DECK BEAMS

First fitting of refurbished and new laminated deck beams in place. Moving forward from transom. However when refaired the cambers all to hell ,so will need some packing glued to tops and planed down to proper height. Small upright signal pieces in place. Also nothches for trimmer beams for the hatch to hold below. Moving right along now.

PRIMARY STEERING SHAFT

This is the first shaft under the wheelhouse floor and is 2.4 m long. Now antirusted and painted.There is a bit of a saga with this one! We had devils own trouble getting the last sprocket off when pulling the boat apart as there where 2 allen keys in one hole. We didnt know -we took the 2 out we could see but one of the holes had another one deep down!.Anyway we hacksawed the sprocket off to get it out. So now I had to move all the bearings along the amount I cut off-luckily there is plenty of spare shaft!
In the backgroung you will see 75mm T&G being primed,undercoated and first top coat ready for the foredeck underlay.

MEOLA

This one of the occasional images of boats that appeal to me,or that I know the history of.

MEOLA at present in the Bay of Islands is an ex navy liberty boat. 42 ft I think 2in Kauri,copper sheathed. 5L3 Gardner. Converted for pleasure by Cal Crooks Opua

EMERGENCY TILLER

I got this emergency tiller sandblasted the other day and zinc primed. Unfortunately the head was too badly rusted thru and will need a new square head made and welded on.

It spent all its 55 years stowed up in the eyes of the boat quietly rusting away but passing survey each time. It would not fit on the square head due to caked rust!

DECK BEAMS

Now there are 4 deck beams in place -only the aft most one fixed in place -the rest are ready to be fastened in with copper bolts at each end.We are moving from aft forward, and when we get to the engineroom bulkhead we will lay the 18mm ply deck and slide the wheelhouse aft to let us work on the deck beams over the engineroom-----thats the plan!

The aftmost one has had 2 new ends scarfed on.The next 2 spotty ones are original with the remains if the steel nails I could not remove,punched and all holes filled.The one just near our temp anti-spredding beam is a totally new pilularis beam,glued up using the bend of some old leftover decking for the house-the camber matched pretty closely.Later all beams will be dressed of so that the cambers match.

EMCO-STAR

So managed to finally get off the net an Emco-Star multi-purpose wood working machine.This is no toy!  There is a dedicated web site with a rather classic video. Made in Austia in the 50,s It does the following;Circular saw 8",band saw,fret saw,jig saw,belt sander,disc sander,tounge and groove moulder,spindle moulder, lathe,drilling machine,tool grinder, planer,thicknesser.buzzer.Some of them take a bit of setting up-but to change from table saw to band saw is easy and uses a clutch to engage. motor 2 speed 1500rpm or 3000  .7 of HP the castings are beautifull, good adjustments nice handles and knobs. Came with all spares like drive belts for the thicknesser, guage for setting the planer blades.spare bearing,belts blades etc.                  For a small worshop it is perfect.

I know that I will get som flak  from friends who know of my dislike of multipurpose tools like a Swiss Army knife! ( if you want a pair of scissors get a pair!) but really this is a grunty machine.

COMPANIONWAY

Saw this detail the other day and thought would pass it on. We will be looking to do a similar one on Mason Bay

PROP SHAFT

Got the shaft back from the metal sprayers today. Looking good all trued up. Installed -goes in from inside to out.New gland packing on inside-cutlass bearing outside not too bad and reinstalled the outer bearing with 3 new bronze lag bolts. Must check tomorrow on prop which is getting trued up and ballanced.
Went to Auckland today to pick up the EMCO-STAR  more about that later!
Also picked up the 2 burner gas cooktop and 12v water pump to pump up to the 60l header tank.

Auckland is 2hours south of here fyi.

DIARAMA

Here is a little Diarama that was saved by Marcus from the bin! We think it is sweet as.

The wheelhouse looks a bit precarious on the engineroom bulkhead now that the sheathing has been stripped off.We plan to lift it aft when the aft deck is on.

CLAMP AND SHELF

Starboard side aft now has a new clamp and shelf.  New copper bolts thru hull and rub rail.Getting ready for the deck beams.Work progressing on port side to match. the covering board is all OK and there is a landing for the new 18mm ply decking.

FUEL TANKS

Big day as I picked up the new fuel tanks from the sandblasters. They also painted-1coat 2 part zinc, 2 coats high build primer and 2 coats of 2 part polyurethane top coat. They look great and feels like a big step forward. Wont be able to install yet as have to move wheelhouse aft and build the supporting platform in the engine room.

NEW CLAMP

Work going on building the new clamps ,starting starboard side aft and moving up to the Engineroom bulkhead. we will also add the shelf or ledger for the deck beams to sit on. We will do both sides then install the deck beams (allready refurbished) and new 18mm ply deck. Then lift and slide the wheelhouse aft onto that deck to work forward in the engine room,lay deck and move house back to proper place /over the motor---- well thats the plan anyway!

