32' Cruiser - dry-dock diary

[SorinCT]

First of all i would like to congratulate the cruiserforum community for building an awesome forum, one of the best ones I've seen in a long time. It is nice to know that boaters from around the world are sharing there knowledge and ideas into one common place.

The plot

My family has a strong maritime background, both military and commercial, deck and engine departments as well. The story of this project began in October 2014 when my father found a second-hand boat for sale which looked promising. It was a Romanian-build 32 foot (9.85 meters), 6 person cruiser which was collecting dust on the side of a lake. The framing was wood, the exterior fiber glass, fixed metal centerboard and a not-so well cared for interior.

The motor, shaft, propeller and rudder

The original motor, a Renault Marine 3 cyl engine was almost dead. It was removed and replaced with a new Perkins 3.152 unit. There are plenty modifications to be made in order to fit properly this engine but all in due time...
Shafting was re-positioned. The old bore was plugged and a new one was made in order to fit the proper shaft, stern-tube and bushings. Currently the shaft was cut to spec and feather key channel cut.
A new and bigger bronze propeller was fitted in order to match the awesome 33 kW beast, hidden deep inside the hull.
The rudder was modified little bit but we will get into that in a later post.

Interior

All wood easily detachable wood peaces were removed and sent to the carpenter for touching-up. The panels, baseboards and framing is currently being sanded, patched-up and repaired, awaiting a nice stain (maybe cherry?).'

Exterior

The boat sits high and dry, besides the lake, being sanded and cleaned. The exterior needed a good cleaning and sanding because it has been a long time since it has undergone such treatment. At the moment there are no wood elements on the deck or cockpit but this may change in the future. Teak would look nice but this may come in the next years.

Electrical & electronics

The electricals were a complete disaster. I am really surprised the boat did not catch fire from the dozens of non-insulated twisted-ends connections between unmarked random cables. I removed all the wires and am currently in the process of thinking-out a new installation for all necessary electrical equipment.
Electronics on board amount to zero. That's right, it was completely old-school. Future installation will amount to basic cruiser equipment (GPS, Chartplotter, VHF, echo sounder), plus additional equipment (AIS transponder, Radar, autopilot).

Jobs in progress:
- cleaning, fitting and securing 3 DO tanks; 1 plastic service tank and 2 stainless steel storage tanks. Additional i need to figure out how to install sender units for the metal tanks and a transfer pump and piping for internal transfers between tanks.
- cleaning, fitting and securing 2 FW tanks; these also need some feedback regarding the level and i think a pump is needed also.
- aligning the stern tube and prop shaft
- overhauling 3 capstans; new springs and bushings needed;
- woodworking on the interior pannels;
- sanding and cleaning exterior hull;
- mast connection flange repair;

As you can imagine, there are hundreds of jobs pending and not enough expertise to tackle them easily so i need plenty time to think things through in advance.
I plan to tackle each job, one by one and from time to time ask for your feedback on the task at hand.

Now i am researching the necessary electrical equipment on-board and the typical layout. Additional i need to plan for the electronic equipment. At the moment i am leaning twords a Gigabyte Brix Mini-PC running OpenCPN, a USB GPS receiver, fixed marine VHF unit, blackbox AIS, and some simple echo sounder. They will all use NMEA 0183 (because of OpenCPN) and the need of an nmea multiplexer will be eliminated by a software mpxer. In addition i need to plan for RADAR and autopilot.
If you have any tips, suggestions or guidance please feel free to type away. The only thing is you need to keep in mind that i am sort of a newbie and i only ask for patience.

Untill future updates i leave you with some not so detailed pictures . PS I promise it will look better soon!!

Check out the album here.

[SorinCT]

Jobs done today:
- continued sanding the exterior, almost finished first sanding
- interior prep continued; old screws, nails, etc removed, all hinges removed.
- 6 bolts for the mast foot fabricated from stainless steel threaded bar
- plow anchor cleaned and prepped for painting
- transverse supports for engine adapted to the new engine
- old SW scuppers removed from hull

Some new photos added to the album.