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 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 load and we wanted to reinforce it by connecting the fabric on the bottom to the fabric layed on the sides. 4 layers on the bottom 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 th

New ventillators and smoke detector

Three old ventillators have been replaced last weekend as they were falling apart due to UV damage and the brittle plastic. We could get the exact same type of ventillators, so we went with those. No new holes to drill and hopefully these will do the job for another 10 years. I was also considering changing them to solar vents, but I haven't read too good reviews about them. They're usually much bigger (need a bigger hole) and according to many they tend to die after a year or two (either the battery or the fan motor gets loud) and doesn't worth the extra price tag. We're going to add some regular 12V car fans inside before we sail to warmer climates. We already have a gas/propane alarm in the galley and now I also installed a battery powered smoke detector. Very easy and no drilling required, it's held in place with velcro strips.

Bilge reinforcement - Part 1

There was 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. This is how the delamination looked like: 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 killed one orbital sander and one vacuum cleaner during the job. Then I bought a cheap vac with HEPA filter from Biltema, which turned to be a really good choice. The high density filter is really a must to catch the very fine fiberglass dust.

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