GB32 Woodie Under Contract: Lots of Questions :)

[thebruce]

Does anybody know how to remove the wheels on the door slider? And where to get new ones? Mine are so worn its just sliding on the bottom of the door.

[SteveK]

the wheel must have like a bolt and nut which is recessed and painted over

[Pilon42]

Originally Posted by thebruce

Does anybody know how to remove the wheels on the door slider? And where to get new ones? Mine are so worn its just sliding on the bottom of the door.

If you can get them out and send one to me I would me happy to make you a set. I am a machinist and have a 42 woodie I am working on. These are great boats glad to see someone else saving one.

[Pilon42]

Originally Posted by NUTIN FANCY TOO

I'm.....taken back......to be kind,as to the negativity of people that
A. Own a Grand Banks, a company started by a man who loved wood boats,and a company made famous by wood boats
B. People that seem to have lost the "romance"of owning one of these grand ladies if wood.
Have we become a population of"here's my checkbook, fix it"?
What happened to the guy(or gal) that loves his afternoons sanding and shining his baby,to stand back and look at what THEY accomplished.
Give me an old wood boat...any make....but especially a Grand Banks, the best of the best.
Go get your boat my friend. Don't be a weekend warrior, or a "boater"in name only. Be a Capt love your woodie,and "damn the torpedoes...full speed ahead ".
1969,42ft GB Hull #125. Built for Mr Robert Newton, founder/ CEO, and owner of American Marine Ltd (Grand Banks)

Well said I have 1970 42 Hull #150 and it is in excellent condition and can go anywhere, yes it has some work needed on the house mostly and it takes time to do it. Still love the boat and it rides like no fiberglass version of this boat.

[Mike GB32]

Regarding the sliding door wheels-
On my '74 they're made of a Bakelite type material. After investigating, it appears that a roller assembly was built into the frame when the door was made. I removed a caulk on the inside of the door panel and found a height adjustment on the shaft. Too far gone though. I believe the bottom of the door would have to be removed to service it.

[Art]

Originally Posted by Mike GB32

Regarding the sliding door wheels-
On my '74 they're made of a Bakelite type material. After investigating, it appears that a roller assembly was built into the frame when the door was made. I removed a caulk on the inside of the door panel and found a height adjustment on the shaft. Too far gone though. I believe the bottom of the door would have to be removed to service it.

Just a small input here.... maybe a way to help you go.

Our Tolly has a slider on each side. Neither have bottom rollers and they "float" freely in a containment channel on top. The door bottom and channel it travels in are SS metal to metal. After 44 yrs little to no wear. That said... the doors do not "glide" as easily as do doors with wheels. And, it makes opening/closing the doors much easier by occasionally spraying the bottom track with WD-40 or the like.

So... you might think of what you might do to remove the need for rollers at all.

Best Luck!

[thebruce]

Quick Update -

- first coat of paint is on. Looking pretty, but maybe a bit too gloss. We used Interlux Brightsides. The window frames need more attention...and since the superstructure is now so pretty, I guess that means we need to repaint the hull too

- fixed the cracked motor support. it was sheered in two. it was a much easier job than anticipated. had it replaced in maybe 2hrs. a hydraulic jack was key. engine is much smoother now that the alternator and mount arent rattling around.

- replaced the frayed throttle cable. shocked it was still even functional.

- unfortunately I ordered the wrong transmission seal so we will need to finish that next week. but no hiccups decoupling the shaft and pushing it back. the coupler had some obvious play, so assuming thats from the worn seal. we did find oil and grease inside the coupler, which seemed strange. how does oil leak down the spline into the coupler? our theory was the grease was maybe a prior diy hack to reduce the oil leak?

- did some general maintenance while we were in there, including replacing the impeller and zinc. both looked newish, which was good.

- interior is starting to come back together. will put the first coat of primer on that over the next week or so.

[Mako]

OP if you’ve broken the gear free from the engine then consider replacing the damper plate. Also if you cannot reuse that wheel on the bottom of the slider door then can replace with a strip of Teflon. I did that on my Burger. Works well but is not too slippery like a wheel, so the door isn’t constantly sliding around at sea when partially open. Some friction is good.

[Art]

Great photos and accounting. Keep em comen!

Second pict from bottom the frayed throttle cable? Scary!!

[rgano]

Is there a coolant recovery bottle attached to that engine, or is that the original big ol' 4 PSI single-acting radiator cap?

[thebruce]

Originally Posted by rgano

Is there a coolant recovery bottle attached to that engine, or is that the original big ol' 4 PSI single-acting radiator cap?

Yea, its got a 2015 reman Lehman with the coolant expansion tank mounted on the bulkhead.

@art - yea, that was the throttle cable. They are stranded wires so any moisture gets in there and they rust and expand. Question is where that moisture came from. The only thing around it was some water hoses, so possibly some old hoses were leaking on it.

@mako - yea Im thinking about a teflon strip if I cant fix the rollers. I pushed that project to march as its a nice to have and I have some more urgent "must-dos" right now.

Re the damper plate, is this on the flywheel? We arent uncoupling the whole transmission, just the shaft and rear seal.

