We solved a few mysteries today. We found the fuel tanks on the port side under the deck, behind galley walls. I know, someone is reading this saying, "How can you buy a boat and not know this?" and be somewhat legitimate. This vessel had such a vague background, in the hands of a broker, and a seller didn't live locally anymore, so information was pretty sketchy. We understood we were pretty much buying "As Is".
Scott has some experience commercial fishing along with being a builder, so I have confidence in his skills and our common sense to figure out what we need. We've build three homes together so we are not afraid of a little hard work. As we continue going through the boat we will discover what we need to know, get it in shape before launching.
We continued to take the galley apart, pulled the fridge out of it's compartment and discovered it is a high end piece of equipment, AC/DC or propane capable like you find in most RVs. It is now running, but we'll wait a couple days to see how it does and do some other wiring work behind there before reinstalling it.
We located the fresh water tanks and more fuel tanks behind galley walls on the starboard side along with the water pump and heater. It seems we have quite a large fuel capacity, nearly enough to get to Hawaii, but only 50 gallons of fresh water. Any long distance cruising will require some water making equipment.
It has been interesting to find out more and more about this vessel. With our original goal only to be to find decent hull, even if we had to have it towed to Kodiak, we are realizing we have stepped into something considerably more than that. We never expected engines, generators and galley equipment to be in such good working condition. Different people stop by in the boatyard to talk, often saying that they had thought about looking at this boat, but didn't want to gamble on it. They were often put off by not understanding the ferro cement, not sure if the mechanicals were any good, and most admitted they now regret not looking at it more seriously. Others tell us how glad they are to see someone doing something with it.
This boat sat in the boat yard for several years, so long, in fact, that the boatyard considered moving it out by the road and painting their name on it like a billboard! When we go to the Gear Shed everybody wants to talk to us about it, ask about our plans, and say things like, "So you are the folks that bought the Mish Mish!"
We have one spot that needs repair on the outside of the hull where water freezing in the bilge cause some damage.
Scott started prepping the roof of the cabin to get ready to paint, repaired a few spots that were potential leakers, and I continued to chip away at the wood and epoxy on the deck. I am finding it to be an entirely frustrating process - I wish it had failed completely, not in bits and pieces!
Wednesday, March 29-2006
We checked out all the bilge pumps (3) today, replumbed the galley sink drain and hot water supply.
More research at the Gear Shed about sealer and paint - this is going to be a big deal and more complicated than painting our house! Just like aluminum boats, ferro cement cannot be painted with anything with copper content, so it looks like some sort of two part epoxy is going to be the ticket.
We found a commercial fisherman that worked a cement boat for several years. He loved the boat, no problems with the hull, low maintenance and strong. A crew member left the boat with the seacock frozen open. At the end of the season, crew members run the boat to the harbor, dock, and jump off the boat without taking care of business! In a hurry to get to the bar or home I guess!
Scott found out that he needs to be in Kodiak by April 17 for his job, so hopefully that will coordinate with our launch date. The exhaust work needs to get finished up and good weather on the 13th and 14th. We have our slip arranged in Kodiak so we know where we will tie up when we get there.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
No big surprises today, more work at projects already going. The weather is really cold and windy and the forecast is not looking too good for a couple days. That will slow down the paint preparation!
Friday, March 31, 2006
Oh yeah, snow blowing sideways. We are hoping this is winter's last fling but you never know. It is early to be expecting full out spring since we are in Homer after all! Back to finding a project below decks.
Moisture and no heat has played havoc with woodwork, doors and drawers, so Scott has had some refitting to do. Of course, you have to do this carefully or your repairs and changes could turn out to be blunders when things dry out- things that are too big/don't close now will be too small and won't latch when they dry out!
He adjusted the hatch to the head - this door is an example of the silly things that please me so about boats- the efficiency of things that have more than one function! It is positioned so that swinging one way it is the door to the head, swing and latch it the other way and it closes off the aft cabin.
The sole of the forward cabins was built with untreated lumber, so it has rotted and needs to be replaced. While we have the dumpster handy we tore that out in addition to any other woodwork that we plan on replacing. Stripping all this out gives us a good look at structure, holds and bilges which is a good thing, but it leaves us "walking the plank" laid over supports to get across those areas!
Saturday, April 1-2006
No snow or wind today but rather cold. The sun peaks out, then jumps back behind a cloud "April Fool"! We got more interior work done, adjusting cabinets and the hatch over the engine hold.
Sunday April 2-2006
We moved aboard today from Alice's place. We'll have to use our port-a-pottie, haul water for cooking and drinking and take showers at the laundromat. At the end of the day I crawled up in my bunk happy as a clam! It took me a while to quit grinning and fall asleep!
Cold but no precipitation, the roof Scott repaired dried out enough to get a coat of sealer and paint on. Forecast for tomorrow is for more showers so we need to take advantage today to get what we can painted.
I went through all the paperwork we found laying around, manuals for various pieces of equipment, etc, and organized it all. Good times for me! A day spent with my labeler organizing something is a great day!
I am realizing though how nice it will be to be tied up to the dock. Every time we get on or off the boat, everything we carry on or off means a trip up and down the 12' ladder that just barely reaches the deck. That gets pretty old for someone like me- a little clumsy with marginal balance skills just recovering from acoustic neuroma (brain tumor) surgery! One arm/hand for what you are carrying, one hand for the ladder. How nice it will be to simply step off onto the dock!
I started working on the front section that is basically a tool room with a chain locker. Drawers and cabinets are overflowing with miscellaneous tools, supplies, parts, fittings, who knows what! Some of it will be useful, some of it will get tossed into the dumpster.
Port and starboard side, still more buoys!
We set out to power spray, scrub and prepare for paint but they never delivered the water truck, so we had to change plans. Scott worked on electrical - there are mysteries to be solved there! The old fuse box is unlabeled so it is by trial and error to get that figured out - flip on the breaker, see if you hear anything, try a light - that kind of process. After discoveries are made I whip out my label maker and get those buggers marked! Scott also got our running lights and anchor light working.
Our rudder was frozen in position so Scott worked on loosening that up - the hydraulic guy is coming tomorrow a.m. to check the leak in the cylinder that we are expecting to need rebuilding.
That 12' rudder hadn't been moved in 10 years!
My job continues as the go-fer, hold this, bring that, find this, find something else, then cook dinner.
