Getting the boat ready for summer

[DougSea]

Used Poly Glow preparation this year on the 2002 dark blue hull. Compounded the base, got out most of the oxidation. Used their Poly Prep, then applied 8 coats of Poly Glow. All in all, not bad. The applicator is a bit tough to deal with, especially when you get close to a perpindicular surface. Next time, I'd do the whole hull with their deoxidizer and compound. The way the stuff works is that the muultiple layers essentially block light from getting to the gelcoat. As the layers deepen, they form their own deep coat...when you look at it, you're looking into the depth of the layers. Kinda like a clear coat on a car. Nice trick! The Fogg~Dogg goes in the water on Monday, so I'll pass along the wear issues if they develop.

I've used Poly Glow for a couple of seasons and on the whole have been pretty impressed. As part of my "strip the bottom and repaint everything" project I'm planning on stripping off the old poly glow (not very difficult) and then reappying. Admiral approves - says it makes the boat nice and shiney. Wear and tear tends to be where fenders rub through. The nice thing is you can re-appy a few coats to just the affected area and it blends in pretty well.

[RobS]

Have been removing pieces of the boat to try to get a few more knots out of her....

[Fogg~Dogg]

Try Bristol Cushions in Rhode Island. He did the Albin interiors.

[Mariner]

Mariner, you make sure that you have that boat looking its best by the time we get there. We are currently a little east of Twin Falls, ID. Might as well be on a boat with all this wind. Got snowed in for a night east of SLC a couple days ago. About 5" of 30% chance of.

I'm working on it. Took the boat fishing yesterday and did a little waxing while we were running in and out. Today's my day off so I'm going to go out and do the engine maintenance and some more waxing. Oil change, impeller change (first since purchased in 2005, way overdue), and try to bleed the fuel line to the generator one more time to get it running. Also going to change the main fuel filter if I can get my hands on one today.

[Mariner]

Got the oil and fuel filters changed without much trouble. That impeller, however, was a real pain in the ass. The old one came out without much trouble, thank to the fact that Caterpiller had the foresight to thread the outer end of the impeller to receive a bolt with which to pull it out. It was missing a couple chunks, so I'm glad I changed it. However, getting the new one in presented a number of problems. First, lining up the key was nearly impossible. Then, shoving the new one in probably wouldn't have been so hard had I had better access. As it was, I couldn't get a good angle on it to shove. Plus, it didn't help when I dropped the key into the pump inlet and it fell down into the plumbing leading to the pump. I spent hours disassembling that to fish the small piece of metal out. Finally got it all back together, and I couldn't get the O-ring on the pump to seal. It kept leaking water. Finally discovered that the new ring was just a hair too large and wouldn't seat properly no matter what. So, I put the old one back in and it worked fine. I should replace that at some point....maybe next time I change the impeller.

I wonder if Caterpillar makes a special tool for installing and removing that impeller. That is a job I would NOT want to have to do at sea or in a remote anchorage.

[Mariner]

Have been removing pieces of the boat to try to get a few more knots out of her....

Haha! Hopefully you're putting something back in those holes to keep the water out.

[maineman]

Meant to write up these notes just after KTQ got launched for the season, but once the summer got started.... well you other boat-nuts know how it goes. It’s raining today, though, so here’s the “nutshell” version of what I did:
The bow thruster motor got a final death certificate from my local electric motor guru, so I called Vetus, got the replacement part #’s and ordered the motor and blade through our local retailer ($1,100.ºº)(sigh). The motor, Vetus part #SET 0021, upgrades the puny 23kgf to 35kgf. It installed fairly easily and gave me a chance to add some 90-weight gear oil to the lower unit (the screw cap for the reservoir is only accessible with the motor removed). I won’t bore you all with how many times I dropped my wrench into the bilge or switched wire leads to make the thrust direction conform with my controls, but the power difference is remarkable and I’m very pleased with the upgrade.
Over the course of a season, the NewGlass2 which I had applied to the hull seemed to have yellowed and flaked, so I tried cleaning it and re-applying the same product. After a lot of work, it looked awful!! So bad in fact that I removed it completely with their solvent and started over with good old 3M rubbing compound, buffing, waxing and more buffing! I will not go back to NewGlass (or Poliglow), but I am seriously considering Awlgrip (and re-naming the boat “Ingot”!)
I posted a photo on the Tournament Express 26-35 forum (“28 cockpit Bench Seats?”) of the removable Garelick gunwale chair I got for added cockpit seating. This very comfortable chair is a quick install, stows easily and is already getting a lot of use. The chair came from West Marine and is part #406793 ($193.ºº).
Hope you all have a great season - wish I could make it to the rendezvous....

[DougSea]

The bow thruster motor got a final death certificate from my local electric motor guru, so I called Vetus, got the replacement part #’s and ordered the motor and blade through our local retailer ($1,100.ºº)(sigh). The motor, Vetus part #SET 0021, upgrades the puny 23kgf to 35kgf.

Maineman, I just read your comments about changing the motor on your bow thruster and I'm very intrigued. I wasn't aware that there was any kind of upgrade available for the undersized 23kgf unit. While the "gentle push" it provides often does the job there are times when wind and current require a more robust "shove".

