Mary Annie is Cruising

I am posting my trip on another blog site.  For those interested, it is Mary Annie Adventures
Cheers from Apalachicola Florida

River Running and Shakedown

650 miles of dodging debris is exhausting

I started my adventure in Mary Annie from Little Rock Arkansas two weeks ago.  My wife Amy and I left on a cold and windy Thursday morning and headed down the Arkansas River.  We spent three days on the Arkansas and one day on the Mississippi before she left for home. We had a great time together.  I continued with a friend.  It took 6 more days to make it to New Orleans and Lake Ponchatrain.  The Mississippi River was intimidating.  It was running at 34 feet with very strong currents and trees floating along side us.  We averaged about 11 miles per hour with a max speed of almost 15 mph!  I have been working on the boat doing a final shakedown on Lake Ponchatrain and will continue on toward the Bahamas Feb. 11.   I will post a detailed description at:

The Adventures of Mary Annie

Cheers
Pat

Who said the lower Mississippi River is "ugly"?

Watching the sky show

Caught on the Industrial Canal in New Orleans at night.  I come inches from taking my mast off on the last draw bridge.

Arrive at Orleans Marina around 10 pm.  Very happy.  Very tired.

A Postscript

I started out with very little knowledge in boat restoration.  What I had was experience in woodworking, painting, plumbing, and electrical from my work in construction.  I had also built 4 small wooden boats; three  16 foot McKenzie River drift boats and one Doug Hylan designed 13 foot Maine Peapod.  I used three main books for reference during this project, Don Casey's This Old Boat, Nigel Calder's Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual, and Beth Leonard's The Voyager's Handbook.  I also talked to boat owners and read blogs on the internet and of course Googled.

The 1974 Hallberg Rassy Rasmus 35 Hull number 337 was in serious disrepair.  It was a wreck.  It took me 5 years(2.5 years part time and 2.5 years near full time) to turn it from a wreck to near new condition.  The work is documented here: www.lizardheadone.com.  Everything on this boat was replaced except for mast and boom, a few cleats, and the interior cabinetry(I did replace the galley cabinetry).  I did 99.999% of the work myself.  It took thousands of hours in labor, tens of thousands of dollars, and energy and motivation that at times became hard to come by.  This project became a grueling marathon that never ended. But it did.

The transformation started almost immediately after stepping the mast.  My body released the tension and anxiety that had built up over the last two years of restoration.  My legs went weak.  It was actually hard to stand for a few hours.  A sense of calm and satisfaction was replacing anxiety and stress.  The boat restoration had taken it's toll on me.  The burden of a job of this magnitude was lifted and it felt good.  Now it's time for ME to rehab.

In hindsight, I would have taken another coarse in becoming a boat owner.  I would have purchased a boat in better condition for starters.  One with a nice equipment list.  One that would take far less effort to bring back to condition.  There was no financial advantage to buying a low cost boat and rebuilding it. With all the advantages that I had (boat shed at my house, woodworking shop, time, and sufficient funds) the project was almost too much for me.  I had doubts many times about finishing.  Posting my work on the internet really helped in keeping me motivated.  I heard from folks around the world and they gave me encouragement and advice.  Thank you.

This restoration project did, however, give me a enormous sense of accomplishment. It also gave me knowledge necessary to repair any system on the boat.  I really know this boat.  This project was a journey in itself, and even though I doubt I would ever attempt something like this again, I believe I will always be glad that I did it.  ONCE.

Cheers
Pat

Mast is stepped

I hired a boom truck to step my mast a couple days ago.  Everything went very smooth, even though I have never stepped a mast this large.  The crane operator was good.  He used nylon webbing only and started just above the winches around four cleats and put a half hitch there, then went up just above the spreaders and put another half hitch and one more half hitch about 6 feet from the top.  No damage to even my windex.  Pics below.

Some fisherman came up to the boat while fishing and asked if I got a new boat, I said, "No, it's 38 years old, with the last 5 years of its life being restored.  I extended it's life by 10 years and took away 10 from mine."

Mast Step Orientation on Hallberg Rassy Rasmus

I asked a question about mast foot orientation and received some answers and some more questions.  I have learned from initial replies that the connection of the mast to mast foot on the HR Rasmus varies between hull numbers.

