Renegade Cruisers

Thought I would add my wiring diagram just for the fun of it. This really helps when running all this stuff inside the boat. Prevents me from "working backwards".

ZOOM, ZOOM - Finsihed installing the new 13ft prop shaft, re-installed the rudder, new cutlass bearings front and rear, Variprop 4 bladed feathering prop, dripless shaft seal, new coupler for the transmission to shaft connection and aligned the engine postion to the new setup. Had a very productive weekend.

This may not look like much but it is a huge step forward for us. Juli and I installed the hydraulic linear drive for the autopilot last night - worked till 2:30 AM doing this. The drive itself is actually the first item I purchased for our boat 2 1/2 years ago. I have spent countless hours designing how to install it, measureing, re-measureing, changing ideas etc. The drive unit is a Simrad long throw (14") high power (1,000 lbs) hydraulic drive. I had to modify our steering quadrant by adding the large box arm and a 3/8"mounting plate. The large arm can also accomodate our Cape Horn self steering system when we decide to install that system.

The foundation of the mounting is 20 layers of heavy mat & roving glass bonded directly to the hull in a 2.5 square foot area. The drive unit base is mounted to a 3/'4 marine plywood block with double stainless nuts epoxied inside the block for each bolt. The bolts and the base plate were coated with wax prior to any glassing work so that they can be removed if necessary (something I never expect to need to do). The drive unit itself comes off the mounting plate very easily with 2 allen bolts.

Once the base glass was set in place we placed the base plate and drive unit in it's location and added another 20 layers of glass mat & roving around the 3/4" base plate and entirerly encapsulated the entire mess in solid glass.

This thing is not going to move !! Of course except to steer the boat.




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The big splash is next May - I will keep you all posted as usual.

Pretty much, that is it. You just need to wax the bolt first so you can unscrew it the next day. I just poor the resin with fiber added for strength into the hole in the plywood, I tape the bottom first so it won't leak out, then just lower the bolt with the 2 nuts into the mix and work it around then let it sit overnight and your done.

I can testify, after seeing the auto pilot last weekend, that the thing will not break loose and that the helm is still light and easy to swing even with the adjuster arm "engaged". I can also testify that if you see the boat gyrating along its course it's because the helmsperson can turn on the stereo using a switch mounted right beside him.

I don't think this has anything to do with the stereo. You need to talk to Juli about this one.

Here's our next installment. We been working on the bottom of the boat. Needed to get the hull sealed and finished so we can - one, wash the boat, two have some visual encouragment when we walk into the boat shed each day. The second reason being almost more important than the first. We have not been able to wash the boat for more than 2 years because we wanted the hull to really dry before we sealed her up. We prepped the surface and started to apply 6 coats of Interlux Barrier coat. 2 coats a day for 3 days - took us about 2 hours for each coat when you factor in all the prep work, moving the supports etc.

Here is a picture of the hull stripped 2 years ago - this only took us a few months to do.



After 2 years of drying and a final cleaning and prep, we started to apply 6 coats of the barrier coat. Here's Juli applying the first coat.



Prior to doing all this painting work, I needed to finish off the rudder modifications for the new prop. I cut the rudder to increase the rudder apperature to fit the new prop and also make it possible to remove it for service. It's a tight fit but I can remove it. The prop is a 4 bladed feathering Variprop, we purchased this because it requires the least amount of space. Any other feathering prop would not fit without real major alterations.

Here's a picture of the original prop and apperature.



Now here's the rudder after we cut it open to fit the new prop and 8 layers of heavy fiberglass cloth applied to the open surface.



At the same time, we needed to raise our original waterline to the correct height. When we first painted the hull 2 years ago, we guessed on the waterline - we were wrong! Using two other Cheoy Lee 41's located on Cape Cod we measured and re-measured and used a laser level to mark the new line and repainted the boot stripe.



Now here's the hull with 6 coats of barrier coat and the new waterline.



We painted the first coat of bottom paint black so we can clearly see when we wear through the outer coats and need to repaint in the future.



And here we are tonight with the first of the final coats of green bottom paint. The final coat will be applied next spring just prior to launch.



The finished rudder and prop.





Next on the list - the decks - till next time.

Each coat is 1.5 gallons for either product and we put on 8 coats total so far.

Another update on our "part time" project. This next episode has been almost 3 years in the waiting to get to this point.

New Decks on Invitation!!

Here is the process that we did. We first removed the old teak decks.





After a lot of prep work (posted earlier) we taped out the areas for the Dynel fiberglass cloth to be laid down. After a lot of testing, we found that electrical tape worked the best.



Using MAS epoxy, we bonded the Dynel glass to the area and using a squeege we removed as much of the excess epoxy as possible after saturating the glass.





After some initial tests with this process we found if we waited 2.5 hours after laying the glass that we could cut the perimeter with a razor knife without pulling the strands on the fiberglass cloth. If we waited much longer than 3.5 hours, it was very hard to cut.

The next step is to paint the decks with 3 coats of Interlux Perfection 2 part epoxy paint with a flatening agent.





Here's a shot when we finished the forward half of the decks.



The finished product !