Two Eagles, One Engine

After five weeks on the hardstand, one would have hoped for a more triumphant return to the dock. Two 318's rumbling out of the lift bay, SSN shinning like a new "nickel". It would have been nice to run her back to her dock under her own steam. But woe the PO's poor repairs would throw a spanner in the works, despite Dr D's best work. The little ship had to be hand-bombed to the dock. A feeling of indignation shadowed the occasion, the proud moment dashed.

The running gear has been completely gone through from one end to the other. The engine mounts have been removed, serviced, cleaned and replaced, one at a time, their wood mounts epoxied to the stringers, with lag bolts replaced with permanent engine mount studs with nuts replacing the bolts. The shaft logs have been sleeved, the shafts straightened, the props tuned, the packing glands serviced, the rudder stuffing boxes repacked and everything aligned to a thousandth of an inch. True as true can be.

The port side solenoid was glowing red-hot, it had almost rusted beyond recognition, no chance of any ignition today. The handcrafted wood engine hatches/cd storage racks have been leaking onto the entire electrical harness of that engine.

Spike The Foreman

Spike the big boss in the boat yard came past SSN to inspect the days progress. He gave it all a wag and sent Paul and the boys over to Bridges Pub to have a couple of beers.

After another long day in the boat yard the Canadian was ice-cold and well appreciated by all.

From left to right; Alex, Captain Scotty, Chevy "The Turk" and Paul.

Alex a great buddy of Paul's has been getting right in there helping to make Sudbury Saturday Night gleam. With Alex's help the windows frames have been completed, the stanchion bases and the cleats forward have been taken off, cleaned-up and re-bedded one at a time.

Captain Scotty was under the boat for two solid weeks of scraping and sanding in the bubble. 40 years of anti-fouling paint was removed and the 4 coats of Interlux epoxy barrier coat was applied before two coats of the new red anti-fouling paint. She's lighter and her bottom as smooth as new but protected like never before.

The Turk has been a great help offering ideas and driving Paul around town picking up bits and pieces all contributing to getting the job done.

Paul, is getting into the swing of being a "hands-on" owner, very good news for his new girl!

The best kept boats have owners who get their hands dirty. "Cheque-book-maintenance" is a longstanding term for owners who spare no expense in maintaining their yachts. However you can have the deepest pockets and be entirely clueless as to the operating systems of the vessel if you don't roll up your sleeves and muck in.

Paul is getting to know every inch of SSN and by paying attention to every detail he is gaining confidence that will help him stay calm and in control - no matter what the weather does. If anything should go wrong, he will know how to assess the problem and understand what is involved to effect the repair and be able to make the call to run for home or stay put.

Dr Doug at Blue Ocean Yacht Services has been great allowing the crew access to his shop and loaning the right tools for making the best job. He has been happy to jump in when a rusty nut won't let go, to check on the quality of the work and to offer his expert opinion on how to best tackle each task.

Over budget and schedule, well and truly - blown...

Old boats. What can one say? The usual joke is " a hole in the water into which one pours money" and that is true for any boat. It is like a house or condo, leaky. Worst, it is leaky all round. Top, sides and the bit that is always wet.

This old boat is all original and in very well cared for condition, she was well loved for many a year, the proof is in the name on the brow, buffed to death. The gelcoat is thick under the original name and thin all around it, which suggests the original owner had her buffed every year.

A bit of a whack build here, the window frames were screwed into the cabin walls. Water penetrating the window frames was seeping through the screws inside the cabin. The worst effected areas were the aft corners in each frame, where the water was pooling in the slope of the design which intended water to run off aft.

Accessing the areas affected meant removing the aluminum trim on the interior side, which trimmed off the wallpaper. Trying to carefully remove the screws without having to replace the wallpaper was futile in the end.

more to come...

Work In Progress - Updated

The second shaft log has been sleeved. Dr Doug has been busy on the port engine freeing up the frozen engine mounts and aligning the shaft, strut and engine.

The shaft packing gland has been taken apart and acid bathed, cleaned, repacked and replaced. New hose and stainless clamps - double clamped of course.

The strut was removed and re-bedded to the correct angle for perfect alignment.

Ron at Leading Edge Propellor in Mission has tuned the original Michigan wheels. The are date stamped 1968 and in really nice condition and now balanced beautifully.

Window Frames Re-bedded

A dry boat is a good boat. Fresh water kills.

The windows were leaking front and rear bottom corners. The pics show the wet plywood, which dried out in hours with no damage. Left another winter and more damage would be likely.

The weather stripping tape used in the factory had long lost it's adhesion to the metal and electrolysis had eaten some areas under the window tracks.

The windows were completely taken apart and every screw re-bedded in Sikaflex 291. The old screws were plated bronze and was causing electrolysis in the aluminum. Most have been replaced with stainless, and all have been well sealed with caulking to help keep the metal contact down.

