Trojan 440 Upgrades, Fixes and Ideas

Last year I had an oil line break it made a mess of my bilge I spent two days cleaning the center bilge and I thought I did a good job. This year I I found a huge mess again which I cleaned again and noticed that it must have floated back from the cabin bilge I sprayed lots of water and bilge cleaner in and vacuumed it dry from the engine room only to have it happen yet again next time I went out for a ride:( Yesterday I pulled my stairs and carpet and scrubbed the entire bilge from end to end big mess in the cabin bilge! I pumped everything in bottles there was still quite a bit of oil in there. After cleaning up what I could I then poured bilge cleaner in and floated the bilge blowing out all passages from end to end. I did this three times and then poured cleaner in and closed it up. I came to the boat this morning and it smelled fresh and clean a pleasant change! I didn't know there was an issue but there was a little bit of an smell I though it was waste but I just changed all the hoses as well. I'm very happy to have this behind me I hope this will be the last time I have to deal with this.
 
I had no idea that the engine room bilges and salon bilges connected. My salon bilge often has water in it but my center engine room one is always dry.

Edit: The space between the engine room and the area where I have my water tank under the stairs would also be connected then. I am wondering if that is a place where smell could come from. I don't have a waste smell but a smell none the less.
 
Odly at rest water seems to sit in the middle of the salon bilge on plane the water flows to the engine room bilge. My tanks lay out differently then you I have two 50 gallon waste tanks in The center line of the salon. I had a bit of oil under these tanks creating a smell now my boat smells like bilge cleaner I may have to wash this out as well. While it smells clean it is a strong smell.
I have not had time to install the pumps I bought to maintain a dry bilge I did however use one of them to clean up the mess I pumped any and all oil into bottels the little pump work great for this. I would like to install three of these pumps which I can manually turn on to get rid of any water that the bilge pumps can't reach. I have the parts what I need is time.
 
So I went to do my short haul today and as intended checked my rudder bolts. There are four on each rudder. While it appeared that one had the head sheared off (the one in the photo) all but two bolts were in decent condition. Two others the heads twisted off as soon as I put the wrenches to them. The other three came out but where at various stages of deterioration. So the decision was made to go ahead and replace all with new stainless bolts and nylocs. Probably will be out over the weekend so the 4200 can set up good before splashing. Seriously considered leaving blocked up for the season. :(

5001493F-830D-49E0-AB2E-1DC4C039E143_zpsakjft395.jpg
 
I was wondering just how long that "short haul" was going to take when I didn't see you back at the slip this afternoon.
 
I am actually debating whether I will be back in the slip at all this year. The way my year has gone it might be better to just leave it out and try agoin next year.
 
I hope you change your mind and get to enjoy the boat a little more before you sell it!
 
I have couple days to think about it Dave. And if that storm winds up hitting here by the weekend it will be next week. Over the next couple months I have several weekends where I have other things planned. Then I am in CA for half of October. I have already resigned myself to not doing bottom paint this season, even though I really need it. I guess we will see.
 
You either pay now or you pay later! You will be painting the bottom before you sell the boat it's not going to go bad out of the water I would just paint it. A clean bottom will make it easier to sell!
 
That is my debate Dave. Just fix this and put it back in and try to enjoy a few months of using it... or... Leave it out and start now on the winter projects list that I wanted to do last Mar/Apr? Things like painting the bottom, replacing shaft seals, painting the arch, rebed the windshield...... Especially considering I may not be here come winter and spring next year to do those things myself.
 
Allen - You have to take the URL part off of your photos. It makes it impossible to view on an Ipad.
 
Being a Maxum guy I don't want to offend the Trojan guys but first, this is a great thread. You guys have tackled every project I have on my list. Thanks for all the info. My question is for John (jmeir). Looks like you finished your bamboo floor in march of 2013. I'm thinking of Bamboo as well. How is it holding up? any moisture problems. Did/does it swell to cause any buckling since it looks like yoi made the hatch joint pretty tight? Any other issues? Subfloor ok? Thanks in advance. By the way we're located in Great Oak. If I see your boat I'll stop and say hi.
Keith
 
Keith. This weekend I am hauled out at Oak Harbor Marina in Pasadena. The floor is holding up just fine. Bamboo has the least amount of change with temp/humidity. I put my floor in as a floating floor so it can expand and contract as it wants. I imagine it will last longer than any carpet would ever last. My subfloor is screwed down.

Well I decided today to go ahead and paint the bottom. So I will be spending the next four days grinding and sanding away at it and then painting it. I am also,polishing the sides below the rub rail. Spent about 7 hours today on the hull sides. Of course I had to pick the hottest weekend of the year. Lol
 
John glad to hear you are moving forward with this project, it just seems to make sense!
 
It was getting painted before it went back in no matter what. What I was undecided on was wether I was going to,put it back in this year. The marina where it is at has been great. When they saw the problem they bent over backwards to get me new bolts (at their cost no less) and found a place to set it down. They are not charging me for the lay up days either. I figured I was saving quite a bit and no longer had anything to do during my time off so why not. I am hoping we don't get much for rain and everything goes smooth.
 
Well 8 new 318 stainless bolts with matching locking nuts, 18 discs of 80grit paper and 3.5 gallons of multi year ablative paint later;

Never a good sign from the chart plotter. LOL
URL]


I was going to put that zinc paint that was discussed in another thread but could not find locally and could not get it here until Monday. So I will see how they fair with nothing the rest of this year.
21D5577E-8BC0-49A2-B6C5-77BCD6564617_zpsa5ttrzyq.jpg


Since I was out I decided to polish and wax the hull sides too
URL]


URL]


URL]
 
John, Thanks for the update on the floor. That'll be my project at the end of this season. Boat looks great. Thanks again.
 
If you need some help or advice once you get started let me know. It is not as hard as it seems, just time consuming. It helped that I had put wood floors Ina house before too.
 
I may take you up getting some advice. I have put floors down in my house but the boat has a few challenges that i'll explain when i get to the project. Thanks again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top