Boat delays and frustration
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We haven’t brought the boat to the house in a few weeks to work on it — and it still needs a couple weekends worth of work to get it ready for water. This weekend it’s supposed to rain, and I don’t want to mess with it anyway.
When these boats are built, they run a lot of hoses inside the hull that allow water to drain out from the fishboxes, deck, and other locations. Those hoses are designed to be more or less permanent, are not designed to be easily accessible or serviceable, and are most likely installed before the top and bottom pieces of fiberglass are pressed together. Best-case-scenario, they’re “difficult to get to”, and realistically, some of them are impossible without cutting holes into the fiberglass for access. In the case of a failure, you end up with a 1.5″ hole in the side of the boat that is below the waterline, and that is usually enough water to overpower the bilge pumps and sink the boat. Because I planned on taking this boat off shore, I decided to check the hoses and found that some of them were dry rotted and ready to snap. Since I found one, I went ahead and pulled all the others for replacement. There are six of these particularly difficult ones being replaced.
Several weeks and hundreds of dollars later, I have new stainless fittings installed but still do not have the hoses connected. The hose you have to use is extremely stiff and non-malleable, requiring heat to get it to slip onto the barbs of the fitting and then requiring double clamps on the outside. The issue I’m running into is that once I heat the hose, I don’t have time to get myself into position and get the hose where it needs to be, and pressed onto the fitting, before it cools too much to slip on. I can’t move the heat source near the fitting due to space constraints – a 4×5″ hole that goes back about two feet before you reach the hose or the fitting, where I’m working blindly with my shoulder to the hole and my arm at full extension just to reach. Add to that the fact that I’ve shredded a couple shirts, torn several pairs of gloves, and torn up my hands and arms in the process, and you might be able to see why I’m frustrated and don’t want to touch it. I have a few ideas (including taking an angle grinder to the fiberglass and grinding the edges to a smooth finish) for the next time that might make it easier, but I’m not particularly looking forward to working on it anymore. It has moved from a fun project to an expensive liability, at least for now.
Once the hoses are completed, I have to pull the outdrive again. Upon inspection, I found a suspect seal that I’d rather replace now than have fail in the water. I didn’t check it closely enough while I had the outdrive apart, so now I have to pull the cumbersome assembly again to work on it.
Aside from that, we’re really getting down to the nitty-gritty. The trailer brakes don’t work, and I purchased new bearings and brakes for both axles. I’m converting from hydraulic surge brakes to sealed galvanized electric assemblies, so it should be a notable improvement. With my truck, it doesn’t really seem to matter that the brakes aren’t functional, but I don’t want to push my luck with what could be up to a 7,000# load. I also need to replace rear bilge pump and add one to the front, and do some final inspections before dropping it in the water. But really, it’s getting pretty close.
