and looked at the data.

That shows that the deep discharge of the batteries started at 10:09am 

Note the daily drop in battery SOC is pretty consistent, the only things we have powered when away from the boat at the dock are the Main Bilge Pump ( shouldn't run, bilge is normally dry ) and the Dry Bilge Pump ( Runs for 1 minute every hour even if the bilge is dry ) 

Battery SOC dropped to 20% by the time we turned the AC off. The Inverter was running from 10:35am until 12:39pm just over 4 hours!!!

WOW - We can run the AC during the day for 4 hours if the batteries are at 100% and there is plenty of Solar Power.  This is just what we were hoping for but had not tested it in real world conditions.

Now we need to find out why this happened. I'll check the shore power pedestal and the shore power cable ( we have SmartPlug connection on the boat end of the cable ).

This was a good day.

M25XP Damper Plate replacement Pt.9

Installing the M25XP engine after the Damper Plate replacement

Friday was a long day! We started by setting up the Air Conditioning, by 10am, it was already 96ºF and that was not easy ( see the post about  that here ).

With the boat cooling down, I started on the reinstall.

Here's the progress on the check off list.

• Install Heat Exchanger
• 4 Hoses connecting the engine and the heat exchanger to the exhaust system.
• Glow Plug supply wire
• Oil Pressure switch wire
• Coolant Temperature wire
• Coolant High Temp wire
• Starter Solenoid Wire
• Starter power wire
• Raw Water pump hoses
• Coolant pump hoses
• Fuel supply hose
• Fuel return hose
• Install Alternator
• 4 pin Alternator plug
• Alternator +ve wire
• Alternator -ve Wire
• Alternator Temp Sense 
• -ve Ground master wire to engine ( Bell housing )

• Connect Drive Shaft
• Connect Throttle cable
• Connect Engine Stop Cable
• Connect Gear change cable
• Bleed the Fuel System
• Change the Gearbox Oil
• Refill the Coolant System
• Tension the Alternator
• Shim the Alternator support ( Alternator alignment ) 
• Align the Engine to Propshaft

So that's the plan for Monday. Going to be busy but if all goes well, we'll be ready for the realignment for either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Note: In order to ensure there's no risk of shorting out the Alternator +ve wire while reconnecting it we have to ensure it is not a live conductor.  Before I reconnect the Alternator +ve wire which is currently insulated from shorting out against anything, I'll turn the Solar Master Disconnect switch to off, then turn off the Battery Master Disconnect, remove the temporary terminal insulation, connect the +ve wire to the alternator, turn on the Battery Master Disconnect switch and then the Master Solar Disconnect Switch.

M25XP Damper Plate replacement Pt.8

Putting the M25XP back together with it's new Damper Plate

( click here to go to the first in this series of posts )

As planned, I cleaned the back end of the engine and the Bell housing with Total Boat Cleaner then sprayed the surfaces with High Heat gold paint - it's not really gold.

I was paying particular attention to the area of the engine below the raw water pump and the back/bottom of the engine sump.

That sheet of plastic was shielding the woodwork from the paint. Turned out pretty good - I would not win any art contest.

Peggy was helping quite a bit today so not many photos - ok, none! So here's the process.

I setup the chain hoist and raised the engine about 6" off of the floor ( soul ) and then fitted the Bell Housing onto the back of the engine, it was pretty easy if a little awkward as the engine was now free to swing about. Luckily we are tied to the dock in a canal, no fast moving, wake inducing boats around here.

With the Bell housing in position, I torqued the bolts to 10Nm but will have to see if that is sufficient. Time to go over the manuals again.  Those bolts can be reached from either above the engine or from the aft berth, so adjusting the torque should not be an issue.

I did think we had lost a bolt, but finally realized that empty bolt hole is actually the location of the Engine's Main Ground wire on it's own Nut & Bolt - it's in the magnetic parts tray, so not lost!

Ok, time to list what has yet to be connected/installed.

• Install Heat Exchanger
• 4 Hoses connecting the engine and the heat exchanger to the exhaust system.
• Glow Plug supply wire
• Oil Pressure switch wire
• Coolant Temperature wire
• Coolant High Temp wire
• Starter Solenoid Wire
• Starter power wire
• Raw Water pump hoses
• Coolant pump hoses
• Fuel supply hose
• Fuel return hose
• Install Alternator
• 4 pin Alternator plug
• Alternator +ve wire
• Alternator -ve Wire
• Alternator Temp Sense 
• -ve Ground master wire to engine ( Bell housing )

Update:

• Connect Drive Shaft
• Connect Throttle cable
• Connect Engine Stop Cable
• Connect Gear change cable

I think that's it.  Next is the Alignment and I'm having Greg come down and supervise me doing that. 

We have put off our trip to be Tuesday next week ( 5/14/2024 ) which is still looking dicey, we may delay it so that we're just doing a Sea Trial next week as we're going to join the sailing club's Memorial Day cruise at the end of the month in Miami.

Meanwhile, Peggy is adding things onto my HDL, I'm thinking of putting sticky notes up on our kitchen cupboards, much like Mads on Sail Life 

Day off today - kidding - but I am working at home today, lawn, hedges, etc. etc. Life goes on.

M25XP Damper Plate replacement Pt.7

 Installing the new Damper Plate on our Universal M25XP

( click here to go to the first in this series of posts )

I spent about 1/2 an hour cleaning up the Bell Housing and Gearbox, there's quite a bit of paint that has flaked off of the housing. The underside of the gearbox was particularly dirty, grimy, yuck!

Same process, scrub down using paint brushes and paper towels along with Dish Liquid.

I did carefully look over all of the gearbox exterior and what little is visible from inside of the Bell Housing, but could not find any markings which would help identify which model of gearbox we have.  I'll ask the guys on the C34 forum about that.

Next I moved onto the Engine Bay cleanup.

Came up pretty good. A second application of the dish soap and lots of rubbing with heavy duty paper towels.

I was able to clean up both Port & Stbd sides of the stringers, it looks so much better now.

I'll give the prop shaft end of the coupling a good wire brushing and treatment with citric acid before putting the engine back on it's mounts.

Will also tidy up the electrical connections to the engine, it should look a whole lot better.

Ok, Plan for Part 8 - Paint the engine, reconnect the bell housing and gear box then lift the engine back onto it's motor mounts. I'll get that done tomorrow ( Wednesday April 8th ) and even start on reinstalling the starter, heat exchanger and the Alternator. 20 minutes work.... Right!  We'll see how much we can get done. 

Oh! When I got home Peggy reminded me about my HDL ( Honey Do List )   So I took the old, no longer working, security cameras down and finished putting up the new units. The old were installed over 11 year ago, the new cameras are amazing! 

Having crossed one item off of the HDL, I worked on the Heat Exchanger mounting.

Spent 10 minutes working on it with a wire brush and chip hammer, treated the remaining rusty surface with Citric Acid and then Sprayed it with High Heat engine paint.

Second coat before turning in tonight, take it down to the boat in the morning and reattach it on the Bell Housing.

We're making progress.