Just in Time for Winter

With the temps in the low 30s and a snowstorm in the forecast tomorrow, I decided it was high time to install new refrigeration!  Well, not really; I had been planning it for a while and originally thought I wouldn't get to it until the spring but a few weeks back I decided to put the mast rewiring project off until spring instead. 

When I purchased the boat it had an engine driven cold plate system that reportedly worked when the boat was last in the water in 2013, but it probably used the old refrigerant type instead of the new 134A and it just took up so much space in the engine compartment.  I just didn't want to deal with engine driven compressors, belts, hoses and a series of unknown 'doodads' that probably did something, but I was not interested in finding out.  So I ripped it out when I re-did the engine compartment with the plan of installing an economical electrically driven system.

I had a number of systems in mind but finally ended purchasing an Isotherm Compact Classic 2012.  It seemed like a good combination of cost, cooling volume, and ease of installation (the system is pre-charged with quick connects).  The nice thing about the 12v electric systems is that they can be located in a number of locations as long as there is sufficient air flow to keep them cool.  They essentially consist of 3 parts, a compressor that can be remotely mounted, an evaporator plate that lives in the icebox, and a thermostat controller that can be mounted in or outside the icebox.  The one caveat of the thermostat is that one side has a temp sensor capillary tube that needs to be mounted on the evaporator plate and the other side has wires that lead back to the compressor.

After scouting a number of locations, I decided that a shelf in the port lazarette behind the icebox would be a good location for the compressor because of its close proximity to the icebox, good airflow, and mostly out of the way location.  The only issue with this location is that the shelf is sloped downward toward the side of the boat, so this would have to be leveled (the compressor should be mostly level).

I measured a 19 degree angle of slope for the shelf that I planned on mounting the compressor on and decided to put the 3d printer to use by making 2 - 19 degree wedges with holes for 2 bolts on each one to mount to the shelf.  I used an extra strong print profile (15% infill and 6 solid layer walls) that should have no trouble holding the 15 or 20lb weight of the compressor.  I epoxied a 6"x12" piece of 3/4 inch marine plywood to the blocks and tapped the 1/4" bolts that will mount the assembly to the shelf.  Finally, I through bolted the compressor bracket to the assembly and got ready to install.

I'll say up front that this was not a difficult job, but I was worried about installing the evaporator and snaking the copper tubing out of the icebox and aft to the compressor.  The tubing is pre-bent in a coil and I couldn't help but think that it would be really easy to kink the tubing if not careful. Additionally, the evaporator plate comes flat and it is longer than the length of the icebox, so it needed to be bent. Fortunately, the kit comes with a bending 'dowel' that you screw down to a piece of plywood and use it as a form to bend the evaporator around at specific locations. 

Last week just before Thanksgiving, my son and I decided to tackle the evaporator installation.  We carefully carried the bent evaporator up the ladder to the boat and started straightening out the coil once we had it in the cabin.  First we fed the tubing into the icebox and led it through the hole (from previous installation).  Once through the hole it had to be carefully bent around a corner and through a 1.5 inch hole I had drilled in the bulkhead and fed up to the shelf in the lazarette.  This is definitely a 2 person job because the copper tubing is fragile and kinking it would be a very expensive mistake.  Once we had the the tubing roughly run to where the compressor would be mounted we carefully slid the rest of the evaporator into the icebox and secured it to the vertical walls with screws that ran through 4 plastic mounts that keep the evaporator off the wall by about 1/2".  

With that completed, it was time to mount the thermostat and capillary temperature sensor.  I decided that it would be easiest if I just mounted it in the icebox in an out of the way location above the evaporator plate.  This made mounting the temp sensor quite a bit easier than mounting it outside the box.  Finally, I ran the thermostat wires out the icebox and alongside the copper tube to the compressor location.  

