Success

I completed the rudder modification on Thursday. We took the boat out today to try it out. It was an interesting day. We backed out of our slip and promptly ran aground. I had to give her a lot of throttle to get ungrounded. Once we got off and were moving we had a vibration and the boat did not steer very well. My first thought was the rudder mod was to blame. Then I thought maybe we have a bunch of mud on the prop and rudder from the grounding. Once we got out of the little bay here we anchored and I went in the water to look at things. I was surprised to find some carpet wound up around the prop. It took a couple of dives to get the prop cleaned off. We took off again and the difference in the way the boat handled was amazing. She is very responsive now. I was doing tight donuts around a marker post by the ICW channel. People probably thought I was drunk or crazy. I can now turn the boat around in less the two boat lengths. When we returned to our slip I was able to just turn right in. Before I would have to stop and back up in order to get turned enough to get in.

Side view of rudder extension.

Top view.

Carpet that was wrapped around the prop.

If you look at the water you can see how tight we were turning.

IQ gets a new Hatch

I replaced one of the non-opening ports today with a new Vetus opening hatch. The new hatch is quit a bit bigger and will be good for ventilation while at anchor. It is amazing to me how expensive hatches are. This one is 25" by 25" and normally sells for about $750 at West Marine and $629 at Defender. But when I went back to check Defender for availability I saw they had it on sale for $350 So I snagged it fast. The much smaller one that I installed in the aft cabin a few months ago was $325.

We have been back at the marina in Tavernier now for about two weeks. We really miss being on the mooring in Boot Key Harbor, but I know this is the right thing to do for now. It was very good to have spent the two months there as it gave us a good feel for what we need to do to IQ before starting to cruise again. We have come along way in the last few months in getting her ready to go. We still have a long way to go but we are getting there. We can't wait to get going again. Hopefully we will have a good work season this year. We have already decided that even if IQ is not totally ready we will leave anyway. We did this with Morgan and know that it is better to cruise and work on the boat than to just sit at the dock and try to get everything completed before untying the dock lines.

I started on our rudder modification today. Hope to finish it tomorrow and try it out this weekend. There is a guy with a shop here that has been kind enough to let me use his drill press and the other tools I need. It has been alot easier to work on the boat at a dock rather than a mooring.

Upgrading the Electrical System

I have spent the last five days upgrading the 120 volt electrical system of Island Queen. The system was original plus a bunch of cutting and adding over the last 35 years. In short it was a mess. The original system used 16 gauge SO cord. Basically not the same cable used for extension cords. The circuits were all 10 amp so you could not hardly use two things at the same time. Now every inch of wire is new, all new boxes and devices, and a new breaker panel. The whole system has been replaced. I can now see a light at the end of the tunnel as far as the electric goes. I still have to rewire the 12 volt wiring which will take more time the the 120 volt did,but it is not as overwhelming as it was.

The panel for the 12v dc and 120v ac was originally all one panel and all the wiring was run together as one system. I have now separated the two systems as they should be. The way the panel was installed in the boat I could not just buy a new panel off the shelf without doing a lot of reworking the woodwork to make it fit. So I built a panel to fit the area. It worked out really well. I will build the new dc panel in much the same way. I used 1/8 aluminum for the panel and Blue Sea breakers. I installed a hing so the panel can be opened to be serviced insteal of standing on your head in the closet to work on it. West Marine wanted $24.99 each for the breakers, I got them from Defender for $12.99 each.

Original AC and DC panel. DC on top and AC on bottem.

AC portion of the panel.

Back of the AC portion.

New AC panel.

AC panel opened up. Note the breakers are feed by a bus bar, not 2 million wires.

AC panel closed without back installed.