Weebs needs acid!

So we went to go for a sail this weekend but after I fired up the old atomic four  we had no water coming out the exhaust.  Boo Hoo.  No cooling….

 

I checked the valve line up and fond nothing amiss.  This had happened once before when a chunk of rust or crud plugged the water tee fitting on the back of the exhaust manifold.  So we set off to back flush the manifold with the handy dandy adapter I had made the last time.  But also no water flow still…even with 45psi from the dock.

I think she is finally crudded up enough to break out the acid.  this weekend if Hermine doesn’t make too much trouble I’ll use Dan Moyer’s acid flush technique to clean the manifold.  If it doesn’t work, well then I guess I’ll drink some beer and stare at it ….at least I won’t be wasting time then.

Weebs is Feeling Blue

 

Weebs spent about a month, maybe a bit longer at Dolphin Cove having the bottom cleaned and repainted.  I went with blue this time.  Black was OK but thought it was time for a change.

The blue seems to work well with the gold Catalina trim and the blue sail covers.

Need to get a buffer to clean up the hull near the water line.

 

 

Back to Dolphin Cove

Took Weebs back to Dolphin Cove for a haul out and fresh bottom paint.  This is the first boat yard she was at in SC and the third time she has been painted.  Paint lasted almost three years this time.  Recently the marine life was growing faster than diver Shawn could scrape it off….

We’ll have yard take a look at the “tv wall” inside and see if they have any carpenter types that could get rid of the TV and replace the panel on the front of the cabinet…finally.

Ready for Summer 2016!

I can’t believe it has been five years.  Weebs is the best learning boat ever.  Today is April 29 2016, almost exactly five years since I first laid eyes on Weebs, then known to the marina staff as “dat little webelo boat.”   Don’t ask,  think thick NY accent like Joe Pescie…anyway it stuck.

As I write, Weebs is a resident in good standing at a marina in Folly Beach SC where she is attended to by a 24/7 Dockmaster  and a monthly visit by  Diver Shawn Cannon to keep the barnacles…or in these waters oysters at bay.  A terrific improvement over her plight in New York City…except for the doggie hair that still clogs the bilge pump…eight months after Ollie last had the opportunity to shed on the boat.

Well maybe not perfect..while there is no worry about freezing, the mild climate is quite conducive to mold, algae and mildew…everywhere.  So constant cleaning is important.. but not too bad of a deal since Weebs makes sure the beer is always cold.

 

Leaky Windows, err… portlights

Right after i got Weebs I found all the leaks the PO never told me about. I guess all boats leak a bit here and there. The ones below the waterline I fixed right away. A couple of the portlights leaked and I thought I fixed them when Weebs left the boatyard in 2011. Of course that wasn’t the case.
Catalina 27 windows are a pain in the butt. It’s a messy yucky job that requires lots of hands and lots of MEK for clean up. That deterred me from dealing with the windows for four years.

Well I tackled the two leakers with a fresh repair kit from Catalina Direct acouple of weeks ago. We had a few good rain days since then…and of course the puddles under the windows.

I’m not so sure the water is actually from the window though. Before it was definitely windows because I could see water pooling up inside the frame. This time it seems to be coming from around the window. I think it might be the handrails on the cabin roof right above the ports. Though the top of the frame with the trim piece off is dry…I just don’t buy rain splashing in from the bottom.

Going to do some internet sleuthing before I take things apart though.

 

catch up time Weebs Name shot

Earlier I posted that Nick painted Weebs name on the transom.   Here is a picture.  Not sure what year this is…looks wintery to me.

Electrical mess

After getting splashed a few times with sea water some of the switches on the distribution panel stopped working so I decided to replace the whole panel.  Well the previous owner must have been drinking a lot of Wild Turkey when he wired the boat.

Each circuit seems to have extra things patched into it, and nothing is labeled.    This is going to have to get fixed.   Might explain why the forward running lights don’t work.

Weebs get her name! August 2011

When I first got Weebs there was some illegible spray-painted name on the transom.   Never did figure out what it said but it was ugly and looked more like graffiti.   To make things better it was painted over an earlier name which was itself painted over vinyl lettering.       It took a lot of scrubbing, acetone, MEK, and oven cleaner to get it all off.   Apparently Weebs was once “Wild Turkey II”    I like Weebs better.

My friend Nick is pretty artistic and does a lot of murals.  He volunteered to paint Weebs…..I never turn down  a work for beer barter.  So here is Nick painting at the dock.

 

It was a little hard for him as the boat was moving constantly.  He’s not used to a moving canvas.  He did a good job though.    Next time Weebs in on land we’ll do some touch up.

 

 

Weebs in Mariners Cay June 2011

We finally got Weebs to her “homeport” of Folly Beach.  Capt. Rick came along for the ride and helped me navigate the Stono River, as I had never traveled it before.   The trip is about 11 miles along a pretty, but winding river.    We had a little adventure when the motor cut off after about 8 miles.  Luckily we drifted right up to a private dock on the river rather than into the marsh.   Initially we thought it was an electrical problem because the motor cut out cleanly without sputtering at all.  Turned out to be the fuel hose sucking air.   We added a few gallons of gas and she started right up.  (recall mention of the dry rotted hose)  After replacing the hose we never had the problem again. 

Here is Weebs at her very own slip.

Yes that is a storm in the background.    

Note Shaggy and I reseated the stdb side windows….they didn’t like the tape on the windows at the marina.   Niether did I.

Into the water!

May 26 2011, Weebs is finally ready to get wet!   While there are still things I would like to work on, too many to list I bought Weebs as a “training boat.”  Yes I am “learning” all about repairing “old boats” but I did want to get some sailing in this summer so I made the call to get her water tight and just run with it.  I can continue making her pretty while in the water.

Launching  was pretty uneventful.   The current in the Ashley River helped push us along to the launch dock nicely.  I guess I should point out that while the engine was operational we left the new propeller shaft disconnected.  Weebs had been out of the water for several months.  This can allow the hull to flex creating  misalignment  between the engine and shaft.  So we opted to leave everything unconnected until Weebs settled back into the water.  This turned out to be a good decision because the shaft alignment was way off.   Well of course the one motor mount we needed to adjust was rusted in place.  Remember the leaking water pump?   It sits right above this mount and had turned it into a monolithic blob of iron oxide. The bright white is a paper towel plugging the water pump drive gear.

Stbd aft motor mount

  Dolphin Cove has both wetslips and dry stack slips.   For the drystack slips when you want your boat you call them and they put it in the water and when you’re done they put it back in the warehouse.   We launched on the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend.  This meant that there was going to be a lot of traffic at the launch pier so the marina wanted us to move over to a slip near the restaurant.  Not a big problem if you have propulsion….which due to the motor mount was becoming a challenge for us. 

I studied the alignment issue, the back of the motor needed to be lowered.   It was OK side to side and axially.  Because of the location of the mount if we raised the front of the motor it would lower the back just enough to connect the shaft.  We had to disconnect the front mounts to raise the front enough to position the back properly.   I wish I had taken some pictures because what followed was ridiculus….I was glad it was dark out so no one could see our engineering handiwork.  

Mike used a piece of wood as a lever under the front of the motor while I connected the shaft coupling bolts.  I left the bolts loose so there would be some play in the connection.    Mike continued to hold the motor up while I fired it up and gingerly motored over to the other pier.   As soon as we tied up I had to disconnect the shaft coupling before Mike wore out.   Maybe not the best way to get there, but we made it!  You can see Mike’s wooden lever on the side of the boat.

Weebs at Dolphin Cove