Robg71
New member
Looks fantastic Bart. I Look forward to seeing her in the flesh, and meeting every one on the dive cruise 
Blue Angel (Canados 70s) Rebuild thread
- Thread starter BartW
- Start date
scubaman
Well-known member
Looks fantastic Bart. I Look forward to seeing her in the flesh, and meeting every one on the dive cruise
+1!
Fantastic work! The rails on the bathing platform are a stroke of genius. She looks very very nice!
BartW
Well-known member
when I took off the lid, some of the screws were damaged, and I didn't look for new yet,
as I wanted to wait for the upgrade kit, and see if screws (perhaps different length) were included.
Yes I might need your help on this when you're back,
tried different routes for ordering spares without succes,
was adviced from the CMC people (while discussing IT boat business) about trouble at Lofrans....
so perhaps I'll just buy the Titan upgrate kit (only) direct in Italy
give me a sign when you're back.
jfm
Well-known member
+1. Fantastic stuff Bart - all looking fantastic. I reckon 370litres of black tank will be fine. With 8 adults you'll need to empty it once a day but that's no big deal. Those pop-up lights by Quick get very hot by the wayDid you find a trick to make days last longer than 24h?
Pinnacle
Well-known member
Bart
Looking fantastic! That painter really seems to do a great job! As per MapisM, how on earth do you find the time to organise all this stuff around your "real" job? Any chance of you giving me some lessons?
Looking fantastic! That painter really seems to do a great job!
As per MapisM, how on earth do you find the time to organise all this stuff around your "real" job? Any chance of you giving me some lessons?
MapisM
Well-known member
Sorry to hear that.
Anyway, I think/hope it shouldn't be a problem to buy the stuff directly in IT.
I can re-send the request to their commercial office in Genoa, if you wish.
In theory, as long as we don't ask them to ship/invoice abroad, they should deliver...
BartW
Well-known member
BartW
Well-known member
you could do that if possible, (just for the Titan upgrade kit)
everything else is not urgent / no time for fitting right now.
MapisM
Well-known member
Done.
I copied yourself also if the email is in IT, but of course I'll keep you posted on whatever they will reply.
Let's see what they come up with...
I copied yourself also if the email is in IT, but of course I'll keep you posted on whatever they will reply.
Let's see what they come up with...
BartW
Well-known member
Best wishes to all on here !
Having been busy in summer enjoying the boat, and after that running the business,
I finally managed to sort the pictures on my PC.
In order to keep my blog about the rebuilding of our boat up to date,
I post here some pics from the works done right before last summer holyday’s
after much negotiation and discussions in this engineering thread
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?350520-Stabilizers-for-Blue-Angel-engineering-question
We made the decision to install CMC electric Stabilizers on Blue Angel.
It was clear to me, this would be the only possible option to place a retrofit stabilizing system in BA in a DIY way.
When placing the order for the system, in april this spring,
all seemed OK to get the system installed during annual liftout, right before the new summer season starts.
Here is a report from the works, now almost 7 months ago
Part One, Lift out in the old yard in Sanary Sur Mèr,
Here they are preparing the wagon where the boat comes to sit on. Spot the female diver.
wagon glides in the water by gravity
maneuvering BA above the wagon
Diver has to check if none of the underwater gear touches the frame,
Then a big winch pulls here out of the water
It took the yard quite some time, more then 4 hours, to get her out.
There were quite some spectators looking at the event, sitting where the photographer sits
as the road in front goes right to a public beach.
When she’s out you realize how big she is,
The fouling of the underwater gear is not too bad,
Actually still very good compared to some horror pictures I’ve seen posted on the forum.
This liftout is on 27/5/2013, the previous liftout/antifouling was end of april 2012, so exactly one year of fouling.
The anodes did their job.
The ramp was little too short for this boat, (unless the bow goes over the road)
So the stern is still above water, and in order to be able to work there, the yard has build this platform :
Having been busy in summer enjoying the boat, and after that running the business,
I finally managed to sort the pictures on my PC.
