It got done!

For all the readers that have followed thus far the progression of the removal of the engine from our boat and that are curious how it went, this morning it got lifted off. Following I am posting photos of the process. It was really an easy-peasy procedure.

 

In the meantime we had a couple of nights with freezing temperatures so our travel trailer got winterized. It is always sad when this happens, but I am hopeful that we will travel south before winter arrives here in our region and the pink stuff will be flushed out shortly after we leave.

The engine got lifted out of its hole, hanging from the hoist and attached to an engine load leveller.

Benno slid the track and engine platform underneath and dropped the engine onto it.

This is the underside of the engine platform. The two wooden pieces will guide the platform on the rail so it will not slide off. The polyethylene strips on the sidebar are very slippery and are sitting on the greased wooden rail. (For the polyethylene pieces I had to sacrifice my IKEA cutting mat. I guess I have to buy a new one)

The upper side of the engine platform.

The rail is greased underneath the engine platform.

I am greasing the rail bit by bit and Benno is using the leaver hoist to pull the engine through the cabin.

The engine is halfway out though the cabin.

The view from outside looking in as the engine slides out.

The engine sits at the doorway. Benno had removed the door, piano hinges and a small strip of wood on the other side of the entrance way.

The engine is through the door and now outside on the deck.

All wrapped up, ready for pickup the next day.

In case you are wondering what kind of grease we used, it is "Lucas Red 'N Tacky" and the engine moved with ease. It was just yucky to clean off afterwards!

Saturday morning Benno and Greg, the new owner of the engine are waiting for the frontend loader.

Jim Ciliska from Ciliska Excavating has arrived and he positions his backhoe for the lift.

Benno is attaching the slings onto the engine and backhoe.

Ready to hoist the engine off the deck.

No problem the engine is hanging on the backhoe.

Jim is taking the engine to the utility trailer that is parked at the roadside.

Jim is such an expert in handling his frontend loader with backhoe.

Gently the engine gets positioned onto 4x4 wooden blocks on the trailer.

Jim is all concentration as the engine is put into position.

All done!

 So this job came to an end and Benno is looking forward to modifying the engine room and other tasks. Perhaps we will make plans to head south soon. Thanks for dropping by again.

What a job this is turning out to be

So in my last blog post I was telling you of how Benno has been planning to get the motor removed out of our boat and the steps to make that happen.

 

Now here is a recap of what happened so far. Our friend Paul had been busy, so after a week long delay he and Benno went to purchase the material at a metal supplier in Tilbury, Ont. to build the gantry to lift the motor out of the hole. The steel to manufacture this framework came to 250 pounds and the dollars for it were more then we expected to pay. The gantry consists of two stands with a crossbar. Paul used his plasma cutter to cut the correct lengths and then welded the pieces to the specifications he and Benno had figured out. When the pieces were finished Benno picked them up in our truck. Lifting the pieces up to the boat while climbing the stepladder seemed not feasible so Benno backed up the truck to the boat so Paul could stand on the truck bed and hand the pieces over to the boat where Benno could grab them. That went fine, but this was not the end of the story.

 

The three pieces of the gantry

The gantry erected inside the wheelhouse

Benno gave the engine a test pull before he removed the engine mounts

It turned out we now had another problem. You see we had a couple of days with heavy rain and the ground was totally soaked with standing water around the boat. Our truck would not move. It got stuck and I mean it was really stuck in the mud. No matter how many pieces of cardboard or wood we shoved under the tires, they just spun and threw muck all over the place. After a couple of hours of trying, even winching our truck as close to the boat to get a better angle, we had to give up. 

 

Thankfully our neighbor Will, who owns a car repair shop in town came to the rescue. He happened to be working on his house across the road that day and he used one of his pickup trucks, which used to be a tow truck in its former capacity, to pull our truck out of its mud hole. 

 

The aftermath!

