There seemed to be more details to take care of with the electrical system as I was wrapping it up. Its ready now. I did the unpowered checks and I just need a new battery to do the power on checks. Seems to work so far. There were more half finished wire runs than I remembered though.
Other than the electrical system it was mostly small details today.
I filled in the drain hole in the bottom of the boat. I was getting worried that I would forget and only remember when the boat launched. The drain is a half inch hole I bored into the lowest part of the keel after several attempts to keep water from accumulating in the boat. The hole solved everything and I recomend the practice. To fill the hole, I used a forstner bit and widened the first 1/4 inch. The I poured acetone into the bilge to clean out the hole, wet out the hole with epoxy and then injected thickened epoxy (cabosil) into the hole. The purpose of widening the bottom of the hole a bit was to create a 'head' like a rivit that would resist the epoxy slug from moving in or out. On the inside the epoxy filled the hole and then overflowed creating a bit of a head on the inside too. Totally unnecessary I am sure but it makes me feel better. Funny, the boat doesn't feel like such a project with the hole filled. Its starting to feel like a real boat.
I installed the bilge blower and connected it. The blower sits on a pad. The last time the boat saw water I simply glued the pad to the hull with 4200. That seemed to work fine so I might just do that again. I can unscrew the blower from the wooden mount too. I didn't have anything to make it stick so it just sits loose for now. At least it works and I can test it out and run the engine safely.
With the bilge blower connected I installed the low profile cowl.
I love this cowl but there is a bit of an issue with it. I wanted two. One on each side. When I ordered the cowls and deck fittings from Mariners Hardware they told me they only had one is stock but they would have a second 'in a few months'. I ordered the one so I could cut the holes in the aft deck for the fittings. Six months went by and I called and they told me 'oh no, those have been discontinued and we won't be able to get any. We haven't been able to get any for awhile'. Hmmm... I tend to believe that they told me a little fib to get this last cowl off their shelves and had no real intention of getting me the second one. I have spoken with other boat people that have had similar issues with Mariners Hardware. They are on my bad list now. And now I have one nice cowl without the mate that I really need. I keep checking around. I see them in online catalogues sometimes but when I contact the store they never have any. Now I just hope for Ebay. No, I won't ever put a plastic cowl in its place. I might swap out the one for a different design though. Too bad because this one is quite nice.
Another little detail was finishing up the mounting for the wet exhaust muffler. I forgot to take pictures though.
And then I worked on 'Other people's boats' for the rest of the afternoon. It doesn't seem like I did much today but getting the wiring done was good. I have high hopes for running the engine next week and getting a start on the rigging. Rigging will take a few days and then deck hardware until launch day. Not quite on schedule but it looks like it will happen without too much pain. Other than being overworked of course.
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