JawsOrca

Day 25. Today was a short day but it felt like we got a ton of work done! We got there really early for once (dave lost his key and couldnt separated my key from my car key so he had to wait for me, although I was ready for 8.30 - Doesn't happen that often). We started taking the other front window out.. I started with the gentle approach but wasn't getting anywhere.. Dave came along with the claw happen and managed to do really well.. Once again it was stuck in with silkaflex.. but although it was hard to remove it was barely making a seal. I cleaned up whilst dave took the bulkheads down and installed the insulation. (It is just polystyrene and we know all about how flammable it is.. however in all reality if theres a fire afloat flammable insulation is the least of the worries). The boat looks huge without the bulkheads though and they will probably stay down for a bit as the next step (after the hose pipe test) is side lining. So after putting the window back in. We took a hammer to the sonic outdrive and thankfully managed to un-seized the gear selector for the dog clutch. Leaving in oil for a week clearly worked!.. after now turning by hand the bearings seemed a bit stiff.. So we took the bottom bit off and it seems like the watertight seal just needs replacing...! We will sandblast the casing over the coming weeks though (as the case isn't brilliant.. its slightly pitted) and repaint.. Early finish though as we keep getting calls from people wanting to look at Jessica (The other boat) but same day so Dave went over to her to just make sure shes tidy.. Refit the batteries and try the engine so next time I can show people round and run everything up.. Hopefully we will have viewings from next week.. (Although sunday is Kent boat jumble!).

Day 24. A nice early start. We had the van today as we needed a sheet of ply to rebuild the transom (after deciding not to go with the volvo leg). So £60 from travis perkins for crappy far eastern ply (although its only being used on the transom). Whilst we had the van we also grab some insulation and cable trunking. So dave managed to replace the transom so its all complete once again (he still needs to do some grp repairs outside so he will do that tomorrow if its not raining). We also finished off glassing the roof beams in and coated the other bulkhead beams in resin. Finally we took the port side window out as I guessed that it wasn't bedded in properly.. which it wasn't it came straight out and took 30 mins to clean up and went back in a matter of seconds. Couple of pics attached (including a rare picture of me.. albeit my back).

Is that a steam engine what boat have you got? looks like a tug boat lol

It does need stripping down.. i'm not sure if its going to be used just yet.. It was pretty much a freebie so we are just playing with it at the moment. It such a shame though as its only had 10 hours use and its like new inside.. shame the gear there is a bit stuck though...

Day 23. I'll be try and a bit shorter today.. I seemed to rabit on a bit yesterday. So Today, dave started to glass up the hole in the transom.. it will take a couple of days though as the hull itself is quite thick so it needs to be built up. I went round the hull and had a bit of a poke.. Up close it doesn't seem too bad there a few (not a lot!) scratches, the of few broken blisters in the gel coat.. I also inspected a nasty repair on the port side it appears someone had managed to split the towrail away from the deck.. (god only knows how as it looks very strong if you ask me!).. We need a good weekend to tackle this (I was hoping it was a split on the deck as we can easily access this.. But not this bit (typical!)... I started repairing the bow where a shackle was screwed through.. we don't want this so thats come off and I'll slowly build up and repair (again will take some time but it will look perfect when I'm finished with it (and ready for me to whack the hell out of it on my first few times out...!). We also discussed (this means argue by the way) where the tanks will go.. all are going under the wheelhouse floor in the engine bay.. Dave will make up the supports in the next few weekends. I also cut a couple more battens for the cabin ceiling and decided we aren't going too high up but some of the glass on these battens will need cleaning up as its too unsmooth really (dave struggled with the laws of gravity glassing these in - and me ordering 300g fibreglass!). Finally with the help of our mate Ricky, we tried to unseize the new sonic sterndrive.. (Its been left in soak for a week..) it moved a little... Pictures attached