The most demanding part of the entire job was running power. I was determined to make the installation orderly and not a haphazard jumble of wires like I've seen on so many boat (many of them mine).  I really should have done this before I re-installed the engine, because I had to run the wire along a bundle just above the engine and not easily accessed.  I ran the 10/2 duplex wire from the panel down through the battery compartment and over to the bundle that services port side power needs.  I had to cut most of the zip ties off the bundle and snake the wire through, re-zip tying along the way. Once I had it over the port side I ran the power wire alongside the thermostat wiring and copper tubing up to the compressor location.  There was a lot of boat yoga, but I'm happy that the wiring is tidy and well secured.

With that complete, I through bolted the compressor mount assembly to the shelf and then snapped the compressor onto the assembly bracket; the isotherm bracket is a nice piece of kit and allows for a quick removal of the compressor should it need to be taken out (still have to unplug wiring and evaporator tubing though). 

Next, I crimped and shrink wrapped the power wiring and plugged the thermostat wiring into the controller on the compressor (everything is nicely labeled).  The final step was to connect the 2 copper refrigerant lines that come from the evaporator.  I cleaned up my mess and insulated the copper tubing from the compressor and zip tied everything so there will be no rattles (and subsequent chafing) in the future.

I still plan on making a plywood 'partition' around the compressor so nothing bangs into it from the lazarette and no errant water spray hits it, but I'm happy to report that even though it was only 35 degrees F in the boat today, I started up the compressor and the evaporator became noticeably colder within a few minutes.

 

Catching Up

Regular life has gotten in the way of boat work and and as result I'm a bit behind with updates on progress.  Last week I finally came to terms with the fact that our garden shed was a mess and I was faced with the prospect of spending $10-15k on having a new one built on site or fixing the rot and rebuilding the existing shed for a fraction of the cost.  I chose the cheaper route and fixed the rot.  

With that complete I moved back a few of the last boat projects before things get too cold to work.  I had been putting off installing the hoses to both the manual and high capacity bilge pumps until the engine install was completed.  With the engine installed and ready to go, I wanted to get the bilge pump hoses installed so I could screw down the floors and complete the salon interior.  

I ordered 35 feet of 1-1/2" Shields Series 140 VAC Standard Hose for both pumps and when it arrived I put on my boat yoga pants and started crawling around looking for the best route for the hoses.  I finally decided to send the hoses aft from the pumps along the starboard side of the engine and then over to the port side behind the engine to the manual pump and discharge fittings on the stern.  

I had on hand about 10 feet of heavy duty sanitation hose and decided to make the initial connections in the bilge using this and connect the Shields hose for the run out of the boat.  The sanitation hose should last longer in nasty bilge conditions.  I double clamped the sanitation hoses just below the floorboards to the Shields hoses and ran them side by side aft.  A few hours and dozens of zip ties later I had the hoses secured all the way to the manual pump.  From the manual pump the automatic pump hose diverged and continued aft to a loop above the final discharge fitting where I double clamped the hose at the stern.  I installed the new manual pump (Whale Gusher 10) in the same location as the old one and fitted the hose to that and then from the discharge side, the hose met back up with the automatic pump hose to the stern fitting (the fitting is separate, but adjacent to the automatic pump discharge).  

With that complete, I was able to lay the flooring back down and screw it into place.  I hope I won't have to take it all back up again, but testing in the spring will determine how good a job I did. I'll be bringing all the cushions back over from the basement this week and should have a fully complete salon by weeks end.  

Galley Ho!

With all the engine work going on during the past few weeks I wanted to maximize the access to the engine compartment so I could easily access everything, but now that everything is completed (mostly), it was time to get the galley back together.  I was really excited about this because this job represents the last major interior project left on the boat and I've been waiting for the moment when I can look around in the cabin and not see disasters all around me.

Throughout the refit, I had been moving the galley assembly shell all around the cabin to work on other items, but had never fitted it.  It's big and was always in the way of something but I was pleased to see that re-attaching it to the boat was a simple matter of securing 2 bolts on a thick block of wood with 2 hinges to a molded piece of fiberglass flooring that is connected to one of the stringers.  It's really a clever arrangement that allows the entire sink and peninsula to hinge forward to give unobstructed access to the engine compartment.  I have never had a boat that allowed this kind of access.  This is a good thing considering I'm 6'5" and don't quite fit into many boat spaces.