Did the upgrade just involve the motor? I agree $1,100 is a big ticket item but it's nothing compared to the cost of replacing the entire unit with a larger tunnel.

Is this a change that can be done in the water? If so this might make it to the top of my project list! (you know, the list with no end!)

[maineman]

Hi, Doug~
Thanks for your response - nice to know someone actually reads my ramblings! It should be OK to remove the Vetus bow thruster motor while the boat is in the water - the lower unit is separate from the motor and the thru-hull for the shaft should be well sealed. Remove the wires and the three mounting bolts at the base and that's pretty much it! (Having said that, I will say that KTQ was "on the hard" when I made the swap. The image of a BP-style well-head gusher occurred to me more than once!)
A very nice young man @ Vetus, one "J. Miller", (410) 712-0740, directed me to the SET0021 part number for the motor and BP90S prop and "lip seal" replacement propeller. He quoted their MSRP for the parts (they won't/don't sell directly to consumers), but Hamilton Marine here in Maine listed them at a slightly lower price. The Bow Thruster retailed for $1,101.89 and the prop kit for $137.69. A lot of money, I know, but I was totally up the creek without a thruster and didn't have much choice! (I decided that since I was springing for a new motor, I might as well go the whole 9 yards and replace the old prop. I'm still miffed at what I paid for a part that looks like it was manufactured for less than $5.ºº) The bolt flanges and seat at the base of the new motor housing matched the old exactly (a little tight in fact) and I transferred the collet from the old drive shaft to the new one to connect to the lower drive unit. (It mounts to the round shaft on the motor with a set screw and fits over a rectangular metal tab at the top of the lower drive shaft. If you do this, don't throw out the old motor until you remove the collet - the new one doesn't come with one!!) The manuals are available on the Vetus website (no instructions came with the unit) and the install was pretty straight-forward. I just used the original wiring and connected everything to the same terminals on the new one. I did have to swap two small wires to get the thruster to conform to port and starboard on the controller, but these directions were easy to find in the manual. (BTW: the manuals are listed by kgf - i.e. 35kgf - and you have to scroll through the cover images to find one that has a version in English - not hard, just a little extra time). Obviously, the boat has to be out of the water to replace the prop! This kit proved to be an exact replacement and I just installed the new one the same way as the old. One caution: the new plastic shaft sleeve that mounts over the steel drive shaft has an O-ring seal near the inboard end. Be sure to push the new prop over this O-ring so that it seats all the way in on the sleeve.
Most of this project was simple mechanics - three mounting bolts and four electrical connections. The motor's heavy and the space where it goes is pretty small, but it took only a few hours to accomplish the swap. Minor annoyances like having to work around the switches mounted on the outside of the motor housing and swap the wiring leads added to the time, but not significantly. It helped to have an assortment of wrenches, drives, extensions,lights and a mirror handy. Remember to put a rag in the bilge to block the passage to Never Never Land under the forward seat or you'll be blindly fishing for dropped hardware with a magnet! Overall, I think it has been well worth it. Now I can literally take the boat out for a spin!! "Push" has indeed come to "shove"!

tommccandless
28 TE "KTQ" - Beauty and "The Beast"!!

[DougSea]

Thanks Tom!

I'm going to have to find my serial number and give "J. Miller" a call. Sounds like I could get the bulk of this done in the water and just change the prop in the fall, although there are several spots where I could pull the boat up to a beach and do the prop work with a mask...have to give that some thought. The added shove would be great to have! I'll download the manuals today and take a look.

[maineman]

Doug~

The model # of your thruster should be on a plate affixed to the exterior of the motor housing - pretty easy to find.
Unless your bow thruster prop is really dinged up or in bad shape, replacing it with a new one need not be at the top of your list. I'd wait 'til she's hauled to make that decision. It will make the task 100 times easier and allow for close inspection. When/if you do, be sure to check the shaped rubber gasket that lives between the plastic sleeve and the lower unit ("lip seal" in Vetus-speak). This takes a lot of wear and is apt to be cracked or even gone. Good luck!

tommccandless

[Mariner]

I changed the impeller this year as well, for the first time (boat is 7 years old). It was missing one small chunk from one of the vanes. It could have easily gone another few years, but why risk it? I think the fact that the boat is kept in the water year-round, and that the impeller is quite large, helps it last longer. One piece of advice: use dish soap to get it in. I tried everything I could think of, including oil, anti-freeze, water, etc... and beat myself up trying to get it in. After finally succeeding, I spoke to the parts manager at the local Caterpillar dealer and he said, "oh, you should have used Dawn. Goes right in every time!"

[jleonard]

changed the impeller this year as well, for the first time (boat is 7 years old). It was missing one small chunk from one of the vanes. It could have easily gone another few years, but why risk it?

That would be total foolisness. You have been lucky to this point. Hopefully you chased down the missing impeller chunks.

Spray coking iol aka "Pam" also works well for impeller installation and removal.

[Mariner]

The missing chunk is certainly now in the water jacket if it was not flushed on out. "Chasing it down" in an engine this size is not exactly practical. The missing piece was no larger than 1/4" in any dimension, and the cooling system on this boat easily flows 5-6 gallons per minute.