Vira - Sailboat rebuild, Irwin Citation 34

 Deck Chain locker  Pulpit , reinstalled back with 3m UV4000 sealant ( mainly to avoid tapped in FG thread to be filled with butyl. Original screws used. Lifeline rains and cleats bedded on butyl tape. Chain locker hatch spitted on half, front side is removable and locked on position with turn latch. Aft (bigger part), sits on hinges and opening from starboard to port. Handle changed to have a latch to prevent chain locker from opening  and dumping chain overboard if boat will be inverted. ( Hopefully will never happened). Latching cam mechanism. Just one more view to the bow It is it for today.

 Deck This weekend I sanded and fairing and  primed bow area with Epoxy Primekote primer, 2 coats in one day, next day put 2 coats of Interlux perfection on the bow area.    Bow is eventually painted Fuel system Relapsing old fuel hoses and adding primary high volume filters with water separators for 30 and 10 micron before lift pump. New fuel system diagramm Real life filter setup   What changed vs original: All hoses changed to A1-15 SAE J1527 5/8  Added electric fuel pump right next to the tank. 30 micron FG500 filter/separator 10 micron filter/separator Return port added to tank in opposite side than intake Fuel return line from 10 micron filter back to the tank to be able to do polishing  Check valve on the return line  Return line from injectors returns fuel to tank WHY Filters/separators added to make on engine filter last virtually forever. 3 stage filtering implemented Dual water separation for redundancy Electric pump plays 3 roles: 1) M...

   Chain locker Chain locker hatch PO installed some mild steel piano they are completely rusted. Also original design did not have any latching mechanism on chain locker hatch. Hatch is updated, patched and sanded.  I divided hatch on two parts, front part will be mounted to be removable, but without hinges. Aft (bigger) part (on the left) will be hinged. I sanded landing pads for the hinges and reinforced back side of the hatch there. Also, I added lip (green area) to hinged part to overlap front piece and keep it on place when hinged part closed. I am going to install very similar looking rectangle handle, but it has latching capability.  Will be on the pictures below. Hatch dry-fitted. One hinge and handle just put over. Also, I  lower landing places for hatch hinges on the deck to avoid tripping over hinges. All hardware removed from bow area, surface sanded, all unnecessary holes glassed over, then sanded and patched by epoxy fairing (but no picture) Fro...

 Windlass     Chain box easy gets 90'  5/16 G40 and have about 10" above for windlass to have some drop    Dry fit of windlass mount   Mount installed on 6 bolts 3/8. From inside I put 1/4" SS backing plates with threaded holes to make work easier due to back side of the chain locker is a very hard to reach.  All sealed with butyl tape. Holes in original chain locker box i made right to size of the bolts and countersinked. holes in windlass mount are oversized to let butil to come around the bolt. during installation I put excessive amount of butyl on the bolt neck and then compressed into the hole with wide washers.  Mounting bolts from outside.    One of bolts is on the edge old of closed Hole no issues. At that place mount has only force down working load.    And from inside. For the back plates i used old chainplates pieces. Plates are glued from inside to make work to screw bolts by one person easier (possible). ...

Bow roller Bow roller installation at 100F weather was a challenge call itself.   Main problem was that i had to disconnect fore stay to be able to drill and tap thru the bow plate to install the roller.  Roller mounted with two screws at back and one at front. As soon as front screw maintains only side load and no way to mount put nut from below I tapped buw top plate and put screw in it. Back screws are drilled thru the bow top and nuts are from the below with big washers. also I added SS plate the same thickness as bow plate in between deck and roller to align surface because front of the roller sit on bow plate, and back is in the fiberglass. I wish to have backing plate but  there two reasons to put just wide washers. First surface from below is not equal, and it has kind of bump on middle what will make stress point and make installation with back plate put all stress on small area. Second   reason the windlass can make only 600lb  o...

 Fuel tank Building solid fiberglass lid to be able to make it solid glassed part of the tank to be sure it is hermetically bonded to fuel tank "bathtab", and no more leaks will happen any more there. Thickness goal to have 5-6mm fiberglass thickness it be able to support itself.   Main idea to have tank independent from plywood under sit board.   Lid build. As base to build I used original lid. covered it with mold release and built FG board.  First step -laminated two layers of 1708 and two layers of copped mat to get initial 3mm board. using polyester resin (it is just cheaper). Then, on  "bottom side" I glassed one layer 9oz Fiberglass Woven Mat using fuel safe epoxy. and covered with two "glassing" layers of epoxy to avoid any viods or bobbles in the surface allowing fuel to get to polyester resin board.   Masking tape shows where must be edge of the lid. Lid internal surface is nice and shiny. (still not fully cured to let chemical bonding ...

   Chain locker Box is ready for installation.    And opening is ready as well  New thruhull  on the place. 5mm FR4 backing plate set on thickened epoxy to hull. I know, this wire splice looks wrong,  it will be fixed later. Chain box installed. I decided to make it "kind of" removable. It set on 3M 4000UV adhesive and  9 1/4" bolts, also it sits on  cone shape profile, so bolts just to keep it on place. Even without them i was able to stand in the box. sealant is feeling gap in between original surface and box sides. Later I plan to sand surface around and put couple layers of glass cloth just to make it 100% sealed and level surface. Yes, thick wall clear  PVC 3/4" hose, drain speed is faster than I could fill by city water hose. One clamp only, it is over the water line and no pressure there. External view. old hole patch exterior sanding and fairing. She is ready for priming. Fuel tank Resin is ready to glaze.  Visually here a...