Engine Installation and Gelwashing Video clips

Progress to mid December

Aft to mid ship laminated 1st and 2nd bulkheads engine room bulkheads and fuel tank bulheads,

Aft to mid ship laminated 1st and 2nd bulkheads engine room bulkheads and fuel tank bulheads,

Engine room laminated

Starboard Stowage

Fuel tank enclosure

Flow Coating compartments

Flow Coating

Bulkhead Midship

Resin curing 

Bravo 3 from inside boat

Stainless Bollards

Stainless Bollards Bow

Engine room flow coated

Engine room and side compartments flow coated

Engine beds flow coated

Transom bracket fitted

Stainless blank  for  exhaust

Mercruiser D 4. 2 L Installed

Engine overhead view

3rd bulkhead  laminated

3rd bulkhead

Mercruiser D 4.2 L fitted

Mercruiser D 4.2 L Engine & Bravo 3 Outdrive installation

16th of December and we are right on track, The lads got so much done over the last 10 days,
1st 3 bulkheads are in and the engine room and tank enclosure are built,
Everything is glassed in and flow coated with two coats of  light grey Gel coat,
The hatches to access the back compartments are cut out and two grey 380mm x 380mm hatches arrived from CH Marine on Friday for fitting this week,
So week 5 and  we are mid ship at the moment and everything is flow coated and looking great,
The stainless mooring bollards arrived from Gary Ghio in Antrim this week also and they are so impressive
(see photos above) they certainly exceeded my expectations,
Gary you are a genius!!
The fuel tank equipment also came in this week with a Durite marine fuel sender and gauge,
The main achievement this week was fitting the Mercruiser D 4.2 litre diesel and Bravo 3 once again and this time it is in to stay,
It looks real good in the engine room sitting square on the newly manufactured engine beds,
This week we will be aligning the engine with the help of the Mercruiser tool from Squires UK,
There is plenty of room around the engine as we left the measurement at 1100mm to match up with the engine box that will be up on deck,
This will make work easy if removing the starter motor is required and when replacing belts and filters,
I had Galway Stainless fabricate a blank plate (see photo above)
to fit inside the out drive housing blanking off the out drive exhaust as I plan to go throught the hull with a custom made 4 inch exhaust, We also glassed on some light ply to the bulkheads to enable fixing of the fuel filter, water intake filter, battery cables and bilge pump hoses,
It was all hands on deck when we installed the out drive and engine on Friday evening at 6.00pm
Boris, Pavol, Sylwester and Myself with  Patricks was on video duty,
Both out drive and engine went in with ease and we checked the travel of the steering arm before bolting up the out drive,
Then we fitted the stainless blank plate and lifted in the engine, Excitement was in the air,
As you will see from the video below the engine went in nice and smoothly and sat real nice on the bearers,
Thanks to Pavol and Boris for the micro precision measurement,

This week coming the plan is 4th bulkhead to be fitted, Flow coating the 3rd and 4th bulkheads and the compartments in between and starting on the chain locker and bunks up ahead,
If we are making ground we may also cut out the aft deck around the engine to get a real impression of progress,

All in all I am pleased with the progress, 6th week into the build and we are in to the wheel house fit out,

A big Thanks to everyone for all the help,

Much appreciated

3rd stage of the build

So 5th of December and the engine room bulkheads are in, The engine bearers are glassed in and ready for gel washing,
This week the 350 liter fuel tank is being installed so Boris is fitting the 2nd bulkhead and longitude bulkheads each side of the fuel tank,
Once completed everything from the stern to mid ship under deck will be gel washed in light grey flow coat,
The Mercruiser alignment tool also arrived from Peter Squire in the UK to insure micro precision installation of the engine and out drive,
So far we have avoided fitting much timber in the boat apart from the transom engine bearers and a few pads for water intakes and bilge pumps.
The bulkheads are all made from super light Nidaplas and the stringers all from foam,
This will keep the weight down and help with fuel consumption,
We installed the engine and out drive to measure for the engine bearers but  both of them were later removed in order to complete the glassing and gel washing in the engine room,
Next week they are being put back in and will be covered with polythene sheets until completion of the build,
I spoke with Paul in Ballymoney Northern Ireland about sending down the wiring loom and engine dials, trim pump and power steering ram, he said he should have them within the week,
And lastly Alan from Procharter is sending over a stainless steel bathing step this week and this will allow us to calculate
fitting location for the 30"x 9" Trim tabs that I will need to order from the U.S before Christmas,

So that's all for now have another check in over the next couple of weeks,

Boris

Outdrive opening

Outdrive  from inside

Engine bearers

Stringers glassed

Bravo 3 duoprop fitted

Engine bearers

1st bulkhead and engine room

Engine room

Fuel tank and Racor Filter

Measuring the engine room

Measuring engine bearers

Measuring the engine room

Shaft Alignment

Engine and outdrive coupler

Engine Box