Island Time

This install is a mess, but it's accessible and pretty straight forward to fix. The motor itself looks like some gaskets have been poorly dealt with, with what appears to be a gasket shelac dribbled out. Personally I'd pull off all the stupidly placed ancillaries, and relocate more sensibly so a decent engine cover, with sound insulation can be used, and minimum possible waste of cabin space. But 1st, get a kit and rebuild the water pump, clean the engine with degreaser, then start it and locate the oil leak, likely to be a poor gasket seal dripping on a rotating part is all, or maybe an

Creaking and stiffness can also be if it's self lubricating plastic bearings and some one has greased them. The grease dries out and, as it's doing this, some types of plastics can expand. This can also happen over time with plastic bearings if the wrong plastic has been used - some are not dimensionally stable when they get wet, and can swell sufficiently to make the steering stiff or even seized. But it depends on the rudder stock and bearing design..... If plastic bearings are used, they should be Vesconite or similar.

Post a photo...

Outboards on the transom can work ok for manoeuvring in sheltered waters. They have some problems in a chop and pushing against wind and tide. The first is that they can lift the prop from the water if not mounted pretty low, as the ends of the boat tend to see-saw over waves. They are not rev governed and will over rev if this happens. Next is prop size. A small outboard cannot spin a prop of the size that the diesel will - it simply doesn’t have the torque. Torque is what pushes thru the waves/tide/wind etc. this is why the boat was designed for a diesel. So, if it were me, and

It'll most likely be fine. The dipstick probably floats - even in diesel. Its unlikely to block the tank outlet either way. What's the tank made of? Are you certain the tank has no access ports? ( used for cleaning). If not, and access allows, I'd put one in, then reach in and get the dipstick!

all done and working. The rudder went back on in the water more easily than expected. This is how we did it; Pin thru the top of the rudder shaft, no overlap, so the shaft can still be fed thru the bearings. Pin an interference fit, so it does not move. Rope loop on the pin, then thru the water, thru the rudder tube, tied off so I don't lose it! Another line fed thru the loop, doubled so it can be removed when needed. Shorten the lines so only about 1m of slack... Push the rudder off the dock by boat. With the stock held at about a meter below the surface, the rudde

Well, done. Reinstall tomorrow. The cut in the side panel was V'd with a grinder, 2 x 400oz bi-axial cloth, faired, whole rudder covered with 2x 10oz boat cloth, faired again, 3 coats epoxy barrier coat. Just antifouling to go in this pic. Install will be in water. We'll see how that goes!

Supercheap Auto... several 6x9s

You might like to read this page https://www.marinestereo.com/Fusion-Speakers-vs-JL-Audio.html "Fusion is a Lambo, JL Audio is a Rolls" The top end JL Audio is hands down the best stereo I've ever heard, but it's spendy!

There are several different ranges available. Circa $600 + GST for 6.5 inch M6 range pair. No stock in NZ, have to get from Ausy. Low stock (maybe that means none) there as well....

They are OK. Not level with B&G..... But they do work

In my experience the winch handle devices are not much use. My neighbour has one, and when he saw my ultimate cranker, he went and ordered one. No comparison with the one he had. My ultimite cranker will lift me to the masthead (circa 82kg, about 16m ) 3x on one batt.

Navico are the Agents for JL Audio here in NZ. That means either mattm (see above) or me can provide you with pricing etc. The biggest JL Audio system I've done was 16 Speakers, 8 amps, and could draw up to 125A! WAY too loud for me to get anywhere near on high volume, the the owner loved it! Audio is NOT my strongest point...

Milwaukee M28 with the ultimate cranker chuck replacement bit... Now hard to find, the M28 range is discontinued. However you could buy the M18 replacement and one of these... https://www.ebay.com/itm/233961905681

Adhesive Tech, foaming Epoxy...

https://www.gofish.co.nz/3x8x4mm-precision-shielded-ss-fishing-reel-bearing.html

Well, the result was not perfect. I should have drilled a few holes thru the top skin, as the foam trapped some air in there, and made 2 quite large voids (found with the hammer test). Now drilled the holes (DOH! would have been way better before) and had to inject some epoxy to fill them. Extra weight that's not needed . Anyway, solid now. The foam is very tough - if you hit it with a hammer, it leaves a small mark. I think the foam is a good solution, but definitely needs a breather at the top point to allow the air out! The foam, unlike urethane, does not produce lots of pressure, and

And now foamed the last bit, thickened epoxy on the frames, clamped up. It's beginning to come out the seams as expected.

Next stage, most of the foam done, decided to pour, and roughly shape, as its pretty thick and I wasn't certain it would fill the space without voids around the tangs and edges. Several manual pours, with brush/spatula to push into all corners. The idea is to get it close to shape, then paint on some more, clamp on the side panel, and let the foam ooze out the seams...

Once for a really badly weathered acrylic compass dome I used wet and dry sandpaper. Started with 400, worked down to 1200 (or maybe finer, it was a while back) and eventually to cutting compound and polish. Came up like new.

And bedded, then glassed... next, when this is gone off, the first of the pourable foam, just to see how that goes. Then side on the rudder, then fill with pourable epoxy foam. It'll be a couple of days....

Oh, just realized you can't see the top tang in that pic, it's inside the top of the rudder...

Rudder stock back this morning

I'll have a look, but it can be ordered as a spare part....

One of these works great