FLOORS

Two new floors fitted down aft today.One copper bolt each end and 3 bronze dumps each side up into floor from outside-one in each plank.And two copper dumps into stern knee. Should work?

WORKSHOP

Just a quick shot of one workbench in all its glory!  Not much time for more today --see you tomorrow.

PROP SHAFT

First the answer to the quiz;; are you sitting down?   FIVE ! ! yes they were $NZ 4 each by golly $200 for 50! !

Anyway no use blinking now.

Today I severly wire brushed the jocky prop shaft to clear all the rust flakes.Used angle grinder with this brillo pad stuff-rust dust everywhere, then 2 coats of "Tergosol" rust converter,which is amazing stuff.All ends up a hard black finish which is similar to and acts like a primer. Then 2 coats of 'Hammerite" paint-silver hammer glaze.

SCREWS

A little quiz for you. Last week we ran out of the 31/2 inch by 14 bronze screws we are using to refasten in places that we couldnt reach-mostly under the one stringer we did not remove.
I went to my supplier to pick up a further 50.The question is how many screws would I get for that $20 bill?

RUDDER

Took apart the lower (only) gudgeon as the rudder was very hard to move,even after all the work on the top bearing. It is beautifully made and is held in to the main gudgeon casting by 2 bolts with a very fine thread. I took the weight with a jack and removed the gudgeon, reamed out some crud installed a greaseing hole and reinstalled-moves in the breeze now!

RUDDER TILLER

The sand blasted and painted tiller and control arm is now back in place with new hot dipped galvanised bolts,gland packing and geased bearing.There is a black painted plate that has a steady bearing at the top which is bolted under the first deck beam-coming soon! Note the square head and we have an emergency tiller to fit.There is a screw plate flush with the deck which will need to be removed to accessthe rudder head.

KNEES

Yes we all have them-but these came out of Mason Bay's aft engineroom bulkhead and are lodging knees,that is horizontal. They have had their fastenings removed (some brass some steel!) holes plugged with hardwood dowels,and epoxy filler and refinnished in grey primer. And yes I did get the steering and tiller all installed today- fotos to come.

Steering Conections

Theese have all been sandblasted and epoxy zinc sprayed.I then painted with 3 top coats of Hammerglaze smooth.Ready for assembly tomorrow.The steering box was done some time ago,and will be ready to mount when we get the aft deck beams fitted-it is slung under 2 of them.That box weighs 72kg!!!!

SKIN FITTINGS

Assembled the two bronze skin fittings today .All new 316 ss studs and nuts. Made new gaskets New gland packing..Painted handles a different colour-red for motor and green for deckwash.Notice they are NOT gate valves! They have a plunger with a seat-new seat fitted.

DECKWASH PUMP

This fine 52 year old 'RENOWN ' cetrifical Deckwash pump is getting the once over.Needs one new bearing-the other ok for many more years.It runs all the time in true fishboat fashion. I will also organise it as emergency bilge pump. Belt driven off the motor.

FUEL TANKS ARRIVE

Big day on friday as the new fuel tanks arrive.Welded by a local friend from com cut and bent stock. Out of 4mm plate and hold 750 litres each. This will give a range of 1500 nm. We used 6lt per hour at 6.5 kts which is 1600rpm for the ISUZU which is max torque. Drawing about 48 hp.

Mason Bay 26

This is the final 'catchup' blog From now on I will do one when there is something interesting going on-and it may not have anything to do with Mason Bay! Tho I must say she fills my days pretty much.
I forgot to include the foto of the brass bolts last time so will include here.Now working thru some of the mechanicals. Started with pulling apart the steering shaft stuffing box and raking out all the old dry packing and installing new packing. Also drew the shaft and it is away getting metal sprayed and turned on a lathe-it was a bit worn at the packing gland end-the other at the Cutlass bearing all OK.The prop 29 by 17 is away at the prop mans getting checked and balanced.

Pulled apart the first fuel sepatator,blasted and painted with new ss screen inside. Also 72kg steering box blasted and painted both bright yellow-want the engineroom to be bright and cheery!.Finished the reribbing at last and on to replacing some dodgy planks down aft starboard.

Mason Bay 25

Now these posts were done on the first of February so we are catching up as today is 4th March. Work contiues down aft with thw ribs and stringers.Also decided to go back forward and replace all the brass stringer bolts due to close inspection on this one-just a small section of original matal left in the middle,the rest has dezincified! Also I started work on repairing and refinhing the Kauri deck planks,very time consuming but will do enough for the aft deck at least and then re-evaluate.

Visited the making of the new fuel tanks-750lt each and got the job of making 6 gaskets out of Nitrile
My new electric folding bicycle arrived today so heres a pic.