Ordered electric drive chain

Tim's back from Beirut and we had a phone call today to decide to place the order with Electro Vehicles Europe for a new electric drive chain. Hopefully that will mean it's ready for delivery or collection within two weeks.

Davits, solar and wind all in one

From Tim's blog: http://tim-price.blogspot.com/2010/04/davits-solar-and-wind-all-in-one.html

"Been thinking a lot about how to do this best. I have been surfing, looking at various installations in our marina. today I saw this and I liked it."

Pulling out engine and what to do

From Tim's blog: http://tim-price.blogspot.com/2010/04/pulling-out-diesel-and-what-to-do.html

"So today we finally admitted that our diesel was terminal, and would probably give us more trouble and problems on an ongoing basis." (rest on Tim's blog)

It's official... the engine is dead!

After a long fight to resurrect the Ford York diesel engine (original), it was pronounced dead this morning. Tim and Ken are in Cyprus, now busy taking it apart for removal, while I (Richard) am stuck in the UK just hearing about it from a distance. There is a question as to how to get it out of the yacht. Ken reckons if we take it to small enough parts, we can get it out through the saloon. Hopefully this will be true.

So what will we replace it with? We have been contemplating this for a couple of weeks now and done research on the subject. Our desire is to replace it with a electric drive powered by batteries.

Having researched many different motor options, the current one that we believe will be right for the boat is a Marine powertrain 8kw from Electro-vehicles in Italy.

They don't show the AC08/4 online, but its very similar to the AC07: http://www.electro-vehicles.eu/shop/details.asp?prodid=EVE06&cat=0&path=47,60

Now we need to finalise all the details of mounting the motor, controller and batteries in King Malu and get her sailing as soon as possible.

UPDATE 13:34 EEST: While stripping the engine down, about 4 litres of water came out with the oil. Basically that means the head gasket was blown badly and so the engine would have needed a fully rebuild to be any use, in indeed it could be rebuilt. So... correct decision to scrap the engine.

Frustration with an old Ford

I am still away so Tim is blogging about Frustration with an old Ford:

"Well it is over 30 years old, but it should work and it does not!!!!" (rest on Tim's blog)

Decks are done

I am away for three weeks so Tim is blogging about the Decks are done:

"Today we started early and laid the forward port side deck. After a quick coffee we returned and completed starboard." (rest on Tim's blog)

Deck complete, toastrack back...

Today was the second day of laying the Treadmaster. We found that the Treadmaster sheets tend to expand and contract while being glued so it's necessary to use masking tape to stick them together while the glue sets.

Having completed the deck, we had only the stern cabin roof to do and we decided to leave that till when I come back. This gave us time to put the 'toast racks' back on the main saloon roof. The 'toast racks' are the stainless steel rails that surround the mast to give you something to hold on to or lean against while hoisting or dropping sails.

We then fitted the one remaining dorade. The other two are being replaced with solar vents. We then also refitted the saloon ceiling and tidied up.

Laying Treadmaster

This morning we completed the cutting of the Treadmaster. We had done this is three stages as it is quite hard on the hands, concentrated cutting. The Stanley knife has quite sharp edges along where you push the blade in and out. You don't notice this normally but cutting more than 30 pieces of Treadmaster you certainly do!

Then we went down to King Malu, washed and dried the deck thoroughly and started laying. This is only the second time we have laid Treadmaster, so we are still learning. However, this went better than the first time. We knew what to expect from the epoxy and worked quickly pasting and laying. We eventually laid 19 pieces, which means we are approximately two thirds through.  Tomorrow morning should see us complete.

More templates... and sails

Today we had a very low northerly wind, so we got down to the boat and put up the repaired main and mizzen sails, plus their new covers.

Working out the rigging will be an ongoing task through the season. We already know we want a few more snap shackles...

... and flaking the main was a bit of a pain, especially as the boom was higher than it had been (which gives more headroom which is good). So, we are now thinking about lazy jacks.

But in the end King Malu looked great. The wind changed before we could get up the genoa and its modified cover again.

This afternoon we cut and glued wood to mount the cooker and to mount the life raft.

This evening I hope to complete the wiring for the hour counter for the main bilge pump (so we can know how much it has run while we are away from the boat) and the alarm system for the secondary bilge pump (so we can know if we have a serious problem).

Templates

The task now is finishing off the templates for cutting the Treadmaster.

Amongst other things it killed off my aging Black and Decker jigsaw. It had done maybe 20 years service so it doesn't really owe me anything!

You can see now three parts in progress at the same time: the finished laid Treadmaster on the saloon cabin roof (doesn't look great as its covered with plastic to protect it), MDF templates for cutting Treadmaster and the filled and sanded epoxy deck.

The stern cabin roof will also be covered with Treadmaster. The templates fitted correctly. The dorade will be changed to a solar vent instead.

The engine will not be ready for Tuesday so we have backed off on that, but Ken came down to check out the thermostat.

'Where are the side cutters?'

Nobody knew... so this was the answer.

No, actually it was posed photograph. These are our new bolt cutters. We hope we never have to use them. They are generally used as a safety tool if the boat has a knock down and the mast breaks and you have to cut away the stays.

More on templates

Today was yet another early start. We spent a couple of hours before the wind came up layout out, marking and then cutting MDF templates for the Treadmaster. We then took them down to the boat to check. With a couple of small changes they were correct.

After lunch it was time for more templates then back to the boat to check them. However, we got distracted by the engine. It did start a couple of times and run for a short while if we kept the revs up, but wouldn't run at idle and was unreliable starting. Probably still a timing problem.

We had connected up the fresh and raw water systems now and there was quite a leak from one hose on the raw water system which we fixed. But more troubling was the fresh water system wasn't getting warm at all. We suspected the thermostat. However, removing the thermostat proved trickier than we expected. One of the bolts was really jammed into the block and the head was very rounded. The only solution was a pair of mole grips. This worked, but we found the casing for the thermostat was damaged and will need repairing with Prattly's Putty. This is an overnight task.

Basically we have realised that King Malu will not be sailing before I leave for the UK in a weeks time. So next Monday or Tuesday we will go our for a sail in the Wayfarer and get the engine ready for when I get back.