Pre-launch activity

With the registration in hand, we settled on June 24th for the launch at our condo at Lake of the Ozarks.  Some friends at the lake that have a boat are also planning to be there and they will accompany our trip from the launching ramp to our condo, just in case.

There are still lots of things I want to do to the boat, so I went on a crash course of activity in hopes of getting most of them done.  It will be much harder to work on the boat once at the lake since it will be kept in a slip and lift at the lake, I won't be near all my tools and supplies.

Since we want to anchor in coves and go swimming, the first order of business was a ladder. I bought a fold-down stainless steel ladder, but it needed to be bolted through the transom.  It also had to go on the port side since the speedometer pitot tube is on the starboard side.  The port side access to the transom is blocked by the gas tank, so I had a challenge.

The tank is not removable or even movable due to the tight fit.  So, I decided to put an access hole in the motor well. Using scrap plywood I determined I needed a 3.5" hole to get my hand in for any reasonable access.

All I had to do was be able to place washers and start four nuts.  The two closer to the hole were easy.  The further ones I could not reach, so I had rig a little extender to position both pieces so I could start the threading.  I luckily hit it right on the first attempt and didn't drop anything.  I then could get a wrench in there and tighten it all up.  I now know what endoscopic surgery must be like. I also made a rounded square cover plate out of 1/4" plywood to cover the hole.

I cut about 1.5" off the top of the ladder to get it hang more vertical since the transom tilts at 12 degrees.  It's a pretty tiny ladder so it will be interesting to see how we can manage to use it in practice.

I then mounted some hatch trim as a poor man's transom band.  A true transom band is a bit wider and matched to the curve of the hull and transom.  This is just approximate, but it looks OK in my book.

I also wanted to paint the lower unit of the 1975 Merc I had acquired since it was pretty faded.  I did a quick sanding and clean up job and spray painted the lower unit.  I didn't have time to clean and mask the mounting bracket, etc. so they are still a bit faded. 

Finally, the admiral wanted the boat blessed. Help from a higher power is always a good thing, so Father Chuck from our parish came over for an official blessing.  The church has an actual boat blessing that I think was intended for working boats but he adapted it for ours.  If the epoxy and plywood start to fail I'm counting on a little divine intervention.  Amen.

Next up is the launch!  (It actually took place but you'll have to wait for the post.)