Well, everyone, its been a long couple of months here on dry land. had some family and time issues that prevented launching as of yet, but we were able to geet alot done on the boat during the layup.
first, we had to deal with a bit of a screwup from late last season. while replacing a thermostat on the starboard engine, a bolt to the thermostat housing snapped off pretty deep in the head. as a band-aid (and because we had a tuna weather window the next day
) we retapped the head and replaced the bolt with a bigger one. upon pulling the cover off during the layup, we discovered that the same bolt on the OTHER side of the stbd engine had broken, under stress we assumed. try as we might, and we did, we could not remove these bolts from the head, and upon trying to drill them out we all but destroyed that section of the heads. this unfortunate exercize led to the replacement of both heads, which we managed after some ruined headgaskets and misordered parts.
second, it was time to purchase and mount the liferaft. when we headed to the atlantic city boat show, we were pretty much dead set on Viking as the manufacturer. However, after talking to various venders there, i became slightly more leery, despite their excellent reputation, of the natural rubber material that Viking uses that has the potential to decompose over time, and which can also not be 100% welded but has to be glued. having had a Zodiac inflatable boat that the glued seams literally came apart in, i didnt like this idea. we then turned to the manufacturers there that offered a synthetic material. Switlik had a 4-man raft that i liked because of its light weight, compact package, but then i looked at the raft and said, how would i fit the four guys i fish with regularly in here? it also had only a single inflation tube, and lacked a self-inflating canopy, both features i disliked. this led me to Revere's 6-man Coastal Commander raft, which resembled comprable Vikings almost exactly but was made from a synthetic material, which could be heat welded to 100% strength. it also did not have the same amount of packaged suplies as some of the other rafts, which is actually a bonus in my opinion, as i do not trust these supplies and would rather have my own that i know will work, and dont really want to pay a couple hundred bucks every time it comes to repack to have them replaced. the raft was also a 6 man, and very roomy at that, so it fit my space requirements perfectly. Sold.
Mounting the raft posed a different problem. i did not want an outside, hydrostatic mount, because in the event that the boat should capsize, the depth of the cabin top might not make hydrostat depth, and in the event of a fire, well, fire burns upward. i therefore decided to mount the raft in the cabin footwell, where it is a straight shot drag back to the cockpit. in order to do this without damaging the raft, i ordered the canister version of the raft, as i figured dragging it would not damage the fiberglass container as it might the bulky and unweildy valise. we also store gaffs in the cabin as well, and gaff hooks and inflatable rafts do not mix well. this, in turn, presented its own problems. putting the raft in a cradle up there would not make clearance to the top of the cushions, and leaving it unsecured would be, um, unwise. whatever i did, it also needed to be able to be released quickly in case of an emergency whe i would need the raft in a hurry. i solved this problem in a slightly unorthodox way. i purchased a divers weight belt with a quick release buckle, and cut the belt in half, one section with a buckle, one without. i put a grommet at one end of each section, and attached these to eyebolts i put in the footwell walls with chain links. i then buckled the two together in front of the raft, securing it forward. an old life vest behind the raft provides pressure to keep the strap from slipping down. i attached the rafts painter line to one of the eyebolst, so that if the raft has to be lanched, it will be already attached to the boat and there is no risk of the raft being thrown overboard and not attached.
first, we had to deal with a bit of a screwup from late last season. while replacing a thermostat on the starboard engine, a bolt to the thermostat housing snapped off pretty deep in the head. as a band-aid (and because we had a tuna weather window the next day
) we retapped the head and replaced the bolt with a bigger one. upon pulling the cover off during the layup, we discovered that the same bolt on the OTHER side of the stbd engine had broken, under stress we assumed. try as we might, and we did, we could not remove these bolts from the head, and upon trying to drill them out we all but destroyed that section of the heads. this unfortunate exercize led to the replacement of both heads, which we managed after some ruined headgaskets and misordered parts.second, it was time to purchase and mount the liferaft. when we headed to the atlantic city boat show, we were pretty much dead set on Viking as the manufacturer. However, after talking to various venders there, i became slightly more leery, despite their excellent reputation, of the natural rubber material that Viking uses that has the potential to decompose over time, and which can also not be 100% welded but has to be glued. having had a Zodiac inflatable boat that the glued seams literally came apart in, i didnt like this idea. we then turned to the manufacturers there that offered a synthetic material. Switlik had a 4-man raft that i liked because of its light weight, compact package, but then i looked at the raft and said, how would i fit the four guys i fish with regularly in here? it also had only a single inflation tube, and lacked a self-inflating canopy, both features i disliked. this led me to Revere's 6-man Coastal Commander raft, which resembled comprable Vikings almost exactly but was made from a synthetic material, which could be heat welded to 100% strength. it also did not have the same amount of packaged suplies as some of the other rafts, which is actually a bonus in my opinion, as i do not trust these supplies and would rather have my own that i know will work, and dont really want to pay a couple hundred bucks every time it comes to repack to have them replaced. the raft was also a 6 man, and very roomy at that, so it fit my space requirements perfectly. Sold.
Mounting the raft posed a different problem. i did not want an outside, hydrostatic mount, because in the event that the boat should capsize, the depth of the cabin top might not make hydrostat depth, and in the event of a fire, well, fire burns upward. i therefore decided to mount the raft in the cabin footwell, where it is a straight shot drag back to the cockpit. in order to do this without damaging the raft, i ordered the canister version of the raft, as i figured dragging it would not damage the fiberglass container as it might the bulky and unweildy valise. we also store gaffs in the cabin as well, and gaff hooks and inflatable rafts do not mix well. this, in turn, presented its own problems. putting the raft in a cradle up there would not make clearance to the top of the cushions, and leaving it unsecured would be, um, unwise. whatever i did, it also needed to be able to be released quickly in case of an emergency whe i would need the raft in a hurry. i solved this problem in a slightly unorthodox way. i purchased a divers weight belt with a quick release buckle, and cut the belt in half, one section with a buckle, one without. i put a grommet at one end of each section, and attached these to eyebolts i put in the footwell walls with chain links. i then buckled the two together in front of the raft, securing it forward. an old life vest behind the raft provides pressure to keep the strap from slipping down. i attached the rafts painter line to one of the eyebolst, so that if the raft has to be lanched, it will be already attached to the boat and there is no risk of the raft being thrown overboard and not attached.
