Big Sigh!! Bow Tube is in.

On the surface one might think, how big a deal can it be, cut 2 holes in the hull, exactly identical, positioned in exactly the same relative position on opposing sides, perfectly horizontally level to the waterline, and at a 90 degree right angle to the hull center line. Oh, and did I mention that the surface you need to scribe a cutting mark to fit a 195mm round pipe is a compound curve on all axises? I had been trying to figure out how to do this from the moment I decided that this boat needed a bow thruster. For the uninitiated, the bow thruster basically gives you a small manuevering engine at the bow of the boat. Very handy and for me an absolute neccessity for handling the boat in tight situations such as docking at crowded fuel docks. Until the last few years, bow thrusters were seen only on large commercial vessels, but due to competition and agressive marketers, just about every boater with a craft over 30' has one of these on his wish list. For me it was a matter of pay me now or pay me later. I figured that given the size of this boat, it is the cheapest form of insurance I can have. If it saves me touching some guy's million dollar yacht just once, it will have payed for itself. I discussed the how=to with a few people over the last months. Prize goes to my dear friend Jimmy. He was the closest on the method I eventually used. It's hard for a guy to edmit this, but I actually read the directions when I received the thruster unit from Vetus. Those clever Dutch engineers included this one line beneath a small line drawing. "Mark hole to cut using homemade tool". This is the result, Jimmy, you'll chuckle at the simplicity of it. I still had to do all the measuring, leveling etc, in order to be able to drill two holes to form the center of my cut marks. The rod extends through the hull exiting on the other side, this simplified the actual scribing immensly. I then drilled 1/4" holes spaced 1/2" apart on the line so that I would be able to use the saws all to cut the hole out. Drill holes were neccessary in order to be able to force the wide blade into a circle. Ok, 3 blades later, first hole was cut. Second hole went easier, based on my experience with the first, isn't that always the way? Crunch, another blade bites the dust.

After a little adjustment with the grinder, I had a near perfiect fit.

Still plenty to do as far as welding things up, installing the hardware etc. But for now, I'm glad this part went as well as it did.

Big Day!! Engine Goes In

The crane was supposed to be here at 1:00pm today.

Get a call at 8:00am, can we come earlier? Seems they needed the crane for an emergency call across the river in Astoria, it was come earlier or wait a couple of more days. So I hustled to make preparations, needed to pull some peripherals off the engine that were susceptible to damage. By 9:00 the engine was in the air.

The operator handled things like a surgeon with a scalpel.

The lift went beautifully, although it was a little nerve wracking seeing my prized John Deere dangling in the air.

Here comes the test, is it going to fit neatly through the new opening in the deck.

I didn't leave much room to spare, and it was going to require tilting the engine down slightly to get it in, all 1500lbs of it.

Down the hatch!

This procedure adds new meaning to the expression.

It's in the engine room, facing the wrong direction, but the meter was running on the crane and I wanted to let him go. I would deal with orienting the engine using the ugly engine hoist that has been sharing my space all this time waiting for this moment.

Well it's sitting roughly where it needs to.

Now I need to engineer new engine beds and mounts to permanently secure this monster.

Every movement of this thing requires careful planning, even if I'm only moving it an inch.

Working by myself, I can't afford any mishaps, this thing weighs so much that it means instant finger amputation if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Have already determine that in order to get it lined up properly with the angle on the prop shaft, the original engine rails, the beams that it's sitting on in the pic, will have to be cut out and new ones built.

This engine is taller than the previous unit, hence in order for it to fit below the cabin floor, it will need to go down several inches.

The new engine rails and mounts will need to compensate for the fact that this engine has twice the horsepower and torque that the original engine did.

I tend to overbuild things in general, this instance will define overbuild, have lots of new aluminum on hand just for this project.

Estimate it will take a whole day and about 20 blades on the saws-all to do the cut out.

Another day to fab up the neccessary pieces, by Thursday, Cap should be welding.