It was a busy weekend. I had some help but it still took the whole weekend. Here she is all dressed up and ready to go(so to speak)  Excitement does not even begin to describe how I feel. I bought her April 15 of last year. I worked on her all last summer and at the last minute had engine problems and had to pull her out of the water for the winter. Almost 18 months after I became the proud owner  I finally get to pull away from the marina I found her in.

It is now 10:30. If Mike and I are pulling out at 5:00 am then it is bedtime. The boating adventure is finally beginning in just a few short hours. Hold on to your shorts...there really is no telling what is coming next :-)

Today was a pretty good day as far as days spent working on Mary Lee seem to go.

Power boat on the one side was to close so they had to get trailer to pull Mary Lee out.

of course Tidewater Yacht service center is nothing but professional here. I have enjoyed being here even if I have not entirely enjoyed the work I was doing on Mary Lee sometimes.  Of course They would have been much faster but this is about me recovering from a back injury and although rather painful, I get some better with time and just being able to accomplish things some days is better than I could do for a long time....even if rather slowly sometimes.

From the trailer to the crane.

Of course I got to watch.

Finally dockside. Here I am pitching the engine to line transmission up with driveshaft. Door is less than 3 feet tall. I am on my toes and stomach is on top of engine so I can work on stuff behind it.

So we tied it up to the dock. Put it in gear and let it pull against the ropes for an hour after engine was pitched. Pitching engine took over 2 hours. Then we took it out for about an hour. This picture is about where it spun a rod bearing last year.

So now I get to finish mucking out all the things I do not need on Mary Lee. It is Wednesday and we pull out at the crack of dawn on Monday the first. This is stacking up to be a trip to remember. I will be posting as I go.

The engine runs. I ignition switch and change a couple wires around so they made sense to me, then it started almost without hesitation.

I hooked up longer hose to raw water intake and set up bucket with water hose and prepared for a longer run. I gave it 5 minutes. All fluids staying in their respectful places. I let it cool completely and then let it run for 30 minutes.

Everything is good so far. I will let it cool completely. Then I need to retorque the head and I think I will do everything else. I will even check every hose clamp and fitting.

While waiting on that I decide the icebox really needs a good soapy/bleachy scrub.

I took this off the back of Mary Lee Earlier last night.

I think this one was about 45 minutes later while we waited for it to rain.

I think the computer is tired. I am trying to download pictures of Trinity. The 41 ft. powerboat next to me. Ted (trinity's owner) was telling me he had seahawk, smart solution bottom paint put on 6 months ago. It looks horrible. It is all peeling and flaking. He has had to have trinity pulled and powerwashed about every 6 weeks just to be able to plane. The growth of marine critters was apparently not slowed at all. seahawk put up new paint and tidewater put up the haulout to get the issue resolved. tidewater did a nice job (Teds words) He goes back in tomorrow. He showed me a sailboat off the practical sailor site that looked horrible. Does not sound like something I want on my boat.

The whole bottom looked like this. Trust me...these pictures do not really show what I saw and when I stepped back you couldn't really see the mess correctly.

Mary Lee launches next wednesday and I will be running her all over near marina testing engine. Well....after engine is pitched. It starts easily and runs well. I don't think the valves had been adjusted in a very long time as the engine sounds so much quieter than it did before and it does seem to run quite smoothly for a 3 cylinder tractor engine. I have had my hands on almost every system since Last september. I have done everything possible to eliminate any and all cobbled up messes. Mary Lee is as ready as I know how to make her for the trip south. All that is left is to do a few last minute wrap-ups. Put on water, fuel and food. Of course pitching engine and test running goes without saying. What I am trying to say is...Yeehaaah!!! It is finally time to go.

I have just a few things left to finish.

I have valve lifters adjusted and am getting ready to add the exhaust and intake manifolds to the picture. The rubber ring you see laying on top is the o-ring for the valve cover. I know they work but I keep thinking how much I like the gaskets used on v-8's better.

Intake was not bolted on yet in last picture. It is now. Of course I intended to paint all parts going on engine....well, that was before I had everything I needed to make it run. I guess it gets to have a few of those ugly brownish(and I am being nice here) things that were painted by universal.

Mike came over to help slide it in. It worked out that there was only room for one person to be in on the job. I ended up putting it in myself. I think it took about 15 minutes all together to set up boards to slide it on and get it in on the engine mount studs. I wish I had remembered to take a few more pictures but I will never forget it.

I wondered how hard it was going to be to remember where everything went. I had taken things loose and laid them in a way that made it quite simple. Everything is falling into place.

Not done yet, but now I can actually close the doors and all engine stuff is in there instead of out here.

a couple of things laying around here but I have the cockpit back until I start going through lockers trying to re-organize.

almost done with workbench.

Anchor locker is done. Anchor is up. I only have room for 125 feet of chain but that is the best that can be done as far as I know. I have extra chain that can be added if ever needed and about 250 feet of rope with a section of chain and another anchor if I want to use it. Bottom paint is touched up.

