New Chain Plates

We're getting down to the nitty-gritty! With less than 3 weeks until launch, we're focusing on the work that HAS to be completed before Joli goes in the water.  We removed the chain plates last fall as they were original (1974) and some of them had been leaking.  There was some minor corrosion in some places and elongated bolt holes in most of the chain plates.  We delivered the old chain plates to Schaefer Marine (https://www.schaefermarine.com) in New Bedford, MA and met with Steve to discuss some changes that we wished to incorporate for the new chain plates.  The new chain plates were fabricated and shipped to Michigan the week before Easter and we picked up the 430-pound crate with Baby Huey, AKA the Party Van, at the UPS Terminal in Romulus.  Thank goodness we had help (Thanks, Hank & Bob!!) installing them because there is no way Bryan & I would have been able to do it by ourselves!  It took about 5 days total to get all nine chain plated installed and torqued.

Steve reviewed the new chain plates with us.

The OLD and the NEW

Baby Huey settled a little lower to the ground when the UPS guy loaded the 430-pound crate into the van.

Two big guys had to squeeze into a small space to maneuver the biggest chain plates into place.

We had to open up the cabinet door opening to get the chain plate in place.  No worries- we will repair it and the old speaker holes at the same time.

The new chain plates are made of stainless steel vs the old aluminum. Looks nice & shiny where they come through the deck!

Leaky Keel Bolt

The following was overheard on Channel 16 earlier this summer:

Boater, "May Day, May Day, MAY DAY!!!!!"

Coast Guard, "Vessel hailing May Day, what is the nature of your emergency?"

Boater, "My boat's broke!!!"

Not to make fun of another's misfortune, but now I know how he feels - my boat's broke!

A couple months ago, we discovered that Joli's forward-most keel bolt was leaking.  The top of the nut and bolt sticks up through the stringer inside a recess in the stringer.  We had noticed water in that recessed pocket and thought it was from rain coming in through the leaking hatch above it.  After further inspection, we determined that the bolt was leaking.  After consulting with Karl at Sassy Marina, we decided to haul the boat early and get the keel removed to assess the situation.  After three days hanging in the slings on the keel stand, the guys at Sassy finally got the keel separated.  It was really stuck on there, but not sealed, allowing the one bolt and maybe others to leak.  We will probably be able to let everything dry out over the winter, clean up the bolts and reattach the keel using 5200 sealant.  It shall never come off again!!! So, my boat's not actually broke, just undergoing maintenance that is not that unusual for a 45 year old boat.

The notch in the lead that you can see above is where the nut was removed from the bottom side of the keel bolt that was leaking.  The bolt has also been removed.

If you look closely, you can see the bolts coming up through the lead keel.  There are 11 keel bolts along the center line and 2 smaller ones on either side up forward where the lead mushrooms out on the bottom of the boat.

Triumph Refit - Through-hull fittings

When we bought Triumph, she had 23 (Yes, 23!!!) "holes" in the hull.  Many of them were still in service, but many were abandoned equipment such as depth sounder or had fittings that were in need of repair.  We ending up removing and filling/glassing-in 10 through-hull fittings and seacocks.  We have since added 1 or 2 but we are much more comfortable walking away from the boat after a weekend aboard knowing that sources of water into the boat are in good working order.  We are a little OCD about shutting the boat down for the week, justifiably so since more boats sink at the dock than anywhere else.  We always close the seacocks on the galley and head sink drains, engine cooling water intake and ship/raw water intake.  We hang the ignition key on the engine intake to make sure we open it before starting the engine.

