Boat Restore: Part 1

To cut a pretty long story short, I have purchased a boat in as-is condition.

Note-worthy issues that were pre-existing were:

  1. Engine – unknown condition, sorry I havent had the chance to document this, however, we’ll just say the compression was not the best upon purchase, impeller gone, and the carbie was in dire need of some looking after and tuning.
  2. Hull – had not been maintained in what seemed like forever, but although not pressing for repair I managed to drop it and turned a winter project into summer one (instead of fishing).

The build of this project will not focus on the engine  but the latter.

So here, here we are..a boat that’s been dropped from about 2 meters high (off my Suzuki Tracker) and along with the damages to the car I also managed to do a few numbers on the boat too.

Bad pic but here she is.

This is what the project will entail what the picture below shows plus the following:

  • Filling both front and rear hulls with expandable foam.
  • Budget paint job outside and inside the boat. Black/White + “Homer”  in Yellow.
  • Putting a box under the chair (for anchor and such).
Red:Damage Black:Enhancement

Below are the two damaged hulls:

Front – note how the damage that would make the boat non-water-tight.

Front

Rear – the seat has come unstuck and there is no engine support:

Rear cleared off
Rear

 

I started with the rear. Removal of the “seat was done with two large flat-head screwdrivers. The picture also shows the area grinded back.

The seat required a bit of work to clear away the old resin (about 3 hours actually – for only one seat). Note the damage to the fiber.

For this repair, I just bought a $50 Fiberglass repair kit. This came with the catalyst and cleaner. There was 500ml of Polyester – about right to get the job done.
Advise before beginning from seasoned experts:

  • Mix – measure 5 times Mix once. Application temperature will affect the mount of catalyst you will be needing.
    My resin required a %2 mix – Apparently! The factory specifications hardened the mix in 2 minutes. I used % 0.35 mix.
    Try a small quantity first then adjust accordingly.
    If the mix is too weak (not enough catalyst it will not harden. Too strong – unusable.
  • Use hot air to start reaction if your mix is too weak.
  • Ensure there are no air bubbles.
  • CLEAN thoroughly before application.
Patching
More patching

Similar situation in the front; two screwdrivers one following the other so to space the tip entry points. At this point I also decided that the blue piping on the front will be replaced with black piping.

Box removed, hull front hull removed.

Next up came the fiber work to be done on the front hull (after the grinding and sanding of course – hope you like white powder).

Unsanded
Notice the different fiber

Thanks for the quick read of Part 1. Part 2 is soon to follow.

My house on the news… again

NICK TOLERTON | 4th February 2011

 

LIQUID PROBLEM: About 100 litres of water pours out every minute from under George Ene’s house.

A HOON HAY man has to put up with more than 100,000 litres of water pouring out from under his house every day.

Thirty-seven springs were created around Christchurch by the earthquake, and George Ene had the misfortune for one of them to pop up under his house in Samuel St.

The city council says there was “potential” for damage to Christchurch’s aquifers because of the quake or the after shocks, but no obvious water quality issues had arisen so far.

About 100 litres pours out every minute from under Mr Ene’s house – 144,000 litres a day.

It’s pumped through a hose to the street, and discharges into the Heathcote River via the stormwater drains.

City council water and waste manager Mark Christison said about two-thirds of the 37 springs had popped up in gardens. A few had appeared in sealed roads.

Mr Ene, who bought his house just over a year ago, got in touch with the Earthquake Commission after the quake, and after two months was told the spring was a pre-existing issue.

He does not know what will happen to sort it out.

The spring may be fixable, or the house may have to be demolished for the spring to be controlled.

It was not possible to dig under the house, or the house might fall into the hole, he said.

Mr Christison said the council had asked Mr Ene to divert the water into his on-site stormwater drain.

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The council had checked the leak to determine if it was a water supply leak. It was confirmed it wasn’t, and that it was created as a result of the seismic events.

The source of the water was unconfined groundwater and did not form part of the city’s water supply system – in other words, it was water hanging around beneath the surface but above the first aquiclude (impervious confining layer), he said.

Mr Christison said it was difficult to state if all the new springs were from unconfined groundwater or whether some were from the water supply system aquifers.

The Star asked Mr Christison if there was any threat to the city’s aquifers because of the quake or the after shocks.

“There is the potential for this, but no obvious quality issues have arisen to date,” he said. “Council has compared water chemistry pre-quake/post-quake and again there are no obvious variations.”

The council was also working with ECan to review private wells across Christchurch, he said. All the water from the springs was channelled to stormwater, he said.