Brooke Smith
03/09/2010, DELTAVILLE, VA

Tuesday the 9th of March, 2010
MUFFLER DAY
Today my goal is to remove the old leaking muffler. I had previously looked at this as being a tough job. I already undid all the hose clamps. I jumped in this morning with the hair dryer to break the 3 1/2" hose off the exhaust elbow. It came off with only a screw driver and a scraper. So, now to get it off the muffler end. Again that end of the hose came off too. Then, the real SOB was going to be the hose exiting the muffler and headed to the transom, about 13' long 3" hose that is in good enough shape not to change. It too came off without much of a fight. Then I undid the remaining (2) 9/16" nuts off the muffler mounting plate. One of them I could see and the other was behind the muffler out of sight. So, I got the one I could see off using a universal joint on the Craftsman ratchet with two extensions to make it long enough to go along side the muffler. Only 1/4 turn could be mad at a time with the ratchet wrench. Now, the last one - I contorted my arms into a position where I could feel the nut on the stud and guided the wrench blindly down behind the muffler and it felt as though the socket had gone over the nut. Contorted myself into the ratchet motion and felt the nut give. It came off too!!! This was my lucky day. The now naked muffler kind of looked like "TIN MAN" from the Wizard of OZ. So, I took a picture of the muffler for this blog
I decided to eat lunch before trying to raise the muffler up over the studs and see if it could possibly get by the battery charger mounted near by. Nice Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich made by Susan, and 1/2 a pear and I checked e-mail before back into the bilge. I wedged a screw driver between the muffler mounting plate and Fiberglas mounting pad and gave it a few taps and the muffler was now loose but needed to travel vertically to pass over the studs. I stuck various objects under the muffler as I pried it up. I finally rocked it and it popped off the studs!!!!! Yipee
It was not as heavy as I imagined. The muffler slid by the battery charger and I made a path to get it though the cabin and out the door. The next thing you know I had it on the dock. Now a trip to American Diesel to get a replacement was in order.
When I arrived at American Diesel - I couldn't find anyone in the office. Finally I found Brian. Brian and one other guy were all that were there. Everyone else was out sick with the flue. Brian indicated it was H1N1. I was busy keeping my distance and might not of heard that correctly. Brian set me up with a new muffler and 90º elbows. He suggested that I take those and get some accurate measurements for the hoses. That is another day from now. Maybe Thursday.

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Brooke Smith
03/08/2010, DELTAVILLE, VA

Sunday the 7th of March, 2010
Susan & I went down and took everything back to the boat we had taken home to keep from freezing. Yep we know there will be more below freezing nights. But, we are pretty sure the days will be warming up from here on into summer.
My goal was to finish hooking the relocated fresh water pump back up. I had sort of messed up the accumulator tank getting the hoses off. The accumulator tanks are pretty small and help short cycling the water pump but are not as good as the well-x-troll air tanks used in homes. I saw a small home type air tank and Nauti-Nell's consignment ($30) in Deltaville and with $7.00 of fittings from Hurd's, I had a nice replacement for the small accumulator. So, today was the day to mount and connect all the extended water hoses and new air tank. Of course the first thing you have to do is undo something in order to work on WHATEVER you are trying to work on. I had to take some slack out of the new head-holding tank hose. I had coiled it in the bilge as it is too long and was waiting to install the new forward head to cut it to the proper length. Susan pulled and I pushed the hateful hose. It is the worst hose I've even dealt with. It has bad memory issues with being coiled up in a box at West Marine and just refuses to go in any desired direction. I finally got it out of the way and mounted the air tank to the bilge overhead and a strap to the forward bilge bulkhead. Using a hairdryer to heat the water hoses is great for getting them on the T's and barbs. I secured the hoses to the forward bulkhead with pipe clamps and admired the neatness. Now if the marina will just turn on the water to the dock so we can flush out the pink antifreeze and check the connections for leaks. At least this task is complete and scratched off the TO DO list. We got a call from our friends, Wanda and Windy. They were at the marina and wanted to drop by. I think they were in shock when they saw the inside of the boat with tools parts and stuff all over everywhere. Pretty overwhelming looking for sure. It will be straightened up soon & we will have them on board for a cruise.

