So much to do so little time.

Last weekend I went to the boat with Jacob who was my helper for the day. While we were there I used a bucket head wet/dry vac to suck the water out of the bilge. This was the best method so far to completely empty the bilge. Then I tried to glue the sump pump into place using 5200. Then we installed the new VHF radio but I was unable to receive anything on it.


This weekend on Saturday I pulled the Mercury 9.9 motor I bought last year out of storage and tested it out with a hose motor flusher and a jump start from my car. It started right up. I then took it to the marina and with the help of my uncle and his friend we lifted it up onto the boat.

Sunday, I filmed what I was doing...

So after I got my batteries all squared away I mounted a bilge pump switch and wired it in from the charge controllers accessory output connector and tested it to make sure it works as expected. I also connected the wires to the outboard engine. Then I put a new antenna connector on the VHF as the old one was cracked at the wire pretty bad.  I don't know if it is working the best it can but at least I was able to receive the weather broadcast now.

Starting to get ready for spring.

Today, Wednesday March 11th, is the first day the weather reached 60 so I went to the boat yard to start prepping the boat. However, even though the air was 60 I still had to negotiate a field of ice and water to get to the boat. Then once I got the ladder set up and all the supplies on to the boat I realized that the one thing I forgot was the key which was still at home. Since my fist project was to replace the door anyway I was able to remove the lock with some help from the service department.

I was glad that the existing latch on the boat worked with the one I bought to install on the new doors because otherwise I would have had to drill new bolt holes and try to run multiple extension cords together through a giant puddle. I also applied a strip of foam rubber to the sliding top of the companionway which works well to seal the top of the doors.

Inside the boat the bilge was almost about to overflow with the rain leak(s) and some of the water was still frozen particularly around where the sump pump is. I set up a spare pump and held the wires to the battery I was going to put in to pump out as much water as I could.

My next task was to install the two batteries. I had these batteries in my room all winter connected to a Guest Dual Battery Controller for AC supply. I noticed over the winter that one of the batteries kept switching into charge mode. Then for Christmas I got a solar panel and wired each battery to a solar charge controller and then the two controllers together to a common input for the solar panel. When I went to get the batteries the guest controller indicated a 14 hour charge fault on the flaky battery so on the way to the boat I stopped at sears and bought a replacement.

I wired and strapped the two batteries into the boat along with the Guest Charge controller and the solar charge controllers when I noticed that only one of the charge controllers must have a back flow diode, as they are different brands, which means one battery was always trying to charge from the other battery. I wonder now if this helped to lead to the demise of the battery. Anyway, I left the system so the solar panel is connected to only one of the batteries at a time. Currently it is connected to the new battery as that one may not be fully charged.

I also filed the paperwork to have the boat put back into the water the week after Easter. Before then I still need to install the radios, the outboard motor and fuel system, find and fix the rain leaks, clean the interior and put the cushions back. Among other things.

Door Handle Covers

I took the original covers and stripped the cracking white paint off of them. I had considered sending them out to be properly chrome plated but that would have cost way too much at $225 per handle so I decided to fake it. After watching this video comparing different chrome paints I decided to go with the Spaz Stix Mirror Chrome paint set. I tried to follow the directions as close as possible but I didn't end up with a mirror chome finish. it actually looks more like pewter which also works for me.

And this is what my finished doors look like all together.  I hope they hold up.