18 March 2019

Project 'DNF' - No.5 Refit

Great working party today, there were seven of us tackling numerous jobs on and off the boat.

The final repair welds to the second door were completed.  That is all the welding complete on the cabin.  Just need to fill and paint now.  The roof, which was really flaky an rough has been flattened ready for paint.  A bit for effort inside the cabin will prepare it for a complete repaint also.

Out on the boat, the outbreak of yellow paint has now spread across the whole boom, it looks a whole lot better now.  We are modifying the way the hoses are managed, with improvements to reduce the wear from rubbing that takes place.  Some welding will be necessary to complete this change.
Following a visit from our hydraulics man, the first hoses on the control block have now been fitted as has the accumulator for the control circuit, which resides in the control block tank.
Out on the deck, the tedious task of chipping back the paint to the early Neolithic period layer has begun.  There is more to do, but the result, once painted will be a vast improvement over what was there.

Later in the afternoon, our attention turned to the fly by wire throttle system.  In fact, we inserted a wire inside several pieces of recycled small bore hydraulic pipe so as to route it from the old throttle lever down to the floor level of the boat and then along to the engine, where it rises up and onto the throttle link mechanism.  A special coupler has been machined to couple the wire up.  There is a bit more to do with this next time to finish the job.
A successful and productive day,  many thanks to the team.  It is good to see the plumbing going back in.  More on Wednesday hopefully.