First let me clarify some terms(from Selden Mast):
Mast Step is the hardware bolted on the boat to accept the mast.
Mast Heel is the fitting on the base of the mast that fits on the mast step.

From the information provided me I can say that on all boats the mast is connected to the mast foot by one bolt which bolts through a hole in the mast step and a corresponding hole in the mast heel.  My guess is that they don't use two bolts in this configuration because it would stress the  bolts as the mast pendulums.  Some boats have this bolt in the center of the mast step and other boats have it on one side of the mast step.  My boat has the bolt on the aft end of the mast step but other boats have the bolt on the forward end of the mast step.  On the opposite end of where the bolt is located, there is another bolt, BUT this bolt fits in a slot in the mast step so the mast can pendulum without stressing the bolt. This bolt help keeps the mast in its place in the for and aft orientation. Below is drawing.

Since boats have all three of these configurations on attaching mast to deck, I would guess all work just fine.Thanks everyone for the help on this.  I appreciate it.
Pat

She's back in the water

After a 5 year rebuild, she is back in the water and happy.  It was a memorable day.  Below are pics.

Backing out of the boat shed

At the Little Rock Yacht Club Marina on the Arkansas River

At her home until mid January when we head for the Bahamas

Please Help on Mast Step Orientation

Can anyone tell me where the slot goes(aft or forward) when mounting the mast step casting.  Below is a picture.  I have the slot mounted forward but it was just a guess.  Anyone know for sure.  Thanks.

You can see the vertical slot on the left side of the mast step casting.

Marine Survey and Insurance

I was able to find a marine surveyor here in Little Rock and he was unusually busy at this time of year but was able to squeeze me into his schedule.   Insurance companies require a survey before they will offer their coverage.  I was dealing with BoatUS Insurance company.  Before the survey they were only going to give me coverage up to $25,000.  After they accepted the survey, they upped their coverage to $50,000.  That will cover about half of what I have in the boat if it's totaled but I knew going into this project that this wasn't going to be a money making venture and I would certainly lose money. I will carry coverage insurance for at least a year to gain experience and will later adjust it as I see fit.  I am scheduled to move the boat the week of Nov. 27th.  I only have a 10 mile move from my house to Little Rock Yacht Club.  I am cutting it a bit close, but still plan to leave in the middle of January for my trip to the Bahamas.  It's getting very exciting indeed.

Beta Engine Installation Photos

Below are photos of my Beta 38 engine installation.  Thanks to everyone for posting information to help me through this.

Beta 38

The high rise exhaust elbow and hose exiting straight back from engine.

I added a shelf above the shaft just under the aft cabin closet floor to hold the Vetus LSS50 water lock muffler.

Exhaust hose runs straight back under the aft cabin floor.

And continues under the aft cabin settee.

To the Vetus LT Gooseneck at the transom.

Engine Problem Solved

I finally found the cause of the dying engine.  I had an air leak on the fuel lift tube where the nylon tube connects to the aluminum fitting that screws onto the tank.  It was a newly replaced part.  It's crazy all the sub standard equipment being made.   I found it by unhooking the fuel line from the fuel tank (the other end goes into the Facet lift pump) and sticking that end in fresh clean fuel in a bucket and unhooked the fuel line going into the Racor fuel filter and sticking that in the same bucket of fuel (isolating the fuel pump).  I turned on my Facet fuel pump and watched for bubbles going up in the bucket of fuel.  No bubbles.  So then I  re attached the fuel hose to the fuel tank and turned on the Facet pump again isolating the tank fitting.  I got bubbles coming up in the bucket of fuel.  So, the leak has to be at the tank fitting because all of the fuel lines down stream of the Facet pump are pressurized meaning if I have a leak downstream of the Facet pump it will show up as fuel in the bilge, not air in the lines. I changed out the fuel lift tube assembly and the engine ran beautifully.  Boy has this little air leaked been frustrating.  This is my first engine installation and I knew I would make some mistakes.  Thankfully none of them have been catastrophic.  They have been very frustrating but I am learning a lot fast and that, in itself, will be worth it in the long haul.
Cheers
Pat