Of course, it wasn't entirely easy because the sink drain, pressure water, and foot pump are all connected to the assembly and needed to have specific lengths of hose cut or they would be too short when the galley hinges forward, or too long and get too close to the engine which would be bad.  I shudder at the thought of the sink drain getting wrapped up in the vdrive when the engine is running.

Once the assembly was bolted in place, I started with installing the sink with a bead of silicone adhesive and letting that cure for a few days before moving it.  Then I moved on to the sink drain hose since that was the most cumbersome item that had to be routed to the seacock located just forward of the galley.  This took a bit of trial and error to get the length just long enough to accommodate the additional length needed when hinged forward, but not so long that it would be too close to the engine when closed.  

Once I decided on the proper length, I connected the hose to the seacock and routed it through the bulkhead and up to the sink using loosely fit zip ties to allow it to slide when the assembly is moved.  I also 3d printed a rubber TPU gasket/grommet that screwed into the bulkhead hole to help reduce chafing from vibration.

Next, I moved onto the pressure water system.  I completed the rest of the system last summer/fall (details here), but left an open circuit to the galley that could be tapped into with Watts Aqualok T-fittings.  To complete the circuit, I added an additional 2ish feet of pex tubing for the hot and cold water and terminated it with 2 more Aqualok 1/2" male adapters.  From here I used 2 6' sections of stainless steel braided sink hose to run to the fixture.  For the fixture, I found a standard household faucet at Home Depot and mounted it in the original faucet hole at the sink.  At this point it was just a matter of routing the braided hose from the Aqualok fittings alongside the drain hose to the fixture.  

The final job was to mount the foot pump and hose from the water supply to a dedicated foot pump fixture at the sink.  To do this, I tapped into the cold water line (before the pressure pump) with an Aqualok T-fitting and ran 1/2" nylon hose from there to a valve mounted in the engine compartment.  This valve allows you to switch the foot pump from fresh water to the icebox drain if/when the icebox needs to be drained.  From the valve, the line snakes up to the fixture at the sink.  This took a bit of thinking to get the best route but it wasn't too bad and access was decent.  

All told, this took me about a week of lunch hours and after work time, but I'm really happy with the way it all turned out and represents a big step toward completion.  Of course the system hasn't been tested so I may have some adjustments to do at the connections to make sure there are no leaks, but I'm not going to do that until spring so I don't have to winterize everything.

Coming Together

It's been a few weeks since the last post but since I sorted out the PSS clearance issue, I haven't been idle.  There's just been a lot of little things going on as I start to fully check off completed systems.  My big goal before winter sets in is to have the engine and the galley fully completed.  I'm not going to run tests before winter though because I don't want to have to winterize everything so all of that will have to wait until spring.  

For the engine, there was a note in the engine survey when the previous owner had bought the boat that there was no vented loop on the raw water discharge line that connects the heat exchanger to the mixing elbow on the exhaust.  Fortunately, I was able to locate a new one on ebay that fits the odd 7/8" inside diameter hose that this engine uses.  As with all things labeled 'Marine' they are typically $150 but found this one for just $50.  

Since the engine never had a vented loop on it, I had to find a good location for it that wouldn't get in the way of other serviceable items and after some research and test fits found that it would work best just to the left of the engine (looking back) about a foot above the water line.  

The next challenge to present itself was on the same raw water hose at the mixing elbow.  Somewhere along this refit, I lost the 1/2" npt to 7/8" nipple that connects the hose to the mixing elbow.  I went to the Westerbeke parts site and found that this particular piece of kit was going to cost me $204.40 USD (part #032230).  Just crazy and I was determined not to pay it.  Small rant here: Westerbeke is not the only manufacturer to do this, but marking up a $1.50 piece of copper is just robbery and drives me nuts.  I was determined to find an alternative to giving Westerbeke my money even if it meant paying a local machinist almost as much to make me a custom part.  