@Strowager.. You have one very tidy engine bay!! In that case I suspect ours will be ok as per yours considering the engine bay is almost the same size of cabin, Although we don't have blowers Im thinking of putting more air vents in anyway. Day 22. Nice early start (Like 8am - I was asleep in the car!). We have certainly decided to swap the volvo leg for something a bit smaller. Our friend in the yard had a "spares/repair" sonic 100 leg which had come off a boat which only been used a few hours before being laid up (afloat) for some years. So we grabbed this for a bargain price.. Although its a bit pitted in places so we need to have a play... he brought two and had used the other for years with no problems.. but we may want to replace to steering yoke bit.. although on closer inspection it doesn't seem too bad.. worse case we will just use the transom plate and look for another leg and keep as spares. But I'm happy to go with a sonic drive as its still in production and parts seem ok... So, We started trying put the volvo leg on the boat for ebay pictures.. Nice and pretty looking we thought.. after an hour we gave up and I took pictures of it on the ground... (Now I know why they have a special part for installing the bloody thing). As it was a lovely warm day! I then worked (hard) to get the leaky front cabin window out.. Someone had previously installed with sikaflex but hadn't got a perfect seal so although the frames where glued in most places there were areas where they wasn't but it took me a good two hours to remove the window.. I used a filler spatula which I rounded the corners off (I read this somewhere). After slipping a few times I worked out why you round the corners off (save stabbing yourself). So millimetre by millimetre I got it free.. Although it then took me another couple of hours to clean it up.. Thankfully silicon eater jel helped too. Also thankfully the actual seal between the frame and the glass is fine so it was just a matter of removing and replace. Again using abroseal butyl based sealant the window went in nice and smoothly. Dave worked hard to remove the newly installed transom (I couldn't hear him swearing though as I was up the front..) but the interzone epoxy is as hard as concrete so it was hard.. He has almost finished though so hopefully he will start to replace tomorrow. We was going to the essex boat jumble but we wont bother as dave wants to get further with the transom and I guess I'll do the other window.. We also have Kent boat jumble in a couple of weeks.. Sorry no pictures today... I know pictures make this a nicer read so I will get some tomorrow.. although theres not really any noticable changes at the moment. (message me if you are interested in the volvo sterndrive)

OK thats all nice and easy then! I've not seen the fan in the box before although I doubt we will replace the little alternator on the engine so we shouldn't get to 150 amps thanks everyone.. I guess theres plenty of places on the broads to get the little 3kg gas bottles?

Hello all, I have a couple of quick questions..Hopefully someone can help! We are just wondering where we put the (2 or 3) batteries and where we put the gas bottle... As far as I understand both of these need to be (for Boat safety certificate) above the waterline and vented to the outside world and ideally not in the engine bay. On most boats (we have seen) they hide the batteries under the step in the wheelhouse but we don't have a step as the back seat makes up the step. So could we "get away with" and by this I mean, I actually agree with the BSC (although some parts are a bit overkill) so is it safe to put the batteries in the engine bay (maybe in its own sealed box with a vent outside the hull). For the gas bottle though, I'm a bit stumped.. We will do a swindeck but I hate seeing gas bottles hanging of theses. The only other way I can think of (like we have on the sailing boat) is to make a locker in the back bench, which is made of timber but then covered in epoxy so its sealed to the hull, we then vent out via the locker at the bottom. (although this is a bit of work)..So the bottle will enter the locker from a top lid which is part of the bench lid.. Any other ideas? Thanks in advance

We saw them two.. They are that price because they are new with bronze casing! A tad overkill..!

Yes that's the first one we noticed... The chap does have both though.. Theres a sonic drive for sale in our yard but its casing is damaged though but it was rebuild just before it was damaged so it would make good spares although to me the Enfield seems to hold its value and better well known so not sure.. I'm talking to this guy in manchester though and may go up and have a look.. I've never been to manchester..

Thanks guys, We are certainly aiming for these now as an evening of research this seem to the logical idea. The pros and cons that I can all still add up. Even just considering the cost and hassle of just getting the engine out and down to lancing! We would want to tear out the the new transom and replace though which isn't a biggy although that epoxy is as strong as concrete and we will need to replace the glass on the outside neatly which maybe hard to get perfect. (thanks for bobs details there, I'm aim towards him if we get one). Does anyone have experience of sonic (transa) drives as at the moment these are all I can find though (And I've found two). I understand they are similar but are they just as good?

