Hatch openings - different sizes...

Interestingly, even though the actual hatches in the saloon and v-berth were exactly the same models the deck openings were different sizes. I trimmed off about .5 all round the V-berth opening.





Some fairing up, sanding and sealant tomorrow.

The one hour boat project.....

We all know about those, "it'll just take an hour or so" and three days later the boat is torn apart. I have been stewing over the deck hatches since I bought the boat (two year now). I had discounted the Hood hatches and considered refurbishing the Atkins Hoyle ones. I later discounted AH based on cost and future availability of parts. I then bought a Lewmar size 60 Ocean hatch with a flange base. I still deferred the job as I dreaded tackling the goop that held the old hatch to the deck.

While waiting for the paint to dry in the saloon and to escape the fumes I decided to give the hatches another go. More poking at the sealant and a brief attack with the Fein cutting blade proved inconclusive. I decided to try a small chisel as a wedge, with no great expectations. A few half hearted sucking sounds (from the silicon, not me) the damn thing popped off. 30 mins later the second hatch was off.

The Lewmar 60 fitted right in to the Saloon opening. The V-Berth opening will need about a .5 inch increase all round. Bloody boats.

Saloon starboard storage

There are a variety of storage layouts on the W42's/Brewer42's. Mine is as shown below. I will be leaving the lower part as is, but the top consists of, two book shelves on the left, the famous bar and drop down table in the center and a drawer, pull hatch, drawer on the right.


(photo borrowed from the web, if its your and you want it removed, e-mail me)

My issues/plans are as follows;

1. As I am messy and my wife is a neat-nick the library will have to have a louvered door.

2. The original bar only had space for 18 bottles (the boat was obviously not aimed at the Irish market). This area will be converted to shelving with possibly a flat screen TV in front.

3. I tend to jam stuff in drawers causing them to jam and not open. This area will be shelved will also have a louvered door. This is what I would like to end up with, except that I would prefer one door instead to the double opening (easier to clip open / lock at sea.;


(photo borrowed from the web, if its your and you want it removed, e-mail me)


While everything was ripped out I took the opportunity to do some painting.

Engine running.....

Cooling down......

Believe me, 90 deg is cooler than it was. It later got down to an invigorating 86 deg and this is without any ducting installed. Should have done this in March.



Located under chart table.

Very good Air Con info here.

Fuel is flowing.....

Something that has not happened on-board TIH for over 17 years.

I love paper charts and will not sail without them....

However, I don't really like chart tables. They tend to get cluttered with "stuff"; laptops, radios books etc. and then you can't lift the lid, which is the main purpose of a chart table.

I also love the idea that Beth and Evan Starzinger have about using a "rally" type chair when underway. This requires me to remove the existing chart table on TIH. I will flip it vertically and use it as a bulkhead to hold GPS, instruments etc. The instruments will be cut into/mounted on the existing lid.




Chair idea.

Engine installation almost completed.....

Dry riser solution, finally.



Water lift.



Shooting aft from the engine room door.




Exhaust hose.



Anti syphon.



Transmission access, not too horrible.



Hose run down port side of hull, to exit at stern. I will secure it in place to give a gentle downward slope.

Fresh water from deck....test

While waiting for the torrential downpour to stop so that I could finish installing the last NFM port I took the opportunity to test the water output form the deck drain diverter valve. One drain filled a 5gal bucket in 40 seconds. Admittedly it was a typical Miami summer downpour but that's a whopping 100 gals in less that 7 minutes if I have both deck drains switched to water catching.

Water Tanks tops removed....

What can I say, I was always good at breaking things.

Bloody Air Conditioning...........

Marine Air Con is contrary to all my principles of sensible cruising (Sensible Cruising: The Thoreau Approach). Then again so is heat stroke and divorce. So I see an AC unit in my immediate future. OD and I have have some conversation on the subject so I may as well post my thoughts here.

1. If I have to have a built in AC, I only want to deal with one.
2. It must produce sufficient BTU to cool the boat on a HOT day, in a hot place.
3. Its primary task is to cool the saloon and galley but if I can duct some air to the aft cabin I will.
4. I am prepared to carry a small window unit which can be used in the after hatch to cool the aft cabin if I cannot use the main a/c. (e.g. On the hard, when the main system in down).

This Site has a formula that seems to agree with the the opinion of my fellow boaters in Miami. (This does not mean that they are all not wrong).

Area of saloon and galley (12ft x 12ft x 6.5ft x Factor 12.31) gives 11.5K btu. If you add the V-Berth and have any hope of getting some cool air to the aft cabin you are looking at a 16K unit.

At the moment I am looking at the;

Dometic Turbo vector series 16K unit

Sea Chest installed.....

The sea chest is installed with fractions of an inch to spare. Almost looks like it was planned. The handle of the emergence shut of valve (upper left) will normally be removed but secured nearby. If and when the sea-chest leaks and causes reduced cooling water flow to the engine it can be use to isolate the supply.

Water Tanks revisited....

The Whitby 42's water tanks consisted of a hull liner under the deck in the saloon, with a riveted and gooped in place aluminum lid placed on top. There were two tanks, port and starboard. Naturally these tanks, after 30 years have some issues. They leak around the rivets and in some places in the hull liner. TIH tanks had also developed some interesting aluminum corrosion blooms.




For some reason I thought today, when it was 95 degrees below decks (with the Mickie Mouse air conditioner running full blast) would be a good day to tackle the starboard tank.



First use the existing inspection hatches to remove as much of the top lid as possible. A Sawzall works well for this. With a little effort you can remove all of the center of the lid from the forward edge to the after one. The next problem was removing both riveted edges.



Having seen what Bob Cambell did to the center fuel tank with a few come-a-longs I decided to revert to using mechanical advantage. A few cranks of the 1 Ton hoist and the sides popped right out.




This is the cleaned out liner. The two raised pieces are the chocks for the baffles which can be ground off as necessary. The approx dimensions 46" long X 20" wide X 12" deep which should give me approx 50 gallon capacity per tank (two tanks). This will leave me a 22" long space forward of the tanks for pumps etc. I may use two smaller tanks per side for ease of installation.

I may also add another 30gall tank behind the settee on the port side for more water storage and as ballast as the boat has a slight starboard list.

Raw water system

This is the main seawater strainer, which feeds the engine and the sea chest . The top of the strainer is above the waterline and can be cleaned out without shutting off the thru-hull.



Initially I was going feed the engine cooling water from the sea chest but after hearing of various issues (thanks Patrick) I chickened out and took a "T" off the main intake directly to the engine. A valve after the "T will allow me to isolate the sea chest in the event of a leak in any of its hoses, therefore permitting the engine to remain operational.