Cleaning the heat exchanger and new engine mounts

When the engine was hanging on straps during the saildrive diaphragm change we also replaced the old engine mounts and probably that was the most difficult task. Removing the locking screws from the old mounts took hours and lots of force, heat, penetrating oil, etc. The mounts on these engines are prone to crack where the thread is welded to the base due to many years of vibration. We'll clean and refurbish the old mounts and probably keep them as spares.

We had an engine overheating problem in the fall, so I decided to clean the freshwater cooling system while we're at it. The coolant was drained from the engine using the plug behind the alternator, then we dismounted all the freshwater pipes, the thermostat and the heat exchanger. There was some debris in the heat exchanger, but nothing really serious. We gave all the components a good clean and some vinegar nonetheless. The heat exchanger got a new gasket and all the pipes got new seals when we put the system together.

Now I think the overheating problem might have been due to some trapped air in the cooling system after the water heater installation and just needed a bleeding. I'm glad though that we did this job now when the engine access was better just for the peace of mind to make sure the system is good for several more years.

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Bilge reinforcement - Part 2

Read Part 1
After careful surface preparation the bilge reinforcement project continued with laying the new laminate. I consulted with West System on what fabric to use and they suggested biaxial cloth without chopped strand matting. The biaxial cloth is very strong and CSM would just add weight. We bought 600g biaxial cloth with 45/45 degree strands from Composite24 and West System 105 epoxy with 206 fast hardener at a local marine store.
Cutting fabric
The work was done in sections, we started with the bilge bottom/floor while the keel nuts and washers were removed. It got 4 layers that come up 10cm at the bilge sides. This area gets most of the loads and we wanted to reinforce it by connecting the fabric on the bottom to the one to be layed on the sides.

In theory these types of reinforcements are suggested to be done either with the keel dropped or while the keel is hanging so it's not compressing the joint while the boat is standing on the keel. The idea is to avoid building …

Electrical refit - Part 1

The electrical system on the boat was in a very sad condition and needed a refit. As it's often the case on older boats, the previous owners just added new stuff without really improving the system or thinking it through. Worst of all, they didn't used marine grade materials or did the installation right either. They just applied quick fixes and left it that way. We were planning to rewire the boat completely during this fall, but as it turned out, it couldn't wait. When I started the engine before heading out for a one week sail, the battery warning light came up. According to the manual the light might indicate incorrect voltage from the generator. When I checked it with a multi-meter, it was very high indeed, well over 15V, so it was overcharging the batteries, which carries the risk of gas leakage or explosion. So we decided to investigate it further and delay our departure for vacation. After disconnecting the house bank, the alternator output normalized, so we conc…

Bilge reinforcement - Part 1

Ann-Riis had delamination at the floor beam to hull attachments probably due to earlier groundings and we could also see the swinging/pendulum keel symptom when the boat was transported with the keel hanging. It was time to do something about it. The plan is to reinforce the whole keel-to-hull joint with 3-4 layers of 600g biaxial fiberglass cloth, re-bond the floor beams to the hull with at least 6 layers and add new structural members to stiffen up the construction against side loads.

Delamination:

In the fall of 2019 we started the keel/bilge reinforcement project. It took several weekends to sand everything and it was probably the most difficult boat work (or any type of work really 😃) I ever did. I covered the working area with plastic protective foil, but it didn't do much. The fiberglass dust was so intense that after a while the tape holding the foil was falling off and the dust covered every corner of the boat. I killed one orbital sander and one vacuum cleaner during …

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