Slow Progress

But progress none the less.

Lost a couple of days work this week because Gerry and Chris came to repair the workshop roof where the gable end gullies had been leaking. It certainly needed doing and I’m glad to have this fixed before the winter weather arrives.

As the new cabling had arrived I started making up the new battery cables, ready to connect in the new battery bank and the main feeds from the engine. The first question was how to strip cable this size without damaging the individual wires. Had the inspiration of using a small pipe cutter and it worked a treat – not a single strand was harmed during the making of these leads. Just work it round as you would do on a copper pipe and when nearly through back off a turn and pull.

To fix the cable terminals I opted for a beast of a crimping tool but it makes a good solid job and is heavy enough to sit on the work top to enable it to be used one handed while you line up the work with the other.

Old and new. The original domestic battery feed from the engine case alongside its replacement. The terminals on the engine are 8mm as are the battery terminals the only 10mm terminals are on the battery isolation switches. Finicky I know but I like to know things are right, after all it’s easier to do right in the first place than try and sort it out later.

Out of interest I took the insulation tape off the original to compare the crimp, not having used this tool before.

Oops. Professional over amateur.

Only one trip down to the boat since the last blog entry but the cabin bilge is still dry. Took the new door bottoms with to line up the new hinges as I have decided 4” hinges would be better because the all the weight of the door is taken by the bottom half. New rebates cut and started removing some of the strip fitted to try and seal the door frame which I had lined up to the old warped doors. Made new battens for the door frame today, along with some bits of scrap to fill in the gaps with the wheelhouse sides until the new wheelhouse is made.

The tops of the new door tops are 1” narrower than the old so that they don’t catch the door frame when being opened in the down position. Once the doors are complete they will be the reference point to measure up for the rest of the wheelhouse wood work.

Rudder indicator ordered and should arrive next week, that will complete the instrumentation collection, so along with everything else I should be able to start constructing the new control panel over the winter months. Really must get round to repositioning the rudder hydraulics, building the skylight, lifting the saloon floor, adding more ballast, fix the horn, scrape the rust off the fuel tanks, sorting the mast, fitting the TV and video, plane down the interior cupboard/wardrobe/bathroom/bedroom doors to fit – I know, slacking again.