New track has been installed and the windows went in for an over-haul at XXXX Glass. They removed the PO's dark tinted film. The guys found one panel was household glass, which was replaced with safety glass. The cabin looks 50% brighter with the one side done. It is really going to look great with all the film off. Original.

Spike has signed off on the work.

Final coats and running gear repairs

Dr Doug has the one log sleeved. Tomorrow he will fair this side and sleeve the second log.

The solution to getting 2" fiberglass tube to slide inside a 2 1/8 copper log was to take a slice out of the one side with a circular saw, enabling the tube to be squeezed together as it was slipped in. Lots of epoxy was used to seal the tube to the copper, the excess is easy to sand fair.

With 7 coats of gloss varnish now applied to the interior cabinetry and the colour is glowing in the rich light mahogany stain.

With the return of the upholstery she should be looking factory fresh, inside and out

Shaft log repairs - getting SSN aligned right

The shafts are back today, the props returned yesterday looking like a new pair - Ron has done a beautiful job (again). pics to follow

Feeling the inside bottom edge of the shaft log, Dr Doug could sense that a worn spot had developed where the copper had been in contact with the shaft, being pressed down by the poor alignment.

As is the way these days, alignment seems to be an option not offered by most mechanics? This is the most important aspect of a good smooth running vessel! The meeting of power and water. If the shaft is pressing against the hull, or strut bearings the boat is working against itself, sending power into the hull causing vibration and deterioration of the shaft, bearings and log. The 1 1/4" shaft is easily bent to force a poor alignment - any monkey can do it.

The second picture shows clearly how far down and over to the right the shaft was misaligned.

We searched for a replacement in Washington with two of the specialist parts companies, to find that they are custom made and they require a week to construct replacements.

Since we have been up on the hardstand long enough at this point Dr Doug has decided to save time and money by sleeving the copper tube with a length of fiberglass tubing, epoxied in place. He has been sanding down a lenghth of two inch tube to slip inside the 2 1/8" copper tube, allowing enough room for the shaft to turn freely.

Work In Progress

Three weeks into the project and she's starting to look like her old-self again.

The engine bay has been scrubbed in preparation for Doctor Doug to start his magic. Using a pressure sensitive micrometer Doug checked the shafts in place and found they were both slightly bent from being forced to align with the rebuilt engines.

The wear on the shafts is obvious, at the struts and the shaft log. The shafts are being sent to Dafoes to be straightened. The struts and rudders have been dropped and the props have gone to be tuned at Leading Edge Propellor in Mission. Ron the prop guy is a master, his work is far superior to the local Vancouver prop shop, well worth the courier expense to send them to Ron.

The bottom has been scraped and sanded to fresh gelcoat. All the old paint has been removed and the bottom epoxy barrier coated using Interlux 2000/2001, and bottom painted with Interlux Bottomkote, in the original red colour. There were 40 years of paint weighing close to 300 pounds removed in the process.

Captain Scotty did a good job taking her back to new. The original paint had stuck well in some areas a whilst in others was peeling like cornflakes. It was a hard grind getting the first few layers of the tough old paint off.

The waterline below is still taped for the final application of red. The stands were changed after the rest of the bottom was painted completely, the stand pads were quickly done, leaving on the two spots on the keel where the blocks are. Next time the boat is lifted for annual painting it can be blocked in different areas and the last areas can be treated.

Below are some pictures of Mauri in full swing. For a 78 year old guy, there was no stopping him. The transom and flybridge brow were both signed. And signed with the trademark seagull stylized M for Mauri.

Watching Mauri work is quite something. Once he eye-balled the curve he mad a few grease pencil marks, taped the arch with tape and sketched in simple letter forms, to get the correct spacing - all by eye. Then using his brush he paints in each letter, remembering all of the characteristics of each font, able to paint them in a few flowing brush strokes.

He then goes back and paints in the drop shadows.

Brightwork - stained and varnished

The first finished coat is on the cabin interior and the rich warmth of the mahogany is beautiful.

As always, the first coat looks a bit blotchy, the second coat will sit nicely on the sealed wood and subsequent coats will add depth and luster, lightening the overall colour nicely.

Sudbury Saturday Night - it's official!

What is in a name?

In this case, some deep heart felt respect for the hood. And a good laugh for the boys.

Mauri the sign-writer commented that it was a mouth-full. The longest boat name he had ever painted, and that says a lot! He's been at it for over 50 years. He's a very young 78, a recent quad bypass has guaranteed he will be at it another 50.

He's a legend in the boat world in Vancouver. He is the finest craftsman with a great understanding of boat owners. He can suss up an owner after just a few minutes discussion to design the perfect logotype in every instance.