Transom assemblies and engine room makeover

rasbury

It's so clean, I'd be afraid to start the motors!
When I put my motor back in I was having issue with the power steering  cooling line.....

aero3113

Great Lakes Skipper has a bunch of these in stock, I don’t know why they didn’t tell me when they wanted to sell me one that said just “compartment lights”. I confirmed that they have it.

LaRea

Sweet victory shall soon be mine.  Both engines are in, alignment done, drives and props on.  

For some reason, La Rea fought me on this one.  There was bloodshed that slightly modified the landscape of my forehead -- for the better, I say, but I'm not sure the Admiral agrees.  After a long day, La Rea and I agreed that we still love each other.  

I'll have a full day tomorrow.  Then bottom paint, compound and wax, launch by 25 March.  

LaRea

And I will say to anybody planning to install engine room lights:  definitely put one on the transom above each motor.  Even working on a sunny day, it was nice having direct lighting when I was working back there.

Liberty44140

Looks great, man those engines looks bigger in the boat than they do in the air!

aero3113

Awesome @LaRea ! Has to be a good feeling!!!!

aero3113

I’m surprised you didn’t make it mandatory to have protective booties over the shoes!

Dream_Inn

Ahhh...  looks great!  I won't rub this in too much...but...

aero3113

@Dream_Inn , looks like you’re one of the only ones in 👍🏻

Aqua_Aura

It looks like he is still in the storage yard?

aero3113

Aqua_Aura said:

It looks like he is still in the storage yard?

He’s floating!!

Dream_Inn

So, I'm not in my marina.  I'm in one on the other side of the peninsula.  But yes, most boats are still shrink wrapped. It's beautiful out, but getting down to, well, who cares, maybe low 30s tonight.  Still a great boating day!

YYZRC

The hill 4x4 prop bug didn’t get you! I’m surprised!

RiverRat232

Don't mess up that beautiful engine room.

LaRea

Today I spent two hours reviving the starboard engine after getting a "low voltage" error.  Long story short:  The starter motor cable wasn't connected.  When I put the cable onto the stud and reached over to get the lock washer, the cable fell off.  I didn't know, and put the nut on with no cable.  That mistake cost me two hours of hard work.   

Exhaust risers - another big PITA.  I finished one out of four.  

LaRea

As I hinted yesterday, I opened up my forehead while working on the port outdrive. 

I leaned back to get leverage on something, and banged the back of my noggin hard against one of the supports.  The impact bounced the noggin forward onto the drive, slashing a nice 1-inch gash just above my eyebrow.  Every prize fighter has a good "cutman" and my Admiral is better than most, so no stiches for me.  

Dream_Inn

You're making me feel better about my decision just to let Rhode river marina install new exhaust manifolds this week instead of me.  I figure they were due after 13 years. I'm getting high water pressure which may be due to clogged manifolds (exchangers are clean).

Hope the head is better!  It's why I married a nurse!

LaRea

Mine wasn't a nurse when she married me, but she has become an expert at applying all sorts of field dressings! 

Ian

Mine will deal with most but if there’s too much blood it’s best I just ask her to get the car - or the sewing kit. I’ve been more her nurse lately after treating her 2nd degree burns for about 4 weeks.

Liberty44140

Well at least after 2 hours your problem is fixed for free. Could have been a lot worse

reneechris14

My manifolds have studs on the top holes. When I frist brought the boat home and put new manifolds on the Starboard motor the studs came out with the nuts and it was near impossible to put no that way got it on but my elbow hurt from months because I strained the tendon. Now I have all new bolts and studs. Do have to have the manifolds of for motor install.

LaRea

I'd love to have my mechanic install the exhaust, but I'm doing it myself as a favor to him.  Too many customers, not enough time in the day.  

SimcoeRinker400

Just noticed Dream-Inn watching the Rangers game...... Leafs Nation over here 

SimcoeRinker400

LaRea looks good bud you did a lot more work than I did..  I am just waiting on the weather here to stay nice for a week or two so I can bring the hull up..  Notice people on the Rinker Facebook thing using Coconut Oil to bring their Hulls up.. seems interesting.  I use Chemical Guys Stuff works pretty good!  What do you guys use on the Dark Hulls?

SimcoeRinker400

This is the thing I am talking about on the hull.
https://m.facebook.com/groups/33787795425/permalink/10157676561820426/ 

LaRea

Just add water!  The engine room is 100% done.  Tomorrow will be launch day if I can schedule the lift operator.

I started the engines today, just to make sure they would spin and not throw any errors.  They fired right up!  The new insulation on the underside of the hatch looks great, and I finished the bottom paint.  

So far, recommissioning has gone amazingly well.  Out of 65 new push-fit plumbing connections, 63 were fine.  Two leaked because I didn't push the tubes in far enough -- easy fix.  The blowers wouldn't turn on, but that was just some corrosion in the connector plugs -- easy fix.

I'll probably find a dozen more problems in the coming week, but I'm excited to get her back into the water.

Liberty44140

Looks good and glad so far it works good!

TonyG13

@LaRea - Looks great! How did you fasten the insulation to the hatch? I have my order of 1" Soundown from Defender arriving tomorrow and everything I read says it has to be mechanically fastened if it's used overhead. I ordered 1/2" screws with fender washers to screw it to the hatch (which is how the original was attached). 

YYZRC

I’m watching the Q: Into The Storm and it has me all fired up about conspiracies. So I have to ask @LaRea - who’s boat is in your avatar? The name is different...

SimcoeRinker400

LaRae looks amazing ... Show quality as they would say in the Classic Car Shows!