Toyman is bringing the Irish! Yet another boat thread.

In reply to Toyman! :

Nice boat

Spent part of yesterday and today working on the Shamrock. We are taking it to Lake Murray for a long weekend in a couple of weeks and there are a few projects I want to get done before it goes. 

Starting with the trim tabs. With no engine to trim, the trim tabs are necessary. Not just to bring the bow down, but to level the boat from side to side. If you remember, the old hydraulic system puked its guts into the bilge a couple of weeks ago. It's time to fix that problem.

There were a couple of options. The cheapest would be to fix what I have. Run some new lines, fill the system, and done. However, I really hate hydraulic systems. A little hydraulic fluid and some salt water turns into a gooey disaster in a bilge. I don't ever want to deal with that again. 

Option 2 would be a conversion kit to convert the existing tabs to electric. That was my plan, except no one has the conversion in stock and no one can tell me when or if they will be available. So scratch option 2. 

Option 3 was a new trim tab set. This is what I did. I ordered a set of 9 x 12 Lenco tabs with electric operators and installed most of them this weekend. 

Old, leaky, and nasty. 

Naturally, the new system didn't mount in the same place the old system did so the swim platform came off, new holes drilled, old holes filled, and presto we have new trim tabs. 

Next on the hit list was the sea strainer. When I was doing the plumbing, I decided to reuse the existing plastic strainer because a new bronze one was $300. Three times I have found it to be leaking. Twice it was dripping water into the bilge. Once is was leaking air into the cooling system. I had replaced the oring in it but the oring didn't want to stay in place. In my shop, after three strikes, you are out. $300 is pretty cheap if it keeps the boat from sinking. 

So the old plastic sea strainer is in the trash and I installed a new bronze version. One of the old trim tabs was hacked up to fabricate a mount for it. It's not quite as tidy as it was, but it won't leak. 

I ordered a pile of parts today so look for them to be getting installed over the next week or so. 

The Shamrock got more love this weekend. 

I want to get all the hardware mounted before I start filling holes in preparation for paint. 

This weekend's job was to reinstall the swim platform. I haven't liked the platform that came on the boat since I bought it and my plan from the start was to go teak. 

Original platform.

The last teak platform I installed I built myself. In the interest of having this done in another week, I bought a premade platform to install. It's a little more square than I wanted but it's not bad. Much better than the plywood. Laying out a platform on the back of a boat is a bit of a pain because nothing is straight and nothing is square. The transom is also not straight I guess I could have just mounted it but that looks half-assed. That required the platform to be cut to match the curve of the boat. 

Step one is to mark the centerline of the hull at the height you want the platform and the centerline of the platform.

 Next up, prop the platform up exactly where you want it to end up. 

Take the widest point between the platform and the hull and build a pencil that will ride on the hull and mark the platform so you can transfer the curve of the hull to the platform. Mine was a piece of pine with my marking pencil taped to it. 

Presto, one curved line that matches the exact curve of the hull

From there it was just cutting, sanding, making some SS brackets to mount to the hull, laying out the side supports so the platform is level with the waterline, and drilling a few more holes in the transom. Cutting the holes for the trim actuators took forever. I didn't want to cut a huge notch around the actuators so I swagged a location and drilled a 3" hole. From there I adjusted the hole with a belt sander until it fit. I think I mounted it 7 or 8 times before I got enough clearance. They aren't perfect but they are close enough.

I am going to have to come in underneath it with some SS angle to give it additional support where the ladder is mounted. The ladder puts a pretty extreme load on it with my fat butt climbing it.

The almost finished product. 

While I had the sanding equipment out, I stripped all the interior teak and got it oiled as well. I prefer teak oil to varnish even though it needs to be applied a couple of times a year. Sanding the varnish off the louvered door was less than fun. They turned out pretty well considering the wood is 31 years old. The only thing left to strip is the rail around the transom. 

I also got a VHF radio and antenna mounted. No pictures of those, I forgot to take them. 

More to come as it happens. 

oiled teak looks so good on a boat!

More love this weekend. 

The wiring is now complete except for navigation lights. Those will be done at a later date. Trim tabs are wired. VHF radio is wired. Done. 

Pictures of the VHF. 

I also got most of the teak on the dash reinstalled. 

I mounted the antenna for the VHF last weekend. For now, the wire is zip tied to the top. I will probably drill the top and run it through at a later date. 

Swim platform has been reinforced to put up with the load of the ladder. It will hold my fat butt up without flexing now. 

It also got fresh oil and a filter. This works so much better than trying to suck it out of the dipstick or drain it in the hull. 

Last up will be sanding and oiling the rear railing and giving it a bath. I'll shoot an overall picture when that happens. 

More to come. 

I'm not a boat guy but I love the look of teak. 

I'm a fan of the Fumoto valves I have on both my inboard/outboard boats.  I'm not sure if that's what you have going on there (a valve where the drain plug goes on the oil pan) but yeah...it sure beats the alternatives ;)

In reply to ClemSparks :

It's a kit that replaces the oil drain plug with a pipe fitting. The hose threads to that fitting and is long enough to stick out of the bilge drain hole. Pull the cap off the hose and it drains the engine oil. 

Floating in fresh water for the weekend.