After a stupid amount of time spent researching alternatives, I found almost the same part on Westerbeke (1/2" npt to 7/8" nipple with an elbow) for just $23 (part #030183). I asked the parts manager at Hansen Marine (Westerbeke distributor for Northeast US) why the original part was so expensive and he said it 'was just Westerbeke being Westerbeke' and that they don't sell too many of those parts. 

Still need double hose clamps everywhere

Anyway, the part just arrived and I've fitted it but haven't hooked up the final hose from the vented loop to the mixing elbow yet, but I did install the exhaust hose from the mixing elbow to the lift muffler.  I will get the final piece of hose along with hose clamps done later today and call it done.  

Moving on to the raw water intake, I installed the hose from the seacock to the raw water strainer and the hose from the strainer to the raw water pump on the engine.  The strainer is a groco Arg 500-s and it's a nice piece of equipment that replaced the original in the same location with no drama except for the usual tight fitting hoses on the barbs.

The only challenge with the engine wiring harness and shifting controls was to squeeze myself between the engine and cockpit sole to install zip ties to run the wires and control cables above the engine and only took about 30 minutes.  I was somewhat amazed that the control cables didn't cause me any grief but I'll take a win when I can.

The final piece to the engine is the fuel and return lines and while I haven't connected the final few feet, the lines are run and connected to the fuel filter.  With any luck I should be able to fully cross off the engine installation project off the list by the end of the week.

PSS Clearance Issues Part 2

After last week's disappointing PSS shaft install I went back to the drawing board thinking that I may have to purchase a different type of shaft seal system, but spent quite a bit of time online posting questions to both the Niagara and Westerbeke Owner's groups on Facebook.  Many Niagara owners had tight fits as well, but made them work.  I can only think that the engine beds in my Niagara were placed a bit forward of where others were, but that's just speculation.  I don't believe the original shaft seal was a PSS or if it was it was an early model that didn't use a vent and made it quite a bit shorter.  

Several people suggested taking the rotor to a machine shop and trimming it down to fit and I started to seriously consider this as an option but decided to call PSS and see if that was a possibility.  I'm glad I did.  It wasn't a surprise that they did not recommend doing that (although they never told me why), but they did say that they have a 'slow speed' stator (the carbon part where the vent normally comes out) that doesn't have a vent and is 3/4" shorter.  The only difference between the 2 is that the slow speed stator needs to be burped from time to time (when you launch for instance) to get the air trapped in the shaft seal out. 

I decided to take a chance on this route and was pleased that PSS said I could send the original stator back and they wouldn't charge me for the new one (except for shipping).  So I pulled the trigger on it and waited for it to ship from Washington state to New Hampshire.  In the meantime, I prepped the area by once again removing the transmission (I lost count after 8 removal/reinstalls) and the PSS.  Just to be sure, I put the transmission back on and checked the shaft alignment without any shaft seal in place.  

The new part finally arrived yesterday and I got to work as soon as it came.  I swapped out the original

New vs Old stators

vented stator with the new slow speed version on the nitrile bellows and installed it on the shaft log. Then I lubed up the rotor with dish soap and slid it onto the shaft up to the bellows.  Then I reinstalled the transmission yet again and installed the IsoFlex GearGuard drive saver on the transmission flange followed by the split shaft coupler.  I had previously painted the coupler with 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of black enamel to keep the rust down.  

With everything in place, I reached down under the transmission and compressed the rotor against the bellows the recommended 3/4" and set the grub screws on the rotor.  Because the access is terrible underneath the transmission, the only way to tell if the clearance is good is to stick a camera down there and take a photo.  I was happy to find that I now had about 3/8" clearance from the bottom of the transmission and I think that it acceptable.  If the shaft wobbles that much then I probably have bigger problems than it hitting the bottom of the transmission. 