So I hurt myself putting engine in. I worked on it until I could no longer stand the pain. I decided to hell with the self-imposed deadline I had created. I am taking Mary Lee south the beginning of October and the worst of the work is done. I will get it done when I get it done :-)

  I had engine in the hole late thursday afternoon. When I decided I had all I could take was around 9:30 pm or so. I have had such a difficult time finding my bolts, screws and other such things on this job that it has added who knows how many hours. I took a break and just started cleaning up. I even took soapy water to cabin sole and cockpit.

 At about 3:30 am I had trouble getting up the ladder. My back finally had all it could take. It is Monday about noon as I am writing this......I have done nothing to boat since 3:30 friday morning.

I went with Anastasia to help bring her jeep home as Steve had to work on friday. It was a nice drive but I could tell my back was in need of a long rest.

All that is left on engine is hooking up a couple hoses, put in starter and alternator, hooking up respective wiring and ground wire for lift pump. glow plug wire and a bucket of water for fresh water pump so I can fire it. I think I can run it right here for a half hour and have head,  intake, exhaust and whatever else retorqued and adjust lifters again before launch so all I have left is to pitch engine once floating.

I "may" start on it today but it is noon and I have not had my coffee yet. I realize I might not feel rested for a long time so waiting until then won't be the answer. I have such a very few things left to do on Mary Lee.  I am going to re-bed all the deck hardware that I used butyl tape on. I guess that was poor advice. steve warned me last year but I wanted to do it over again so badly that I listened to the guy telling me the "easier" way he had discovered  :-) :-) :-)

I am guessing I will launch next Wednesday morning. I will pitch the engine and give it a trial run. If all is well I will be moving to a smaller marina and spending the last week with a small group of liveaboards. I will be going out every day testing things until I am satisfied with what I have done.

Almost there. It really has been a journey for me so far. I know it may not be much to read about yet, but for me to live it and fight my way back from where I was is a pretty big thing to me. Next blog will see engine running and Mary Lee being launched. See you then.

Day 2 of the engine build.

Head looks funny without valve guides and rocker arms, etc.

Front cover is now on.

Early lunch.

There we are. I knew I had a picture of the rocker arms  installed. The parts are all over and easy to find. Bolts and nuts are being elusive. I should be much further along but marina does not carry any of the ones I need so far.

Of course I am still struggleing to find nuts and bolts. I have never had this problem before. Must be a boat thing :-)

This is all it gets for today. I have got to clean up around here so I can find things. I can still have it in by noon and running within a couple hours.

After a hot shower you need sustenance. I am having a can of chicken breast, fruit btype stuff and apple sauce with a strawberry margarita. I might even eat a hot meal again when I no longer have an engine in the galley.

engine build

I decided to do laundry this morning before UPS showed up with engine parts. I have already shown you my washer and dryer so I will just skip on to the engine build. All I was waiting on was the main and rod bearings. The crankshaft was here on Saturday.

Such a small box...and yet so important. I doubt it even weighs a 1/4 pound.

Those are the bearings if you have never seen any. Now I have to get to work if I am to be in the water in a couple days.

I had to change out one of the connecting rods. I did this the other day while waiting for bearings.

Easy little job. Take out clips. beat wrist pin out. Discard ruined part.

See, Back together with new pushrod. Never put engine parts back together without lube. STP is great for assembling an engine because if there are difficulties starting it, it stays on parts longer than oil. just don't pour it in the crankcase. I learned that with dad in a small engine building course at the local college back in Idaho. It builds up in thick layers everywhere in the engine but where you would think you want it to be.

Here it was last night. The engine block waiting for parts. I think I am going to be sitting on a 5 gallon bucket while I assemble this rascal. That was not the case.

First assemble main bearing set.

All done. Time to get that crankshaft installed.

So here is crankshaft with bearings now ready to install. Remember I was going to sit on the green 5 gal. bucket? Turns out I am going to sit on settee and use bucket for work bench :-) :-)  Funny now but I pay for it later.

Parts I will be using. This is just a small amount of the parts i need to remember what to do with. Actually.. can pretty much remember where all of them came from...........so far.

Crankshaft is in. Time to get after those pistons.

All three pistons with the plate that holds end of crankshaft on flywheel side.

Cannot install pistons without one of these to hold the rings in the slots so you can slide pistons in.

Pistons are in. Flywheel is on. Everything is torqued properly. Time to put that head on.

A Jamaican Banana.  I won this from one of those claw machines and kept forgetting to try and give it away. Really....a jamaican banana? Well he Has been here a few weeks now so I named him Earl and I guess I now have a banana  living on my boat. Does that make this a banana boat ?

At 8:00 this morning I ate half a leftover sub from the fridge. I drank 2 cups of coffee with it. I had a beer about 8:00 tonight. At 11:30 I had a picnic to celebrate the first day of engine build going well. Leftover spaghetti from last night, another can of beer and a glass of water. I am really not that hungry but I know I should eat something. i had licorice for desert. The beer is excellent. Oh......I almost forgot. I did have a few energy drinks today. I was groggy from not sleeping well the last few nights. Back hurts tonight so we will see. Hopefully I can start engine tomorrow. If so I will launch Mary Lee Thursday. Are you excited. I know  I am. It has not been a very adventurous time yet.

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