Still in the bilge

Work continues down between and around the engines. We did miss a weekend day or two due to other commitments and fabricating the covers for spaces between the stringers and over the batteries took a little longer than expected.  It really wasn't practical to build the the covers on the boat because there isn't much room to work with the engine hatches open, it is dark even with the work lights on and for at least a couple of days, it was just too cold.

Once we got the two aft stringer covers finished and painted, that gave us access to the space where the batteries are located. After we measured for the two pieces that would cover the batteries, we removed all of the cables that are connected to the batteries, cleaned all of the battery posts and cable contacts, applied electrical grease and reconnected everything. We also re-routed quite a few of the cables and pulled out some old, unused wiring.  Once the covers for the batteries were fabricated and test fitted, we found that they had to be modified further to fit properly. After they were test fitted again, we took them home and painted them. The covers between the center stringers aren't bolted down. They simply rest on the stringers, which seems to work fine. With everything in place, they looked like this:

 

Now we could crawl forward between the engines and easily check the fluids in the transmissions and the v-drives. We found the starboard v-drive was about 1/2 quart low on fluid, which we replaced. Interesting that the v-drives use ordinary 30 weight engine oil.  

While up there behind the engines (remember that our engines are mounted so that they face backwards) we scooped up about two pounds of greasy old leaves, a 9/16" socket, numerous small bolts, electrical connectors and several lengths of wire.We also found a disconnected bilge blower hose, which we reconnected. With that out of the way, we attacked the newly accessible area with a Shop Vac. From the sounds the Shop Vac made, we sucked up lots of other debris. With that done, the bilge actually looked quite nice. Well, nice to us.

While we were down there, we checked the fluid in the hydraulic steering reservoir, which was OK, except that the cap for adding more fluid resisted coming off, even with a big wrench. We'll get that off. It will just take a little time. We pumped the steering pressure up to the recommended 25 lbs. pressure and checked the steering, which worked fine, just as it had before. We also tried operating the Bennett Trim Tabs. Amazingly, they worked, although a little slowly. Nice to know that they work, although I don't think we'll ever use them much.