Help! Beta Marine Engine Keeps Dying

Ok, I have redone my exhaust system much like Dave's and Martin's systems.  I put the Vetus LSS 50 water lock muffler under the aft cabin closet on a shelf I made just above the prop shaft.  That gives me the required drop from the water injection point to the muffler.  Then ran the pipe straight back to the gooseneck mounted at the transom.  I left the anti siphon loop on the water injection hose high in the starboard locker.  That meets the Vetus's installation requirements.  So it seems to work fine sitting here in my yard.  We shall see when I get into some waves.  But, THE BETA ENGINE STILL DIES ON ME!!!!!!  It is still getting air in the line somewhere.  Its not the fuel level, I checked that.  I have at least half a tank of fuel.  My Racor fuel filler lid was not screwed on really tight, so I tightened that down really snug.  That seemed to help and I thought I had it fixed but after running it for several minutes, shutting it off, then restarting and running for just a few seconds, BAM, the engine dies again.  This is driving me CRAZY!!!  Any suggestions as to what the problem could be would be greatly appreciated.  I will get some pictures posted in a few days of the entire install.
Cheers

Thought I would chime in here Pat with my exhaust input. Above is the configuration of my exhaust. Originally had the vertical Vetus rubber muffler and 2 up/down galvanized piping. The inside had corroded and piled up in the muffler promoting back flow of water. I found that problem while rebuilding the engine and finding seized rings on #4 piston. Now I have a Vernalift in the aft cabin locker. Holds about 3 gallons and the long "new" exhaust run probably holds an other 2 gallons.
I have a Electric Walbro diesel lift pump to prime the system prior to starting. It does not stay on. I have it on a push button while I push the other button for the heaters. Now with the rebuilt engine (Westerbeke W46), it rarely cranks more than 2 seconds and fires.

Engine Exhaust Problem Located

After getting water in the engine from a back flow of wet exhaust, I found the problem.  My exhaust muffler inlet is two inches higher than the high rise exhaust elbow fitting on the engine.  I made a big mistake.  I relied upon a previous installation as being correct.  Since my exhaust elbow is in the starboard locker out of sight from the engine room, it wasn't so easy to spot.  That's my excuse anyway!  So, as long as the engine starts quickly you don't see a problem.  But as soon as a hard starting situation appears, the hose between the exhaust elbow and muffler quickly fills up with water, as the engine doesn't produce the exhaust pressure necessary to push the wet exhaust water up and over to the muffler.  The problem is I don't have the space to lower the muffler or enough space to raise the elbow to get the recommended 9 inches of drop from the exhaust elbow to the muffler.  Hmmm.  I can custom make an extension to my exhaust elbow to raise it above the muffler at a maximum height of maybe 4 inches above the muffler inlet.  That puts the top of the exhaust elbow at the very top of my engine room ceiling.  But it still doesn't meet the recommended 9 inch drop.  What to do.  Any suggestions are welcome.

Pat

Revision to my last post

Well I have figured out some things with the engine install.  And some lesson are learned the hard way.  It has been hard to start of late(last two days) and I have been having to re bleed the fuel lines.  I thought is was the added Facet fuel pump that blew a fuse that caused the hard starting problems.  Nope.  I found out what was causing the hard start.  I didn't put enough diesel in the tank and it was sucking air.  I also found out what can happen when you crank the engine several times without it starting.  I got water in the engine!!  Today I checked the oil level prior to starting and saw a milky coating on my oil dip stick.  I called Beta and they gave me a plan to flush the engine of the bad oil.  I pumped out the oil, replaced the bad oil with good, replaced the oil filter, and ran the engine for a couple of minutes.  Then repeated the above steps four times.  Ended up running 16 quarts of good oil thru it and using up 4 oil filters and it looked like it cleaned up well.  I will probably do it a few more times tomorrow just for good measure.  It is running great now that have the fuel tank filled up to an appropriate level and have nice clean oil in the engine.  And luckily it was fresh water, so no salt problems should occur.  Having hopefully dodged a bullet, I now have to figure out what went wrong.  I went to great lengths to get the install done correctly. Hmmm, apparently I missed something.   I have a long exhaust hose run and have a Vetus LP60 muffler installed that holds 2.77 gallons of wet exhaust, which I thought would take care this.  Maybe not.  I am ordering a LSL60 which holds 4.23 gallons of wet exhaust.  I have a high vacuum loop installed on the water injection hose and a high loop in the exhaust hose itself.  That is the way several Rasmus owners I have talked to have theirs set up.  The only thing I can think of is that the duration of cranking the engine without a start caused water to accumulate in the muffler to the point of backing up in the engine, not having enough pressure to blow out the wet exhaust.  Any thoughts out there would be appreciated.  I am thinking that the insufficient fuel level caused the hard start, which caused the back flow of water into the engine, and also saved my engine from destruction when it wouldn't start before I checked the oil level and found the water in the engine.  Whew!!  Question: What size exhaust muffler are you Rasmus owners installing in your boat?  Do you put a loop in the exhaust hose?  Also, I want to know how you experienced owners handle hard engine starting situations, specifically, after cranking the engine over an unusually long period of time without a successful start, do you empty out the wet exhaust muffler at some point to keep water from backing up in the engine?  Any ideas are appreciated.
Thanks
Pat

