Welcome back, glad you are still at it and making progress. Let me know if I can come down and help you.
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Welcome back, glad you are still at it and making progress. Let me know if I can come down and help you.
HA! That must be it, Dan! lol
Seriously, I've never had a boat engine start that quickly. Hell, even my car takes more cranking on the starter before it lights off. There must be magic in them medallions!
Good luck hopefully this is the year she sees splash down
Thanks rsmith! It looks like the second week of June, unless the surveyor nixes it for some reason.
I was so excited about the starboard engine lighting off and running perfectly that I posted the video of it a bit out of sequence. I wanted to go back and explain what's happened since November of last year as I dealt with leaking fuel that had to be fixed before I could try another test run.
When I tried to do the first engine test fire last fall, I found two major fuel leaks: one was a crack in the return fuel line coming off the injection pump; the other was at the mechanical lift pump on the engine. Cummins didn't design these engines with easy injection pump maintenance as an objective, and there's no way to replace the cracked return line without removing the injection pump from the engine. I came up with a workaround using a Swagelok fitting that I think will work just fine.
I also bought a new lift pump and painted it white before installing it. Now it's the prettiest part of the whole engine and gear. lol
1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Fuel System Fixes
Cheers,
Q
Before
https://1969chriscraftroamer46.files...5/dsc01382.jpg
After
https://1969chriscraftroamer46.files...5/dsc01620.jpg
https://1969chriscraftroamer46.files...5/dsc02480.jpg
Big News!
The surveyor comes tomorrow. If he signs off on splashing the boat, I'll pass his report on to the insurance company. If they approve splashing, the boat goes in the water as soon as I can get the tent out of the way. Should happen this week.
But, backing up a bit, I had five leaks show up in that brand new stainless steel fuel manifold I made a few months back. Turns out that pipe fittings made in China don't seal up like they should. So I took it all apart and redid the leaky joints using a Loctite product that came highly recommended by pipe-fitters who say it's the only thing that works on stainless fittings. While I had it apart, I also bent some new tubing because I was, frankly, a bit ashamed of the poor quality work I did when I first bent two of the stainless supply and return lines. The results are much better.
1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Fixing Fuel Supply Manifold Leaks
Cheers,
Q
Before (tube on the lower right that goes under the angle)
https://1969chriscraftroamer46.files...8/dsc09205.jpg
After
https://1969chriscraftroamer46.files...6/dsc02555.jpg
Bad news.
The surveyor didn't show as scheduled. He eventually contacted me to let me know he's in the hospital with heart problems. Priorities, right?!?! lol
We may have worked out a path forward that (hopefully) will involve an associate of his checking the boat out tomorrow. I checked out the last survey this guy did, and it took him ten days from inspection to sending me the report. So it looks like the window for launching will get pushed into next week.
That said, the missus got involved in the refit over the winter when I observed that the V-berth is pretty much done and could be used as a bedroom if only it had a mattress. She got right on it, and today I brought the mattress with a custom cover onboard. It turned out real nice, and was a small fraction of the cost of having an upholstery shop make it.
1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Missus's Custom V-berth Mattress
Cheers,
Q
Before
https://1969chriscraftroamer46.files...9/dsc04814.jpg
After
https://1969chriscraftroamer46.files...6/dsc02560.jpg
Quentin, if you can't get your surveyor, try Derek Rhymes, All Boat & Yacht Surveys. He's done three or four for me.
Thanks Jim! I know Derek! He was the inspector for the insurance company after that storm a few years ago used my tent frames to beat up my new paint job!
But I have good news! The surveyor's colleague showed up today and was very impressed with what he saw. He'll get his updated report back to me next week and doesn't think the insurance company will find anything to prevent me from splashing.
But most of my blog post today is about a YUGE problem I found last fall that made it impossible to make my helm sliding doors work: the deck and lower door frame that's welded to it both slope down toward the transom. But the aft deck hardtop, which makes up the upper part of the door frame, is pretty close to parallel to the water line. So the top of the door frame and bottom aren't parallel. When I tried to install the door tracks last fall, there was a perfect 1/8" gap between the top of the leading edges of the doors and the upper guide track (that's screwed to the hardtop). But with the doors slid open, there was a 1-1/4" gap between the top of the aft door edges and the guide track.
After a bunch of scowling at the problem, I finally just broke out some thick mahogany lumber, fiberglass, and various Awlgrip products and modified the hardtop so the upper door frame was parallel with the bottom one. This was one of the additional things that made it impossible for me to launch last year. But the repair turned out quite nicely.
1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Deck Helm Doors III
Cheers,
Q
Before
https://1969chriscraftroamer46.files...6/dsc00805.jpg
After
https://1969chriscraftroamer46.files...6/dsc01089.jpg
Can you wait until next weekend? I have to be away for a wedding this weekend. Just kidding. Good luck with it all, I hope splashing is SOON.
No weddings during boating season. Not allowed!!Quote:
Originally Posted by jim rosenthal