Friday, December 2, 2011

November Update

Not a whole lot has happened on the boat recently.  I have a guy lined up to do some work on it but trying to find a time when he is available has been tricky.

One thing I don't think I have touched on is the importance of documentation.  Photos, notes, videos, etc.

When I first began disassembling the motor, thinking it was just the heads that needed replacement, I didn't do a  good job of documenting.  We took off the heads there were some bolts and an hold gasket.  Those few things became a larger assortment of bolts.  What went where?  What is this?  What is that?  Trust me... document.

Luckily some items I put in a zip lock bag and labelled it.  This has been helpful even on parts I intended to replace.  Its not easy to find 30+ year old bolt kits so you find yourself hunting around for certain sized bolts at your local hardware store and its helpful to have a reference.

Even keeping old parts is helpful.  I wrote down the part number of a few items but found myself looking at the parts and comparing them to online pictures to be sure I actually got the correct item.  Some part numbers have different versions/revisions.  Fuel pump is a good example.

Lastly, never underestimate what you should take a picture of.  When I notice some rot on the helm seat I took it out to fix it and the rot was bad enough the seat fell apart.  Since I didn't have good reference photos I couldn't figure out how to get the back seats to work like the original one did.  Ultimately, I decided to buy a new helm seat rather than struggle with recreating the broken one.

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