In order to keep my blog about the rebuilding of our boat up to date,
I post here some pics from the works done right before last summer holyday’s
after much negotiation and discussions in this engineering thread
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?350520-Stabilizers-for-Blue-Angel-engineering-question
We made the decision to install CMC electric Stabilizers on Blue Angel.
It was clear to me, this would be the only possible option to place a retrofit stabilizing system in BA in a DIY way.
When placing the order for the system, in april this spring,
all seemed OK to get the system installed during annual liftout, right before the new summer season starts.
Here is a report from the works, now almost 7 months ago
Part One, Lift out in the old yard in Sanary Sur Mèr,
Here they are preparing the wagon where the boat comes to sit on. Spot the female diver.
wagon glides in the water by gravity
maneuvering BA above the wagon
Diver has to check if none of the underwater gear touches the frame,
Then a big winch pulls here out of the water
It took the yard quite some time, more then 4 hours, to get her out.
There were quite some spectators looking at the event, sitting where the photographer sits
as the road in front goes right to a public beach.
When she’s out you realize how big she is,
The fouling of the underwater gear is not too bad,
Actually still very good compared to some horror pictures I’ve seen posted on the forum.
This liftout is on 27/5/2013, the previous liftout/antifouling was end of april 2012, so exactly one year of fouling.
The anodes did their job.
The ramp was little too short for this boat, (unless the bow goes over the road)
So the stern is still above water, and in order to be able to work there, the yard has build this platform :
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BartW
Well-known member
Part2, sand blasting of the hull,
for taking off many layers of old antifouling, and making the hull perfectly flat again,
they started doing the zones where the layup for the stab system would come (behind the plastic curtains)
Blasting gravel on the ground
While this was happening, we were preparing the inside for mounting the drives,
Removing the furniture in the master bedroom, and opening the floor space, taking out some hoses and tubes,
All furniture was placed on the bed, and everything , including all walls, were covered with ribbed plastic protection covers, (not visible on these pics)
I took out the stringer that would cross the drive, and made the surface completely empty and flat, ready for the yard to put the GRP Layup.
for taking off many layers of old antifouling, and making the hull perfectly flat again,
they started doing the zones where the layup for the stab system would come (behind the plastic curtains)
Blasting gravel on the ground
While this was happening, we were preparing the inside for mounting the drives,
Removing the furniture in the master bedroom, and opening the floor space, taking out some hoses and tubes,
All furniture was placed on the bed, and everything , including all walls, were covered with ribbed plastic protection covers, (not visible on these pics)
I took out the stringer that would cross the drive, and made the surface completely empty and flat, ready for the yard to put the GRP Layup.
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BartW
Well-known member
Part3 preparation and fitting
For the GRP reinforcing work, the yard had hired a GRP specialist subcontractor from La Ciotat,
I’m not going in to detail on this open forum, but I can say here that they caused me many headaches, and that I’ll never work with them again.
After much frustration and complaining, the end result is “acceptable” but again this project with them was the most unpleasant and agitating experience on the boat so far.
But back to the pics:
I draw the indications on the hull bottom, for the GRP workers where to place the hull reinforcement
Here the workers started to make a sandwich of layers of glass fabric and epoxy before fixing to the bottom.
Then they applied this on the bottom
And added a plastic foil, with tubes for the “vacuum bagging”
Actually the first attempt it all fall down due to too many layers / too heavy / to fast drying in the sun
(sorry no pics from the mess they made)
Here is one of their vacuum pumps
this pump broke down, and I needed to repair it in order not to lose even more time
they finally got it right making each sandwich much thinner, and preparing NOT in the sun,
here the first layer is fitted,
So one layer on one side in the morning (that side of the boat in the shade), and one layer on the other side, after lunch, the other side in the shade.
they had to do 6 or 7 layers on each side iirc (only one layer per side per day)totaling 35mm extra thickness on the outside.
And finally some edges were sanded, and the surface was smoothed with epoxy filler
Then the same procedure was used on the inside, but as the layers could be put down on a horizontal surface, the work inside was more easy, totaling 25mm extra
When the layup was finished,
a few day’s later, the guy’s from the yard took care of the shaft holes, diameter 210mm,
I was not there when they did it, but they used a combination of drilling many holes, and a jig saw,
And then loads of elbow grease to make a nice fitting finish, in which they succeeded.
