Before and After.

The site front page is fixed. I complain about the web site once and instant repairs happen. Traffic to the blog was the highest yet, but because there was no new content, average time on the site was the lowest yet. The fans have spoken, more boat talk less of everything else.

Funny exhaust elbows (pictured) had to be removed from the motor of the 36' Calvin. The old exhaust had developed a leak where the two elbow were connected. Bolts between the two had deteriorated and allowed the wet elbow to slide down. This was letting a small amount of exhaust into the engine room every time the engine fired. A consequence of this is everything under the deck is coated with a little bit of black. The wet exhaust elbow in the upper left corner of the first picture is suppose to be white. This was a wet exhaust system and its getting replaced with a dry exhaust. As I'm getting ready to explain what is happening it occurs to me that some of the readers might not know the difference between a wet and dry exhaust system. Explanation time.

Wet Exhaust: The exhaust from the motor is routed through a water jacketed elbow and the exhaust and the engine water travel through fiberglass pipe until both exit the boat. On the 36' Calvin the exhaust port was located on the side of the hull near the stern on the port side. Other locations for a wet exhaust exit would be through the stern of the boat or out the bottom of the boat. The underwater exhaust port has been the popular choice at Clark Island Boat Works.

Dry Exhaust: The exhaust from the motor is routed through stainless steel pipe to a vertical muffler until the exhaust exits above the cabin top. Flex pipe (pictured accordion pipe) needs to be added to allow for expansion of the exhaust system. Without the flex pipe constant heating and cooling would lead to cracks in the pipe. Because a dry exhaust isn't water cooled it will need to be wrapped with a high temp blanket to protect the rest of the engine room from the intense heat.
On this exhaust the port on the motor was 3" but to reduce any possible back pressure it was recommended to get the exhaust pipe to 6" as quickly as possible. Our staff welder/metal artist accomplished this by welding a 3" elbow to a 6" elbow. The next segment (not pictured) will be a double flanged pipe to get the exhaust to the far port side of the wheelhouse. Then up to the muffler and out though the cabin. John has this on the run, hopefully the exhaust can be completed by the end of next week.

The new elbow is so impressive that this post was just going to be a pic of the new elbow and the word "WOW" in 4 inch block letters. If I had stuck with that plan this post would be on time. I couldn't cheat the fans, all 6 of you, you deserve better posts. My goal for tonight is going to read some other blogs and see how people start sentences (personally i start most with THE, I, and the letter O). There must be more options then this......

In other shop news: I took a slack day and hung out with my nephews. The fuel tanks for the 36' Calvin have been started, a new bulkhead has been added to the boat (so the old laz bulkhead can be removed) Jeff was sick and stayed home. Dan and Clay gel coated the forward cabin of an old lobster boat (not pictured). John welded. And the boss didn't return from his vacation. He should be back today.

If you want to know how many posts out of thirty this is then you've read them all and I don't have to tell you (13).