Day 21 Back to work, although absolutely exhausted today as barely slept last night with all this wind.. bits flying about from the houseboats roof.. annoying! It was a short day today though as we noticed a huge tree in the boatyard was about to come down and if it did it would tear up the main road.. so the yard decided to close early.. although we had a good day.. we started on the engine and moved it back to simulate it coupled up to the volvo leg, which it would do!. However we are now on the lookout for a smaller leg which would probably be better suited (plus a good second hand one will probably be half the price of modifying things), we aren't really going to put a big v8 engine in if we have this little vetus either, but we will see whats about.. nothing wrong with having a couple of options! We ended in cutting and glassing some battens on the wheel house walls to take some nice ply lining and strengthen it up as its taking a lot of force at the moment with this poxy weather. Oh dave also finished glassing the battens in the cabin roof so thats ready for insulation and electrics etc. (Sorry no pics, mobile was flat (as usual!). The Yard is shut tomorrow whilst they work out how to bring this tree down, thankfully orca is well out the way! So we have a day off! (Yay, we need a day off!)

I've heard people say that the bronze filters getting knocked off but if they are on hireboats (which this will sound wrong but I don't mean it too as we all start off on hire boats) then surely this means they can't be too bad as surely hireboats are built for destruction. ASAP do a "economy version" of the plastic one for about £20 but someone at the boat jumble said the lids can crack so better going with "vetus" ones which don't. I am a bit of a sucker for brands but just wonder if anyone else has such experience.

The exhaust outlet and water inlet on the leg certainly seems to overly complicate things! I'm happier to try and keep this leg as simple as possible so use "traditional" means to do this! As you may have gathered I'm already hating this sterndrive! As you mention there strowager, I have fears that the water intake will soon get clogged up on the leg too. So are these plastic raw water strainers "ok "to use. I quite like the idea of them but we've never had one. Are they a weak joint and can leak? are the lids strong enough and won't break? Dave wants to use the traditional bronze reed strainer connected directly to the seacock on the hull but as the hull is a long way down on this boat I'm thinking it will be nicer to have one of these plastic strainers.. But I'm a little worried it may break, any thoughts? Bronze best if we can get one cheap.. plastic "Ok"?

I hope so Paul Hi Mark, we need to measure up as it looks like the exhaust maybe too close to the transom but if it is they will just add a spacer on the flywheel. Unfortunately the exhaust is the wrong side and the parts missing from the leg to enable it to go out via the leg so we will just blank it off. Lancing do the part we noticed. Plus we already brought the exhaust bits (Muffler, waterlock, and swanneck) so will just end up with a nice little loop then out somewhere, as you say though its reassuring to hear the impeller is still working (we had my sailing boats outlet on the waterline and I was never comfortable with not hearing it, although I rarely ran the engine), but hopefully we should get it reasonably quiet. It has a sender on the exhaust too so we will put the exhaust alarm on too.

Ok Good news! We heard back from lancing and they can do just like Paul did.. The exhaust maybe a problem but it can be worked around (at extra costs of course!). Annoyingly the engine needs to go down to them to (Lesson learnt!) so I need to sort the crane out asap. The costs is along way from £300 but (again looking at Paul's pictures) there's clearly alot of very skilled work and it means its a "Proper job!" Paul.. Seriously that's amazing what you have done there! if our bell-housing looks like that I'll be chuffed! I think we have a copy of a workshop manual already but please please PM me details just in case your copy is different/better! If you could also let me know details of the bearings too I would be very grateful, the seals are on the list to do but again if you can kindly send me any details I'll be very grateful again! This forum spoils us, everyone is amazingly helpful and we are very grateful!

Thanks Paul. I've just seen your pictures.. Is that lancing marines work there? If so that looks a proper job!! (Any ideas how much that costs as they can't/won't talk money yet!) - Do you know someone else that can do this?!

Hi Paul, Many thanks for your message. Just to advise to all we have been talking to Lancing marine today and they are currently working out how to connect the vetus upto the sterndrive... Although its still early days in what they will be doing etc but will post updates as soon as know more..

It's good to know that we are at the forefront of unusual engineering! I've just emailed Lancing (I think I got Tnorris and Lancing confused) I can see they do adapter plates so hopefully they can help with a direct connection. I will follow up with a call at some point.. I'll update on any progress...