I finished up by setting 2 additional grub screws in each of the rotor set screw holes to hold the first ones in place (with blue loctite) and torqued the IsoFlex and shaft coupler to spec.  Once completed, the shaft spun nicely with the transmission in neutral with no 'hard' spots along the rotation.  Just to make sure I could call it complete, I dry installed the MaxProp hub on the outside to make sure I had the proper clearances (I did).  

I really never thought that this job would take soo long to complete, hopefully the other engine install jobs which are up next won't be quite as taxing (raw water, electrical, controls, fuel). 

 

PSS Clearance Issues Part 1

Before hooking up the engine to its various components (wiring, raw water, exhaust, fuel) I wanted to get the engine at least roughly aligned because once these components are connected to the engine, the ability to wiggle around the engine to get at the mounts becomes more difficult.  Of course there was still one big component missing that needed to be connected to proceed.

The Hurth HBW 150v v-drive transmission (aka ZF15) is in theory a pretty neat solution when you don't want the engine to intrude into the cabin.  It reverses the direction and angle of the propeller shaft and allows the engine to basically sit on top of where the shaft exits the hull. This is the fundamental problem with v-drives.  In order to service the shaft seal (PSS or conventional packing gland) you pretty much have to remove the transmission.   So before installing the transmission, the PSS shaft seal and the shaft needed to be installed.  The PSS is a rubber boot with a stainless steel compression collar (rotor) that bolts to the shaft and compresses the rubber boot (bellows) so that no water can get in once the boat is splashed.  Installing the bellows is a straightforward affair that only requires a bit of tenacity because it's a very tight fit, otherwise it's dead simple.  Once on, 2 hose clamps secure it in place.

Next I slid the shaft out through the PSS and through the strut.  Having never seen the original propeller shaft or the transmission bolted to the engine, I wasn't sure how far it would protrude into the boat so I wiggled the rotor onto the shaft but didn't clamp it down.  I planned to adjust and clamp it into place later, but as explained above, access to the PSS is not good once the transmission is bolted on, but at the time I didn't know how bad.   

My son and I wrestled the transmission beast aboard and jumped right into rough aligning the shaft to the transmission and engine.  This is where things went a bit sideways.  When I attempted to slide the shaft forward and through the transmission 'tunnel', it kept hanging up.  After a bit of head scratching I got down on my stomach and looked at the bottom of the transmission from the side and saw that the rotor (from the PSS) was hard up against the bottom of the transmission housing.  Damn!

We tried raising the front of the engine by adjusting the forward mounts, and while that did free up the rotor, the shaft wasn't perpendicular to the transmission face (it needs to be within .004").  This meant that the rear of the engine was too low and needed to be raised as well.  Unfortunately, on the w-27 engine, the rear mount is a saddle with only one adjustment point right in the middle and it's possibly the worst location to access.  Without a custom tool, there is literally no way to get a wrench on the bolt to raise or lower the engine.  

Luckily, Harbor Freight is a 15 minute drive away and they seem to specialize in cheap metal things that pry stuff up.  I found a 16" ball joint separator that fit nicely onto the rear mount and I was able to the back of the engine easily with one hand while I used the other to loosen the nuts (the rear mount is upside down, so to raise the engine, you need to loosen the nuts).

At this point, I removed the transmission again and removed the rotor to take that out of the alignment equation for the time being.  I reinstalled the transmission and with the rear of the engine raised I was able to get the shaft through the tunnel.  I plan on using a flexible coupling to reduce vibration and protect the transmission against shock loads, but I left it out for the alignment process.  I loosely fastened the split coupler to the shaft and lined it up with the transmission flange.  A little more tweaking of all the mounts and I was right at about .004" using a feeler gauge.  

I was feeling pretty proud of myself for getting the alignment done so quickly, but that didn't last long.  I pulled the coupler off followed by another transmission removal, slid the rotor back on and compressed the bellows the recommended 3/4".  I decided to sacrifice 2 of the grub screws that lock the rotor into place (they can only be used once). I carefully re-installed the transmission by sliding the shaft through the tunnel and getting it bolted on.  

