Ongoing Progress

Today I cut out the sponson transom wood piece, glued and screwed it in place. Cut out, glued and screwed the front bull nose piece where there was a little dry rot. 

 

The attached pictures are before repair, during repair and after repair. All areas still need to be sanded and filled with wood putty. You will have to figure out which one is which (I can't control the way outlook sorts the pictures). It should be pretty easy to see.

 

In one picture you can see the false bottom that was added to the end of one sponson. That was removed and I put it back it's original shape. You can see how the new additional wood. Then the new sponson transom.

 

Tomorrow and beyond - finish sanding the new pieces for precise fit. Continue adding new wood to the bottom. Then the real scary pieces - cutting the two full length airtrap (sides of both inside sponsons) wood and then glue and screw them in place. The new airtraps will cover a few old cracks and stained wood. It should look real nice.

 

When satisfied with my repairs - put a new shinny finish on the wood. Roll her over and finish the deck.

 

The weather was all the way up to 46 today. With those temps, I can work outside longer and of course the glues dries faster. YIPPEE.

 

The final corner has been turned and "NEW" wood is starting to be attached. Ten months of removing wood, before starting replace it.

 

I have a bad habit of confusing some of you who don't look at the pictures close enough. 1st attached are pictures of when the boat was finished original (pay attention to the shop). 2nd is after it came home and the aluminum that was added from strength after the rudder was moved back to it's original position (left to right side and back). 3 is after the aluminum was removed and why NEW wood was attached to the transom. 4th picture is of the NEW transom. The color looks a little different from the original wood because I had just taken acetone to the wood to whip off wet glue. It will dry to be very close to the older wood and when the varnish is added, the color will be even closer.

 

Tomorrow, I'm going to cut the sponson transom out and maybe get it glued. Also I would like to cut out the patch that goes up on the bottom front where the dry rot was in one little corner.

 

The new rear transom has the tie downs re-attached (the shinny loops on the back. And I still need to do the final fitting before I go to the next step. The stainless steel screws will be filled with wood filler and they won't hardly show. The rudder will be bolted on before the deck is attached.

 

Photos are as follows.

 

01-19-08 19a - 1982 ORIGINAL TRANSOM

Roller 005a - AT HOME WITH ALUMINUM ON TRANSOM

01-04-08 005a PRIOR TO NEW TRANSOM WITH ALUMINUM OFF and why it needed new wood

02-11-08 004a NEW TRANSOM WOOD

 

One additional picture. I love the grain of the okoume wood.

 

The four drain holes that I drilled in the back/bottom of the boat were drilled by my great grandfather Archie Hawley hand tools that Elmer allowed me to have. Again a family affair, from several generations back.

 

Christmas in February!!! There maybe to much info here. The readers vary in knowledge and understanding. It still maybe to greek to a few. Ask questions if you need clarification. In fact, feel free to reply so I know your getting or still wanting periodic updates.

 

 Here are some pictures of NEW inside engine parts - sometimes only one part is shown, but remember there might be as many as 6 - 12 of each part shown.

 

Last summer I had to pre-assemble the outside of the engine to make sure all my external measurements were correct and that the motor would actually fit inside the boat. A couple of pictures are just to show the outside.

 

The new parts that arrived today are nearly the rest of the inside - pistons, piston rings, gaskets and bearings will still need to be ordered, but the list is getting very short.

 

The major difference between the engine in your car and our boat motor, is trying to build-in less resistance - which adds up to more horsepower, more reliability by adding stronger internal components.

 

What arrived today is the new Comp Cam race camshaft, Comp cam roller valve lifters, heavy duty Comp Cam valve springs (they keep the valve from floating at higher RPM), Comp Cam roller rocker arms, heavy duty flywheel, electric fuel pump, heavy duty Comp Cam push rods, spring retainers and valve stem lock clips. There also is a Cloyes roller timing chain. The operative work that keep repeating is roller. It is roller ball that allows the inside to roll across parts, rather then drag. Extra horsepower from less drag and usually MORE reliability as stated before.

 

We will be running a hydraulic lifter camshaft, with solid lifters.

 

Also in the picture is a cam button, this sits on the end of the camshaft to keep the cam from walking forward again during high rpm. We are also installing (if you can find them in the picture) 6 push rod guide and 12 3/8" screw in rocker arm studs.

 

I am de-tuning this more from the original engine - we don't need MORE horsepower for our vintage exhibition, but we do need reliability to keep the engine together and greater time between tear down.

 

We anyway, it is MY Christmas in February.

 

This first February Update should be a fun one. And it will take some explaining. For my birthday, Kathy bought me a small electric heater for the shop. It did a great job of taking the chill off the immediate area I was working in (thank you Kathy). Then our son came over and said he had a portable kerosene heater that might also help. He brought it over yesterday. It is a 23,000 BTU heater. It also helps and warms a little larger area. Between the two, I can get back to work on our treasure (thank you Brian).

 

As of last Sunday, this winter we have received a total of 122 inches of snow (we have about 2.5' still sitting on the lawn). If we get another 1", we will brake a record for the total amount of snow set in 1915. The weather man stated today that he expects that we will end up with around 140" of snow for the winter. Our elevation is 2,200', the mountains and ski resorts are just getting pounded by 2' - 3' a day. Our daughter who lives down on Lake Tahoe says they have about 90" on the ground at her house and the ski resorts is being measured in hundreds and hundreds of inches.

 

Back to the update, first off - I picked up the NEW upholstered cockpit (driver's compartment) cover, rudder cover and skidfin cover. The cockpit cover keeps the gauges dry and cool, the rudder cover is to protect the water pick-up on the rudder and the skidfin cover HELPS protect your head when the boat is up on a tilt and the razor sharp edge from dings. They are made out of the same material as Josephine's (our '55 Chevy) nose cover. Very soft and thick.

 

Second, the throttle pedal is now secured to the Don Kelson Hydros petal, and the return spring attached. The return spring is required just in case you decide to exit the cockpit, it will close the carburetor throttle and stop the fuel flow.

 

Lastly - I just pick-up the shaft log from the machinist. I think the engineering is complete now. Something semi funny in a sick sort of way. The aluminum shaft log (the top piece of the aluminum shaft sandwich) cost only $42, the machine work to have it bored to the desired diameter was $142. Seems like a little disparity??? The shaft log can now accept the aluminum tube that connects the shaft log to the strut.

 

The top piece will have the long black rubber hose attached to it (the hose will be shortened during installation, I ordered it longer to make sure I had enough rubber hose). On the very end of the black rubber hose is a stuffing box. That is were the water will enter and exit the tail end of the strut. The water is used to help cool the bearings around the shaft that is spinning around 6,000 RPM (Scott, did you see I just gave you another 500 RPM's....LOL). The stuffing box contains a grease fitting to lube the seals and the seals are used to keep the water from entering the inside of the boat.

 

What I engineered is a very THIN wall aluminum tube that connects the top aluminum shaft log (the bottom of the boat is between the two aluminum pieces) and the shaft log. My idea is to keep water from getting trapped in the wood and causing it to rot. The wood will be heavily sealed, but this is insurance. The shaft can spin within the chamber I have built and stay cool - that is my theory anyway.

 

Also this month, the Comp Cams racing camshaft, camshaft bearings, value springs, push rods, valve spring retainers have been ordered and should be arriving soon. I talked with the camshaft factory and together we profiled my desired horse power, RPM requirements.

 

Next thing for the motor is to inspect it to see if it HAS to be bored, machine the cylinder heads to accept the new springs, remove the pressed in drill the rocker arm studs and install screw in rocker studs - then slowly start assembly.