[SteveK]

Re the damper plate, is this on the flywheel? We arent uncoupling the whole transmission, just the shaft and rear seal.

Bell housing had to come off mine to get the damper replaced. But once you unbolt the tranny you will see if the damper springs are good or not. The judgment call for the extra labor and $150

[thebruce]

Originally Posted by Soo-Valley

Bell housing had to come off mine to get the damper replaced. But once you unbolt the tranny you will see if the damper springs are good or not. The judgment call for the extra labor and $150

Ahh, thx! Seems similar to a pressure plate in a car clutch that has a spring-back test?

[Mako]

Chances are you’ll find no records of the DP ever being replaced. If you’re planning on keeping the boat fir a long time and thousands of nautical miles then it really good preventive maintenance. What would it cost... $200 or so?

[thebruce]

Originally Posted by Mako

Chances are you’ll find no records of the DP ever being replaced. If you’re planning on keeping the boat fir a long time and thousands of nautical miles then it really good preventive maintenance. What would it cost... $200 or so?

I saw some old threads about reducing vibration at idle in Lehmans. Some said it was "normal", some said to just run at a slightly higher rpm, some said injectors needed servicing, etc.

Any conclusions on this? Mine was considerably smoother after replacing that broken support. It was reverberating through the whole boat during warmup. It still pulses at low rpm, but smooths out if you push the throttle up a bit.

[ramkay]

700 RPM is the ideal on my GB32. I start the engine at 1000 for a minute or so and then drop it to idle. In general all Lehman engines do vibrate at idle but once in gear it should run very smoothly. From the flybridge you won't even hear the engine. Good job on that boat. Great undertaking though.

[Marinex]

Here is a photo of the back side of the door, the wheel is held in place by a slotted screw, this is on my GB 32 1967.


Our door was so badly rotted that we built a new one and replaced the wheels with a thin strip of HDPE plastic as a slider. I put it the full width but in hindsight I should have just maybe used three short pieces, the full length is probably too much resistance. The previous door used to open and close by itself in rough seas when using the wheels on the bottom, so now we have gone too far the other way!

[DrissZougari]

A lot of honest answers were given here. You probably can do most of the work however, you will be on the hard for a long time that will drain you financially.
Save your money!

[thebruce]

Originally Posted by DrissZougari

A lot of honest answers were given here. You probably can do most of the work however, you will be on the hard for a long time that will drain you financially.
Save your money!

You missed the party on this one. We've already ripped big holes in the boat. No give backs now

And for reference, if we take the cost of the boat + cost of major refit items to date, we still have the cheapest GB32 on the market. So there is value if you are willing to do some hard work and hire out efficiently. We've been lucky as we had a solid hull, 2015 reman engine, and fantastic team of 3-5 guys (reasonably priced) for the stripping, sanding, paint and varnish. They are able to do in a day what would take a month if you were trying to do on weekends by yourself.

The amount of sanding required to prep the paint has been my biggest miscalculation (so far). Stripping the old varnish took 2 days. Stripping the superstructure paint took 1 day. But it was probably 3 days of prep before the first coat of primer, then 1 day of sanding between each coat of primer and paint - and thats with 3-5 guys per day.

But luckily we're still on budget, we've just accelerated the spend as things are moving faster than planned in some areas.

Final coat of paint will go on the superstructure today. Then will rebuild the flybridge seats on Sunday and start on repainting the hull next week. And the major engine work listed in the survey will be finished on Monday.

So that still leaves a ton of projects, but the less intensive and longer term ones: interior repaint will start next week, interior varnish will be a winter project, electrical and electronics will be a winter project, and decks will be a spring project.

The other miscalculation has been on cushions. I was sure I was going to be able to find a hack get the prices more reasonable. But thats been elusive. I even went to the automotive upholstery shops and they were also quoting $120 an hour. I can hire a software engineer with a PhD for that...come on.

Its also been funny to see everyones attitudes change on the dock over the past 6 weeks. Our slip is right next to the gate so everyone needs to walk by the boat. The progression of comments has gone something like this...
- For the 1st week we got the condescending, "are you the new owner....good luck ".
- The 2nd week was "oh wow, you guys are going for it." "A lot of work to do." "you know on boats the work never ends".
- The 3rd week when the windows came out and it looked like floating pile of scrap wood we got "I respect your commitment, but question your sanity". "you know its the rainy season right" "this is a wood boat right. thats too bad"
- The 4th week after the first coat of primer and interior was stripped we got the first 2 unsolicited offers to buy it. the comments were "what an exciting project" "its a perfect blank slate" "I love watching your progress but its making me feel guilty". "what a labor of love"
- The 5th week after the 2nd coat of primer, windows were back in and interior was stripped we got the "this is an amazing restoration. you guys should be proud" "what a fantastic project" "this is so exciting" "what a special boat"
- The 6th week and first coat of paint has gone on, we get the longer stop bys with everyone wanting to chat "this is turning out amazing" "what great memories you will have with your family on this boat"

Its all in the eye of the beholder.

[Art]

Originally Posted by thebruce

I even went to the automotive upholstery shops and they were also quoting $120 an hour. I can hire a software engineer with a PhD for that...come on.

And, some do next to nothin lawyers charge $400 + per hr. Go figure!!