Wow! 6 degrees in Atlanta tonight? Holy icycle Batman! We feel for all of you dealing with this obvious result of global warming.
It is forecast to drop all the way down to 48 here in Ft Lauderdale. We got out the silk underwear and the spare space heater just in case.
In the meantime, work goes on. The bottom paint is done, Shelly's new navy blue boot stripe is very nice and makes us even more multicolored; the rebuilt generator is in (but not wired yet); the stuffing box packing has been replaced, engine room wiring cleaned up, and the bilges cleaned (for the umpteenth time).
The generator was a bit of a job. Especially while fighting a cold. The motor mounts had rusted completely through and the bolts had to be cut and chiseled to get them off. Challenging when you are hanging upside down in the small excuse for an engine compartment.
And of course the stupid hot water heater had to come out to get to the mounts on the front of the motor. I very much dislike the hot water heater in its current location but have few options at this point..
This is a motor mount that was cut out. It was once part of a four foot long by 6 inch wide by 3 inch high steel rail that was a sled for the generator. 30 years of neglect and this is what you get. The surveyor report said ” generator seems to be in working order…” Sheesh.
I used the main sheet slung from the boom through the hatch to pick up the 300 pound motor to get underneath it to clean the rust and debris, then install new motor mounts. That was one day. The only thing that kept me going was thinking that the yard would have charged me two skilled mechanics at $95 an hour each and they would have taken longer than I.
This morning the plan was to get the generator in. Shelly sanded the boot stripe and painted her second coat, then she and Ryan packed up the dirty clothes and rode off on the fold up bikes to the laundrymat.
Before they left, Ryan helped get the generator housing and rotor into the boat, again using the main sheet which went a lot better than expected. We got it lined up and bolted on without too much swearing and scraped knuckles!
Here is the hole it is going in. The old rear mount and rest of the sled can be seen in the bottom of the pic. The red motor is the Westerbek diesel that drives it. With the generator we have lots of power to run the refrigerator, freezer, and even heat and air if we want.
There they sit waiting to go in.
Down comes the housing. The rotor will be handed down and slid into the housing once it is in place. You can see the companionway ladder and the engine housing top have been removed for access. This means we climb in and out of the “house” all day long!
The rotor ready to go in. This thing spins really fast inside the housing and creates 30 amps of electricity like magic. It is sitting on the access panels to the engine compartment which have a sound insulation on them. It is lead sheets in foam with a heat reflecting foil. ( Hey some people are interested in this stuff…) It acts as a noise reducer and heat insulator all in one… You can never have too much of this stuff. If you happen to have any extra hanging around we would be glad to take it!
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