We had purchased a sheet of ¾” plywood that was cut into various sizes, two pieces went on the floor under the gantry, and a long piece onto the floor in the main cabin to stiffen up the floor and some left over pieces were used for support brackets.  In addition we got five 4x4 posts in various lengths and a 2x4 for the support brackets for the track. The supports Benno made in various heights as they are placed throughout the cabin and outside on the deck to support the track where the motor, sitting on a platform, will slide through the boat. This all took some sweet time for Benno to construct. The track itself is made out of two 12 ft. lengths of 4x4 posts. The upper side on each post Benno planed with an electric hand planer to smoothen the surface for the platform to slide easier.

 

This is one of the support brackets

The track where the engine will slide on to the outside of the boat

Two pieces of plywood glued together will be the engine platform

Now hang on, the big moment will be imminent and we are watching the weather as well to get the big frontend loader with backhoe next to the boat to lift the engine down from the deck. Hopefully the lawn will survive. 

 

Thanks for dropping by and make sure to check in again to find out if everything went as planned.

A character-building job

So a little update on Benno’s fun! hobby-boat project is due. The weather had been great for the most part since Albatross came into our lives. That made the outdoor jobs so much more pleasurable. 

 

As I had mentioned, the first little chore was to install an electrical outlet (the same as they are used on RVs) on the port side of the wheelhouse. Now we could plug an extension cord in it that would feed another extension cord inside the boat to let Benno use his power tools as well as an LED overhead light in the cabin above the engine compartment.  After taking most of the loose items and seat cushions out of the boat for storage and to protect them from dust, the real work could begin.

 

There were three brand new Trojan 12V AGM G31 batteries stored to both sides of the engine. These are the house bank batteries that are used to power all the 12V electrical needs of the boat. Benno removed them from their location as they will get a new spot in the boat after the engine compartment is rebuilt. They are very heavy (83 pounds each) and their custom built boxes where they were housed were also removed. For the wintertime they have to come out of the boat and to lift them and carry them down our step ladder would be a really strenuous job, so Benno backed up our truck to the boat and lifted them one by one down from the aft deck onto the transom swim platform and from there onto the truck bed. Then he backed the truck up to his shop door where it was a short lift to put them inside for storage.

 

The plan is to remove the present engine. It is an older Perkins 4-154 Marine Diesel motor, 62 hp with a Hurth gearbox. We were told it was in running condition but hadn’t been tested since the boat was stored on its trailer. This pretty and well-built trawler deserves a new motor. Benno is planning to replace this engine with a new motor, which he will purchase perhaps at the coming January boat show to reap the 10 % boat show discount . In the meantime he will restore the engine compartment as the old soundproof material had become brittle over time and overall some rewiring will be needed. The problem though is, the motor was probably installed before the boat was being finished meaning, it cannot come out as it is, as it does not fit through any door or window and there is no hatch in the wheelhouse roof. 

 

For several days Benno had been dismantling this engine monster as much as he was able to inside that engine compartment, to slim this motor down. All the parts and hoses are being put aside for reassembly as needed. But, the engine is still in its hole! The estimated weight of this motor is little over 800 pounds. So how do you get it out? We do own a couple of hoists, one of them is a ¾ ton with chain that could do the job, but where do we hang it from? Paul, a friend of ours, who is a retired welder with his own shop offered to make us a custom gantry that can be set up in the small floor space both sides of the wheelhouse next to the engine compartment to help lift this brute. Then we will have to slide this motor through the salon of the boat on greased and supported 4x4 beams onto the back deck and from there we have to lift it down. Easy isn’t it. Haha! Stay tuned for that undertaking as it will be interesting!

 

While we are waiting for Paul and his creation, Benno kept busy. The transom platform needs some work so he removed it as well as the supports and ladder for the time being. This gives us a little more room to walk around the boat too.