My friend with My help, made a centering tool / pattern with a drill stand, for drilling the 8 x 20mm fixing holes. (unfortunately no pics of the tool)
Simultaneously the yard guys did the finishing of the hull bottom, first filling and sanding some small damages, then epoxy primer (grey), and then 2 coats of anti fouling.(black)
From here we did all by ourselves, most of it with 3 ppl
For the GRP reinforcing work, the yard had hired a GRP specialist subcontractor from La Ciotat,
I’m not going in to detail on this open forum, but I can say here that they caused me many headaches, and that I’ll never work with them again.
After much frustration and complaining, the end result is “acceptable” but again this project with them was the most unpleasant and agitating experience on the boat so far.
But back to the pics:
I draw the indications on the hull bottom, for the GRP workers where to place the hull reinforcement
Here the workers started to make a sandwich of layers of glass fabric and epoxy before fixing to the bottom.
Then they applied this on the bottom
And added a plastic foil, with tubes for the “vacuum bagging”
Actually the first attempt it all fall down due to too many layers / too heavy / to fast drying in the sun
(sorry no pics from the mess they made)
Here is one of their vacuum pumps
this pump broke down, and I needed to repair it in order not to lose even more time
they finally got it right making each sandwich much thinner, and preparing NOT in the sun,
here the first layer is fitted,
So one layer on one side in the morning (that side of the boat in the shade), and one layer on the other side, after lunch, the other side in the shade.
they had to do 6 or 7 layers on each side iirc (only one layer per side per day)totaling 35mm extra thickness on the outside.
And finally some edges were sanded, and the surface was smoothed with epoxy filler
Then the same procedure was used on the inside, but as the layers could be put down on a horizontal surface, the work inside was more easy, totaling 25mm extra
When the layup was finished,
a few day’s later, the guy’s from the yard took care of the shaft holes, diameter 210mm,
I was not there when they did it, but they used a combination of drilling many holes, and a jig saw,
And then loads of elbow grease to make a nice fitting finish, in which they succeeded.
My friend with My help, made a centering tool / pattern with a drill stand, for drilling the 8 x 20mm fixing holes. (unfortunately no pics of the tool)
Simultaneously the yard guys did the finishing of the hull bottom, first filling and sanding some small damages, then epoxy primer (grey), and then 2 coats of anti fouling.(black)
From here we did all by ourselves, most of it with 3 ppl
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BartW
Well-known member
Part 4 Fitting the stabs
This is how it looks from the inside, with just the mounting flange fitted:
This pic was taken before the 20mil fixing holes were made.
The inside layup was nicely feathered on the wall, nearest stringer and the nearest frames (not very well visible on the pics.
And outside
Each drive weights just over 100kg,
We got them on the boat with the tender crane, but from there it was all muscle power
Due to limited space it was very difficult to move them downstairs in the boat, but we managed, without damaging the interior nor the drive.
Here is the drive system fitted in position, on SB side
And then on P side
Now only tightening the 2 x 16 x M16 fixing bolts, until sikaflex sqeezes out.
The shaft extruding from the mounting flange
And then the fin fitted on the shaft,
All screws are tightened with a torque wrench
On the fins we had to use a torque multiplier and a 2 meter tube extension (sorry no pics)
Already 5 weeks earlier we had another friend installing the cabling for the system,
Basically he installed: starting from the system control boxes in the master cabin dressing room:
-Power cables to the drives,
-Data cables to the drives
-Brake cables to the drives
-Cable to control panel inside helm
-Cable to control panel on FB helm
-Cable to movement sensor box (deck level)
-Cable to the E/R for detecting FW, neutral or REV gear on each gearbox
-And some cables between the (3) stab control boxes themselves: opical servo control, data and power.
