Break in update

July 11, 2010

Well she's been tested heavily, and is passing with flying colors! We've had loads over 3000 lbs in the boat, shifted weights all around, run at WOT, checked wake levels, and had a portion of the upholstery completed. It's so very close...

Here she is, loaded with over a ton and a half of people, gear, food, and fuel.

And just a short time later on a plane at over 20 mph. Keep in mind that all but 200 lbs of that weight is behind the seat box fronts.

And now, gratuitous boat porn of a Clippercraft running.

She's running at 10.8 kts, on a plane, with around 1800lbs of load in the back

Let's not take ourselves too seriously now.

I think there will be adequate fish deck for a crew of 3, one DA (designated angler), one gaffer, and a helmsman.

Did I mention all this took place on the 4th of July?

The tuna are here, so the last big push starts this week. Gonna sneak in a 5 year anniversary with SWMBO, then the fishing will commence!

Sea trial

June 29, 2010

Let's start this off where we began. I set a target of usable and capable of carrying passengers by July 4, for our family reunion. That meant rigged and running, needing no mechanical work, with only some light electronics or fiddly bit rigging remaining. To that I say:

The windows arrived, and instead of doing a post, I worked hard and late on getting them in, with a little help from Chip, a Bloodydecks forum member and new Spokanite. All 7 windows fit like a dream, though the forward windows did require borrowing a specialized ratcheting 90 degree screw driver to get them tight.

She's not a small boat, as I've found out over the last 2 days of sea trials. After pouring 3 qts of oil into the pan, I learned that it has been fully filled with oil for 16 years, which required pumping my 3 quarts back out. The lower unit was also filled, which was great news. Coolant was added, and 15 gallons of fuel went in each tank. Priming was a peach, as I used the old fuel siphoning trick with the mouth. After the first big mouthful, I quit. Thanks to the handy-dandy little hand liquids pump, I pulled the rest with it and filled the fuel filter. Down to the launch, backed her in, and crossed our collective fingers. She turned over easily, but didn't fire on the first round. Thinking that I had a ways to prime, I pinned the throttle to get some air and fuel flow. She cracked off in less than a revolution, revved to 3000 rpm, and came to life!

The engine ran in well, has a little vibration that I'm not used to, but it is slowly settling into a groove after a couple break-in hours. The dance floor is all set for fishing, and felt really spacious on trials. Phase one of the upholstery should be here by Friday, the cooler tops and backrests. Unfortunately the helm seats are on backorder currently, but they should be coming very soon.

The CPV350 worked immediately, all bilge pumps are 100%, the bilge blower is a serious air mover, the battery switch performs great, and every bit of the rigging has gone smoothly.

At 8 kts, she throws such a puny wake it's hard to believe the boat is as big as it measures out to be.

At 18 kts cruising speed, such a nice balance, I am very impressed with the hull.

As hard as I'd like to push her right now, she runs out flat at 25 kts.

The only mishap so far was a missing retainer on the throttle pin, which slid off at almost 30 kts, pitching SWMBO into the bulkhead. She thought it was me, but luckily I could prove otherwise. Top speed that I was comfortable with was 31kts, pretty impressive for a puny 140 hp. She does slap on a steep 2 foot chop from a wakeboard boat, but that isn't a real-world condition at sea. This weekend we have a mass of family coming, then next week the swim step goes on, radar mast, the rest of the electronics, trim tabs, and button up any loose ends. Word on the street is the tuna are creeping into Oregon as we speak, so it is GO TIME!

Starting to smell the saltwater.

June 16, 2010

Oh but now we are getting somewhere! Finally there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel, as the more final details are becoming completed tasks, and she's waterproof on the outside.

The portlights are curing, and appear to be solidly stuck in place by the 5200 system I employed to hold them. The wood was just too thin to use standard fasteners, plus there was no trim ring for the outer edge. I also have the nav lights in place up forward. Half-assedness dictates that I didn't take a photo of the portlights in place, just the trim rings.

Transom received two coats today, the final coatings. I planned on just one coat, but it still looked a little hazy from the sanded material underneath, so a second coat it was.

Cleaned her out, put some things in place, and did a little dry sailing to see what fits where and start planning for longfin attacks. Here's the dance floor all cleaned up.

For scale and perspective, let's place a dummy in the back for a photo, as well as a simulated bleed bucket (probably the can size I will use, one on each side).

Lastly this evening, the electronics were hung, for the most part. The radar arrived yesterday, and was a surface mounted unit, so I have to dig up a bracket for it. The Furuno unit on the dash doesn't have a home yet, but the SH unit and the hanging Furuno are permanently spotted.

Tomorrow will see a friend dropping by to help hang the lower unit on the boat, then a run to get some little parts and cables, possibly resulting in hull wetness this weekend if supplies, project completion, and weather all come together.

In the sun

June 13, 2010

Well, not a great deal of details to go over, just picked up the batteries, added things like the bilge blower hose, some vent apertures, the cowl vents, and little stuff here and there between hanging out with the family this week. On the bright side, I managed to get the boat moved from cradles to the trailer today. You know what that means... Photos!

The bottom paint is on and ready for some fouling to prevent. She's looking relatively massive on the trailer.

I had some misgivings early on about the cabin looking too big for the hull. In the flesh, I'd say it looks just a hair bigger than I was shooting for, but it balanced out as well as one could expect for haivng 6' 7" of standing headroom.

Last one is for scale. She's sitting behind a 2004 Toyota Tacoma. Granted, not the largest truck on the planet, but at least you have something for reference. Looks like two days of remaining spring weather before summer busts wide open and I think I can get almost everything rigged up minus accessory electronics wiring and the mounting of radar/gps/radio antennas on the roof. Stay tuned...