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. 

Painting boards and sanding the hull

I've decided to spray paint the topsides.  Spraying has gone very well with the boards that will cover the settee.  I think that if I tape and cover the boat with plastic, and skirt it with painter paper, the painting itself will go very fast. 

Most of the sanding is done.  I plan to go over the topsides one more time and then fill and prime (which also is a filler) the defects in the topsides, sand those spots again and it will be ready to paint.

Weather calls for no rain for six days.  This seems to be the time to do it.

Forward Cockpit Drains

I had a late drawing up my fuel tank plans, watching my brother blast his future garage, and running to West Marine for paint and primer. 

After spraying a second coat of paint on my settee boards I was soaked and took a break for 20 minutes to cool off. The shadows were getting long but I had to place another piece of overhead tabbing on the port side shelf, and I wanted to get the cockpit drains bulkhead pass-thru tabbed in on the forward side. 

This leave two small 13" pieces of tabbing for the shelves left to do. Ill do one a day then next few days to wrap that up. 

Drilling two 1.5" holes was easy. I was not happy with the length of one of my pass thru fiberglass tubes--cutting a longer one was easy too. 

So  few more minutes work on the other side tomorrow and a bit of work with a dremel sander and I can reinstall those two drains and not worry about ECHO's bilge filling with water when it rains. 

I have noticed a few minor jeans where fresh water gets into ECHO.  Both of the cockpit drains leak at the cockpit sole.  I was unable to remove those last year. Perhaps caulking is the solution.  I have a leak at the emergency rudder cover plate. That was seal well, I thought, last year. And I have two small leaks at the tow rail amidships--very minor. 

FUEL TANK DESIGN FINALIZED