We used this occasion to add a big new electrical switchboard in the engine room, replacing at the same moment some small old add on switch boxes,
This new box contains (ao)
-breakers and on off switching relay’s for the stab system 230V supply
-automatic switchover relay’s from invertor to genny power, when genny power is switched on
-automatic switchover relay’s to B power Bus when 2nd shore power connection is available
-breakers and on off switching of 2 scuba tanc compressors
When all is in place we could start with the reassembling,
Of the cabin floor panels
Putting carpets and cupboards in place
We only had to modify one bottom drawer on each side:
All cleaned and back in place: (3 times cleaning was just enough to get most of the dust out)
And finished right in time,
As the next day came the CMC guy for commissioning the system,
first inspecting the outside installation,
Then put the boat in the water,
and then sea trial, luckily no big issues, (a few more details about that in the engineering thread)
I will always remember those scary and exciting day’s,
I had planned for 3 weeks installation, with two weeks spare time,
which was all used, due to delay from the yard (or mainly the subcontractor)
And we made it right on the last day before planned family summer holliday on the boat.
What a biiiig relief, I could use a few weeks of resting.
This is how it looks from the inside, with just the mounting flange fitted:
This pic was taken before the 20mil fixing holes were made.
The inside layup was nicely feathered on the wall, nearest stringer and the nearest frames (not very well visible on the pics.
And outside
Each drive weights just over 100kg,
We got them on the boat with the tender crane, but from there it was all muscle power
Due to limited space it was very difficult to move them downstairs in the boat, but we managed, without damaging the interior nor the drive.
Here is the drive system fitted in position, on SB side
And then on P side
Now only tightening the 2 x 16 x M16 fixing bolts, until sikaflex sqeezes out.
The shaft extruding from the mounting flange
And then the fin fitted on the shaft,
All screws are tightened with a torque wrench
On the fins we had to use a torque multiplier and a 2 meter tube extension (sorry no pics)
Already 5 weeks earlier we had another friend installing the cabling for the system,
Basically he installed: starting from the system control boxes in the master cabin dressing room:
-Power cables to the drives,
-Data cables to the drives
-Brake cables to the drives
-Cable to control panel inside helm
-Cable to control panel on FB helm
-Cable to movement sensor box (deck level)
-Cable to the E/R for detecting FW, neutral or REV gear on each gearbox
-And some cables between the (3) stab control boxes themselves: opical servo control, data and power.
We used this occasion to add a big new electrical switchboard in the engine room, replacing at the same moment some small old add on switch boxes,
This new box contains (ao)
-breakers and on off switching relay’s for the stab system 230V supply
-automatic switchover relay’s from invertor to genny power, when genny power is switched on
-automatic switchover relay’s to B power Bus when 2nd shore power connection is available
-breakers and on off switching of 2 scuba tanc compressors
When all is in place we could start with the reassembling,
Of the cabin floor panels
Putting carpets and cupboards in place
We only had to modify one bottom drawer on each side:
All cleaned and back in place: (3 times cleaning was just enough to get most of the dust out)
And finished right in time,
As the next day came the CMC guy for commissioning the system,
first inspecting the outside installation,
Then put the boat in the water,
and then sea trial, luckily no big issues, (a few more details about that in the engineering thread)
I will always remember those scary and exciting day’s,
I had planned for 3 weeks installation, with two weeks spare time,
which was all used, due to delay from the yard (or mainly the subcontractor)
And we made it right on the last day before planned family summer holliday on the boat.
What a biiiig relief, I could use a few weeks of resting.
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petem
Well-known member
Great story so far Bart. I always feel guilty about correcting your very good English but it is 'Elbow grease' not 'Hand grease'!
BartW
Well-known member
Part 5, some extra’s,
Already in April we installed these remove-able scuba tanc rails,
at my company they made these U brackets, fixed underneath the jacket /tank holder strap
The pins are Titanium, and taken from a PA speaker rigging system we distribute.
Very expensive they are, but perfect for the job.
And now you know why these funny brackets where on the forum divers gear ;-)
(last 2 pics are from Kivi Scubaman )
The Forum divers can testifie that this system for fixing the tanks works brilliantly,
Just need to find something else for covering the SS tank rails, where the U brackets are fixed, and might cause scratches, something to replce these temporarily plastic hoses with gaffa tape,
Any suggestions ?
