Hull Sanding

Marco has been busy with a palm sander going over the port side of my hull. 

It looks like one more day for the starboard side. Then a bit of fairing. 

I was going to paint one more coat on my boards to finish them off, but it rained a bit today. So tomorrow I can finish that and Di some more painting after running errands. 

Exhaust Tube

Today I glassed in a 3' section of exhaust tubing. 

A common problem with sailboats on the ocean is wave action forces water into the exhaust system, all the way back into the engine. Trust me, if the sea conditions are this bad, you will be unable to work on a Diesel engine, to bleed out the water to get it running again. I've heard of this happening in Block Island Sound and back in 2000 or so on a boat named Miss Manhattan which was abandoned at sea and later broke up on Cape Hatteras. 

The cure, my cure anyway, is two riser loops. I have one at the engine, and another one aft.  I also have a flapper valve on my exhaust port. This is like wearing a belt and suspenders, plus tie wraps to hold your pants up--and give you confidence your pants won't fall down. These three methods should provide for a reliable engine start in any sea state. 

So, I still had a problem. My exhaust was banging around as the water built up at the after loop. Additionally it was laying against the side of the hull and if ECHO was heeled over, it could potentially allow water to back up into the motor. 

My solution is to move the second exhaust loop to the transom. When I passed the exhaust through the aft bulkhead, I had 3" fiberglass tubing left over. I decided to tab in a 3' section to lock it into place, and then add a short section aft to a gusset in the transom and then to the exhaust port--a job for later in this coming week.  

I elevated it on two pieces of 3/4" marine plywood cut on a bevel, and tabbed in the mount with a layer of mat and stocked mat, followed by the same layup around the tube at both ends. 

This is the aft end where three bilge pump hoses, the exhaust, and two cockpit drains run under the aft end of the cockpit.