Thread: Whats taking up my time? A boat of course!

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Daffy,
Im with you. It has been so hot some days that I feel like passing out! Good thing there is cold beer only a cooler away!
Don Jr

Alright.
The starboard engine fired up immediately on Sunday. I installed some hoses, rans some new wires hooked up the exhaust and instant V8 rumble
Hearing it run made all of the hard work worth while to be sure. I have a marine crate 350 ready to "uncrate" and prep for the other side. Brad C I agree about the bikini clad women except Taylor my girlfriend would not be happy (I would be though) Finished engine pics to come.
Don Jr.

Ok, Here is a finished engine shot from the weekend. So good to hear some exhaust noise! Don Jr.

Ok Don, Dan and I have our fishing rods all ready!

Talking about bikini clad women, something funny happened at the marina where I work the other day. We haven't been happy with the detail people we have been using because their work has been slipping, so we found another company that we hadn't used before. Two days later they showed up to detail a 38 footer for us and they had two girls doing the work and one guy. The two girls were wearing skimpy bikinis the whole day!

I went out to check on things and it looked like a drive in movie around that boat. All the other workers had their golf carts that we use pulled up in a semi circle around the boat and were watching the girls work. They were the talk of the marina all day and I kept getting calls from people I know asking where I found this company.

We've decided not to use them again though as the job they did really wasn't all that great and the image really wasn't in keeping with the one we like to present. I bet a lot of our workers won't be too happy with THAT decision.

Don

It's a good thing it cooled off down here...

Well Monday night pops and I went to the shop to finally unpack the crate engine I bought for the port side. A nice 260 horse 350 chevy. Good to finally see it out of the crate. I removed all the props and shafts 2 Sundays ago to find two bent shafts (requiring replacement) and two different props! Oh well. Everything in the running gear will be new at this point. Some shots of the crate engine going on the stand for some final painting and assembly.
Don Jr.

Engine looks good, bummer on the wrong parts and bent stuff. Quality control doesn't seem to exist anymore.

Well Steve, his shafts and props were bent from years of use. I sent them to our prop shop and they told me they wouldn't use them even if they could straighten them, so they are making new ones up. But it is the time to do it now while the boat is on the hard and one engine is out. Once everything is back together there isn't a whole lot of room in there to work.

How are you feeling today Steve? I hope better.


Don

Got my restored props, new shafts, couplers and cutlass bearings back from the prop shop yesterday. Pops came through with a great company out of Cape Coral, Fl called Coastal Propellers. The new shafts are beautiful, the props are so nice I want to put them on my coffee table instead of the bottom of my boat
Thanks to dad we removed my old cutlass bearings with a super tool on Sunday and installed the new ones too. Everything below the waterline is brand new now. Stuffing boxes rebuilt, new packing, hoses, shafts, props, couplers everything. Dan and I got together last night (good to see him, have not seen him for a while) and refinished my Chris Craft oil pan (special shape to fit the bilge) this oil pan is made of 1/4 inch steel! talk about heavy duty. The Intake is a standard quadrajet small block chevy steel. We got rid of the rust and grime, etch primed them and covered them with Chris Craft blue (actually GM blue, much cheaper that the Chris Craft product) Thanks Dad and Dan for all the help, Don Jr.

Nice stainless props! Your right you should put them on the mantel they're too pretty.

I work on boats for a living. Fun stuff, big engines.
Here is a picture of myself with a MAK

Geesh! I thought I worked with big boats. That is REALLY a big boat.

Don

Wow that is a serious boat! I wish I had room in my bilge to work around the engine like that! What kind of ship is that?
Don Jr

Thats a self propelled dredge, the engine is a v12 MAk 7,200hp at 400rpms.
I normally work on EMD and detroits 2 strokes, offshore 8-9 months a year.
Its not a real diesel unless you need to climb in the crankcase with a 8lb sledge to change the bearings
Ok didn't mean to steal the thread....
Drew

You know that would look good in an old Pinto!