One thing I did early on, which I don't have any pictures of is to paint the deckboards black. I use a coat of primer, then a coat of International black floor paint with sand sieved onto it. The sand had been baked before application to remove moisture. Sprinkle to excess and then when the paint has dried, tip the rest off. then a further two coats of paint on top. These look really good and have stood up well throught the summer.
When I bought the replacement engine many months bac, it came with a set of proper mounts. I decided taht I should be using these rather than the crummy mountings I had at the time. This would require I created a new 'drop in' engine frame / oil pan.
The old bearers were completely removed. This involved some grinding very close to the baseplate!
Re-mounting the engine would involve moving it slightly to the right for better propshaft alighment. This meant the exhaust hole had to be filled in and recut about 2 inches to the right!
Initially I liked the idea of having a yellow engine bay, this initial test sploge told me that it was going to be a very bad idea.
I ended up going for a smokey blue with red bearers.
The 'drop in' engine frame was installed...
...along with the engine.
The underside of the guttering was paited yellow, to avoid hitting your head on it, plus I also had plenty of yellow spare :o)
I made up some trellis type cable tidies out of 5mm round bar to attach the cables to. This would keep the cables out of risk for the BSS and would therefore not require me to install conduit.
I found a better quality Stern Drive (Enfield 130) on eBay and decided to replace the current one with it. I had to borrow a pair of waders to remove the existing one.
Because the Stern Drive expects a transom with a greater angle, a wedge chock must be used. The old one was wooden which had rotted, I made a new one out of sheet metal. This wasn't that easy as the back of the boat has a slight curve to it and there were 8 tubes for 8 bolts to get in the right place! In the end it all worked beautifully, I was incredibly chuffed!
Here's the replacement Stern Drive on. I have taken it apart, stripped the paint back and resprayed and give it a general service. I only dropped one machine screw whilst fitting it!
I installed a Dometic VacuFlush VT2500, the waste pipe runs the length of the boat...
...through the rear bulkhead into the engine bay, where it meets the removable cassette and vacuum pump. Also note the red bearers that have been installed to create a platform at the front of the engine bay.
The batteries will live on that platform (not yet lashed down for the BSS). Here, some of the wiring is installed using double-sided velcro tape. The battery master switches are located underneath the deck infront of the cabin door.
All the 12v wiring comes back to a distribution and fuse panel, a panel for each side of the boat (with a couple of temporary take-offs). One of the 240v cables has not yet been pulled through and the whole 240v system is yet to be installed.
The wiring for the engine snakes around under the guttering, dare I say, beautifuly :o)
A change of plan, to put the oven at eye level rather than knee level meant that I had to move a pair of 12v/240v sockets. One of the red/black pairs will be run accross to the over for ignition/light/fan/whatever-it-uses.
Because the Stern Drive uses a wire push/pull system, I needed a way of getting the wires through the deck but keeping the deck watertight. I came up with this system where a 'gutter cup' is welded onto the existing guttering which allows the rain to drain, a tube placed over the tube that sticks out of the gutter cup causes any rain to drip into the guttering. Each tube (top & bottom, only bottom shown here) has a pulley (not shown) that the wire goes around, the wire goes through the middle of the tubes. I'm sure once it's fitted, all will become obvious!
The cabin ceiling came a little close to completion with the installation of lights.
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