The end of a very busy week.
 When I rebuilt the engine on Mary Lee, there was much rust from a cracked exhaust spraying water and apparently the raw water pump had also been spraying salt water on the front of the engine. It was a chore getting the oil pan and timing cover off. The bolts were rusted so badly that the heads no longer had flats for a wrench to attach to. Mostly used vise grips. Some had to have flats ground on to them so the vise grips had something to work on. Penetrating oil was needed for most of it.

So what does that have to do with this week?

Oil pan developed a leak after 2 years. At first I thought I had a problem with the rear seal. Oil seemed to slowly drip from back side. (Turned out it was slowly oozing and running to back of pan before dripping)I have felt almost sick from the physical therapy for so long it was beyond me to mess with it. Stopped therapy a couple months ago and am feeling much better. Gazelle seems to do a good job of working out knots in lower back. As long as I get on it before the pinching gets out of hand. Certainly not negating what the therapist did for me. He gave me a big jump on getting my life back.

So it turned out, all that rust I thought I had eliminated when putting engine together was not gone. A pin hole developed behind the oil plug. I cleaned it up very well, after draining oil. Then applied this fantastic epoxy by jb weld. A friend had used it on an engine block years ago and it was still holding.

So I bought some.

And after using the drill to wire brush the paint and rust off. Deep cleaning with acetone and sanding a little bit. I put it on. Three days later after running engine up to operating temperature. There is no leak. It got a coat of rustoleum yellow to match. The picture is taken with a mirror under it to show repair. That was one job this week.Truthfully, I like the idea of a new oil pan. Not pulling the engine to do that unless this patch does not work.

I also pulled the exhaust out to see how it was holding up. I had built one out of 1-1/4 inch galvanized pipe in Baltimore. It had a break back when the original bent prop was still on it. New prop and cutless flange cured the evil vibrations that caused the break. Exhaust was good to go. That job was about peace of mind on the trip.

Yesterday I rebuilt toilet.

It was not flushing very well. Who knows when it was ever rebuilt before.

I brought it home when I saw how scored up the cylinder walls were. It needed some honing.

I used my wheel brake cylinder hone and a bucket of water. Not much different than honing a cylinder on an engine block except on the engine you use a squirt bottle to spray soapy water into cylinder while honing to keep the stones clean and lubricated. The end result is the same. The score marks need removed if you expect a good seal. It turned out well. Finished clean up and assembly.

One more project successfully finished.





Vivian bought a small power washer for washing boat and stuff around house.

Boat cleaned up nicely. But that brings up a project. I have debated on doing new canvas in the same blue Mary Lee has had since new.

Or red. My phone has an app that allowed me to see what red would be like.

I think it may look better in sunbrella basil green. Plenty of time to consider it.

On the high side. We leave for Charleston harbor at the crack of dawn. I am finally feeling well enough to enjoy sailing and Mary Lee's long list of projects/repairs is nearing completion. I still need to splice a couple haul down lines and the reef lines. Will adjust tension in sails with halyard. The tack is fastened. I need sails up to study how everything needs to go. Everything on Mary Lee is supposed to be set up to work from the cockpit. When done right there is no reason to leave the cockpit. These lines were non-existant when I bought her and I have not found even one picture of how it is supposed to be set up. I could just do haul down lines, like a sloop has, but it will be a waste of rope if something needs done differently. I envision having these new lines spliced too short for the job.





So...Mary Lee will sail this weekend!! :-) I will have everything needed to splice lines as I figure them out. I am sensing a trip to Marathon this fall.

There have been many little jobs done on Mary Lee that never made the blog. Replacing screens in ports. Rewiring things. Broken rivets etc. Much scrubbing and general cleaning. But as I was laying on top of the engine putting the exhaust back on. I remembered the wiring mess I had initially found in the engine compartment. Years of exhaust soot build up that I scrubbed out, etc, etc, etc. While looking everything over and reminiscing, I felt a sense of pride in what I have accomplished.

I bought a boat that had been neglected for a long time before being put on the hard for 5 years. previous owner(s)would not pay to get things fixed right. Cobbled them together in a way that spelled disaster sooner or later. About the time it was put on the hard I was hurt and put out of commission. In four years I have mostly rebuilt Mary Lee and myself.

The help when I needed it and the friends I have made along the way are priceless to me. I won't lie, there were times when I almost admitted to biting off more than I could chew.


I would do it all over again. The good times do not out weigh the hard times yet....but they will as I move ahead. Certainly the fight to rebuild me will continue. But now I get to start enjoying some of the fruits of my labor.


I better get moving. Vivian has already got her gear ready for this weekend and I am sitting here blogging :-)
Fate certainly smiled on me when Vivian and I met. She is something else.