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Brooke Smith
03/02/2010, DELTAVILLE, VA

Monday the 1st of March, 2010
We are having a spring thaw of sorts. Still some snow piles at the marina. But, warmer. It was so warm I decided to urn-winterize the heat pumps on the boat. Getting ahead of myself. I've missed informing my Internet friends that I got the 4/0 cables for the inverter and a separate shipment for the 4/0 cables for my new battery switch. I connected all of the cables on Friday 2-26-10. That trip went well. The 4/0 cables are massive and will offer zero resistance at their 3' lengths. I installed a 4/0 connector cable with a 300amp fuse to connect the two 6volt golf cart batteries for the inverter. While wiring the 120 inlet connection to the inverter I discovered that the inlet connector was badly cracked and needed replacement. Of course I could not get the Hubble replacement and had to settle for a Marinco replacement from West Marine that would require drilling the holes a little larger to fit the Hubble chrome cover. I tried online and could not find a Hubble replacement either. Oh well, "just modify" should be every boaters creed.
Anyhow I got all the 120VAC and 12VDC cables and connections working and the inverter is almost invisible in the electric sense. If the shore power is connected, then the inverter keeps its battery charged. If you unhook the shore power the inverter takes over automatically and nothing even blinks.
On to wiring the new battery switch. Same huge 4/0 were specified by BlueSea for the "ADD A BATTERY SWITCH" from the house and starting batteries to the source side of the switch. I used #2 wires and terminal mounted 150amp fuses from the same batteries to the BlueSea "120 AMP 7610-SI-Series Automatic Charging Relay" I used 1/2' pipe clamps to secure the battery cables to the bulkhead for nice cable management.
Now this brings us up to yesterday March 1, 2010 when Susan and I went down to change a couple hoses. I'm still perplexed over whether to remove through hull fittings I may never use again. The salt water faucet hose was awful. Looked like it had been there 30 years. I first could not cut off the seacock to the hose. I had tried to move the handle that had probably NEVER been moved from the open position since installed 30 years ago. I found if you take off the locking nut and then back off the nut next to the body of the seacock; you can tap the shaft sideways a bit and then the seacock handle will move. It leaks while you are freeing the seacock moving the handle back and forth. Then you can re-tighten both nuts and stop the flow of water entering the boat. I've freed up two seacocks so far this way. Lots more to work on too. So anyhow after closing the seacock, I removed the old hose. The hose goes no where and I suppose I could just leave the empty seacock cut off. But, if it leaks at all, there will be water entering the bilge. I decided to cut off the old bad section of hose. The rest of the 30 year old hose appeared to have been stored in a time capsule with as fresh as day one. So, I slid it on the seacock and put a hose clamp and the hose sticking straight up in the air. I intend to cap it off but for now it extends well above the waterline so any water would only rise to that level. This is what I will do with the other unused seacocks as they take my focus.
Susan and I turned our attention to the heat pump inlet hose. It was awful and must have been original too. Trip to Waldens Marina got me the hose I needed. Lunch at Moo's deli (Lobster Rolls yum) and Susan and I got that hose changed. We decided to un-winterize the heat pump and try out the new hose. The two heat pumps share a single water pump. Upon starting the heat pumps we had surging water and inconsistent flow out of the port side through hull. Usually we have a steady stream out of both units. I checked the strainer and found lots of old gooey stuff (sea nettles) that seemed to be the problem. Susan worked on the strainer basket for quiet some time while I worked on the water pump connections. The inverter has forced me to relocate the fresh water system pump. And, of course the water lines will need to be extended. Susan produced the shiny strainer basket and it looked new. I put the basket back into the strainer and tightened the top back down. Susan fired the heat pumps back up and the water shot out of the side of the boat the ways it's supposed to. Both heat pumps heated the boat up quickly. I then turned by attention back to the cracked hubble 120 V inlet mentioned above. I cut off the nice crimped on connections I had made Friday for the hubble and tinned the wires as the Marinco replacement inlet used straight in wire connections instead of screw terminals. Of course the replacement does not fit flush and I will do a little grinding next trip down to make the thing flush. Next big project is removing the muffler.

