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May 09, 2010 Post 30

May Update

Preliminaries

Since February we have talked to and met with several Sara B associates face to face and gotten e-mail and a little Facebook feed back. Some have been a bit skeptical, but the stalwart associates made of stern stuff, have rallied and said they'll pitch in and help. We contacted the marina where Sara B is stored and learned that it would not be possible to do the work inside their storage area during the summer. (They are using it for dock work). We are planning now to transport the old boat back to our house where we can work on her under cover through the summer and keep her here for the winter.

The transport will not be simple and the author is concerned about the impact of Sara B's insertion into the barn on the Gateley asparagus patch. Asparagus is pretty tough stuff but we shall see.

Starboard covering board with a few issues

And it will be awhile. Chris has been working on his flow chart for the project. Before we can transport Sara B we have to modify the trailer. Before we can modify the trailer we have to get it to our house (it's in North Rose now). Before that we have to get the five ton boat that's on it off and set on supports. To do that we have to build the supports and build the lifting device. Before all this building takes place the shop has to be moved and tacked onto the barn. And to do THAT we have to empty all the crap out of the shop and stash it somewhere else. And somewhere in this whole process we have to add a new radiator for the truck has to be ordered. And maybe arrange for a back up truck, tractor, tow vehicle etc. Actually Chris scrapped the flow chart. He decided that creating it was just one more task and he had enough to do.

A trailer for Sara B when we get this boat off - anyone want a aluminum hull project boat?

Meanwhile over in the marina Gale Bouldin, Susan G and Rich S put a few hours in taking hardware and toe rails off the deck. About ten feet of oak covering board under the starboard toe rail is not in very good shape. ( We knew this when we bought Sara B, and the antifreeze borates treatment appears to have kept it from spreading.) This will have to be replaced and when done and everything including taffrail cap and arch is off, we'll cut and fit plywood and eventually fasten it down. The layers of glass will go over this. The author is unclear as to whether the fiberglassing of the deck can occur before the hull job. (Where's the flow chart). We do have to figure out how to get the starboard aft main mast chain plate off. (Its bolts are buried behind the built in very well secured fuel tank.) One idea maybe is cut an access hole in the deck?

Before transporting the boat our intent is to remove any additional weight we can including the 40 gallons of diesel in the tank. We may possibly pull the engine as well. There's discussion about getting the old Thorneycroft rebuilt while it's out of the boat. If liquidity allows which currently seems unlikely. One idea to raise money would be to sell the 'spare' motor and tranny, a Perkins 107, that have been sitting around for 5 - 6 years after being originally purchased for the steel hull project. Chris has had it running on the bench a few times. He tries to fire it up once or twice a year anyway. Anybody want a good used 40 horse engine that you can actually get parts for? Views on re building the Thorneycroft are mixed. Some is of the why bother just junk it view. Then there are others who feel this stalwart piece of British engineering will live forever anyway, so it doesn't need a re-build. There could be some truth to this. We're pretty sure the tranny clutch just got relined for the first time and it lasted half a century.

So not a lot of progress to report, but stay tuned as we continue the re-fit.

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