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Child Item

Cruiser restoration and wheelchair adaption

fergal.b

So here she is my next little project

she is a Richardson Roving Gem that I hope to convert to take the wheelchair, I'm going to need all the help I can get with this so feel free to offer what you have :rolleyes: I'm going to try and get her moved to Skerries and see if I can pick up a trailer to back her into a driveway as it's too tight to have a crane lift her in. So let me know what you think or any ideas you have. I must be mad

After a bit of a power wash

Inside all stripped out now I have a blank canvas.

This is what she looked like back in the 70's at least the new TV won't take up as much room:)

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fergal.b

Got a bit of work done on her yesterday, removing the panels was a real pain as they are held in by the window frames so they all have to be loosened off.

I put in a few braces getting ready for lift out with so much of the superstructure taken out they will give a bit of support .

As all the electrics were summered for so long I had to remove all the pumps, here I'm taking out the toilet waste pump I'm sure you would have all jumped at the chance to give me a hand with this :eek: as the aroma was something to behold

Toilet, shower and water.

Not looking great but I'll see what I can do.

And at last I found her a suitable new home for the next year

neris

Where did you geta plac to put her?

fergal.b

neris wrote: »

Where did you geta plac to put her?

Michael Sweetmans country gardens.

neris

at least theres a punch bag there which you,ll probably get good use out of

fergal.b

Ready

Steady

Go :[

URL=http://s753.photobucket.com/user/fergalbutler/media/Roving gem 1/Roving gem/20160511_162737_zpsjnikbu0g.jpg.html]

[/URL]

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fergal.b

Arrived safe and sound.

Have her all stripped out now so tomorrow I will power wash her out should be a nice clean job :eek:

fergal.b

Lovely day today spent with a bucket and sponge taking out the oil, crap and water out of the bilge, my knees are killing me from kneeling on the timbers and my back is broke from bending over, I'm getting too old for this crap

Balfey1972

Fergal,

You probably have used it before but dishwasher liquid mixed with hot water is great for removing the oil and grunge. We are nearly finished a refurb and there was about an inch of oil, dirt, sand and gunk which smelt woeful. It is as good as bilgex and a fraction of the price. leave it on for 20 mins, for the awkward areas use a hand spray bottle. Also used a hand steamer to remove the awkward areas after apply the dishwasher solution. leaves a nice lemon smell also !!.

fergal.b

Worked on the engine today and removed all the oil it came out white so still a bit of water in it.

Also had to strip down the starter as it was full of crap and not turning over.

It took a lot of bleeding to fill up the water trap and filter they were also full of gunk so I just cleaned them up with diesel and put them back as I'm just going to flush the engine with old waste oil to get any water that might be left before I put the new filters on. There was a bit of noise from the shaft but I think it's just dry cuttles bearings.

It's alive

but nothing like a V8

copper12

I’m jealous

All the room you have’ to work on it.
Sounds good to me’ you could be right about the cutlass bearing; repack and a little grease and your good to go.
I presume it ran ok before it was submerged

Donie75

You need to get a wet & dry vacuum cleaner. I bought a €50 Karcher one and it's great for cleaning out the bilge. Well worth it. Aldi/Lidl do them too sometimes.

Daibheid

The hull looks very well built and well finished in areas a customer was never expected to see. That diesel sounds very sweet, not too many hours on it.
It's good to be starting out with the basics right!

Would you consider glassing in some underfloor chambers for buoyancy and floor support? It could add a lot of rigidity to the hull if you had to have to carve bits out of the gunn'ls for the lift and at least some insurance against another sinking.

neris

Who had the hi-ab to lift her? Need a hi-ab to lift my yoke to drop the keel off her

fergal.b

neris wrote: »

Who had the hi-ab to lift her? Need a hi-ab to lift my yoke to drop the keel off her

I used Kennedy Haulage http://www.kennedyhaulage.ie/ they know what they are doing and are not bad on price.

.

gctest50

http://truckandcranehire.com/

fergal.b

Daibheid wrote: »

The hull looks very well built and well finished in areas a customer was never expected to see. That diesel sounds very sweet, not too many hours on it.
It's good to be starting out with the basics right!

Would you consider glassing in some underfloor chambers for buoyancy and floor support? It could add a lot of rigidity to the hull if you had to have to carve bits out of the gunn'ls for the lift and at least some insurance against another sinking.

