Creeky moves to Chelsea

So I have had a very busy and productive past few weeks, but have not had a lot of down time.  With traveling for work, writing papers for class, and studying for finals (not to mention working on Creeky) I have had my hands pretty full.  I definitely have lots of updates to post, but they may need to wait until school settles down a bit.  Until then, here are some teasers:

Creeky leaves Constitution Marina with lots of help from Brian and my dad (Sebastian the Constitution Marina dock master pictured here with me) 

The extra windy and cold trip up the Mystic River to Admiral's Hill Marina in Chelsea, MA

Creeky's new home

I wish I could say she got there under her own power, but with the clock running out on the patience of Constitution Marina I ended up getting a tow.  Since I still haven't received my coast guard documentation and the boat isn't close to legal I think it was a good move.  We actually had to drive right through a state police boat training that would have probably racked up a few tickets had I not been in tow.  At least that part is done and I can focus on finals for another 2 weeks before shifting it back to Creeky.

Some of the wins along the way were getting the drive shaft run into the v-drive, getting the engine controls set up, and getting the steering mostly figured out.

Some of the challenges still being faced are ordering the steering cable too short and not realizing it until after cutting it in half (eff...) and the direction of thrust being backwards when the transmission is in forwards.  I need to snag some part numbers and serial numbers off of the transmission and v-drive to see what the issue is, but from the preliminary reading I have done it seems like it may be at least somewhat easy to fix.  There's a chance that my model of velvet-drive transmission may allow for being run in reverse full-time, but I doubt it, or at least don't want to risk it.  More details to come...  Stay tuned.

Another step closer to getting Creeky on the move

This weekend was another good one in terms of headway.  Jesse and I got the exhaust fully installed, and a few of his boaty friends introduced me to Ward Marine over in Winthrop, MA.  Awesome!  I also got a bunch of new boat toys to play with in the near future, including a full propane detection and solenoid setup, some sweet LED lights, and some more West Systems epoxy.  Here are a few updates in pictures and videos:

The ridiculously large exhaust riser setup before installation:

The engine control lever box to go on the side of the steering pedestal

Brian helping me install the ludicrously priced Edson bulkhead steerer in the steering pedestal.

The Ural loaded up with the steering pedestal and the beginnings of what will be used to align the pull-pull conduit with the steering quadrant.

Here is a video of the wet exhaust system in action before we installed the flapper.

I also learned of another Creekmore 45 owner located a little further down the east coast in New Jersey.  His name is Tom and he started working on his boat "Cailte" back in 1989 and has been living aboard it since the 90's.  His story is an inspirational one.  He has already provided me with a ton of information on how his boat is set up and I look forward to hearing more about it soon.  

Creeky lives!

So thanks to even more help from my friends I had another really productive weekend aboard Creeky, including my first sleepover on it with Jennilee, who again is the best girlfriend ever.  It went something like this:

• [me]: So, I didn't quite get the head hooked up and pumped out so there is still no toilet on the boat.  If you have to pee you will have to go all the way back to the office or pee off the dock.
• [Jennilee]: That's fine, I love peeing off docks.
• [me]: I also couldn't hook up running water because the faucets are still apparently off for the season.
• [Jennilee]: I hate running water.
• [me]: (as I am moving tools and parts out of the entryway just so we can get past the bottom of the stairs) I also didn't realize how much of a mess everything still was or that I had removed structural parts of the bed earlier, but give me 5 minutes and I'll fix everything.  Or we can just go back to my place and sleep on the boat another time.
• [Jennilee]: Nope, I'll wait.  I want to sleep on the boat.  I'll be reading, let me know when you're done doing whatever you need to do.
• [me]: I love you.

Onto other non-mushy subjects...  My goal for the weekend was to get the boat to a point where it could theoretically be driven.  After fabricating an exhaust riser with a water-cooled inlet using about $200 worth of the largest steel pipe fittings you have ever seen, cutting out room for it to fit, and running some fuel line the engine still wouldn't start...  My uncle Bill and I did some diagnosing and fiddling to see what we were missing and the engine still just turned over but wouldn't catch.  Next, I asked my very boaty friend Dave (who is also my neighbor a few boats down and a marine mechanic) for some advice and then went back to try to work the air out of the fuel rail as he suggested.  Still nothing.  Eff...  So I went back to Dave's boat to annoy him again despite the fact that it was Easter and he had guests over.  Instead of telling me to go away, Dave invited me in and fed me arguably the best Easter dinner I have ever eaten.  We then went over to my boat and with a tiny spritz of starter fluid got the following results:

Success!!!  Don't mind all the smoke.  The exhaust was running straight into the bilge.  Mission accomplished.  It would have been a huge pain in the ass, but if I had to I could have theoretically driven the boat like this.  This weekend the goal is to finish the job with the engine and drive this thing to the moon.  Thanks again Dave, Jesse, Bill, and Jennilee for all your help.  Thanks mom for the Easter candy to fuel the creativity and complement the beer.