New! (September 21, 2024)
Replacing and refitting a 92-year-old, one-of-a-kind sailboat with a new engine is a costly endeavor. The estimated outlay is around $45,000, of which about half is the cost of the engine alone. The remaining expenses are refit work including engine removal and disposal, reconfiguring the auxiliary’s layout and displacement, along with alterations to the cockpit and engine room.
Read about how we got here: Sailing into an Unplanned Refit.
A ‘GoFundMe’ fundraiser has been started to assist the efforts to restore Circe. Owner, Shipwright and Captain Michael Gifford is doing the lion’s share of work to maintain this historic vessel, a task he has done for nearly 30 years. He, and co-owner Cornelia Gifford, are donating their time, love, and resources to keep Circe’s legacy afloat. Please consider a donation to help fund the unexpected costs of this special project.
See below for progress updates.
Updates on progress of Circe’s recovery will be shared here.
If you wish to contribute or support in any way, please contact us at “contribute” at circefoundation.com.
Please, feel free to post comments and ask questions about the work and progress.
Progress Update (September 21, 2024)
There is a meme with stuck parts. It can’t be stuck if it’s liquid.
Naturally, this implies heat, and lots of it in a small area over a short period.
Let’s review things that are historically bad ideas on wooden ships:
- Fire
Moreso, fire in a confined space coated with a pleasant veneer of various hydrocarbons is nothing short of forbidden.
To avoid this heat-fire-is-bad and still get something to move often means work. And time. Michael put in that time to remove the stuck shaft head. The new engine, I will call it Yani (the Yanmar), requires a different part on the shaft, so the old one had to go. Unfortunately, time had made said removal of the old part a tedious task. Repeated applications of lubricant, pressure, leverage, cursing, and eventually hours of cutting finally relieved the shaft of its stubborn attachment.
This brief animation will condense the lifetime of effort into a few seconds for your appreciation.
Progress Update (September 15, 2024)
Surprise! Last week a new engine arrived.
This is amazing because it can take months for a new engine to be delivered.
However, having an engine is not the same as having a place to put it. For now, the new engine will sit near Circe at Lake Union Drydocks until Circe is ready to receive said engine.
Reconfiguring the engine bay is in work. Michael is toiling away at the task while time allows. The 80-pound purple-heart sled rails are carved to fit and in-place. This allows Michael to build a temporary platform in the engine room to from while cleaning, rewiring, replumbing, and other repairs and repositioning of systems takes place.
Receiving the engine so quickly is remarkable. The constraints on engine dimensions, displacement, power, and more limited options. Firstly, it needed to fit through the main hatch, original to the 1932 build. Repositioning the engine forward and directly to the shaft requires a redesign of the stairs and companion way. Michael has done this without a rebuild of the salon, which is a great relief.
Circe also has a Facebook page! Please share with your friends.
Work in Progress (September 1, 2024)
As of September 1st, 2024, the 1960s diesel engine has been removed. Lake Union Dry Docks hoisted the 1000lb engine through the companion way and sent the old beast for proper recycling. A new engine is on order. In the meantime, with specifications in hand, Michael is beginning the process of fabricating new engine mounts and reconfiguring the engine room to fit the new auxiliary.
Some notes on the engine room and engine placement. The 1960’s vintage Volvo Penta engine sat above and aft of the prop shaft. This placement, while “compact” in terms of location, faced the engine backward in the engine room, with the heat exchanger against the aft bulkhead and entirely inaccessible to anything larger and less flexible than a jellyfish. The engine was connected to the shaft by a heavy 1930s chain drive, originally built by Boeing. In the pictures above, the black surfaces in the engine room are the oil and grime from decades of small leaks and discharge splatter from the ancient mechanical artifacts.
The engine room will be steam cleaned, repainted, and systems repositioned.
The new engine is both lighter and more compact. This allows the engine to directly connect to the shaft, improving maintainability, but necessitates redesigning the companion way to some extent, and later the engine room and cockpit. The lighter engine will impact Circe’s displacement, so shifting of ballast may be needed.