Fishing!

Two days & nights out on the boat trolling for Salmon with the end result of........ Nothing :) never mind, next time.... 

Had a great time and fixed a lot of small things that I never got around to during the Winter, the engine ran for a total of 25.5 hours over the two days & the sight tube fuel level only dropped 2cm!!!!

The drip from the stern packing has now settled in and after my two day trip it dripped around 2 pints of water, it doen't drip when stopped.

Here's a few pics.

All done :)

Finally got it all sorted, wires run, breaker switch fitted & while I was doing it I fixed the horn on the roof, toot, toot!!

I will only fish the two outside riggers for now but will use all four for deep trolling in the summer...

Downrigger bases.

They are in position, no power on the jetty yet so it's a little more difficult to work with no electric tools. I have to cut off the excess bolt on the u clamps holding the bases on so it'll be a hacksaw & lots of cursing (a little blood ALWAYS gets spilled)!

All of the electric cables and transducer cables are in place in the boat but I ran out of battery cable termination crimps, this will be fixed and connected at the next visit.

Salmon are now being caught at Landsort so if everything works out (weather included) I will be out this week, i checked the fuel tank level & it never seems to move much, this engine is incredibly easy on diesel.....

The electrical tape in this pic will be changed for tie wraps later as I ran out.

Almost there....

After using numerous drill bits my downrigger brackets are finally sprayed up and ready to be attached to the boat. The Fishhawk unit is connected however the 4m dragonfly extension cable was around 1m too short so it now sits in the corner of the wheelhouse, not ideal but nothing I can do about it so that's the end of that!

All of the stern electrics are now running through the goosneck but I can't find one of the four downrigger tails :-( baaaa..... SO MUCH STUFF!!!!!

Downrigger work

The templates have been made for the downrigger brackets so I'll cut the steel & weld them up tomorrow, I also bolted the through deck gooseneck for the electrics & transducer cables, getting there.....

Extras :-)

Couldn't resist a little bling ;-)

New home

Safely moored in her new home for the forseeable future & close to the fishing grounds.

Next important jobs are getting power to the stern for all four downriggers & running the transducer cables through the boat. I also have to make four stands to bolt the downrigger bases to. Once this is done I can think about fishing.

Launch & a 7 hour trip.

The boat went in without a hitch yesterday, the guys held it on the trailer while I ran inside to stem the torrent of water from the stern gland after I had repacked it..... NOTHING! Not a drop of water so she came off the trailer & started on the second push of the button. Once the engine was warmed up & everything seemed to be working I pushed off on my 7 hour trip, I held the RPM at a comfortable 1800 & averaged 7.7 knots which is fine as she sips diesel like this....

After about an hour I checked the stern gland & there was a steady stream of water so I spent the rest of the trip tightning & slackening the adjuster bolts to try to get the 2 to 3 drips per minute that appears to be the recommendation, i almost have it now but I think it needs time to bed in.

Last fixing before tomorrows launch.....

Fitted the packing box greaser in place.... Top tip, always check it works before you fit it!! I didn't & it all had to come out again as old grease had hardned in the pipe & was causing a blockage.... Sorted now, no more messy grease gun.

Tidied up the two transducers & cut a hole in the deck at the stern to fit a "U" tube for my downrigger electronics & transducer cables. I should get that screwed to the deck tomorrow so running the cables is next & make the four downrigger supports.

Finishing up after the winter

Boat goes in the day after tomorrow, transducer brackets are welded on & the swim platform is planked with pressure impregnated & riffled wood so everything is ready. Hopefully there is no air left in the fuel lines after fitting the new filter system, that's the only thing that would stop her starting as far as I can see.

Launch date

Got my launch date as 29th April, heading for my new marina on the 30th if there are no leaks & she starts after ripping the fuel system apart & rebuilding it!!!!

Prop polished

Polished the prop today & fitted the new flax packing rings, turns out that the box is designed for four rings of flax packing

 I also got my MMSI number today in the post so happy with that :)

Stuffing box

I opened the stuffing box to check the seal as there appears to have been little maintenance done to the boat prior to me buying her, as soon as I opened the box there was a strong burned smell. I picked out what was left of the old seal & bought a new 1m length, 3 rings of the 9.5mm waxed flax seal will be installed after a good clean of the box internally.....

Generator

Strange things happen, I had an old MIG welder for sale & a friend called to say that he had seen two generators that a company didn't know what to do with.... I headed over to the shop & did a straight swap for a brand new 5000w generator ;-) only problem is that it's a non-runner, it turns over but will not start, fuel is good so I'm wondering if it's a stuck decompressor or something equally simple...

BRAND NEW!!

* Update - it turned out after removing the rocker cover that the exhaust pushrod was disconnected,  I reconnected it and reset the valve clearances.... Purrs like a cat now.

Anodes

The anodes are a bit too depleted for this season so I replaced 6 of them, the hull will be blasted, painted & all anodes will be changed next Winter when the boat comes out of the water so this is just preventative maintenance until then, I wire brushed the anodes that still have life in them.

Swim platform pt3

Another good day, the frame is now built, I just need to deck it now & find a good way to fit my transducers....

Swim platform pt2

Still working on it, it will be covered in galvanised decking eventually (gallerdurk). One more cross piece to weld in to form an "A" in the center then fit the 45 degree bracings up to the deck handrails & see how it looks. 

Once it's back in the water I will check sizes/distance to the water& build a plate to fix a 25-30hp high-thrust/bigfoot outboard as my trolling engine & as a second engine for safety.

Swim platform

I have bought a pipe bender so will start joining pieces of pipe together to make a heavy duty swim platform. The plan is to fit a 25 - 30hp outboard to it as a back-up engine & more importantly for the hours of trolling at low speed which the Perkins main engine doesn't like.... I have an idea how to store the outboard at deck level when not in use but i'll have to test this system as I have not seen it anywhere on the internet.

Been a while since I welded but it's like riding a bike ;-)

Wheelhouse panelling

Insulated the wheelhouse & now panelling it, i should be finished with this next week..

Toilet next step....

The vinyl floor is in, hose & fan are in place so the final work on this will be the full plasti-dip of the inside with oak wood trim for skirting boards & corners, this looks like a small job but was very time consuming. The engine room air intake hose enters the toilet space & exits above the toilet unit through the bulkhed then straight down & into the engine room.

The toilet floor

Wooden toilet floor has been screwed down, I had a practice "sit" & found that the best position for the crapper was diagonal to get my knees in.....

A vinyl floor, paint & hanging pictures will follow to turn it into a contemplation room ;-)