Repairing Hunter 40 damage from Hurricane Matthew

[williamtl]

Before the weather stuff hijacks one of my favorite threads, I’d like to throw a quick PSA for a new sub forum on, can you guess, bet you can’t, ... it’s on weather! Please join in the discussion there on all things weather. It’s under Forums for all owners.

 

[Kermit]

You can thank me for the storm staying away. I bought a generator last year. Haven’t needed it since. Bought a window a/c unit today just in case we end up needing the generator. I doubt we’ll EVER need either one. I’m glad to help the good people of my home state by buying statewide power-outage insurance.

 

[Hayden Watson]

Mark, did you make it through Flo alright?

 

[B757Captain]

Mark, did you make it through Flo alright?

Yep, Flo turned into a big nothing-burger for us, thankfully! Still, a little too close for comfort but we pretty much new we were out of the woods about 3 days before it made landfall. I still stick by my earlier assessment that the official statements (and hype!) on Flo didn't match. Don't know why but if I was a conspiracy theorist I'd have a few ideas . I do like that the Weather Channel got busted over-hyping the storm.

Even so, this is now three years with either a direct hit, a sideswipe or a close call in an area that historically doesn't see much in the way of hurricanes or tropical storms. I don't know if that means the long cycle has turned, is turning, we just had some bad luck, or I'm imagining things! We'll see.

Cheers,

Mark

 

[B757Captain]

You can thank me for the storm staying away. I bought a generator last year. Haven’t needed it since. Bought a window a/c unit today just in case we end up needing the generator. I doubt we’ll EVER need either one. I’m glad to help the good people of my home state by buying statewide power-outage insurance.

Thanks Kermie!

You guys might have gotten more rain than we did!

 

[B757Captain]

Catching up:

Konnichi-wa gents!

As you have probably guessed I'm back in Japan now. In fact, I'm sitting in the hotel in Saga (my favorite Japanese hurricane hole ) on a layover. Thankfully no weather this time!

This last trip home turned into a goat-rope and I didn't get much done. Day 1 arrival started the countdown for the arrival of Florence, day before departure was when Flo passed by so she took a lot of the wind out of my sails for getting some work accomplished. As I remember from my list from July, I had several things on the to-do list: (not in order!)

1. Cleanup and a search for all the necessary tools, parts and pieces I put away (and then subsequently forgot where they were put!)
2. Build the cabinet for the new fridge
3. Build the bulkhead where the electrics will go and build the port settee and battery boxes
4. Provide beers to one of the yard techs here and get some opinions on how to increase the volume of the anchor locker
5. Tear into and find that annoying rattle/random banging in the rear suspension on the Vette
(I cheated, I copied/pasted from my previous post )

So, how much did I get done? I'll spend the next few days getting you guys caught up. So, first item (not in order):

5. The Corvette: back in July I poked, prodded and jiggled everything I could touch. No luck, annoying rattle/random banging still there. I thought it might be bad bushings in the trailing arms - pretty common on these cars - so I pulled them out for inspection. Bad news, the bushings were in great shape. Good news, the bushings were in great shape! Annoying rattle/random banging 1, Mark 0.

I checked all the rest of the suspension and it's in good shape. Good news/bad news cuz that means I can't justify throwing in some really cool go fast racing goodies. Darn. I mean whew! While I was home in July the factory Bose stereo went kaput so add that to the list of things to fix. Fast forward to September. New and greatly updated stereo/GPS, amp, speakers installed, and while I was poking around I had a Eureka! moment and thought for sure I had found - by accident - the source of the rattle. Umm, nope! Still there. Annoying rattle/random banging 2, Mark 0. But cool new tunes. I will win this battle!!

Not on the list, I drove my wife's car home from the airport, took it straight into the garage and replaced the lower ball joints. Plus alignment. And new tires. Nuff said.

I think the picture of this time home is becoming clearer! I did get some boat stuff done though. Stay tuned!

Cheers,

Mark

 

[Captmayhem]

No one, especially you, thought this would be an easy restore! That said, can we get the guy a freakin break here?

 

[markwbird]

No one in the history of ever has needed a personal assistant more than you.

 

[B757Captain]

No one, especially you, thought this would be an easy restore! That said, can we get the guy a freakin break here?

Well, sometimes it pays to be distracted by other things. It can help to refocus. Although, I do seem to have lots of time here in Japan to do just that, so . . . hmmm.

 

[B757Captain]

No one in the history of ever has needed a personal assistant more than you.

Volunteering?

