Dreaming and shopping for Iona

The Wooden Boat Show at Mystic has become an annual pilgrimage for us.  The salty ambiance of Mystic would be enough.  The first half-day is spent wandering around in a daze, just glad to be there.  But then I settle down to Purpose; re-visiting certain vendors, taking pictures of design elements we like, and shopping.

Seats and decks were on my mind ...  Here's a simple but elegant presentation.

The benches are easily constructed with turned spindles for support.  The teak floor boards lift out, where appropriate.

These pieced benches are nice.

This teak deck is left weathered, with narrower boards than the standard.  I appreciate the way it is let in around the bright house.  Further inspiration was found in the Rossi storage area.  These are boats and items that are not on display but are available to study.

Seat detail from an early 20th century launch - perhaps my favorite design so far.  The storage collection is surreal.  What is this?  The jawbone of a whale?

There were many launch engines in the collection.  Here, detail from one of the Navy engines.



Best beloved found a marine consignment (!) shop in Mystic and was sweet enough to tell me about it.  Here are some finds on Iona's stern planking.  The stern bit is close to its future home.

The Holy Grail

It feels like some kind of initiation ritual with holy symbols ...

This is the NBIC symbol, stamped in front of the serial number ...












Higher up in the pantheon, surrounded by the great cloud of information such as manufacturer, square footage of heating surface and steaming capacity, we stamped this ...

The ASME symbol, with an "S" below it.

No bottled goods were broke over the shell of the boiler, but it is still exciting.  I mean, who gets to attend a boiler stamping these days?

Ceremony over, we poured over the P-2 form, more painful than federal taxes, in order to make sure that every "i" was dotted and "t" was crossed.

I am told that the reviewers on the Board are humorless ...

Now on to the Commonwealth's Department of Labor & Industry, Boiler Division ... 

A Propeller Shaft for Iona

Walking out to get the mail I noticed the tell-tale tire tracks of the UPS truck.  Oh!  Maybe it's the shaft!  Sure enough, propped inside the shop door - the delivery man is well-trained - stands the new shaft in its tube.  Soon it is out of its packing and I'm checking the specs and fit.  This is good ...

Here is the shaft poking through the gland.  The keyway for the coupling is clearly visible on the top.  Since the gland with its O-rings floats in the stern tube, I loosen all of the bronze machine screws that fasten it to the tube and slowly torque them in the pattern that is best centered on the shaft.  It rotates freely.  The packing nut is on the gland though the packing has yet to be laid in.

Here's a shot of the interior with the shaft protruding forward.  The locking nut for the gland is on a seat support.  The wide angle lens of the camera makes the launch look like a barge.  The first coat of the interior paint is down - Interlux Grand Banks Beige.  I used this paint since it will be kind on the eyes and easy to freshen up before each season.  Though as one can see, it will mostly be under floorboards and seats.  The bilge will stay bright white epoxy for ease of suging.

Here's the shaft protruding from the cutless bearing.  I'm still deciding whether to use low-heat epoxy to bond the bearing in or the time-honored set screws.  After we make up our mind about that, I'll finish touching up the copper bottom paint.  Then, after the packing is set up, it will be time for a float test!
...

It's almost Boiler Inspection Eve.  Saturday, the three boilers were plumbed in series in preparation for the official hydro and inspection.  All three are wearing their blowdowns.  Mine is last in the series with the air vent and the gauge.  And yes, reasonable people could differ about the placement of the blowdown - pressure on the bonnet and the packing - what is this world coming to?

All three were brought up to 300 psi to test the rig; no troubling leaks.

Engine Beds

While waiting for the official boiler inspection to come around on the calendar, work continues apace on the hull.  The first photo shows the hull higher up on boat stands.  With rudder, skeg and propeller work in the near future, I needed to get the hull higher off the shop floor -

Spiders and silverfish were sent scurrying as the engine lift raised first one end and then the other as I followed with the jackstands.  The previous weekend I had gotten the engine beds out of some old-growth Doug fir I had lying around - actually leftovers from the stem piece.  Here, my heart is in my throat as I lift the uncompleted compound over the gunwales and down to the beds:

The object of the exercise is to dial in the fit for the propeller shaft.  Once the shaft is installed, further fitting of the beds may be pursued.  The engine swings down into place ...

The tenons of the beds are plainly seen in No. 3 floor.  The beds are just sitting in there since they will have to be planed and jiggered quite a bit.  Almost there ...

Ahh ...

Once on the beds, I get to work sliding the engine aft and positioning the story stick in the shaft log for calculating coupling lengths, propeller clearances, etc.  How does SAE 755 go again?  So much to remember ...  Here's a shot of the stick in place and my rule checking on clearances for the engine pumps.  I had planned for all of this previously when laying out the shaft log angle, bed supports, etc.  Still it is gratifying to see it all work out with the actual hardware.  At this point, the beds are still 0.125" high from the plane of the shaft log.  Pitch and roll on the beds remains to be dialed in, too.

The starboard bed is too thick and does not permit much lateral adjustment.  The engine is hoisted to take weight, out comes the plane and then the bed is tapped back into place.  Good, now there's more room.  The story stick has been replaced by a 1.25" dowel just to see how far we're off.  Final adjustment won't come until the shaft and couplings are in place, with a final review afloat in case the hull flexes in displacement.