Five days to launch!
LaRea
Member, Moderator Posts: 7,747 mod
Hard to believe I'll be splashing this weekend! After this crazy-cold winter, I thought the day would never come.
I'm launching two weeks earlier than normal so a local canvas shop can fit the boat with new canvas. Yesterday, I scrubbed the engine room - a job that is much easier when the drain plug is out. Debris tends to collect in the aft bilge between the engines where it's impossible to reach. It occurred to me that I can use a flexible parts grabber to reach that stuff. Worked great! I also used a floor mop to scrub it with bilge cleaner.
I'm launching two weeks earlier than normal so a local canvas shop can fit the boat with new canvas. Yesterday, I scrubbed the engine room - a job that is much easier when the drain plug is out. Debris tends to collect in the aft bilge between the engines where it's impossible to reach. It occurred to me that I can use a flexible parts grabber to reach that stuff. Worked great! I also used a floor mop to scrub it with bilge cleaner.
Comments
Looks fantastic LaRea!!! I know you that know, but for others, when you see ends of clamps in the bilge (as LaRea's picture shows), this can only mean one thing. Check all your hose clamps and start replacing them. I've seen them fail when a boat is around 8 years old and just continue failing. On my old 310, I had 4 hose clamps fail while cruising, all in a 2 year time frame (yes, I should've just replaced them all after the first incident).
My date should be this Friday as well for dropping in, but we'll see. It's possible I may wait another week mainly because my marina doesn't turn on the water until April. I hate not being able to have water to rinse the bow off. The rest of the boat is nicely waxed, but the bow always has some dust/dirt on it that grinds in if I can't rinse it off immediately when I uncover.
New canvas will be awesome!! I just got back one seat cushion that was redone, and I should be getting my rear swim platform seats back by end of March with all new material!
Dream 'Inn III -- 2008 400 Express
@Michael T - it's a gelcoat crack. Also, at the aft end of the bilge pump mounting plate, there's a little ridge with a similar crack that probably looks worse than it is. But there's no way I can reach them unless I remove an engine.
Unfortunately, the weather will be too cold this week for waxing. That'll have to wait.
Go Steelers!!!
Dream 'Inn III -- 2008 400 Express
But when it does crack it should be addressed. Gel coat repairmen I respect have all said the same thing about cracks in gel coat in a bilge - cracks in the bilge worry them more that cracks on the exterior hull because the water penetrates, runs along the internal fiberglass layers feeding on the resins and is trapped there by the outer layer.
If you can get at it, do so.
Steve, you win - hands down - that is one of the crappiest bilge areas I have seen on a boat that is not salvage in 50 years. First prize. Are those areas actually areas of exposed mat? How did that engine bay get like that? Why weren't they cleaned and at least sprayed with epoxy? Geez, awful!
2002 FV 342 on Lake St. Clair - Past Commodore SHC - Vessel Examiner USCGAUX