New Cushions and water tanks

I am so excited about getting my new upholstery all complete I did a video of it. Dorothy from CanAm canvas services here in the marina did them.

Fantastic job.
I had a small repair under the table that I fixed.

It is not a permanent repair but will do until I have time to fix it properly.

I smoothed off the bottom of the rudder and shoe with my rasp and put down another layer of epoxy.

I discovered that my new whale gusher bilge pump was not working so I pulled it apart and cleaned it.

After all that it still would not work and I tracked it down to a black leaky hose which I replaced.

Here is a better picture of Ibis in front of my boat ready to be transported up to New Jersey.

My water tanks arrived via FedEx!

So I removed the old ones from under the sole floor.

One down, one to go.

I had to put 2 vice grips on the end to get it out.

Going, going, gone.

All empty now.

The new ones look cleaner than the old ones.

Looks too clean to be in the dirty bilge.

Now connect hoses.

These new poly tanks only weigh 38lbs.

Filling them with water.

And we have lift off.

I took the filter out of the water filter and ran a couple of gallons through before I put  it back in.

Dinner tonight was a  chick pea avocado tuna salad with a blueberry mandarin dessert.

Rudder

It rained most of the morning so I sorted out all the nuts and bolts I have into 5 clear plastic fishing tackle trays so that at one glance I can find what I am looking for. I did my washing and hung it on the lifelines while it was pouring with rain. Didn't take long to dry in this Florida heat.

The fruit hammock got a good wash too.

I started working on the base of the  rudder by digging in there with a screw driver. I ended up by getting very little out and what came out was dry so I mixed up some epoxy and with a paint brush coated all the cracks and inside.

I then soaked fiberglass cloth with epoxy and stuffed it up inside the cracks and placed it over the outside.

It might sound good but working upside down is very messy. I will sand it down tomorrow and add some  more layers.
I didn't like the looks of one of the rudder bolts so I replaced it.

Yes i know.....it is stainless steel instead of bronze.
I wanted to close the gap between the hull and  the rudder with a shoe, to stop nets and lines going up there and getting caught so I picked out a stainless steel plate out of my junk drawer.

There is still a bit of a gap but much smaller and most lines should slip by.

I have to also fiberglass this in to make it smooth and strong.
Finally I wanted to beef up the backing for my 2 self  tailing genoa winches so I  cut a 4 x 2 into a V shape to place between the bolts running from the hull to the bulwark.

There are 2 nicely placed square holes to give me access so I Houdini from below.
Tomorrow my water tanks should be arriving!

Sewing and rudder.

My Mum used to sew a lot so I have it in my blood so it seems.

I am using sunbrella with wally world outdoor thread, reinforcing industrial strength glue backed Velcro. I don't have a sewing machine but I cannot just sit around and watch my new oak bowsprit get destroyed by the sun.

I laid strips of velcro and put the sunbrella over the top.

Ditto for the aft hatch.

And the forward hatch.

While I had the thread and needle out I reinforced the Velcro on the mosquito screen.

While I had the camera topside, here is a photo of the bimini that I discovered below. Talk about a lifesaver from the Florida heat.

I installed a new paper towel dispenser in the head.

Put in a battery box strap over the port side house battery.

Next, i went outside down to the propeller, to change the anode zinc.

Here is the new one installed.

While I was at it I took to the propeller with a plastic scraper.

And while I was in the general area I added a carriage bolt missing from the lower gudgeon on  the rudder.

Now I had  bronze nut but only a stainless steel bolt so along with every other bolt on the rudder, it will have a problem with dissimilar metals.

Even more worrisome is the weeping I got from the bottom of the rudder. Eeeeek!

So tomorrow the plan is to dig out all the wet junk i can find in there and replace it with expanding  foam. I will then epoxy to cover at all.
Finally I did a video of me taking out and then putting back the cockpit floor.

PO's

PO's as in previous owners are a much maligned group and much as I hate to criticize anyone, the following just irks the heck out of me.

There are six of these with just one screw in them. Here is another one.......

There are 2 of these. Why are the nuts not screwed all the way up? OK so all fixed now and someday I will be a PO too!
It goes against my grain to get rid of stuff but this Bowmar charger is only putting out 4 volts and has seen better days.

I bought an automatic charger as a stop gap measure but it only charges up to 12.9 volts before going to float instead of the 14 required for deep cycle batteries. My plan is to get a solar panel that will take it up to that higher voltage but I  want to wait another 6 months to start my electronic spending.
Time for some leak  fixing on deck with 3M 4200 and cetol painting of all the cap rails.

And lastly installed the port side boom stay.

Tomorrow I have a bunch of Velcro sewing that I want to do. Dinner tonight was peas, carrots, black eyed peas and yogurt with organic berries for dessert. Before bed and a shower I am off for my nightly 4 mile walk of the docks so I don't get atrophy.

Gully Washer

Spent  most of the day fixing the Chevy and at one stage it looked like I would be hoofing it from the GM dealership 5 miles down the road, but fortunately youtube came to my rescue and I was able to work out the serpentine belt tightening procedure. I did do a couple of boat projects this afternoon. I swapped out the racor fuel filter gauge.

I hope that the new one doesn't rust as much as the old one. For $132 it should be gold plated!
 I swapped the batteries over because the new one I bought yesterday is a true deep cycle battery and more suited as a house battery. The old one shown here is the one I will be using to start the engine with.

I also cleaned and vacuumed around the area and I yet have to install some straps to hold both the battery boxes down. While I was at it I checked the water levels inside the old battery but they were all full and didn't need any.

At this stage I could hear a storm brewing outside with thunder and lightening so I went outside and shot some photos so that you can see where I am hanging out. Here comes the rain.

This black bird on my neighbor's rigging was a bit concerned too.

They pack these boats in pretty close here at the marina.

And here. That orange one on the right is an Ibis which is a classic wooden boat.

Here are boats lined up on  the wharf waiting to be hauled.

This is my morning coffee view from my bow.

And here.