Echo sounder

The first job on Monday morning was to temporarily set up the new NASA echo sounder there was already a spare mounting tube for the transducer so I poured in a small amount of oil inserted the transducer and connected a power supply to the unit and voila it seems to work I couldn't tell for certain as the tide was out and the boat sitting in the mud but it looked promising once the tide started to rise but unfortunately I had to leave before the boat was properly afloat.

The next job was to screw and glue the timber support for the forward cabin sole into place this was a little tricky as the bilge is rather shallow in this area and the timber had to be well anointed with epoxy and then put in sideways before turning it upright and screwing it into place. Once this was completed I cut out some pieces of CSM ready for Wednesday when the epoxy would be cured. I found some odd pieces of CSM which would be ideal for reinforcing the corners before applying more CSM underneath the sole to reinforce the opening. I planned to reinforce all four corners although the worst cracks are in the after end of the opening which is at the bottom of the photograph below

Forward cabin sole showing cracks in the corners of the bilge access

CSM to reinforce corners of access opening

On Wednesday I began by reinforcing the underside of the forward cabin sole first with the corner reinforcement and then followed by several layers of CSM around the opening this was all applied from underneath which was a bit tricky and I had a bit of a problem persuading the CSM to stay in place at times.

I finished up on Wednesday by making up some additional restraining pieces for the fuel tank, the Tek Tank supplied nylon straps seem to stretch a bit,leaving the tank a little loose, I have left them in place and added a timber cross member, at each end of the tank, secured with 8mm studding down through the tank support platform.

Fuel tank showing additional restraining device at the forward end

I started off today by cutting out the openings in the blank laminate panel for the chart plotter and the new echo sounder the NASA unit would not fit the opening previously used for the old Stowe unit. After drilling holes in the corners of each opening I cut out the laminate with my new toy a Bosch cordless multi tool which made short work of the job.

Openings for chart plotter and echo sounder

The old Stowe instrument can be seen next to the panel for the time being it will serve to fill in the hole in the bulkhead the aim will be to make good sometime in the future. The plotter and the echo sounder were then installed in their respective openings I have purposely installed the echo sounder to one side in order to leave space for a possible further instrument I don't know what it will be but there is a space for it. Once the echo sounder was in place I ran the transducer cable through its intended route using mostly existing holes in the bulkheads i ran the cable clear of all other power cables where possible to reduce the possibility of any interference.

Plotter and echo sounder installed

I think the 'out' display on the echo sounder is due to the boat sitting in the mud next week I shall be able to check the operation as high water will be at a suitable time of day. 

To finish up today I used the multi tool to clean up round the opening in the forward cabin sole its such a useful tool can't think why I never bought one before. Next week the plan is to finish the fibreglass work by replacing the tabbing in the locker under the quarter berth and then to replace a missing bolt in the port forward fairlead which will then see the completion of the surveyors recommendations.