Well the boat made it to Shelter without too much incident and it was time to clear the bilge. i.e. remove the motors, gas tanks and everything else you won’t ever need again.
There really isn’t anything glorious about this process, however it certainly is one way to test one’s resolve when it comes to an electric boat conversion. What can I say? To get the electric motors in you have to take the old gas motors out. In our case, we had two 40 year old, cast-iron 318 Chrylers sitting in the Black Pit of Despair. Basically you spend hours wrenching wearing a chemsuit and particle mask lying in precarious positions your Yoga teacher would struggle with.
There is however, one part of the process that is actually quite amazing to watch. Check out this short clip of Stan and his crew from Stratos Yacht Services lifting the last motor out onto the tarmac.
Once you get the motors out, you think to yourself…”okay how much more work can really be left?” If there ever was a stupid question that would be it. You should do everything in your power to refrain from asking yourself that. Why? because although the list may not be long, it’s very arduous…very very arduous.
For each motor there must have been about 10 supporting systems just to keep the motors running and cooled. Oh and don’t forget about the two 160 Gallon gas tanks that still had fuel in them. Everything had to go and everything had to be cleaned. I’m pretty sure the days we spent scrubbing, wrenching and hoisting cost us both a lung…but we both still have another so we should be okay for a while.
