Building The Vera Cruise

[mrintense]

Thanks Jim,

I have read this before and it's part of what is driving me to go to the trouble to make this small passageway for the fuel line. There will be no fittings inside the passageway, only a run of hose. it is simply there to isolate the fuel line from the electrical in the same compartment. All the connections will be at the fuel tank or in the lower center motorwell compartment. That area is also isolated from any electrical and is vented as well.

I am considering placing a small access panel on the top of this passage way, but the area is hard to get to and I would almost certainly need to use a mirror to do any inspecting. The forward end of the passageway has good access so if need be, I can disconnect the fuel line and pull it out through that end. This was part of the thinking when designing this.

[Milhouse]

Carl that is great, the requirement says that pulling the fuel line out is an acceptable solution. Are you using A1 fuel line as well?

[denbrlr]

Carl,

I just got caught up with your thread. Things are really coming along nicely and looking great

Lee

[mrintense]

Thanks Jim and Lee,


Yes Jim, I have the A1 fuel hose ready and waiting. The fuel hose passageway is taking a bit of time to complete. I will have photos of the entire section in a few days.

[DrBryanJ]

Carl: I used pvc electrical conduit to protect my fuel line, and make it easier to run behind my carling. I think that would work to run through the battery compartment and isolate the fuel line.

[mrintense]

Bryan, I considered PVC conduit but in my case, the fuel hose has to transition to different levels, so I wanted to make it possible to have at least limited access to the hose in case there was difficulty putting the hose in at a later date.

With that thought in mind, I have pictures of what I ended up doing for this. It's not the prettiest work, but it is functional. There's a few things I still want to do, like add cushioned clamps at the hole locations to keep the hose from chafing, but it's mostly done.

The hose will be connected to the fuel tank and motor at a later date, I am simply running the hose for now.

Here is the routing before installing the passageway. Next post will have pics of after the passageway is installed.

The hose will eventually go through the frames , but this shows where it enters the compartment.

Traveling around the aft end of the compartment before diving into the lower compartment passageway.

Passing throw the lower compartment into the center compartment.

[mrintense]

Here are the remainder of the pics

This is where the hose ends up (under the motor installation)

[chugalug]

i'd be concerned if the hose developed a kink from sitting on the ply edge.might want to put support under middle of hose or rasp off edge under the hose.

[mrintense]

i'd be concerned if the hose developed a kink from sitting on the ply edge.might want to put support under middle of hose or rasp off edge under the hose.

The pictures don't show cushioned clamps that will be added as soon as I receive them. I did chamfer the edges of the holes and smooth them out. The hole going through the horizontal floor of the upper compartment is actually a slot , rather than a simple hole. This was more to make it easier to get a hose through here in the future, but it does require less of a transition for the hose.

[mrintense]

"Slowly I turn, Step By Step, Inch By INch"

That describes the latest work to a "T". I am adding various electrical bits and the fuel hose. That's requiring some minor epoxy work to add mounting pads for the clamps I need to restrain everything. The cold weather has slowed that down as well. But she's getting there.

[hoodman]

Carl, I ended up getting some five minute epoxy from Raka near the "end" of my build. Used it to attach various bits and bobs that I didn't want to take a whole day to cure. You can count on a pretty good hard cure in about an hour. You can work with this stuff in the cold. Just heat the area for about an hour after your glue ups.

[Roberta]

Hobby shops will also sell 5 minute epoxies. They are strong. Just a short working time.

Roberta

[mrintense]

I occasionally use the quicker epoxies if it's not something I am worried much about structurally.


So after more than a week fitting minor parts, thinking about things, dealing with a lot of work stuff, waiting on paint to dry and grass to grow

I have started installing the fuel system. Not a lot just yet, but its a start. One thing I did find out is that I wish I had designed the center motorwell compartment a bit taller. It's difficult for me to get in there to do stuff. This is where the fuel / water separator and primer bulb will be located as well as access to the lower motor mounting bolts. There are also going to be two electrical conduits running through the upper part.

[mrintense]

Here's some more pics.

[mrintense]

Well, I just have one thing to say. Nothing EVER better break on this dang boat because I am getting sick and tired of things being harder than they should be to do!!!!!

INstall a bow eye, easy right? Perhaps on some boats. On mine, nope. It took me about 5 years to find a bow eye long enough to go through the stem, but guess what. It was only flush on the inside when I put it in. Ugh! Now we are talking about a fairly restricted area on my boat because of the V berth and because the holes are in a small cubby I built in the very bow.


Using a punch and with great difficulty, I knocked the bow eye back out enough to do some counterboring. Did I mention it had butyl tape on the threads! Counterboring could not be accomplished using my electric drill because there wasn't enough room. Fortunately, I just purchased a really nice battery powered Bosch angle drill which did fit.

I did the counterboring but I had not yet fully charged the battery on this new tool, so the last counterbore was a little harder, but I persisted and eventually got it done.

Next, connect the counterbores using a multi tool and knock ou the parts using a chisel and hammer. Remember, all of this while lying across the V berth (in the dark) and reaching into the cubby. Finally encapsulation of the wood.

So I still have to install the bow eye tomorrow after the epoxy has cured. I really should have started building this boat when I was 10 years old!!!

Hopefully this provides you all with a bit of a chuckle. I can laugh about it now, but my mood was considerably different an hour ago.