Beta 38 engine is up and running

Well I received my new custom engine mounts and they worked great.  I have roughly aligned the engine and hooked up the exhaust and electrical.  I also hooked up a facet pump (part number 40104) in front of the Racor fuel filter to help lift fuel out of the deep fuel tank.  After running it a bit, I blew the 1 amp fuse to the facet pump.  I continued to run without the fuel pump.  The next day I tried to start the engine (Beta 38) and it would not start.  I then realized the facet fuel pump is really needed on this boat/engine combination.  I replaced the 1 amp fuse to the pump with a 5 amp fuse and ran the fuel pump a bit before trying to start the engine.  No good.  I had to re bleed the fuel lines before the engine would start.  This was a good lesson to what is needed to get this combination to work well.  That facet pump is much needed.

New engine in 'Michaela, Rasmus # 330

I just tore out the old Volvo MD2003 from my Rasmus # 330, Michaela.  Here's the new engine - a Volvo/Perkins D1-30.  It's a vast improvement!  The new prop is a Campbell Sailor 3-blade.

Blog I Found Interesting

Here's a link to a blog about a guy named Nathan that cruised from Ft. Smith Arkansas down the Ar and Miss Rivers to the Gulf and on to the Florida Keys and the Bahamas in a very small boat . Check it out.

http://sailingmatilda.blogspot.com/2009/12/toad-suck-lock-and-waltzing-matilda.html

Bingo!

I was missing a few parts from the Hella Marine Anchor light on my Rasmus and searched the internet with little hope of finding them.   I found the exact light from Wolfs Marine right here in the USA.  I went ahead and bought the entire unit for the low price of $49.00(on sale from $115).  The packaging was old and yellowed and a bit tattered (which Wolfs apologized for) but it contained a beautiful and well made light from Hella Marine.  I bet it was the only one in the United States for sale.     Miracles do happen.

An Update from Pat

I am now waiting for the second set of custom engine feet to arrive before I can get the engine in its spot.  In the meantime I am finishing up some interior woodwork which included making four drawers and 2 doors for the galley.  I used cherry for this job.  I am also doing some finalizing on solar panel installation and I put in a lightning ground plate where the Dynaplate was located and moved the Dynaplate.  After reading a lot on grounding systems, I am getting a better feel about this fairly confusing and contradictory subject.  It looks like the lightning ground and DC ground are kept separate, and that's what I am doing.  It also looks as though the SSB radio ground is kept separate from the DC ground, but I've read that you can accomplish this via electronic circuitry.  My engine should be installed in a few weeks and then I will finish the mast rebuild.  That will get me very close to getting the boat in the water.  I am planning a 4 month cruise starting in February 2013.  I will start from Little Rock, Arkansas and cruise down the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers to the gulf and head to Key West and then the Bahamas.  I expect my brother to join me there and we will cruise the Bahamas for a month together before I drop him off and head......well, who knows.  I hadn't decided yet.  I will start another blog and document my travels as they happen.
Cheers
Pat