Going Electric: Part 2: The engines out! Now what?

What a relief to get the motor out of the boat and gaze at all the room now that the diesel engine has been removed.

The first thing I need to do is a little cleanup. After over twenty years of oil leaks and other spills a good scrubbing is in order to get things smelling less of diesel, oil and antifreeze and more like clean. For cleaning jobs around the boat I like to use a product called Simple Green. I buy it by the gallon at Home Depot and can use it in various dilutions depending on the cleaning job at hand. I might have to use it full strength to start the cleaning process here.

Next I'll start looking around for all the items I will no longer need as I convert the boat to electric propulsion. I can start with that spare yellow diesel container in the photo above. I carried this on board when cruising because I could never really trust the fuel gauge on the boat. I would show full or nearly full for a long time then drop fast suddenly as it emptied. I carried this diesel jug as insurance knowing I had at least six hours of fuel in case the fuel gauge played tricks on me.

When you have a diesel engine you've got hoses. The hose situation on my boat was also more complicated because a previous owner had installed a Frigoboat Series 500 engine driven refrigeration system. Which I'm sure cost a pretty penny when it was installed but, has not worked in a few years and when the engine died made repair of it moot. Below is just a sample of the hoses that were no longer needed:

Also in the photo above is the Groco raw water filter which was connected to the now missing engine. This item no longer needed and cleaning it is one less maintenance chore that no longer needs to be done when going electric. It will be nice to get this mess of hoses off the boat for good. Here's another item that will no longer be needed:

The Engine Shutoff! This essential item was needed to stop the diesel engine but, could also cause a lot of cursing when I forgot to to push it back down and it then prevented the engine from starting. It also has ripped and ruined a number of shirts on it's metal bracket as I climbed down into the engine area to work on the engine. I am very happy to see it leave the boat.

To be continued.....

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