Al the Mirthmaker (Mark III)

[tuned]

Now that the temps are consistantly hitting a balmy 30, things are speeding up. Wire terminations are just about done, with systems coming on line one at a time. No smoke so far

Moving forward, I have started 're-purposing' the doghouse from the donor boat.
Before shot with warmup beer.


Just a bit of cleaning required


Fiberglass dust sux. Notice I had to measure twice to cut once. I just realized that there is actually LIQUID water in the shot! Unreal.


Looks like I now have a couple of cat doors in my doghouse. These will become 3 hatches. As the doghouse will end up being large and fairly heavy, I am hoping to only have to remove it at the end of the season. I SHOULD be able to do things like check my oil and even add oil without moving it if I planned it right.

A miscellaneous shot of precision bent braces for.....um....something or other

[tuned]

Brazing 101 continues. Still haven't touched a single railing piece yet (although they are completely squared, braced and ready).. Up to around 50% decent practice joints, so some progress at least.
I have changed tip sizes three times and worked my way down to a #1 which I think is as small as they go. The larger tips put too much heat where I didn't want it and I would blow through.
Unlike the videos for MuggyWeld online, fixing a hole is not that easy.
We are still experimenting with flame size. Moving the flame ALOT helps keep the heat even and avoid blow holes. Also, wire brushing the oxidation off the metal made a big difference, something that Muggy said I wouldn't have to do.
This short video came out pretty well, even with George Carlin ranting in the background.

[HandymanHerb]

It was looking good till the end and things when out of focus, so did you figure out if we wasted our money yet

[tuned]

It was looking good till the end and things when out of focus, so did you figure out if we wasted our money yet

The jury is still out on this one. I figure the cash I laid out for materials still makes for a pretty cheap aluminum brazing lesson. I've got a fair amount of time in on this now. Even if it is hard to learn, I'm a stubborn bastard
BTW, there is NO question about the strength. I haven't been able to beat a decent one apart yet.

[tuned]

Actually wrapped up a few sections!

3 gallon air tank, 2 air compressors, dryer, manifold, breaker panel, helm, plus miscellaneous gauges and controls.


The upper cup holds my coiled washdown hose, within easy reach of the helm, for unruly passengers.
As in---SPRITZZ--"Settle down!"
Also 1 gallon air tank. Air contol valve is shoehorned way in there as well.
System runs at 140# Those big-ass train horns are back on line.


All access with four screws and four barrel bolts. Access is good.

[pond tuuunes]

you are making faster progress than I am. nice work. JT

[tuned]

you are making faster progress than I am. nice work. JT

Perhaps, but yours is shinier

[tuned]

Worked all night at high temperature. Worked all morning at high volume.
Blue Oyster Cult made for good motivational music to finally finish my freakin helm area! Wooty

Back of the gauges I stole from the SeaRay. Completely rearrainged and rewired. The box is hand built around the original curved faceplate. So many angle cuts, including curved angle cuts. It may not look like much, but I put a buttload of time in on that sucker.


Oh that's what those funny braces were for.


Back of the contoller panel including 2nd breaker panel. Man I love hinged panels for good access.


Controller and breakers. Master power switch-ON/OFF only (for two large circuits). Note the little red PTO knob? Straight to the train horn, baby!


Helm area. Stereo wiring is cleaned up. Surface wiring is almost as better than the quick access panels. Just in case I have tunes go down, I don't wanna waste any time troubleshooting There actually is a completely seperate mini stereo shoehorned in there as well. Redundancy, redundancy, redundancy. 3 Fire extinguishers, 3 seperate horn types, 2 flare guns, 2 vhf radios etc...ad nasuem. You get the picture-I'm a freak


I have a few tools to clean up, but the boat is now about 98% wired. Each and every wire pulled and terminated by yours truly. No smoke so far


Now I can start focusing in on the doggy house and rails. Maybe I'll sleep a bit first....

[MPosey519]

Awesome update!!

[tuned]

Doghouse floor channel is temporarily screwed to table in exact shape of the well that the engine is sitting in. Doghouse will simply 'friction fit' into this channel. NO TOOLS!!
Doghouse is squared (sort of) and mostly braced. I jumped on it to give it a drunk test . Drunk test passed with flying colors.
It will be riveted together eventually. With some wood spacer scabs and aluminum sheet to gloss over the whole crack, it shouldn't look too bad. Much of it will be hidden by a seat cushion.



Herb, we're in business. Brazing rails for real has begun!
I'll need to order just a bit more rod as we used sooo much during learning process. Finished one door and ran out of Acetylene.



Still a bit more cleanup to do, but initial grind-down with the flap disk shines those joints right up. Note the vertical weld (factory) doesn't look as nice as the brazes IMHO. Some polishing followed by a little time in the weather and it all should end up one color and look pretty good. STOKED!

[redbeard]

Looking good keep up the good work.

[curtiscapk]

Awesome! Do you have a pilots licence for that thing!!

[tuned]

Awesome! Do you have a pilots licence for that thing!!

As long as i tie it to the trailer properly, it'll never get off the ground. As far as an instruction manual, the guy that wrote it is an idiot

[kryptonite]

You have a wiring diagram for that???

[tuned]

You have a wiring diagram for that???

Funny you should ask...this particular one is the rough draft of the large wiring only.

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