I love this cooler weather and not being stuck in the office with the air conditioner on. A bit of fresh air does the soul good! I was out in the yard trying to catch a good photo of this blue heron but he kept matching pace with me to avoid letting me get close. He never took off but just moved faster when I did — he must have had eyes in the back of his head or just acute senses. After spending most of the summer getting the outboard on this Bristol Skiff right (albeit a few minutes at a time), we are now stripping the varnish on the rails and getting a fresh finish on those. I can’t help thinking there must be a reason why this is a priority all of a sudden.

I had brought up the noise on the Legacy yesterday. In addition to the insulation being deficient, they determined that was only a small part of the problem. After getting the hatches out of the boat they noticed the beams holding the hatches in place flex about an inch and a half. Also, the little step they are attached to is also flexing. The result is that when the hatches are in there is a large gap that doesn’t get sealed which allows engine noise to escape. For some reason these beams are fiberglass (or maybe even plastic). As you know, an I-beam is only strong if installed in the right axis.

As you can see in the photo above, we cut the ladder which used to hang from this weak point and used it as a support. This tubing is very strong and should take care of that end. Today we are adding more supports to the rest of the beams. Then we are going to put insulation in the “gully” of the hatch to seal against the beams. This should cut down on the noise considerably.

We should be sea-trialing this tomorrow to see what a difference it makes.

Trawler Fest

We will be exhibiting 3 Grand Banks at Trawler Fest in Baltimore on Sept. 27–30. You’ll be able to see some of the work we have done on these boat.  Come and see us there! (well, not all of us 🙂 )