January 17, 2004
The deck is finally starting to go on! The decking material is in 8'x4' sheets, so the boat has been divided up in 8' long sections, butt-blocks installed, battens faired. Now comes the process of fitting and installing the decking panels.
While Mike and Skip have been focusing on the deck, Dixon continues to prepare hardware. For this, the first piece of plumbing was installed in the boat! The water pick-up line from the rudder was installed from the transom to the water distribution block (left side, abeam engine) as this would be almost impossible to do with the deck in place.
Along with plumbing, other systems work is continuing. Dixon obtained two oil thermostats and machined out a housing for the better of the two. This will be used to control whether oil goes through the cooler or not. When the oil is cold, it will bypass the cooler, when hot, it will go through the cooler. This will make it much easier to warm up the engine.
As far as the oil cooler (former Circus-Circus part), it has been pressure checked and passed. Installation bracketry has already been mounted. This cooler is much better suited than what was originally ran. Originally, the boat ran an air oil cooler off an airplane that had end caps made up so it could be used with water for cooling. Needless to say, this had too much capacity and was very heavy when full! The "new" cooler is much better matched for this application.
Read MoreWhile Mike and Skip have been focusing on the deck, Dixon continues to prepare hardware. For this, the first piece of plumbing was installed in the boat! The water pick-up line from the rudder was installed from the transom to the water distribution block (left side, abeam engine) as this would be almost impossible to do with the deck in place.
Along with plumbing, other systems work is continuing. Dixon obtained two oil thermostats and machined out a housing for the better of the two. This will be used to control whether oil goes through the cooler or not. When the oil is cold, it will bypass the cooler, when hot, it will go through the cooler. This will make it much easier to warm up the engine.
As far as the oil cooler (former Circus-Circus part), it has been pressure checked and passed. Installation bracketry has already been mounted. This cooler is much better suited than what was originally ran. Originally, the boat ran an air oil cooler off an airplane that had end caps made up so it could be used with water for cooling. Needless to say, this had too much capacity and was very heavy when full! The "new" cooler is much better matched for this application.
