Finn 8 Project Boat

[RodS]

Hi all,
I have recently purchased a Finn 8 and am going to gradually restore her to her former glory. She's a bit shabby at the moment, needs quite a bit of cosmetic work but hopefully not too much serious mechanical work. First job will be removing the partially installed engine and giving it a workover before reinstalling. I'll also take out the fuel tank which can only be done while the engine is out and refurb the engine bay/bilge. That's phase one of the operation. My initial goal is to get the boat safe and reliable and then work on the cosmetic stuff as I go. Wish me luck!

 

[Blissboat]

Congrats on your salty-looking Finn 8, Rod, and good luck with all projects. Such a handsome boat.

 

[RodS]

Made a little progress in the last couple of weeks. Built a gin pole to lift the engine out of the boat and managed to get it out and on a stand without doing myself or the boat any damage. Now to find some bits and pieces for the engine!

 

[twistedtree]

What's the engine? Looks to be a 3 cylinder somethingorother. Maybe Perkins?

 

[RT Firefly]

G'day mate,
Mr. R. What a great opportunity to bond with your new mistress. Admire the "gin pole" set up. Very innovative and versatile! I hauled the engine on our "northern" boat a couple of years ago to replace fuel tanks (one leaked) and it was a perfect time to clean up wiring, general accumulated filth and give the bilge a fancy coat of paint. Good on ya'.

 

[RodS]

What's the engine? Looks to be a 3 cylinder somethingorother. Maybe Perkins?

It's a Lombardini LDW 1503. 3 cylinder 30 hp. It was set loosely in place by the previous owner, nothing connected up and I have no history on it. Was meant to be a running engine before it was installed. The engine was the big gamble buying this boat. I'm going to give it a service and get it running in a stand. Replace all the soft parts, possibly get it load tested somewhere before reinstalling it.

 

[Rob at LTP]

G'day Rod, I hope you are having as much fun on your Finn8 reno as I'm having!

Have you checked out the condition of the drive shaft centre bearing and supporting structure? It's in the bilge under the floor hatch in the aft cabin. In Puffinn it's a hefty plain bronze bearing mounted on a vertical steel plate hanging from a steel beam across the shaft tunnel. Poking around investigating things, I siphoned out the residual bilge water that the pump can't deal with. Next cruise, there was a loud knocking noise which I found to be from the pieces of the bearing support plate, which was completely rusted through, and clearly had been for a long time. The bilge water had been keeping it quiet. I thought about making up a wooden block to support the bearing from underneath, but decided to get the local boat mechanic to do the job properly. The job got bigger as we went along, and required cutting the drive shaft to get it out, because the drive flange wouldn't budge. But, cost aside, I'm happy that we did the job properly. Cheers!

 

[RodS]

Hi Rob,
Just trying to get my "bearings" if you will, are these photos looking forward or aft? Forward I'm guessing. Mine has a stern tube running through a fibreglass and some sort of synthetic board bracket arrangement but no separate bearing as far as I can tell unless there is a forward bearing in the stern tube. I'm not home right now and can't quite recall but I don't think there is anything forward of the stern tube. Forward is the top of the picture below. Interesting the small differences in set ups from one boat to the next.
Regards,
Rod

 

[Rob at LTP]

Ahh, yours is a totally different arrangement to mine. That's probably a good thing. My local mechanic and I both thought that it looked overly complicated.
I've been scouring the net for info and photos since Puffinn first caught my eye in 2019. There is a lot of variation between boats, particularly in interior fit-out, probably because they were offered for sale in various states of completion. There may also have been factory changes during the six or so years that they were built.
As an aside, since I have owned Puffinn, I have met two blokes who used to work in the factory at Gosford building them.
I've attached a pic of the bilge after the rebuild. The thing on top of the cross piece is a spring loaded grease pot for the bearing.

 

[RodS]

It would be interesting to meet someone who was actually building these boats, information has been hard to come by so far for me. I'd love to know how mine made it's way from Gosford to WA and back to Vic. I assume you have the old magazine article about the Finn?
The main external difference I see all the time is the number of windows and the bow and stern rails. Mine doesn't have the small window at the rear of the aft cabin and has all stainless rails vs the original style of rails like on your Puffinn. I reckon that rear window could be quite handy at times.
Inside, I don't have the bench seat with the stove in it but a pedestal seat and the stove is to the starboard side. I quite like the bench seat arrangement and may install one when I get around to it.
Do yo have any pics of your interior?