Before I reinstalled the coupler to fully line the shaft up with the transmission flange I took a look underneath and saw that the rotor was still pretty close to the bottom of the transmission.  I had hoped that by compressing the rotor on the bellows, it would push it far enough aft to clear the bottom of the transmission. Nope, still just touching... 

I pulled the transmission again and removed the grub screws from the rotor and compressed the bellows ~1" and sacrificed the last 2 grub screws to lock the rotor in place.  Once again I re-installed the transmission (I'm getting very good at this) and took a look to check rotor clearance.  It looked better, but I decided to install the split coupler to see if it would clear.  The rotor now did have clearance, but only about 1/8" which seems way too close for comfort.  

I'm not sure if that is ok, but my gut feel is that it's not.  All it would take is one shock load (like wrapping a lobster pot or even shifting hard into reverse from forward) to introduce enough flex into the system to cause the rotor to hit the bottom of the transmission. That would not be good.  So time to rethink what I can do to fix this. Raise the engine more, probably not.  Maybe find a new dripless seal that's is shorter/smaller.  I've seen a lot of boats with lip seals (volvo, vetus) that are clearly shorter than the PSS. 

The thing that had me stumped was that I believe the boat had a PSS on it when the previous owner bought it, there was even a photo of it, but not very clear.  I went to my shop and started digging in the old parts bin and low and behold, I found the old dripless seal.  It looked like a PSS but it was about 1.5" shorter than the new one that I have and the bellows did not seem to be nitrile.  I thought maybe they changed the design, but after some research I found that it is probably either a Michigan Shaft Seal (I don't think they are made anymore), Nakashima, or a Maucour.  

So I have to do some research and see what my options are.  I know that other Niagara 35 owners have the same engine/transmission combo and are happily using the same PSS I have. One is also a 1986 like mine, so I would think that the layup and general tolerances would be pretty close within the same model year, but the engine beds could be different or maybe replaced at some point.  All I am sure of is that I don't want to go back to the old style flax packed stuffing box. No matter how good I get at removing the transmission, I don't want to have to remove it every time I adjust the stuffing box.  Despite this setback, I'm still pretty happy that I was able to get the engine aligned without too much fuss. 

Stay tuned...

Drained

I'm not drained yet (well, sort of), but the anchor locker is now watertight with a drain hose routed to the shower sump manifold.  This was a project I was thinking about for a long time, since the thought of muddy seawater draining free from the anchor locker to the bilge right underneath the v-berth never sat well with me.  Originally, I planned on doing an overboard drain straight from the locker, but I just didn't want to put another hole in the boat.  

The old anchor locker

I queried the Niagara 35 Facebook page to see what others had done, but didn't really find anything concrete.  It wasn't until I ran across a youtube video called HaveWindWillTravel (youtube) where I decided that I would put a floor in the anchor locker seal it up and route the drain to the shower sump manifold.  

The only problem was that if I installed a floor in the locker, the bobstay backing plate and bolts wouldn't be easily accessible anymore.  The folks at HaveWindWillTravel just sealed their floor with caulking and didn't glass it into place, so with some work they could cut their way to the bobstay backing plate.  I wanted something a bit more permanent.

I started with a chunk of cardboard and whittled it down until it fit nicely in the locker and sloped aft about 15 degrees.  I found a 6" watertight access port and a 1" flush drain while digging around in my sizable spare parts bins in the shop (After owning and building many boats over the years, the entire attic of my shop is dedicated to boat parts that I just might need some day).  The 6" port will allow for inspection and service of the bobstay backing plate and bolts.

Next, I found a suitable chunk of 3/8" balsa core that I had laying around from when I re-cored the decks on my Alberg 35 (more parts that I knew would eventually come in handy).  The balsa core is a 'sheet' of blocks glued to a scrim and the idea is that you fiberglass both sides to make a really strong, but very light 'board'.  I could have used plywood, but this would be much better as long as you keep the water out of the core.

