Classic Australian Wooden Power Boat Association

Deck stripes done & dusted. Took a full day to tape up again, then 2 x coats of snow white Toplac paint, then tape off this afternoon. Wait 2 - 3 days now before I can start hooking into polishing the deck.

Hit another milestone today finishing the deck varnishing and all buffed (unlike me) & shiny. Also fitted the rudder.

Looks like into "fitout" which is good for Narrandera. How's the engine going?

Had a conference with the engine guru today and his coming along nicely. Crank is in, so is cam & valve train. He's working on pistons & con rods. The guy is a genius. Truly.

Hull is on the trailer today for wiring tomorrow and Sunday then off to the trimmer Monday.

Darren wrote:Looks like into "fitout" which is good for Narrandera. How's the engine going?

In a few words Darren, painfully slow work. It's taken about 6hrs to hand ream the conrods for new bolts as they were a terrible loose fit (bolts just fell out of the rods). I'm half way with the rods and then they'll have to be resized as well............... This is but one issue with this old banger...........

My son Ross practising the dark, mysterious art of electrical wiring. Boat is currently atvthe trimmers & I've spent the dash polishing dull chrome work.

Two weeks to Narrandera and I reckon that we've still got a great chance of making it. Con rods were re-sized yesterday in Melbourne so everything is on the bench for the maestro to build the little Hercules engine. The hull is at the upholster who is unfortunately running behind schedule. Hopefully I will get the boat back from him mid week. Meanwhile I've been busy prepping gear for the fit out. The prop is a but rough, but no time now to have it worked. Lots of things to be done still, but apart from fitting & aligning the engine, they are all straightforward & all under control... I think.

Maybe I mozzed the effort to get to Narrandera with my last optomistic post. Unfortunately Craig has again had an unexpected gremlin crop up which means that we are not going to be able to have Nirvana ready and at Narrandera. With the cam in, crank in and pistons and rods fitted, the rotating assembly spun over nicely. But when he fitted the crank drive gear it had zero backlash engaging with the cam gear and idler gear. The gear needs to lose 2.5 to 3.0 thou or a new gear needs to be made and that's not going to happen in just a day or two. With under 2 weeks to go we have to acknowledge that time has beaten us (bugger dealing with those Yanks who stuffed me about for 7 weeks sand fsailed to come up with the bearings!) and we are now aiming for a launching at Glenmaggie at the start of December. I'm exceptionally grateful and appreciative of the dedicated work and huge effort put in by Craig to overcome all the obstacles put in our way, but this last one, is just one too many. We'll still head to Narrandera, but with the Lewis runabout, Turbo Fire. See y'all there.

Sometimes it's best to have patience and make it right, the wait will just make it all the better when your done.