There are several tanks on this boat. Under the aft deck is a large compartment for storage as well it houses two 55 gal polyethylene tanks. One is empty and has never been used and was not even hooked up, which will be used as an additional fresh water tank. The other one is a waste holding tank. This boat really doesn’t need such a large poop tank and we could install a smaller one up front closer to the bathroom/head compartment. So this tank, which still has some poop in it is coming out and that will be no fun! I have to mention that the compartment where the tanks are located is very nice and you can see what a lovely job her builder John did building this sturdy and well made boat. He used beautiful oak wood and his workmanship is excellent.

 

So Benno’s character-building job for the day was to cut open this tank, empty what was still in the tank, dispose of its contents, clean it and then cut it apart so it would fit to be lifted out of the storage compartment.  I did not help and stayed far away, the smell was no eau-de-Cologne. I only took pictures and left him to finish up.

 

Since the announcement that the USA border would be opened up to us Canadians the first week of November, we have been contemplating if and when we would be heading south with our travel trailer. Several phone calls revealed that many RV places are already booked up, so we are still searching and considering our options.

 

Thanks for dropping by and please check back in soon, and oh, look what our nice neighbor Teresa just brought over to sweeten our afternoon! Thank you Teresa.

Meet Albatross

In my recent blog posting I wrote that Benno flew out to see a powerboat in Prince Edward Island. It turned out that the boat was not what he was expecting and so that trip was for nothing.

 

However, the persistent hubby of mine kept searching for a trawler type boat that would fit all his criteria. Having built our 37ft sailboat “Najade” and our 41ft long-range trawler “Diesel Duck” he has so much knowledge and experience of what it takes to outfit a seaworthy vessel. It is not his intention to build another boat and we are not planning another cruise on the water, but the potential should be there. 

 

Jim from "Jim and Barbs RV Adventures" made a comment “Benno’s dream boat is out there somewhere!” he was right. Yeah the dream materialized and is now parked next to the house, Hurrah!

 

In the Kitchener, Ontario area there was a “Jolly Roger” design boat for sale. She is a pocket trawler of 33 feet in length. She was lovingly built by her owner over a time span of 7 years and used afterwards at Georgian Bay of Lake Huron’s Ontario cottage country where he also has a cottage. She is named “Albatross.” The trawler sits on a new custom built three-axle trailer to transport her and to keep her on for storage.

 

John, her previous owner, who professionally built this boat, is saying goodby to his baby!

She sat outside of the shed where she was being built

Benno envisioned that this little trawler has lots of potential, if it is brought into modern-day standards, and it would be a great project for him as a hobby. 

She is hooked up ready to roll

On her way to our house

Last Tuesday we got up at 4 a.m. to drive to the trawler’s location near Kitchener to be on location for the transport of the boat and to follow the truck home. We had her transported by Rob from Bentall Boat Hauling to our house here in Leamington. The trawler’s weight is a lot more than our Ram 1500 pickup truck can haul and the 11 ft. width for transporting the boat on the highway is 3 ft more than the standard 8 feet, so it is considered a wide load. Transporting her was not really a problem and Rob professionally transports boats daily and said it towed beautifully.

 

On the road

Backing up into our street

Now she sits in our yard next to the fence and close to Benno’s shop. Because the ground is very soft, the first thing on the agenda was to place planks under her tires so she will not sink any further into our lawn. For that job Benno used the three 12 ton hydraulic jacks we still have from the renovation days of our house and a past tire problem on the RV. 

 

Rob backed her in with no problem

Next will be the installation of a shore power outlet to Albatross so we don’t have to hang an extension cable through the door or window. Stay tuned for that and many upgrades and improvements if you are interested in this project.

 

Let the work begin!

In the meantime I will post also other subjects as well and of course if we do happen to travel south for the winter that would be captured too.

Also in loving memory of my brother-in-law, Benno’s brother, Wolfgang, who passed away last Tuesday. He would have been 75 this Thanksgiving. 

 

Wolfgang Klopfer

Thanks for dropping by again and see you in a few days...