October 10, 2012 Jones Creek sunset

 

October 13, 2012 Wagon Train? near Tennessee River Mile 321

October 15, 2012 White pelican Wilson Lake

October 15, 2012 Ross Branch

October 17, 2012 Cooper Hollow waterfall

 Ditto Landing

View from Ross Branch.  No cell towers in sight!

Ray picking his mother-in-law up from shore at Dewayne Hayes Recreation Area in Columbus, Mississippi.

Finished Products

  Here is a good picture of the "new" engine room, complete with two Yanmar 54 horsepower diesel engines.

We spent the weekend waiting for coats of bottom paint to dry.  Yes, we painted the bottom of "The Second Noelle" blue now as Ray says it is much better visibility when scrubbing the bottom under water.  We also painted the bottom of the dinghy, leaving just enough of the original bottom so boats behind us can see our name better.

Well, none of the pictures turned out.  The port engine looks just like the starboard, it's just on the other side.  We were waiting for parts to get it hooked up.  They were overnighted on Tuesday to arrive here on Wednesday.  They weren't here by shop closing time, but Linda just happened to be outside when the UPS truck pulled up, so she went running.  The driver was very nice & said that he called the shop manager & told him he had a package but the shop manager told him not to bother after 4:00 p.m. because no one would be there.  However, the driver said he felt like if someone had it overnighted they must need it, so he came anyway thankfully.  So with that, Ray had the port engine running in no time.  The only remaining glitch was that the generator was running but not powering up the boat.  Earlier in the day Ray called an electrician friend to get his advise.  We assumed the wires must not have been hooked up correctly.  With this bigger generator, there is not much clearance from the top of it to the floor, and guess where those wires are.  So Ray cut another hole in the floor of the salon to access them, but everything looked right according to the electrician also.  In Linda reading the manual (because guys don't do that), we learned that the display panel on the generator showed several bits of information if you scrolled through it, including how many volts the generator was putting out.  So Ray fired it up again and scrolled to find that the generator was putting out the 120 volts it was supposed to be.  We tried the electrical panel with no luck.  Then Ray decided to flip the breaker on the generator, and vualah, everything was working.  Now before you jump to the "duh!" conclusion, let it be said that on the breaker he had it switched to green assuming that would be on.  Well, I guess in Japan red means on.  So the moral of the story...there was no need to cut a hole in the floor!

Here is the new starboard engine all hooked up with our own customized high rise mixing elbow made by Bob of course.  Oh, with the help of Shannon, both relatives of "The Bar-B".  Today we were able to start it.  We thought while we were gone for two weeks all of the parts we ordered would be in and we would be able to get the engine job complete and the boat back in the water by the end of the week.  However, we still do not have the wiring harness extensions or the extra gaskets we need for our special high rise mixing elbow exhaust.  We also started the generator today, which ran fine, but it did not power up everything in the boat.  Ray just told Linda to remove everything from the old generator.  He didn't tell her to pay attention, so when he asked which color wire came from which bolt, she had no idea and he wasn't sure how to hook up the wires to the new generator.  We are assuming his guess was not right.

Extra!

  

Here you can see the pretty brass rudder extensions our fabricator friend, Bob made for us.  Linda took the original rudders down to the local machine shop and had them cut about three inches off the bottom of them.  Ray attached the extensions.  Linda tightened the bolts, and attached the new zincs to them.  She also attached the big plate zinc on the back and the two shaft zincs.
 

We also got brand new props!  The starboard one attached pretty easy, but the shop manager had to get a dye tool for Ray to fix the threads on the port side shaft where the employee took the old prop off and messed up the threads where he beat it with a hammer!

And the special addition we are so excited about...CUTTERS!  See that blade behind the prop?  That is one of the blades on the cutters that will cut nets or lines that get in the prop!  No more dodging crab traps and fish traps!  Can't wait to blast right through them at about seven miles an hour!

Read all about it!