For the layup, I glassed 1 layer of 1708 biaxial glass on the bottom side and 2 layers of 1708 on the top.  I put down a layer of plastic film on a flat surface followed by release fabric, then the bottom layer of 1708 glass.  Then I mixed up a batch of epoxy, wet out the glass as well as the scrim side of the balsa core and set the core on top of the wet out epoxy.  I mixed another, bigger batch of epoxy and took some time making sure the top part of the balsa core (including in between the blocks) was well saturated. Then I laid down a layer of 1708 glass, wet that out and laid down another layer of 1708 (and wet it out).  Finally, I put release fabric over all of it and more plastic film before placing a flat sheet of plywood and some weights to squish it all flat.  

The next day I came back to a nicely hardened, perfectly flat piece of light, strong, soon to be anchor locker floor.  I traced out the shape with the cardboard template I made and the cut it out with the bandsaw.  I took the new floor over to the boat and fit it in place. Of course it didn't quite fit so I did some rasp work on the piece before finally calling it good.  It didn't have to be that close, because it would be glassed into place.

My initial plan was to duplicate the pipe that HaveWindWillTravel used to seal up the deck wash hose that comes up through the locker on the port side, but after wasting a lot of time, I decided to make a rectangular cover out of the leftover balsa board I made.  There's a lot of angles in the locker and adding cylinders to the mix taxed my feeble brain a bit much and the rectangular tube was a much easier solution.  I ripped a 2.5x12" and a 1.5x12" piece of the board and epoxied them perpendicular to each other.  This didn't have to be particularly strong so once it hardened up, I rounded over the edge and covered it with 2 layers of 9oz glass and epoxied that up. 

I fit that (with a little help from my trusty rasp) and then cut out the holes for the drain and access port in the floor before coating all the exposed balsa edges with a layer of unthickened epoxy.  Once that kicked it was time to glass it all in place.  I mixed up a good sized batch of epoxy, then thickened it with 404 silica and shmooshed it all into a ziplock bag.  I cut off one of the corners to make a nice 'epoxy pastry bag'.  With both parts in place, I filled in all the edges with the thickened epoxy and then used a tongue dispenser to smooth all the edges out to a nice filet.

I let it set up overnight and the next day came back and laid in several layers of 9oz glass tabbing to really tie it into the bow of the boat.  Some minor sanding the next day (it's the floor of an anchor locker, so it doesn't have to be perfect) and it was time to paint.  

After 2 coats of epoxy bilge paint and the loss of countless brain cells (my respirator is getting a bit old), I installed the drain and access port with 3M 4200 and started snaking the 1" sanitation hose forward from the shower sump manifold located on the frame just forward of the mast step.

I needed to drill through 4 frames total with a 1-3/4" hole saw to get to the anchor locker drain.  Normally, I would have just snaked in around everything else along the centerline bilge of the boat, but it needed to have a continuous decline from the anchor locker with no sags where water would trap and get nasty.  To reduce any chafe that would inevitably happen when hoses pass through plywood bulkheads, I did a simple CAD design of a hose pass through 'grommet' and 3d printed a prototype using 95A durometer TPU (fairly hard, but still flexible and shock absorbing).  Amazingly, all my measurements were correct and it fit perfectly.  I printed 3 more and headed back to the boat for the final install.  

Once I snaked the hose up to the anchor locker, I secured it on the drain with a hose clamp and then cut the hose to its final length at the manifold and secured it there.  Because of the location of the manifold port in relation to the incoming hose, I had to do a horizontal loop (with a slight downslope toward the manifold) in order to connect it without any kinks, but it should do the trick.  I still have to secure the loop with zip ties so it doesn't flop around and rub on anything and re-install the divider that separates the anchor rodes from the 2 hawes pipes, but I'm going to call this job done.

The shower sump manifold

Hose and TPU gusset in action

The completed locker