Yep I will be glassing in extra supports as the electric wheelchairs have a bit of weight to them and I will try and make her as unsinkable as possible, might even use blow up beds

fergal.b

New timbers and extra support where needed. I also cut a wider doorway. into the cabin.

Removed the side partitions and it looks a lot bigger now.

Big thanks to Mike Clinton of Clinton Marine for giving me this tilt trim unit It should do the job just fine, just have a bit of figuring out to do on building the lift it will be something like a motor bike lift.

fergal.b

Busy week started off stripping out the main cab removing the roof and side panels, I'm not a big fan of rusty flat head screws and boy was there some amount of them.

Made a mockup of the wheelchair lift and stripped down the tilt trim.

Cut out some of the floor joists to do a test fitting and to make sure I have my levels right.

Gave the cabin a lick of paint just tio tidy it up a bit I just used the paint left over from the canoe.

Ready to start fitting out and another big thanks for the donation of plywood from a secret admirer.

copper12

You are absolute flying, you enthusiasm knows no bounds, it’s even rubbing of on me.
Great credit to you,
I hope it turns out exactly as you hope it will.
If it doesn’t it won’t be for the want of trying.
I wish I could offer some help’ even if it’s only holding the dopey end of the measuring tape.:P
Looking forward to seeing the end product

fergal.b

copper12 wrote: »

You are absolute flying, you enthusiasm knows no bounds, it’s even rubbing of on me.
Great credit to you,
I hope it turns out exactly as you hope it will.
If it doesn’t it won’t be for the want of trying.
I wish I could offer some help’ even if it’s only holding the dopey end of the measuring tape.:P
Looking forward to seeing the end product

Cheers but I think you have enough on your plate

although I could do with someone holding the tape for me

12936568_10154104767703464_2441538215374710117_n_zpskdy9azxu.jpg

daveville30

Have you fixed where she was leaking? Your putting me to shame took me 3 years to fit out an 18foot bare hull.

fergal.b

daveville30 wrote: »

Have you fixed where she was leaking? Your putting me to shame took me 3 years to fit out an 18foot bare hull.

Yep that was repaired by the marina after they lifted her.

.

fergal.b

I have been spending a bit of time stripping the engine you may know I like my engines clean and shiny

Still a bit of water in the oil so another good clean and more new oil.

Sanding it all down I found the original green paint so I went with that.

Thats better.

snowwolf

Fergal you are flying along with that boat you will have it in the water in no time at the rate your going .

Yawlboy

Hi Fergal,

Did you do all the work to the engine with it in place?

fergal.b

Yawlboy wrote: »

Hi Fergal,

Did you do all the work to the engine with it in place?

Yep I'm bendy enough to get under the floor joists

fergal.b

Today I cleaned out the fuel tank and yep thats the diesel that came out of the bottom :eek:

I also got some of the flooring done and coated in epoxy.

Nothing is fixed down yet as I still have the heating and some wiring to do but it's nice to have somewhere to stand instead of walking on beams all the time.

I had a surprise visit from JamesM and his donation is sure to keep me pointed in the right direction

very much appreciated, I do like the old school you can never trust that electrified stuff

fergal.b

So this week I removed the two back windows and filled them in with plywood that was taken from the ceiling

these will be coated in fibreglass cloth to seal them up.

The doors and side windows I'm going to make should make up for the loss of the windows.

13323991_10204605742941873_1487479962_o_zpsx5xwkgzu.jpg

I did a bit more of the flooring.

And a bit of rewiring.

I do like getting boxes of the postman:D I did look at a few of these secondhand they were going for around €350 without any fittings so I felt it would be better to buy a new full kit. I got this eberspacher D2 diesel night heater on eBay for under €700 about half the price they are here.

fergal.b

I do love a bit of bargain hunting

got a nice bit of rubber back carpet.

fergal.b

Glastron sold I am now landlocked

but at least I was able to buy a load of mhogany for the doors and side panels , a big thanks to Brendan Lawless for offering to plane them down for me and put them togeather it would have taken me forever to do it with the hand plane. If you are into your nautical stuff check out Brendans classic boat builders chairs they are amazing. http://brendanlawlessfurniture.com/