We returned to the boat today after being gone for over two weeks.  We spent a few days in Murphy so Ray could work on the house he got to build.  Then we went to Buffalo to see Ray's family and celebrate his sister's 60th birthday.  After that it was back to Murphy for a few more days to get some more done on that house.  Can't wait to get all of our parts we ordered and get this project complete enough to get the boat back in the water and back up to Chattanooga.  We will finish the rest of the projects up there.  It looks like one of those projects might be getting the bottom of the boat painted up there since they still have not sanded it to our satisfaction here.

While Ray was inside the air conditioned cabin hooking up everything for the generator and engines, Linda spent two days waxing the boat below the rub rail.  You can see here it is shinier!  You can also see that we are directly behind the two story shop building.  That saved us from the wind storm that blew through the boatyard from the south, but it also blocked our view of the fireworks.

Got them to do something

Well, what do you know, we actually got someone in the shipyard to do something.  It was an easy project, so I guess that is why.  They put the dinghy on a pallet we had laying here ready, then lifted it up with the forklift so we could put it back on the back of the boat.  We weren't sure if the new stuff would get in the way of walking around on the swim platform with it in position, but it worked out great!  Only thing missing now is the fishing rods back in the holders!

Extra!

One of the extra projects we had.  Our special fabricator friend, Bob, custom made these Scuba tank brackets for us so we now have them mounted on the swim platform.

Where have we been?

With so much going on, we have not had time to take many pictures and write the blog.  We are making a lot of progress though.  Here is a new engine coming in the door.

 Well, believe it or not, Gary was true to his word and brought over the rental equipment shortly after 7:00 a.m.this morning.  So here is the old engine block going off.

 Having to closely watch one new engine and the generator being loaded onto the aft deck, there was no time for pictures.  So here is the first picture of the generator going down the steps and into the salon via two come alongs.






Here is the new monster.

Now all it has to do is fit through that hatch on the galley floor.  It was so tight that we had to take the hose off the black water tank.  That was stinky!

And here is the first engine going down into the engine room.

Pretty!

  
 Sorry folks, after working hard all day, we have been too tired to get things on here.


While Ray was gone to Murphy for a few days, Linda worked on putting a helm on the dinghy.  The only progress that was made by the boat yard was that the props finally got removed.


But what is that in the background you ask...

 Well, they teased us this morning by coming over here shortly after 7:00 a.m. and brought the new generator over with the Bobcat.  However, it wouldn't reach high enough to put it up on the aft deck.  However, they had some rental equipment over at the new steel  building they were putting up, so when they were done with that this afternoon, they would bring that over.
At 3:30 p.m., half hour before closing time, Ray went over to find out the status, although we had resigned to the fact that we were just going to have to rent our own equipment and get this project done. 

 We wanted the new engines out of the shop before they closed for the weekend though.  He found only one of the young helpers and complained to him that we couldn't get anything done around here.  When the kid inquired as to what Ray wanted done, he said "Oh, I can do that."
The big equipment operator, Gary, said he would come in tomorrow and use that rental equipment to get them up on the boat for us and the old engine block off.  We're not holding our breath.

Aren't they pretty?

Load 'em up & move 'em out!

  
Here go the transmissions.  At least they weren't near as scarey as that engine block going down into the truck.  I guess this was best since at the end of the day the night watchman came over and informed us that the starter is out of the fork lift.  Guess that means we will not be getting the other engine block taken off the aft deck any time soon.

I hope you are ready Richard.  The contents in the back of the truck here are all of the pieces and parts for one engine and one transmission.  They should be on their way to the mountains come Tuesday.

Too much gas

The afternoon project was building this helm and seat lift for the dinghy.  Now all Linda has to do is fiberglass it all to the body

Here is what a "clean" bilge looks like with no engine or transmission on the starboard side.  You and I just have to trust that the port side looks the same.  We plan on painting that area white where the new engine and transmission will go to have a clean slate.  This is what Ray worked on in the morning.  He also emptied the gas out of the fuel tanks.  We ended up with 13 gallons in the starboard side and 8 gallons in the port side.  Once the pick up truck was full of that gas we gave the rest to the neighbor Bob for his help and use of his tools.



Meanwhile, Linda was doing fiberglass repair on the dinghy.  You can't see it here, but she put three extra layers on the runners for when we pull it up on shore.