 

[B757Captain]

Working on the list:

So far:

1. Cleanup and a search for all the necessary tools, parts and pieces I put away (and then subsequently forgot where they were put!)
2. Build the cabinet for the new fridge
3. Build the bulkhead where the electrics will go and build the port settee and battery boxes
4. Provide beers to one of the yard techs here and get some opinions on how to increase the volume of the anchor locker
5. Tear into and find that annoying rattle/random banging in the rear suspension on the Vette

Next:

4. The anchor locker: When I was home in July it was over the week of the 4th and all the guys took the week off, so no joy then. This time when I got to the marina they were a**es & elbows busy pulling boats for the hurricane, then after that busy putting said boats back in the water, so still no joy. I'm working up some ideas and I'll share them here soon but I need to look through my pictures to find some good views of the areas I want to work on. More on that soon.

1. Finding tools, parts & pieces: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Pause for breath - Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Deep breath, you can do this. Nope - Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Ohh, my sides hurt!. Focus. Nope - Hahahahahahahaha. Ok, better now. I needed that!

Next up, some actual boat work!

Cheers,

Mark

 

[Captmayhem]

I fear a shadow board THAT YOU USE, my be in your future !

 

[B757Captain]

Actual boat stuff:

The list is getting shorter:

1. Cleanup and a search for all the necessary tools, parts and pieces I put away (and then subsequently forgot where they were put!)
2. Build the cabinet for the new fridge
3. Build the bulkhead where the electrics will go and build the port settee and battery boxes
4. Provide beers to one of the yard techs here and get some opinions on how to increase the volume of the anchor locker
5. Tear into and find that annoying rattle/random banging in the rear suspension on the Vette

I managed to continue with the battery box. This is for the house batteries, the starting battery setup will be added later.

This is where I left off last time:

I got the settee base placed and the batteries mocked up. What you can't see is the stacks of scrap wood under each battery to raise them to the proper height - talk about a delicate balancing act! Try to stack a bunch of scrap and then set a 75 lb. battery on top, times four, without it all toppling like dominos, then find out it needs to be taller, repeat, needs to be even taller, repeat, etc. Took some effort and those batteries get heavy!

With everything in place I took all the measurements and pulled it all apart, then got to building the settee:

Base first, then the top. This piece took some serious measuring, weird angles and undercuts but I got lucky and it fit:

Next up, building the actual battery box.

Cheers,

Mark

 

[B757Captain]

The battery box:

The only way the batteries would all fit together was to line them at an angle. With the batteries measured and all the angles decided, I set up the table saw and cut some wood! Some assembly required - and out to the boat for a test fit:

The sharp-eyed among you will notice that the batteries are angled the wrong way! Yep, I got the box backwards!
Insert a few choice words here! No sweat, I flipped the box over, made the bottom the top and the top the bottom. All fixed! Next up was to mount the box into the settee. I pulled the base out, made some supports so I could get underneath whilst aligning things and cut the opening:

The battery box did need a slight amount of notching at one corner (I figured I would need to do that) but with a good fit, everything comes out again:

There's no way I'm going to let 300 lbs. of batteries hang 6 inches off the deck supported be a little cabinetry so I fabbed up some supports. Using proper engineering, of course - WAG, CTF and TLAR!

One final assembly to check for fit, and the cover made and set in place so I finally have a place to sit in the cabin!

At least for a while, it will all need to come back out for finishing. I'm debating on the finish for the inside of the battery box - I'm not sure it needs glassing, it's plenty strong, and the Fireflys shouldn't leak. I think a few coats of epoxy paint might do, but I'm still undecided.

Cheers,

Mark

 

[Kermit]

“At least for a while, it will all need to come back out for finishing. I'm debating on the finish for the inside of the battery box - I'm not sure it needs glassing, it's plenty strong, and the Fireflys shouldn't leak. I think a few coats of epoxy paint might do, but I'm still undecided.”

I vote for the option that will make for better reading.

 

[jdhohmann]

I have the sister ship to yours. The work required to repair this would be overwhelming for me, especially having too little kids hanging with me. But, I also have insurance, which only costs me 550 a year.. Kudos to you my friend for taking this adventure on, and good luck!!!

 

[Valerio]

How are you join the battery box to the hull?

 

[B757Captain]

“At least for a while, it will all need to come back out for finishing. I'm debating on the finish for the inside of the battery box - I'm not sure it needs glassing, it's plenty strong, and the Fireflys shouldn't leak. I think a few coats of epoxy paint might do, but I'm still undecided.”

I vote for the option that will make for better reading.

Hmmm - how to spice up a battery box?

 

[B757Captain]

I have the sister ship to yours. The work required to repair this would be overwhelming for me, especially having too little kids hanging with me. But, I also have insurance, which only costs me 550 a year.. Kudos to you my friend for taking this adventure on, and good luck!!!

Welcome aboard Jan! If nothing else you get to see what's under the skin, and maybe have a leg up for any repairs or upgrades you want to do.

Cheers,

Mark

 

[B757Captain]

How are you join the battery box to the hull?

After everything is mocked up, painted and/or clear-coated, electrics, plumbing and water tanks are installed, I'll set it in place and secure the supports to the floorboards. For now everything has to come back out (including the bulkhead behind it all) for finishing so I don't want to bolt it down just yet.