Monterey Dreams
Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2011
- Messages
- 409
Re: 1959 Glasscat Catamaran Project Underway.
Hi Everybody
I will make this short tonight. I did a little work this morning doing some fiberglass work. It was a little easier but I do not think I will ever like it. It is very sticky and very yucky. While I was working I got a call from my friend he was just calling to say hi. He asked me what I was doing and I told him of course working on my boat. He told me to bring the boat over to his house and we would begin to tear down the engine (I had an ?appointment? for Sunday and I did not want to appear too anxious). I pumped up the tires and away I went. He has a huge circular driveway inside a very large gated property. I had to back it in from the street because of the way his little boat and other cars are parked in the way. Well true to what he said. He did not touch a single tool the entire time I was at his home. He taught me how to drop the lower unit and how to remove the screw on the shift shaft. One of the bolts holding the lower unit to the ?upper half? broke when I put the wrench to it.
(He said it was probably broken before, because I put very little pressure on it). It was a real pain to loosen the shift shaft screw; because it would not go into gear. He said if we could get it to go into gear it would drop the shaft and inch or two. When we finally got the lower unit all disconnected it would not fall, we needed to beat (albeit very gently with a rubber mallet on the lower portion (he showed me where to hit because if I hit a fragile portion he told me it would be all over (no pressure right). When I finally got the lower portion off, I almost died. The entire thing was completely filled with dirt/mud/corrosion/ leaves/ bark. Not a good sign. He told me either the thing was sunk and the catfish lived in it for a few years or the P.O. ran it in a slue with about a foot of water or so.:facepalm: He told me to grab a little pick and an awl and start poking away at the crap. After I got most of the crap out I took his air compressor and blew out most of the residual junk out also it looked a little better. We could not remove the kicker motor harness so I had to cut it off. He had me take apart the water pump and scrape the crap off the housing. The plate on the bottom of the impeller looked ok and fairly clean with no corrosion. The impeller actually looked ok, he said we are going to replace it; but to my untrained eye it did not look too bad all the little fins were there and it did not appear to have dry rot. The little key was also present in the impeller and in the proper place. At the top of the big shaft the little o ring was there and still in good shape (will be replaced) the gear portion was covered in moist oil/grease. My friend told me he feels a little better with the shafts being greased and he guesses that at some point in the recent past the thing was serviced.
We did not break into the transmission portion because it took a very long time to get to this point. So that will be left until Sunday. He said that if the lower unit is ?repairable? and if we can find parts (if it is not) we are probably going to have to tear the entire power head down to clean the mud from all the tubes and such inside the block. Not to mention carbs and everything else. He told me that it is probably in the end going to take us about 20 days at 4 or 5 hours a day = 80 hours at (125.00 an hour shop rate) 10,000 dollars in repair time without parts. He said that no shop would even touch this thing. And that I was lucky to have a friend like him. I agree. As I was cleaning the lower unit he was scavenging through the garage. He found a detachable light pole (with clear light) for the rear of the boat with about a 6 foot stick. And the plug portion also. Sweeet. He slipped that in to the boat and told me that it is required to have and I could wire it in at my leisure. It did not look very cheap and it was brand new condition. What do you think the light and plug would cost if I had to buy it? I would like to keep a running tally of the favors I am going to owe him??(or amount of fishing trips)!!!
Oh, I asked him if he would go fishing with me (and maybe teach me how to do it properly) once it is running and of course he said yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Goodnight everybody;
Dave
It turned out to be a long one again. Sorry. I did not think to take a camera this time but Sunday I will. I felt a little sad actually, my little Monterey Dreams is spending the weekend at my friends, he told me I could leave it until Sunday just so we don?t drop anything on the road that we might need (any longer and his wife would kill both of us). I feel like a parent whose kid spent the night at a friend?s for the first time?..
Hi Everybody
I will make this short tonight. I did a little work this morning doing some fiberglass work. It was a little easier but I do not think I will ever like it. It is very sticky and very yucky. While I was working I got a call from my friend he was just calling to say hi. He asked me what I was doing and I told him of course working on my boat. He told me to bring the boat over to his house and we would begin to tear down the engine (I had an ?appointment? for Sunday and I did not want to appear too anxious). I pumped up the tires and away I went. He has a huge circular driveway inside a very large gated property. I had to back it in from the street because of the way his little boat and other cars are parked in the way. Well true to what he said. He did not touch a single tool the entire time I was at his home. He taught me how to drop the lower unit and how to remove the screw on the shift shaft. One of the bolts holding the lower unit to the ?upper half? broke when I put the wrench to it.
(He said it was probably broken before, because I put very little pressure on it). It was a real pain to loosen the shift shaft screw; because it would not go into gear. He said if we could get it to go into gear it would drop the shaft and inch or two. When we finally got the lower unit all disconnected it would not fall, we needed to beat (albeit very gently with a rubber mallet on the lower portion (he showed me where to hit because if I hit a fragile portion he told me it would be all over (no pressure right). When I finally got the lower portion off, I almost died. The entire thing was completely filled with dirt/mud/corrosion/ leaves/ bark. Not a good sign. He told me either the thing was sunk and the catfish lived in it for a few years or the P.O. ran it in a slue with about a foot of water or so.:facepalm: He told me to grab a little pick and an awl and start poking away at the crap. After I got most of the crap out I took his air compressor and blew out most of the residual junk out also it looked a little better. We could not remove the kicker motor harness so I had to cut it off. He had me take apart the water pump and scrape the crap off the housing. The plate on the bottom of the impeller looked ok and fairly clean with no corrosion. The impeller actually looked ok, he said we are going to replace it; but to my untrained eye it did not look too bad all the little fins were there and it did not appear to have dry rot. The little key was also present in the impeller and in the proper place. At the top of the big shaft the little o ring was there and still in good shape (will be replaced) the gear portion was covered in moist oil/grease. My friend told me he feels a little better with the shafts being greased and he guesses that at some point in the recent past the thing was serviced. We did not break into the transmission portion because it took a very long time to get to this point. So that will be left until Sunday. He said that if the lower unit is ?repairable? and if we can find parts (if it is not) we are probably going to have to tear the entire power head down to clean the mud from all the tubes and such inside the block. Not to mention carbs and everything else. He told me that it is probably in the end going to take us about 20 days at 4 or 5 hours a day = 80 hours at (125.00 an hour shop rate) 10,000 dollars in repair time without parts.
He said that no shop would even touch this thing. And that I was lucky to have a friend like him. I agree. As I was cleaning the lower unit he was scavenging through the garage. He found a detachable light pole (with clear light) for the rear of the boat with about a 6 foot stick. And the plug portion also. Sweeet. He slipped that in to the boat and told me that it is required to have and I could wire it in at my leisure. It did not look very cheap and it was brand new condition. What do you think the light and plug would cost if I had to buy it? I would like to keep a running tally of the favors I am going to owe him??(or amount of fishing trips)!!!Oh, I asked him if he would go fishing with me (and maybe teach me how to do it properly) once it is running and of course he said yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Goodnight everybody;
Dave
It turned out to be a long one again. Sorry. I did not think to take a camera this time but Sunday I will. I felt a little sad actually, my little Monterey Dreams is spending the weekend at my friends, he told me I could leave it until Sunday just so we don?t drop anything on the road that we might need (any longer and his wife would kill both of us). I feel like a parent whose kid spent the night at a friend?s for the first time?..