Triumph Returns to Original Name, Joli - Winter 2005

One of our favorite places to go on Lake Erie is Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island.  We typically pick up a mooring ball because the anchorage near the monument can be a little tricky.  We had picked up a mooring ball in August 2004 to spend the weekend there.  We had gone ashore for dinner and the northeast wind had picked up enough to kick up the chop in the mooring field.  As we were walking back to the Boardwalk to catch the water taxi back out to the boat, we noticed the police boat in the harbor.  Then we saw our boat being tied to the police mooring ball.  It turns out the the ring on our mooring ball had failed, allowing our boat to drift into the mooring field.  Our boat bore down on a man in his dinghy who was trying to help another boat pick up a mooring.  He was able to jump onto our boat, get the engine started and get Triumph out of the mooring field but not without damage.  One whole side of the hull had been gouged by the anchor on the bow of a moored boat.  Before the night was over, several other boats broke free and ended up on the rocks.  It was determined that there was a manufacturing flaw in the mooring rings.  The following winter, we had the hull and deck painted at Toledo Beach Marina.  We decided to go to a white hull and back to her original name, Joli.  TBM did an awesome job and we have been very pleased with the results.

The old Fuller Brush portholes (photo above) with plastic cowling in the cockpit were replaced with Newfound Metals portholes during the painting project.

The two photos above are from 1977 at Joli's home port in Washington.  Note the smaller steering wheel and coffee-grinders in the top photo.  When we bought Triumph, the coffee grinders had been replaced with electric winches and the large steering wheel was in place.

Gouges from grinding up against the anchor on the bow of a moored boat - We were pretty lucky a man in his dinghy was able to get on our boat and help.  The damage could have been much worse!

Bryan took photos and added captions to indicate what gear could be removed and not replaced.  We eliminated quite a bit of gear from the deck, cabin top and cockpit!  Many owners had made changes and added all kinds of extra stuff over the years.

The gouges had gone through the paint and into the fiberglass.

The sanding was the major part of the project.

 We chose Awlcraft 2000 in Matterhorn White since Hatteras uses this color.  We figure the color will be available long-term in case (or when?) touch-ups are needed.

Back to her original name!  Joli, ex-Triumph is now shiny white and ready to go in the water for the 2005 summer

We had an overnight stop at Put-in-Bay on the way from Toledo Beach Marina in Monroe, MI to Sandusky, OH.

Eight new portholes in the cockpit

Aft cockpit with the large steering wheel that was in place when we bought Triumph, now Joli, home port Sandusky, OH

New Engine and Generator - Winter 2004

When we bought Triumph in the Spring of 2002, she had an old Northern Lights generator and a Westerbeke diesel engine.  We had removed the generator right away because it was old, had a dry-stack exhaust design that we didn't like, and with the generator and support systems in the engine compartment, there was no room to work.  We also removed three 55-gallon drums of old, abandoned wiring and electronic equipment before getting Triumph in the water in Muskegon Lake to head home to Lake Erie.  Although the engine had at least 6000 engine hours and the seals were leaky, it was in acceptable working order.  In the fall of 2003, we had to decide if we were going to have the engine rebuilt or replaced.  Westerbeke had a good deal on the like-for-like replacement engine and a 5 KW generator, so we decided to tackle the replacement in the winter of 2004. Bryan broke out the Sawzall and cut a hole in the cockpit sole to remove the old engine and install the new engine and generator.  He has never been afraid of cutting holes in a perfectly good boat!  With the help of Toledo Beach Marina (Les Lashaway - thanks!) toledobeach.com, we rigged the old engine out and the new in.  We included a dual Raycor fuel filter, a preluber that runs prior to starting the engine and a crankcase vent filter to keep the engine box clean.  Our friends Rick and Judy at Latanick (latanickequipment.com) fabricated the new stainless steel motor mounts and Jim Zima of Great Lakes Diesel (greatlakesdieselmarine.com) installed the diesel and the generator with Bryan's help.

Old engine, probably 6000 engine-hours

New Westerbeke 108 HP diesel engine and 5 KW Generator

Looking down into the engine compartment from the cockpit - Bryan is facing aft and the generator is right below him.

Our engine compartment has easy access on both sides by removing the side panels.