Then another issue cured before last summer
At one moment I noticed bubbled paint on the side of the radar arch, (remember this is made from marine ply and painted last in 2009 during previous ownership.
I took out the audio speaker for inspecting the inside, and gliding my hand in the hole, I noticed there was about 20cm water inside
(the radar arch is horizontally closed at about the cupboard level where the horizontal line is)
With a small pump it was easy to get the water out,
And then we found out the source of this water :
I still didn’t buy new speakers, need a new sound system all over, who know’s a good supplier ? ;-)
But I fitted 2 vent grills instead, so that the inside could vent and dry thoroughly. And rain water couldn’t go inside.
That’s all for now,
Rebuilding plans for 2014 are not that big,
still have to decide what we ‘ll do.
Already in April we installed these remove-able scuba tanc rails,
at my company they made these U brackets, fixed underneath the jacket /tank holder strap
The pins are Titanium, and taken from a PA speaker rigging system we distribute.
Very expensive they are, but perfect for the job.
And now you know why these funny brackets where on the forum divers gear ;-)
(last 2 pics are from Kivi Scubaman )
The Forum divers can testifie that this system for fixing the tanks works brilliantly,
Just need to find something else for covering the SS tank rails, where the U brackets are fixed, and might cause scratches, something to replce these temporarily plastic hoses with gaffa tape,
Any suggestions ?
Then another issue cured before last summer
At one moment I noticed bubbled paint on the side of the radar arch, (remember this is made from marine ply and painted last in 2009 during previous ownership.
I took out the audio speaker for inspecting the inside, and gliding my hand in the hole, I noticed there was about 20cm water inside
(the radar arch is horizontally closed at about the cupboard level where the horizontal line is)
With a small pump it was easy to get the water out,
And then we found out the source of this water :
I still didn’t buy new speakers, need a new sound system all over, who know’s a good supplier ? ;-)
But I fitted 2 vent grills instead, so that the inside could vent and dry thoroughly. And rain water couldn’t go inside.
That’s all for now,
Rebuilding plans for 2014 are not that big,
still have to decide what we ‘ll do.
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BartW
Well-known member
I mean that the yard guys did a lot of grinding and sanding by hand,
didn't they need elbow grease then
? or what is the expressions ?
(you have missed part 5)
jimmy_the_builder
Well-known member
Great update, thanks Bart. Those stabiliser fins are tiny! Very impressive.
I cannot wait for you to install a 'proper' boat audio system on BA. I think that is what your project should be for 2014. Can you get an underwater subwoofer?
I cannot wait for you to install a 'proper' boat audio system on BA. I think that is what your project should be for 2014. Can you get an underwater subwoofer?
jimmy_the_builder
Well-known member
PS apparently Lumishore do have a sound-to-light module for their underwater lights...
rafiki_
Well-known member
Bart,many thanks for the brilliant description. You made a challenging job appear quite painless, although I guess there was a fair amount of sweat involved. So, what is planned for the next upgrade?
rbcoomer
Active member
What a great thread update and really good to see that you are continuing to evolve her - she looks fantastic and well suited to her uses. The whole platform and dive setup looks ideal and well worth all the effort you put in!
I can see the GRP specialist was a stressful episode - it's very disappointing when you contract an expert for any job and the see it all start to go wrong, but at least it all came good and you thankfully allowed extra time. Quite surprised they didn't work directly on the hull for the outside too and (IMHO) a heavy layup retro fitted seems an odd choice on their part - much better to add multiple, thinner layers I'd have thought in the first place? How much improvement have the stabs made in everyday use? Are they for underway only or for stability at anchor too? (Presumably both as they're electric?)
I can see the GRP specialist was a stressful episode - it's very disappointing when you contract an expert for any job and the see it all start to go wrong, but at least it all came good and you thankfully allowed extra time. Quite surprised they didn't work directly on the hull for the outside too and (IMHO) a heavy layup retro fitted seems an odd choice on their part - much better to add multiple, thinner layers I'd have thought in the first place? How much improvement have the stabs made in everyday use? Are they for underway only or for stability at anchor too? (Presumably both as they're electric?)