Thanks strowager.. I'm really sorry that your mind is being puzzled by this.. hopefully it's an enjoyable puzzle though! unfortunately I haven't spent any time looking at the leg bits and Unfortunately we can't get into this yard until the weekend but i will take lots of picture and publish on here (again I'm sorry that this means you maybe thinking of this for some more time!). Dave and our friend Ricky are thinking about putting a plumbers block just forward on the shaft infront of the black coupling (which is attached on the splines of the volvo bellhousing) which is basically where the volvo flywheel would sit.. although this to me looks messy do you believe that that would stop this sideways movement? I know its probably hard to tell and it sounds to me that you need more details. but what do you think? (to me it sounds like this is too far forward and getting perfect alignment would be near on impossible as we have nothing to go by?!... but If so we would need to need then work out how to dampen the wobble of the engine further forward.. but one step at a time! Needless to say the invite is there to come down and take a look if you wish/can't sleep!

Thanks again Mark. Don't worry we are taking this all constructively and its really good that you are voicing concerns and thats want I wanted when I compiled this blog and we are certainly listening. We aren't bigheaded and use these projects as means to do something we enjoy and learn different skills. I also know that we are way out of our depth with this outdrive, its one reason that made me sleep on the idea of taken the project over before agreeing. I would prefer to have an shaft driven boat for many reasons! But now we do have to live with it! This boat is our boat though and therefore we will spend whatever it takes on whatever it needs (even if that does mean a change of leg and engine etc).. Although the boat is really only going on the broads so as strowager said the vetus should be ok HP wise/economy wise for day to day use etc.. and as its new (albeit old stock) I'd prefer to use it... I know ideally this leg should have a V6/v8 and as much as I would love that (I really would!) thats not really helpful on the broads (in my opinion). We haven't so far found though so far any adapter which will allow us to connect the vetus directly onto this leg (and I can't see that there would be an "off the shelve part" as surely theres a loads of different engines?! etc), saying that therefore we where forced (well not forced as mentioned we prefer to have the engine separate).. obviously too we are still very early in the project and open to any change to improve things and if a better way comes then we will certainly do that.. I personally am one for over-engineering and like doing things the best way even if that costs money (hence refusing to have an old BMC engine in and replacing with a newer vetus!).. I'm also not happy with an old bellhousing in place and would prefer if something replaced that.. Its just finding that something I guess... But please if yourself or anyone reading this knows a way to make this better then please please advise (Have you got details of this adapter to hard couple up?). Also be assured that this boat is along way from going anywhere near the water (well intentionally) until everyone on here is shouting our praise it's certainly not going to be this year! Thanks again

Just a quick update. Daves had a good read through this and obviously as I said, he is very grateful for everyones input and time spent on this for us (We certainly owe pints for people who helped He said he's was aware of this (thankfully!) but was going to run with this setup ashore and see what it looked like.. However he is now considering putting a bearing block somewhere so the shaft in the bellhousing can't move and or putting an aquadrive in but will spend a bit of time thinking. Thanks again

Ok I see what you mean and again makes sense to me. I'll get dave to look through tonight and will come back to you.. this is all part of the fun though! Obviously once again thanks for the input and it shows how valuable it is to be talking about this

Falcon.. I really wished it still had twin v6's Strowager, thats a very good point so maybe we do want bigger tanks back to balance.. we probably will want to test float at some point I guess to look! (we have made the mistake of miss balancing on the sailing boat though) but I didn't think about the lighter engine causing the bows to drop down.. (another thing on the list . Mark, If you look on day 19 (top of this page) you will see a picture of one split coupling. The spline is the same spline that fits the Outdrive bellhousing, so he centered it on a shaft which was a tight fix and clamped the shaft onto the split coupling and the welded that disc onto the split coupling (Both are mild steel) (then removed the shaft), I understand that that was a tight fit so there wasn't movement (although I guess there is a possibility for this to be out I guess thats he's expecting the flexi coupling would take this up).. (maybe I should get him on here to comment!)

OK thanks, I do understand what you are saying and it does make sense but I'm getting a bit lost as I'm not mechanical minded (and I'm probably going to dig myself a hole!). I'll show this to Dave tonight though how will probably understand more (I'll get him to add a further reply). I certainly appreciate all this input though and please keep it coming! I suspect this set up is a bit abnormal and needs this input!