Work

Engine Service

Tuesday, 08 April 2008 00:00 |

Written by Colin Barnes |

With the 2008 season fast approaching, and with the engine just run in at the end of last season it was time to service the engine and check all the oil levels etc. This was the first engine service that I had ever done on a boat. The things that had to be done were:

Change the engine oil
Change the engine oil filter
Change the water separating fuel filter
Check & top up the power steering oil
Check & top up the drive oil
Check & top up the trim oil
General lubrication of linkages
General clean up

I had read (both in the manual and on the internet) that changing the engine oil was extremely messy. In the end it turned out to be the cleanest oil change that I had ever done. The vacuum pump extracted the oil into its own reservoir and didn't spill a single drop.
Extracting the 4 litres of oil took about 50 minutes. With hindsight I should have warmed the engine up a bit more (I only warmed the engine to the minimum mark of the operating temperature range.
When all the oil had been extracted it was time to change the oil filter. The filter was quite tight and there wasn't enough room to use a filter wrench. In the end I had to punch a screwdriver through the old filter and use that as a lever.
A tip in the manual said to half fill the filter with new oil so as not to starve the engine when it's first fired up. With the new filter on and the engine topped up I fired her up and got oil pressure after about 2 seconds.

We topped up the power steering oil and drive oil. The trim oil was OK.

We didn't want to risk changing the fuel filter as the tank was full. It's quite easy to access so we'll change this after a few hours of use.

The linkages were oiled with 3-in-1 oil and checked for wear.

All the covers and panels were then replaced.

Finished wiring, mounted speakers

Sunday, 16 March 2008 00:00 |

Written by Colin Barnes |

Fitting the kit that we bought at the london boatshow

The wiring for the chartplotter, echo sounder, power outlets and speakers has now been finished.
There are 30 amp wires running from the battery to the dashboard and then the individual devices are wired from there with 10 amp wire.
The rear speakers (6" X 9" 300W Boss Marine) are mounted on the front of the engine cover. There seems to be a fault with one of the existing front speakers. I'll probably replace them with new speakers soon.
I fitted mini trunking in the cuddy to carry the aerial cable and the port side speaker cables. This is a much neater job than the strips of insulating tape that I used before.
The upholstrey has dried out after being cleaned and it's all put back again.
Ronnie made a strap to hold the flare kit. This is fitted beside the cuddy door.
We'll be taking Compass Rose back down to the boat club later this afternoon.

Wiring Chartplotter

Thursday, 13 March 2008 00:00 |

Written by Colin Barnes |

This afternoon I started wiring up the chartplotter, fls and 12v power sockets.

I fitted a bank of 3 power sockets inside the cuddy and 1 waterproof socket on the dashboard. All these sockets are switched with illuminated (green) waterproof switches and fused with panel mounted 10A fuses.

The chartplotter and fls are also switched (illuminated blue & waterproof) and fused. The chartplotter has its' own 3A in-line fuse and the fls has a 10A panel mounted fuse. I intend to change the rating of the fls fuse once I find out what rating of fuse it requires.

Two lengths of high current wire (30A) (one red, one black) run from behind the dashboard, along the starboard side right back to the battery. Individual lengths of 10A wire connect each device to the 30A wire.

Last Updated (Tuesday, 16 February 2010 11:20)

Welded new skeag etc.

Saturday, 08 March 2008 00:00 |

Written by Colin Barnes |

We towed Compass Rose up to Colins' house to prepare her for the 2008 season. The work that we did today was:

Welded the skeg back on;
Fitted the Forward Looking Sonar (FLS);
Fitted the Chartplotter;
Gleneral cleanup

Welding the skeg back on:

Ronnie straightened out the piece of skeg that had been bent at the end of last summer. We welded this back on using the MIG welder with alloy wire and CO2 gas. It was then ground down to the correct profile and painted with black smooth Hammerite paint.

Fitting the Forward Looking Sonar:

We had purchased an EchoPilot FLS Bronze forward looking sonar at the ExCel London boat show in January. Ronnie made some mahogany spacers that were profiled to the shape of the hull. These would be used to ensure that the transducer was held in the proper position.

We drilled a 45mm hole through the hull just in front of the engine. The spacers were well covered with sealant and the plastic through hull fitting attached. When then tried to fit the transducer we found that the plastic fitting was about 2mm short to the transducer would not tighten in fully. This was solved by sanding 2mm off the plastic fitting nut.

We then drilled a 74mm hole in the dashboard and fitted the display unit.

Fitting the Chartplotter:

At the boat show we also purchased a Garmin GPSMAP 450 chartplotter. This was to be fitted above the dashboard.

The top of the dashboard on Compass Rose has a number of curves, this meant that the bracket for the chartplotter would not fit properly. Ronnie made another spacer from mahogany, this time the bottom of the spacer was profiled to the curves of the dashboard and the top of the spacer was matched to the chartplotter bracket.

Ronnie then gave Compass Rose a good clean inside with warm soapy water.

Fitted new propeller

Monday, 27 August 2007 00:00 |

Written by Colin Barnes |

Fitted a new prop (14.25 X 21) after damaging the old one.

More Articles...

Fitted new CD /radio