We’re seeing orange these days. You guys will cut to the final scene here, getting the new transom ready for the motor install.

That’s actually the second paint job. Using Ravenswing’s int’l orange Awlgrip was not even close on color matching. Looked kinda silly to have a different color tail. So the nearby Kelly Moore paint store made a decent match with their toughest enamel, then we also sprayed three layers of automotive clear coat. It’ll do, and if we like this boat, it’s going to need a pro repaint someday anyway :)

Ok, just above the garage doors are the usual big header beams. I’ve bolted on a sturdy piece of aluminum angle with a hole big enough for a huge shackle.

That’s our anchor point for my hillbilly chainhoisting adventures.

No problem, except I noticed a bit of oil leaking from the lower unit. Hmmm, it was serviced and hasn’t been run since. That’ll need investigating before we launch :(. On to the install! The boat was staged just outside the garage for a quick swap of the two trailers, to minimize ‘hang time’ of the motor in the garage doorway.

We sized the well expecting to find an inline 4 cyl motor, which are quite narrow. Ended up with a wide body V4, so when it’s tilted up, the side to side range is limited. Not a problem, but before I hooked up the steering it flopped over and scratched the fresh paint, of course. Oh well.

The motor fits this boat really well, and as RickWS says, it’s all going to look ‘period correct’.

It’s funny how the very easy stuff ends up taking forever. This is the new control box that came with the motor.

Actually, that’s the guts of it that none of us should be seeing. It’s a universal retrofit unit; nothing is labeled and i could find no instructions. The gear selector wasn’t moving and there are many holes / different combos of ways to set it up. This turned in to a six hour ordeal, chasing down ball and roller bearings that weren’t seating well, getting throttle but no gear, then vice versa. And on about the ninth try of various little configuration choices, it all suddenly worked. Phew. It’s averaging upper 90’s here this week, so I was a sweat drenched cussing fool.

After showering and calming down, we got the dashboard going.

Today was wiring day, and this went smoothly.

It’s a good mix of old and new. The 50 year old switches cleaned up very well, but the fuse holders shattered as I twisted off their caps to check fuses. Things that were reused all got proper cleanup.

Learned from a radio guy in Puerto Vallarta to smear Vaseline on the electrical connections, to fight marine corrosion. But because this is a fresh water inland boat, I didn’t do full heat shrink protection on all connectors. It’s more like a factory wiring job, vs. our hard core offshore job on Ravenswing.

We’ve also spent some time cleaning up the shiny bits, and I look forward to the weekend when hopefully we’ll be adding back a bit of bling. Inspired by the amazing detailing we saw in MX of Cam & Vicky’s big tri. We all watched the Marina LaCruz guys spend three+ days polishing all that metalwork and it looked fantastic.

Also in the mix last week was retrieving boat #5 of the Five Little Boats odyssey, doing some cleanup, and getting it quickly moved to a new home. I’m thrilled that 14 yr old Liam up in Lake County is really in to sailing and needed more than his family’s Capri 13. This Coronado 15 will keep him and a friend busy, with its racing hull and double hike-out trapezes. I had to say no to the two senior citizen guys that wanted it – they need a mellower O’Day or similar! The faded red C-15 only stayed in our driveway 6 days. That’s pretty good movement for a scrounger like me.

Well, I just went back outside after dark to check the day’s work. All the electrics work. Motor key kicks over, cell phone (USB) charger good, horn – check, bilge pump, check. The last switch … you guys can see for yourselves :)