Names and Paint?

So, we'd like to get some input on a couple of names for the boat. We'll be documenting the vessel with the US Coast Guard and need to make a decision soon... the obvious one is "Koloa", which is the name we were thinking of when we started this blog. Its the name of a native Hawaiian duck. Since our boat design is based on the Diesel Duck line of Troller Yachts designed by George Buehler, it seems to fit. The other one we have been thinking of is "Kama Hele", which means traveller in Hawaiian. It has a nice ring and we like the translation.

Here are some pictures of some different paint ideas we've been playing with. Let us know what you think... The last one is compliments of Sam. If you have any input on names or paint schemes, send them to Sue at: floatingsue@gmail.com

Here's some recent pictures that show the current "state of the project"...

Finally finished all the fuel tank plumbing. We designed it to be all hard-piped with flexible connections at the fill, return, and supply manifolds. This was a lot of work and took a lot longer than we anticipated. The end result of all this crazy plumbing is in the pictures of the aft deck where you can see the fuel containment set-up, with all fuel vents and master fill pipe terminating at the aft deck behind the wheelhouse. I made up a lightweight anchor mock-up so we could experiment with different anchor roller geometry. The roller assembly will be welded up from some very heavy 3/4" by 6" 316 stainless flat-bar stock, so we have to get this right the first time. should be putting the real thing together in the next week or so. Had a visit from our friends John and Kari from Seattle. They drove us all over the Seattle area last year looking at boat designs. Nice to see them again. Also Casey from CS Marine lent us some boat stands so we can start cutting off the welded hull supports and get the plating cleaned up for paint.  Thanks again Casey...

Tank Tops

Been awhile since I've had time to sit down and organize pictures but we've been plenty busy finishing the seemingly endless "completing of hot-work" list. We are trying to get any and all welding and grinding done before we paint, and it seems that every time I step back, some new little welding or drilling detail pops up that I hadn't thought of. I have a lot of pictures so I'll do two installments... 

First is drilling the tank tops. Each compartment of our below deck fuel tanks has to have an inspection hatch for accessing the tank interior for maintenance and cleaning if that ever becomes necessary. We have 14 of these hatches that needed to be drilled for the studs that will bolt them down. This added up to about 470 5/8" holes in 5/16" steel- another monumental drilling project. Fortunately I was able to use a drill press for these, and drill a few hatches at a time by clamping them together with a master template on top. Still, each hatch weighed about 50 pounds, and it was a workout just moving them around and up into the boat.