Wedac II's Restoration so far, and plans for the future.

As inspiration for the continued efforts of reaching our goal we are lucky enough to have images of Wedac's construction. Below are two great photos of her being built in the Grebe Shipyard 1955-56.

Remembering, in vivid detail, all the many projects we have tackled is no problem, but, it is difficult to accurately recall the course of the restoration to this point. Prioritizing these activities were a real chore and we still have a list three pages long. That list is constantly being updated and rarely have we seen it less than one page.

Hydraulic, Fuel, and Oil lines.

The first job tackled was to find why the transmission had given out during the Sea trials. After inspection of the engine room and with a reasonable amount of light, we found that the port transmission hydraulic feed line had split. Not feeling very comfortable with only replacing that line, we 'bit the bullet' and replaced all Hydraulic, Fuel, and Oil lines throughout the engine room. What a lovely job. I think that everyone aught have that experience at least once in their life time.

Employed in this endeavor were some seriously industrial quality two part fittings which had to be crimped on to the hoses with another 'special' tool.

The lines were bought in boxes of fifty feet to each, and of the various diameters. All were and are cloth bound, under which is braided Stainless Steel armour, with the composite rubber hose itself to the inside of these layers. The hideously robust construction is a necessity ,as these hoses have to expect two hundred pounds of pressure or more. However, to cut this type of hose a special cutting tool had to be purchased, so that during the cutting process they would not be damaged or frayed. The day may come when we stop having to procure new tools for the boat. Meanwhile, we are accumulating quite an arsenal of sundry tools for all occasions, and are starting to feel,other than a naval vessel, a more well equipped boat will never be found. ----- Off to the Bahamas Maaun!!

250, 112, and 12 volt Wiring, new batteries, and Charging system..

For those readers who may be unaware. A large boat, when at her berth, normally has 250 volts coming in from the shore, which is split to 115 volts to be distributed to the normal systems. Additionally the Vessel has to be wired for power supplied by its generator (in Wedac's case 12 kilowatts) and further, has to have twelve volt backup for almost everything. It seemed that every year throughout her long life Wedac had undergone yet another "improvement" in the wiring

Press here to find out more of the wiring project.

Marine Deep Cycle Batteries

Batteries seemed a high priority also. The batteries for the engine room were two of the huge 18 wheeler variety, which served Generator and Main engines. Unfortunately these Batteries were of vintage appearance and seemed unable to hold a charge for more than five minutes However, it was not simply a case of replacing them, but also deciding what type, and ascertaining whether the Charging system would keep them up -----we found that it wouldn't.

The decision was made to get two of the biggest Marine Deep Cycle Batteries available for the engine room, and as the Batteries for the other 12 volt systems (instruments, bilge pumps, and lighting) were also inadequate, five car size Deep Cycle Batteries were procured and installed.

Charging system

In order that the Batteries would keep up to a full charge without "cooking" we also had to invest in a "Three Banc" on-board charging system. Yet another "Marine" item. Excuse me if I seem to treat the term "Marine" with a certain destain, but it has lead us to automatically think of twice the price, and so, financially that much further from the goal of cruising. Unfortunately the environment in which equipment aboard a boat is expected to reliably function, is a most hostile one, and for longevity one needs the protection of marine grade everything.

Fresh water system

Tank.

The next major area for us to concentrate on was the fresh water system, the water and fuel tanks are made of Monel, a superior quality stainless steel alloy that is particularly resistant to corrosion, and so it was an easy task to remove the inspection plate from the three hundred gallon water tank and clean the interior.

Water lines

The hard part of the water system was to jettison the old corroded copper piping and reroute with new. As with all the systems on board we agonized with the decision of temporary fix up at little cost and redo later, or just bite the bullet and do the job correctly once (that of course is the way to go, for those with unlimited resources). So we took the middle road and concluded that, to run the water lines would be much quicker and marginally cheaper going with a reinforced non toxic plastic tubing.

After buying all the fittings and starting the job we realized just what an exhausting exercise this was. In fact had we realized at the time, that it would have taken as long as it did we would have definitely replaced the system with copper. For any familiar with the type of tubing we used, you know that the fittings are almost impossible to put on. So we had to sweat each end of every piece of tube in boiling water to accomplish the task, finishing off with two stainless steel hose clamps, each T joint having six of these little puppies. Oh well I guess when we install the copper pipe we will have a good stock pile of tiny hose clamps for future projects?.

There were numerous other smaller jobs we felt needed immediate attention, and prioritizing these activities were a real chore. Originally Wedac's topsides had been finished in varnish with lots of chromium plated cast bronze fittings. In order to cut the overall maintenance attributed to all of this 'brightwork', and at the same time 'update' Wedacs' appearance. Someone around 1970 had come to the 'brilliant' conclusion that they would paint all the varnished Honduran mahogany, including the pilothouse dash, in white.. Adding insult to injury the vast expanse of pilothouse dash had been covered in blue astro turf; a really classy touch.

Our first approach to returning Wedac to varnish was to try hand sanding through the myriad coats of household paint----this was not the way to go. It literally took weeks of arm numbing work, an aerobic exercise we had not anticipated. After these weeks of work, we stood back and came to the conclusion that Paint Stripper might be the way to go, and so started on that route.

Immediate gratification was the order of the day, but much to our chagrin we learned that the primer was buried, it seemed, inches into the grain. The appearance of the bare mahogany was magnificent, but we realized that if we ever wanted to finish the project some small compromises would have to be made, and so the decision to return all but the pilothouse dash to paint was made. We had a wonderfully prepared surface to accept the new paint and so we went to a high quality white marine polyurethane paint

The Pilothouse dash took several painstaking months to complete and encompassed the re-chroming of all the accoutrements, compass binnacle, footrest hinges, engine room fresh air vents, and etc.

Caulking was a huge undertaking. Seated cross legged on a pontoon it took weeks of painstaking work ,and almost all was accomplished singlehandedly by a very pregnant first mate. The original 1955 caulking was starting to deteriorate, but the cotton was still very well in place between the planks.

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