Goodbye Mr Perkins

Well, finally got a friend to help direct the hiab and we removed the engine. It came out very easily, even with the gearbox still on. I have sold it to a friend who has a Peterson 44 with a dodgy motor.



Below the engine was a foetid mixture that would probably resemble the time long ago when life began. I have bailed out about 20 litres of stinking black stuff. I am looking forward to having this area cleaned out and newly painted.



The saloon floor came out with a little struggle and exposed the 2 "stainless steel" water tanks. It was hardly "stainless" and full of holes, someone had attempted to patch it with fiberglass. It was quite a job to pull these out of the walkway hatch by myself!



So, the next stage is to clean up a little!

Engine room work

Removal of the floor has started. I am leaving the bearers until the boatbuilder advises I can remove them - something has got to hold some shape together!



I have removed the generator and the main engine is now ready to be pulled out this week. I needed to remove the generator before I could access the shaft coupling, which was firmly rusted in after 30 years of neglect. It took a long time to remove two of the bolts, lots of cursing the designers of the thing as there was not enough access for a socket or ring spanner, and the bolts are some weird size so my metric or imperial open-end spanners were not a perfect fit. So after two of the four bolts rounded off I was forced to grind the bolt heads off, finishing that process with my Dremel tool. Engine mounts were next, I managed to unbolt either the main top bolt or the lag screws into the bearers. Thankfully I can say that I don't believe there is too much more serious un-engineering to do!

I have now pulled most of the wiring from the boat, there are only a few wires to the aft cabin still in place. What do you do with old wires, is there any value in the copper?

I am not spending any time with the engine, I have not even removed the new oil hosework which we added in Hawaii (at great expense and trouble!).

My brain hurts

I had what counts as an epiphany for a refit project two days ago, I realised what was wrong with the thought process behind the galley layout. Eureka! My original plan was based around the fact that you went to the bottom of the companionway, turned left and you were into the galley. If that isn't mandatory, the galley entrance could be moved forward and the whole area opens up to provide the space we seemed to be lacking.

I have mocked up the settee berth arrangements and it all seems to fit, I have been hassling the boatbuilder about a start date (not that it makes any difference but it makes you feel like you are doing something...) and obtained a quote for the new Lewmar hatches and portlights. I will probably order them tomorrow as there is a bit of lead time required for delivery.

Other news is that my Beta 75hp engine is approaching the country. This doesn't make any difference to me (apart from having to find more money to pay for it) but apparently it will be on display at the upcoming Auckland Boat Show. Somehow it doesn't feel like 15 minutes of fame...

New saloon layout

So, the standing around and talking about it phase is almost finished and I will confess that it has been quite a challenge. I have run the new design past quite a few people and taken on board a lot of input, mostly favourable but some quite challenging viewpoints as well.

The not-so-great photo shows my scale drawing of the new layout. Effectively, the head moves aft and to starboard while the galley pushes forward. In front of the galley and head, a 2m settee berth on each side, forward to a bulkhead that is about 80 mm forward of the existing one (with the door to the forward cabin). The v-berth remains, moved slightly higher to provide more storage. The bulkhead at the front of the v-berth becomes watertight, with access to the self-draining chain locker through a deck hatch. The chart table faces outboard and the aft end is the existing bulkhead where the starboard fuel tank rests - ie. bye-bye to that silly little hanging locker which has aways irritated me!

The bulkhead at the forward end of the engine room will continue unbroken to the port side (I still can't work out why they have that kink in it...). The stove will face forward and I will fabricate a gimbal to accommodate this. This idea really appeals as it utilises the space which is so difficult to get to - outboard and aft of the present stove. There will be a double sink on the midships island and a dedicated (as in no locker lids) benchtop facing forward.