Building 23' catamaran. Build updates

[Apollo]

Yes, you need a primer bulb and yes, located betwen the filter and the motor.

Boat is coming along great Steve.

Steve

[Noelm]

You will need a primer when filters are changed and stuff like that, most new engines do not require to be primed each time you use them, unlike old carby models, buy genuine primers, the cheap ones are not ll that flash, fit the primer between the engine and the fuel filter. For fuel connectors, I prefer the metal Honda or Suzuki ones, they are very similar to each other and work like an air line connector, very positive when they connect and I have never seen one leak (yet)

[Gon Fishun]

Yes, you need a primer bulb and yes, located betwen the filter and the motor.

Boat is coming along great Steve.

Steve

Is there any specific reason to put the primer between the filter and the motor, and not having it before the filter?
Cheers.

[outwide1]

Looking really good Steve, I'm about to start having a 8.1mtr plate boat built with myself doing the fit out. One thing i noticed was the stainless fuel fillers which were the ones i liked. Are you concerend with the stainless against Ally and the corroding issues?
Cheers Mick

[Noelm]

Is there any specific reason to put the primer between the filter and the motor, and not having it before the filter?
Cheers.

Yes, (in a way) it makes it much easier to prime if a filter has been changed, plus it can be placed near the motor so it is easy to get to when you want to prime it, the primer can be installed before the filter, but I have found in practice, it works better after.

[stevemid]

Looking really good Steve, I'm about to start having a 8.1mtr plate boat built with myself doing the fit out. One thing i noticed was the stainless fuel fillers which were the ones i liked. Are you concerend with the stainless against Ally and the corroding issues?
Cheers Mick

No, I'm fibreglass so no problems with electrolysis for me (except with the thru hulls due the the coppershield anti foul I've used.)

Cheers,
Steve

[stevemid]

Well, theres a bit of progress to report. I got most of the deck hardware on: 6 cleats, bow roller, nav lights, hatch hinges on the fore deck and in the cockpit. All of these are through-bolted and all the holes are drilled, filled with bog and redrilled. There's 25mm backing blocks on the cleats and on the bow roller. You'll notice that the bow roller is offset to line up with the starboard anchor locker. This is where the drum winch will sit. Eventually, the EZ lift anchor float & ring system will live in the port locker and will have its own bow roller.

I also got all the cabinet doors mounted in the galley and the head area, the cutouts done for the dash, and the surrounds painted for the deck hatches. This will form a shiny area around the cutout line while the hatch itself and the decks will be painted with Kiwi Grip.

[stevemid]

I got to pick up my engine(s) rigging kit today which included the four digital engine gauges and the ignition switch panel. I was so excited to get the dash completed that I installed everything straight away. The close-up photo shows the view of the gauges from the driving position.The only near fatal mistake was that the template for the VHF radio didn't show the microphone connector sticking out the to right so this collided with the speaker. Luckily the speaker had a large lip so I was able to move it to the right without exposing the cutout (whew.)
Installed Dashboard.jpg
View from Driving Position.jpg

[Apollo]

Getting there Steve. Looks good.

[stevemid]

I've been mulling over how to make these connections on the roof top (accessible or not sealed or not) and this is the solution I finally arrived at. The new LED style fixtures are sealed up so I figured I might as well seal the connections too. When I built the roof I buried dual conductor wires in grooves for cabin/cockpit lights, the anchor light and the solar panels, leaving a pig tail sticking out for the connections. In this picture I'm showing the connection for the all-round white light.

I bought some connector boxes at Jaycar. After drilling a 15mm hole in the bottom of the box to take the pig tail and holes in the sides to take the wires from the devices, sikaflexed the box down to the roof and let the sika go off. Then I made the electrical connections using heat shrink crimp terminals. Before sealing things up, I tested that the light still worked, then I over-filled the box with a co-polymer adhesive. Pressing the lid down sealed the lid on the box and forced adhesive to squeeze out around the cables
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A quick clean up and I should have a connection that lasts forever.
IMG_1653.jpg

And here's the finished product
Connections to Solar.jpgAll-round White.jpg
Steve

[stevemid]

I had the same problem making electrical connections on the underside of the roof: the cabin lights I bought (sight unseen from the US) were flush mount and didn't have any space to make the connections. I made a spacer out of a 10mm cutting board cutting out a 90mm circle with a hole saw and then a cutout in the circle to make the connections. The result is barely noticable because of the white on white effect. These are I2Systems lights. When you turn them on they come on red, off and on again they turn blue, off and on again, they turn white. There are two big LED's of each colour in the fixture.

Steve



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[gr hilly]

You have done so well good onya mate cheers Hilly

[stevemid]

You wouldn't think mounting a speaker would be a big deal. On the right had side, the dash provided an ideal location; that went in in 10 minutes. On the left, however I only had an open bulkhead with no enclosure. This is not good because I don't think you get good sound without an enclosure. I also needed a way to hide the speaker wire, so I made the enclosure of a shape which would allow me to get the wire into the cabinet adjacent to the front of the speaker.

This is how I build the box to enclose the left hand speaker. The space behind the bulkhead was the meeting point for 4 different panels coming together odd angles. I took a 2" piece of refrigeration foam and cut it to shape with a hand saw. This would become my mould. I covered this with packing tape to keep the fibreglass from sticking to it and then laid on and rolled out 4 layers of glass. When this was almost set, I trimmed the edges with an exacto knife and left it to cure over night. The next day I covered it with fairing compound. After curing, I sanded it all back and patched up the remaining imperfections and painted it. You'll notice that the cover extends just far enought to the right to let me sneak a cable into the settee backrest and thence to the dash.

Needless to say this took more than the 10 minutes needed for the right hand speaker.
Front of speaker.jpgRear of speaker.jpgFoam Mould.jpgMould Taped Up.jpgPart Cut Out.jpgSpeaker Cover Bogged.jpgInside edge bogged.jpgFaired Speaker Enclosure.jpgSpeaker Cover.jpgSpeaker Cover in Place.jpg

[chris69]

Very nice Steve,the fit out is going well,now tell me would you have had a go at makeing a mold before you started to build the boat?,thats a good job you have done on that speaker box,building a boat and working with all the products just gives you so much more knowledge to make things,cant wait to see it on the water Cheers Chris.

[stevemid]

Very nice Steve,the fit out is going well,now tell me would you have had a go at makeing a mold before you started to build the boat?,thats a good job you have done on that speaker box,building a boat and working with all the products just gives you so much more knowledge to make things,cant wait to see it on the water Cheers Chris.

Yep, making the mould was like getting out the banana bread for morning tea: easy peasy.

Launching wont be long now. Probably just after Xmas.
Steve