Tonight’s Magic Brock Adventure…
…begins with a hole in the fuel tank…
…and a wicked cute smile from the captain…
…and then the drilling commences. I hid upstairs from the ungodly noises.
We had to move all the fuel from one tank into the other and now Katherine Jane is heeled over pretty hard to starboard. It’s very “Poseidon Adventure” climbing up the stairs and hanging from the walls.
A few weeks ago, we turned KJ around in her slip and I thought that was really weird and disorienting. Wasn’t nuthin’ compared to being on her side. I think the hardest part for my brain is the “not moving” part. On some level, I keep expecting her to lean back over on the other side of the wave. The angle is not the freaky part – it’s the lack of movement WITH the angle.
So it goes a lot like this: I’m fine. I’m dizzy. I’m fine. I can’t stand up. I’m fine. Hold onto something. I’m fine. Are we done yet?
We’re adding a fuel fill and a fuel vent to the port tank so that we can fuel at a much faster rate without the Geyser of Diesel effect that we have now. Anybody remember a few years ago when I got a faceful of diesel the very first time we put fuel in KJ? I kept thinking it must have been my fault, something I did wrong, heck, I don’t even know anything about boats after all. Turns out it wasn’t my fault at all.
The vent for the 1500 gallon fuel tanks is one 3/8″ copper pipe. High volume of liquid in…air goes where?
It only took fuel spraying up at Brock’s shirt once before it was decided that we would be fixing that problem, once and for all.
Enter tonight’s festivities.
There were many pieces to choose from.
And a disappearing Brock.
Well, almost. I could still see his knees as he stood in a garbage bag inside the tank. Which did fail slightly and left him a little diesel-y. We’ll just be throwing the pants out, thank you very much.
What is it with boys and their quirks? At 8:10, as he broke the second drill bit, I asked him if he wanted me to run to the local hardware store to pick up a few more just in case. After all, the tank is made of 5/16 steel. And the Home Depot does close at 9:00. No, no, don’t think I’ll need it, he says.
At 8:40, he breaks the last drill bit with two holes left to drill. Suddenly, the ball is in my court. I dash out the door, zoom down to the store, arrive with 7 minutes to spare.
I took pictures of him by just shoving the camera through the hole and aiming in the direction it seemed he was likely facing. You can see the new fill spout on the interior of the tank on the left side.
Finally, at the end:
Finished cam-locks! (Well, they’ll need paint and clean-up, but they are operational!) So now we’ll be able to take on fuel much more quickly and safely, with less risk of those pesky EPA reports and fines. And we’ll also be able to get fuel at more commercial places with higher gpm requirements, which translates to saving money over the course of a 3,000 gallon fill.
Back to level now, please.
experience
"Slightly claustrophobic"? If he was well and truly that you'd never get him in there! One can't help be such to a degree by doing such a wicked chore. Marry that man. Stat!
LOL, Rob – you always have a good story! Brock is slightly claustrophobic, so I kept a very good eye on him – no locking him in the dark! I offered him a fan for fresh air ventilation, kept talking to him to assess how he was doing; heck, I even offered to crawl in and do it myself. In retrospect it was good that he did it, as there was some drilling from the inside of the tank that might have been hard with my height and my girl arms!T&M;, the boat really is in great shape. We've never had to touch the seams; she's as solid as when she was made. I asked Brock what he thought they had used, but he didn't know and wasn't inclined to go poking around to find out.We didn't actually use the Epifanes, although Brock has used it before with good success. We used "Tufshield" and so far, so good. We'll see how it does over the winter and I'll let you know!I got pretty lucky with my "starter boat" – she's quite solid.
Hey its nice finding you too! I'm ravenously reading your blog and learning all kinds of things. Will soon use the Top Secret epoxy and the epifanes you recommend. One question I have is what do you guys use to seal your hull plank seams. You boat looks flawless, no seam cracking. Is that just on the pics or does it really look "like steel"?
Wow my hero! What a great guy. When I was younger (Much) I wanted to be like Superman now as I get more sensible, stable, old and silly, I wan`t to be like Brock. You have a good one there you, lucky lady! (as I`m sure you know)seriously what a great job and certainly not a nice one for Brock either, bless him.I had a commercial foray into a long (coasters) tank which wasn`t too high, about three feet, and had horizintal baffles in it so I had to climb along and over and under the baffles. when I got to the end where I was supposed to attach the backing nut gasket and sealant the engineers shut the access plate and left me in total darkness! I tried to find my way back but got disorientated by the baffles always thinking that I was at a side and not a lower baffle! boy was I frightened and it seemed like hours before they let me out when in fact I`m sure it was only actually minutes, Bast*rds :o))
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