Bear

We are in a little bit more of a hurry now to get out of Demopolis because Ray got a job to build a house in Murphy!  With the boat yard help slower than molasses, we decided to take the engines out of the boat just like we did the generator.

Doesn't an engine block look pretty on a light colored carpet on the salon floor?  You really can't see how much of a mess it did make.  It was mainly pink antifreeze that saturated the carpet in this area when we hoisted the block(s) up the stairs, not just the big oil stain you see below.  Again, it doesn't matter a whole lot as we are going to replace all of the carpet with a vinyl teak wood flooring anyway.  It's just a matter of living with it like this for now.  The entry rug covered it up nicely for now though.

We are also keeping a close eye on Spike, the cat, because when we came back in once he was sitting on this bottom step licking his lips.  We're hoping he wasn't licking up any antifreeze!

This is where Linda got nervous.  Ray decided we could just reverse the process of getting the engine block up the stairs and out the cabin door, and lower/slide it out off the back deck, down the stairs and into the pick up truck.  It turned into kind of a fiasco.  The block kind of rolled over when it got to the bottom of the steps and semi onto the swim platform.  A couple gel coat chips (couldn't bear to take a picture of those), help from the neighbor, someone telling us the boat yard has a boom (no kidding-get him over here to use it!), and Ray decided we wouldn't do it this way again.

The other engine block is now just sitting on the aft deck, along with the two transmissions that were hoisted out the same way.  Of course it's the weekend now so with the shop closed we get to walk around them for a couple days and then see when we can get anyone to get them off.  We've asked them to take the props off since we got here three weeks ago and that still isn't done.

Stripping It Down

See two engines, starboard and port, identical.

See the door they have to fit out of.

Here is just the wiring harness alone for one engine (the port).

 See two engines.  See the size difference when one (the port) is stripped down to just a block and a vibration dampener.  The boat yard manager finally came over to look at the job today.  He was amazed at how we got the generator out on the aft deck by ourselves.  After looking at the job he said we might as well get the engines out the same way.  Of course last fall he had everything we needed to do this job.

Ray's job was to take everything off (of the engine).

Here is the third truck load of parts taken off of the engines.  Linda's job was to carry every piece up the salon stairs, out and down Ray's homemade ladder to the truck.  That was a lot of trips.

Here are those three truck loads of parts stacked up in our storage unit.

Oh, and Linda put the generator panels back on the generator and put a for sale sign on it after the boat yard finally got it off our aft deck.

P.S.  For those of you that thought it was scarey during storms when we are on the water, last night was scarier when a windy thunderstorm came through and you could feel the boat vibrating up on the chocs.

What to do on a rainy day

Today's project was to cut a bigger hole in the galley floor to get the new generator in.  Ray did a great job at that and was done early.  Being a rainy day in Demopolis, there was not much that could be done.

So why not tackle getting the old generator out?  Ray thought he had all the logistics worked out for us to be able to do it ourselves.  As you can see, there is also the holding tank that is an obstacle.

So here is the apparatus that Ray came up with.  Two boat chocs and one 4" x 4" that were laying in the boat yard.  We brought the short length of chain from Murphy, but all we had for a hoist was the pulley system we use to lift the dinghy onto the swim platform.  We tried that first, but Ray got nervous on the first pull when the rope stretched quite a bit.  Bob, the neighbor two boats over offered to let us barrow whatever we needed to do this job, so we got a come along from him.  Obviously it worked.  We got the generator up out of the hole, then laid a couple 2" x 4"s on the galley floor for it to rest on over the hole while we raised the boat chocs so we could get it up the step onto the salon floor.  We covered the carpet with old towels and sheets just to keep it from getting too dirty since we are still living on the boat, but we do plan to replace the floor covering after the new engines and generator are installed.  For now though, we are living with a plywood galley floor.

Success on getting the generator up to the salon floor level.  Now all we have to do is get it up those stairs and out the door.

Using 1" x 6"s and 2" x 4"s, we slid it along with Ray pushing and Linda running the pulley.  When the shop opens tomorrow, we will be finding out how soon they can come lift it off the aft deck for us.  If it is not soon enough, we plan on using the same system to slide it out and down ourselves.