The dust has settled and Miss P is starting to look like her "old-self". With fresh varnish in the helm, and new everything; engines, headliner, wallpaper, wood flooring, curtains and shag carpets through-out, she's looking as good as the day she was first launched, 41 years ago.
The flooring has allowed the hatches (pictured here before they are covered) to be accessed at any time. Shag throw rugs are being used to cover the main engine hatches, and in the aft cabin, which have been trimmed in the dark oak.
The new headliner has been made in sections of removable panels, there will be thin strips of white wood installed to keep them in position. Like the carpets, wall to wall stretched fabric stapled up made it impossible to gain access anywhere. With the new panels, each section can be dropped down in minutes, exposing wiring runs and allowing thru-deck fittings to be re-sealed, and electronics replaced in the years to come.
G the machinist from Pacific Parts who rebuilt the engines has been busy in the bilges on the weekends doing the cooling side and helping align the engines to the shafts. I joked with him this morning that they are his engines, in Doug's boat.
He's agreed to be the motor man for Miss P ongoing. He will grow old looking after our gal. The original engines ran for 40 years! With the re-builder being responsible for future servicing and the installation of a fresh water flush kit these should go for 50 more!
The upholstery is back from Jott Industries and they have done a cracker of a job! Adding a small head-roll to the bench and some automotive style piping to the helm seats. The automotive styling we borrowed was not from a car, instead it was taken from the 1968 19' Commander's seats - undoubtedly influenced at the time by Detroit.
Props On! and Off!
Everything was going great, until the resident prop polisher and boatyard's old salt - Don - discovered that they were not a matched set. The prop shop had not polished the barrel of the prop and had used a grinder to clean the blades. Don massages the props with emery paper and doesn't loose a gram of the bronze. Using a grinder to polish a prop he thinks is murder and should be a capital offense. Not to clean the body of the prop - "what kind of prop shop does that!" demands the now cranky Don.
After doing the first, he moved to the second and within minutes he was in a flap - the props don't match! I heard shouted from the stern. When he sanded down the second barrel it was confirmed the two props were a mismatch and somewhere along the line Paramount's two sets of props were mixed-up and one from each pair were on the boat.
If Don didn't give the props the extra care, we would have missed this. In fact we had. They were back on Paramount.
We could have spent the next year trying to figure out what and where the difference was - she might have pulled to one side, she might have vibrated on one side - and we would have checked everything, transmissions, compression and still scratched our heads!
Using the latest $4000. laser tool for aligning the shafts was a solution that ensured true alignment for the very first time for Miss P.
Dr. Doug discovered the engine stringers were too high and everything after that had been forced - right down the shaft. It was almost impossible to turn the props by hand. Doug took 1/2" off the top off the stringers to allow the engine to sit lower and be adjusted up or down.
With the laser in the shaft-log pointed back, the struts could all be shimmed and aligned dead centre. Tissue paper was stretched over the strut covering the cutlass bearing, the laser was then shot through allowing for an exact centre right the way back through the three struts. It was then shot at the engine and the dead-centre of the coupler was found and the engine mounts moved to facilitate the feeler gauge checking for the correct and perfect alignment.
We should be getting some strong winds in the next few days. I'm hoping to see these props turning in the wind.
