So I got the fuel line made up today. 3/8 for part of the run and 1/4 for the rest. My "surplus" tank and my Honda 7.5 wanted different size fuel lines. Thank goodness for fuel filters with multi size nipples!
Ran the outboard for a good 20 minutes at the dock in both forward and reverse. Seems to run well, so should make the couple of miles to my haul out location with no problems.
I was also able to get the centerboard to raise and lower a couple of times, so I know that is in order. Now if I can just drop the mast so I can run new halyards she will be in nasty, but seaworthy condition.
I have read the manual on mast operations, but I am unclear on the side stays. Should I losen them before I attempt to tip the mast aft? It seems the mast will not lift up to tilt back with the side stays at operational tightness.
Even though it has rained hard a few days since I last visited Bottoms Up there was far less water inside the cabin than on my previous visits. I suspect that means some of my leak mitigation is working. It seems most of the water this time was from the hatch being left part way open by the previous owner. It seems he dropped some cushions inside that I had overlooked in the boat house. Sadly he failed to pull the hatch all the way closed, so I had some pumping to do.
I seem to have found another water ingress point. The bow combination light was not sealed at all. I discovered this when I opened it up to figure out why I have no forward running lights. Sadly that is still a mystery, but once I have it sorted you can bet the light is getting sealed. It looks like the light leak was one of two reasons the vberth is destroyed.
The interior has pealing white paint all over, and under that seems to be an off white or light yellow. I am trying to figure out if this is original, and what to do about it.
Obviously it ALL has to go before I do anything. My thought at this point is to repaint the interior with epoxy.
Some of the glassed in wood that runs athwartships is rotten. The only thing I can think to do with it is dry it out, hit it with penetrating epoxy, then sister it. My other choice of course is to cut it out and use it to trace new bulkheads. Thoughts and suggestions are welcomed.
Pretty much the only piece of wood not rotten at all is the mast support! Thank goodness for small things.
Since I am broke and need to restore this boat on the cheap I am thinking of using wood from pallets for the quarter berth, table and the seats. Yes it will add some weight compared to the 1/2 inch ply, but I expect it will hold up and since I have a free source of pallets it should be cheap. I will have to purchase some glue and screws, but that is cheaper than exterior grade plywood!
I also took some photos of the interior. Sadly they are too big to upload. I will shrink them and upload them later. The interior is nasty!