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Brooke Smith
02/19/2010, DELTAVILLE, VA

Friday the 19th of February, 2010
Went to the boat yesterday with my neighbor's borrowed 1/2" drill to drill the 3 5/8" hole in the aft cabin bulkhead to mount the ABYC recommended battery switch. I've included the picture of the drill. It was my neighbors fathers drill " A SUNBEAM DRILLMASTER" I'd heard of Sunbeam Mixmaster kitchen mixers. But, I never knew Sunbeam made drills! The drill worked perfectly and didn't break my wrist, as 1/2" drills are famous for doing. So, another trip to HURDS HARDWARE and I had the correct screws to hold the switch to the bulkhead. I also mounted the combiner relay that automatically closes to charge the starter and house batteries when the engine starts and isolates them when the motor is off. No more remembering to change the switch to charge both batteries and remembering to switch it to an isolated position when the motor is off. Won't be too long until I un-winterize the motor and see if everything works out ok.
I visited with Mark from Amazing Grace. He wanted to show me his battery management scheme, fuel bleeding setup and engine oil transfer pump for easier oil changes. Mark has done lots of work to Amazing Grace, a 40' Marine Trader with 120 hp Lehman. We like those Lehman.
I didn't do much more as I need the cables that I had ordered to complete the battery switch and inverter connections. Still pondering NOT using an 8D battery for starting. Mark uses a group 24 battery. It's way too small in theory. But, in actual starting situations the Lehman starts in about 1/2 a revolution. So, the 24 is fine. Mark also has a HUGE golf cart battery bank (8) 6 Volt batteries in one 12v configured bank. Gazillion amp hour capacity and could be used to start the engine if needed. Anyhow, I used some small pipe clamps to secure the nice 2/0 cables that Deltaville Boat Yard made up for me in November. I got the positive cable connected to the newly installed battery switch. That is it until my shipped cables come in.

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02/13/2010, DELTAVILLE, VA

Friday the 12th of February, 2010
Success in getting the inverter mounted in Liquid Therapy's bilge! It was difficult to lift and move the inverter. It weighs 80 lbs! Susan helped me lift into the CRV for transport to the marina. After I got there I slid it from the CRV into the dock cart. Rolled it to the boat and then pondered what to do next. It was high tide so the boat was up a bit. I untied the stern and pulled and tied the boat against the finger pier on the starboard side. And, behold with a shot of adrenaline of thinking I might drop the inverter into the drink, I lifted it above the gunnel and slid it onto the deck. GREAT! I decided to mount the inverter on the bulkhead that is the forward end of the bilge. I needed to move the existing hot and cold water lines the pump and accumulator tank too. Off to my favorite hardware store, HURDS, in Deltaville to get some 1/4" diameter screws. Hurds has great people and lots of marine stuff. Got 1 1/4" length and washers and back to the boat. After moving and re-attaching the water lines I was ready for the moment of truth. I had a 7 1/2" wooden box that I could set the inverter on to hold it high until I could get the mounting screws in. I slid the inverter from the salon deck into the bilge and gently set it down on the bilge deck. I then slid it over to the waiting wooden box. The trick now was to get it standing upright on the box in the cramped confines of the bilge. It took several attempts after adjusting my body to get enough leverage to stand it up. Finally it stood up and the mounting flange slid behind the box perfectly holding the inverter up against the bulkhead. I then screwed 5 screws into the top mounting flange. I slide the box out of the way and screwed 3 more screws into the bottom flange. It's mounted!!
BATTERIES. I moved the two 6 volt Trojan 605 batteries up to where they will be close to the inverter. Need to mount the battery boxes and wire everything next. I also will have to remount the fresh water system pump and add some length to the cold water supply hoses. They are old anyway. So, I will not complain about buying new cold water lines.
Last night, I ordered custom 4/0 cables and 300amp fuse for the 12V DC side and 10 gauge wire for the 120V connections. Can't wait to get all of that stuff connected....... And, it's snowing again.

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Brooke Smith
02/10/2010

Snowman boating.

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