With mixed feeling we plunged into the re-powering of our boat. Nothing I would like better than to leave well enough alone and have an old trusty engine but we are not that lucky. After a few weeks of one unpleasant surprise after another the removal of the Volvo was not something we were looking forward to.
With five days of rain finally stopping we plunged forward with the task: build something to move the 500lb beast out of the boat. After a day of working, moving heavy steel beams around and fighting off hordes of bugs we had a platform we deemed worthy to lift safely.
We built a large staging area on the port side of the boat and a smaller beam on the starboard which was able to support our cross beam. We guessed as to placement of the beam so we could lift as easy as possible and set up a trusty chain fall to lift.
Finally after 35 years the Volvo emerges to see the light of day. Dripping oil and flaking rust the engine was a surprise and came out with relative ease.
We are left with a tangle of wire, hoses and a crusty mess. Can't wait to clean this all up. It did feel good to get the engine out and start to address the source of the diesel smell in the boat. We are looking forward to a reliable future power source. Buoyed by our success we turned our energy to the chain locker and removed the stubborn steel plate that has been plaguing us for weeks. It turned out to be a very successfully day.
If only something would be easy or straight forward. Our success was quickly doused by looking in and seeing the wooden mast step, the "foundation" for the mast, was dry, rotted and falling apart. You may be able to see that some of the bolts holding the plate on the deck are not even going through wood anymore. This was a serious kick in the butt for us. Not pictured is the completely rusted chain plate backing plates, the part that holds the wire rigging which in turn holds the mast up. Which turned out to also fight us to its very last molecule.
So far almost every structural piece in the boat that isn't fiberglass has been ruined from years of neglect and needs to be repaired. Looking back it would have been nice if the surveyor had found some of this, but we are too deep in it now to dwell on the past and all energy must be positive in moving forward.
Oddly enough the disintegrating iron turned up in the original survey of the boat. I turned the boat down and renegotiated my deal.That should have been on board when you bought it. I had replaced the main chain plates with the stainless straps. Cape Dory had lots of these re-bar chain plates fail over the years. By the way I have the original spoked wheel around here somewhere.
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