It is summer time. First month of this summer was very hot. Day after day, the temperature was over 30C, and humidex very often exceeded over 40C. It wasn’t easy to work inside the boat, especially under the cockpit, and in the engine compartment, which both of them were the major working areas in this month. I remember the year 2002 – very hot summer - when I was working on glassing the hull. Last year of 2004 I was waiting during the summer for a couple of days with no rain, so the crane could lift my boat. Every year was different, but I could see some periodical rhythm of summer months.

Engine compartment.	Fuel box with vents from tanks.
New valves ready for hoses.	What I did? First of all, I was able to clean the engine compartment. Next I installed the muffler for good, and also connected all hoses. I installed also two deck fuel fillers in the fuel box. I didn’t have problem to connect these two hoses (starbrd and port), but I’ve got a problem with hoses between the fuel tanks and the engine. Yanmar engine is manufactured in metric system, and as an example, the returning line is ended with barbed fitting 9mm. The closest hose what I could get here was 3/8”, what is a 9.6mm and is too lose for the original barbed fitting. I had to put a layer of thin rubber (fuel friendly), and use a tight clamp. I assembled valve system for the entire fuel line. I was ready to install water separators, but I didn’t have them at that time.
The SeaGoat from the top.	So many times I was asked, of how does the SeaGoat look like now? Mostly my pictures are detail oriented, and in fact I didn’t have the current picture of the entire boat, so I decided to take this kind of picture. Previous pictures were taken from ground level, but this time I tried to get the shot from the top. I climbed onto the highest point of trimaran docked next to the SeaGoat, and it is how the SeaGoat looks like from the top.
Phase I.	Phase II.
How it looks like now?.	Last month a friend of mine was visiting the marina, and he tried to find the SeaGoat and me. Unfortunately he didn’t find us. The SeaGoat is located in the very end of marina’s yard, and she didn’t have the name on her transom yet. I decided that it is about time to show everybody what her name is. I hope, that now, it will be much easier to find us. It wasn’t a special ceremony about that – she was named already two years ago – in July of 2003.
My workbench next to the boat.	When it was too hot to work inside, I went down to work with chaineplates. It was a lot of grinding, and polishing to get the ss bars look nice. When the sun was operated directly on it, the metal was too hot to hold it in the hand, so I had to use gloves.

June was also a month when I installed the shaft. I encountered a lot of problems, to get all the parts together. My shaft is 8ft long, and a 1 ¼” in a diameter, and it wasn’t a problem to find the cutlass bearing for the shaft, but I’ve got a problem to find an ss tubing to place a bearing in. In this case the tubing supposed to be in 2.0” of an I.D. Thanks to local Metal Market I ordered the ss tubing with special 600 grit finish, and I was shocked when I was asked to pay almost $400 Cdn. No choice – I couldn’t find anything cheaper. Now I found out that the only stuffing box available in my area is 2.25” in O.D., to be more specific, I have found only one place in my area, with only one piece in stock available. Stuffing box with 2.25” in O.D. didn’t fit with the ss tubing O.D. of 2.5”. After two trials, I decided to apply a glass tape with resin on the top, of the stuffing box to match the size of the ss tubing. After this operation, two diameters were equal, and I was ready to buy 12” of heavy wall hose, to connect the parts together. The shaft with two couplings (one flex) was connected to the engine, and I made the cast for shaft tubing.
Another major task was completed.

Completed shaft.	Heavy wall SS tubing.
Inside - tubing ready for glassing/casting.	Couplings.

The next task was to assembly the steering system. I decided to use a hydraulic steering system. I had already two helm pumps, with variable displacement, and one heavy-duty cylinder. All what I needed, were the hydraulic hoses. I ordered hoses rated for 2000PSI, and I was sure that my system requires two hoses between helms. I was wrong! After consulting the Teleflex, I have been told that I need also a low-pressure hose connection, and one extra hose with valve for an easy air removal. I had to take all the hoses back to the shop, to change length, and to order the valve. Again – I hat to wait for brass fittings, and the ss ball valve, rated for 2000PSI. Of course I had to pay again. The major difficulties were, when I tried to connect all four hoses to the cockpit helm, installed into the pedestal. Originally the pedestal wasn’t design for four hoses, but after modification of elbow barbed fitting, all hoses were in place. I bought an automatic transmission fluid, and I filled the system up. After two hours of jumping back and forth between cockpit helm, the pilothouse helm, and under cockpit cylinder, for the first time the SeaGoat ruder became alive.
Another major task was completed.

Pedestal with installed pump.	Not too much space for top elbow fitting.
Pilothouse pump with hoses conected.	I like this wheel.