Good Vibrations - Part V

WooHoo! It worked

After a small 'gotcha' in the initial start up yesterday, today we're all smiles!
A quick trip to West Marine (waste of time today) and a successful trip to Boat Owners Warehouse, we then went to the boat intent on getting the initial startup after all the work on the Engine Exhaust, Electrical Harness, New Instruments, New Engine Mounts and hooking the Engine Coolant system to the Hot Water Heater.


Considering this was really my first big job on an engine system, I'm really pleased. Ken Kloeber of Weekend'r Products was able to supply all of the wiring & wire lug needs and the New Tachometer, the rest came from various suppliers via Amazon.

Before we started the engine for the first time, we had all of the boat's extinguishers handy and Peggy out in the Cockpit and myself with an escape route just in case anything went really wrong. It felt a bit like the first start of the Star Ship Enterprise! 

Peggy turned on the Ignition, I could hear the fuel pump running - good sound! Ran the engine bay blower motor - another good sound! Next the Glow Plugs, no sounds - that's good, and no huge spike in amps as displayed on the Electrical Control Panel. Raw Water valve open, ready to go! Peggy pressed on the Start Button and the engine sprang into life - a little hesitant but we realised the boat was in gear - we had let the moment obscure that little fact. Into Neutral, engine is purring!

That initial run was just to make sure the starter worked and there were no initial leaks - Passed!

We shut down the engine and gave it a breather while we celebrated with an ice cold water and lunch sandwich.

2nd Start (In Neutral) and it started without hesitation. We both compared the vibration to what we had previously experienced and both of us concluded that it's vastly superior!

The engine quickly came up to 145F, all of the gauges working (lites too) let it run for about 5 minutes this time. 

So with that success, it's time to finish up: New Exhaust Riser Insulation Jacket - Done, Water Lines to Bathroom connected - Done, Electrical wiring inside engine bay secured - Done.

Next it was time to check out the water heater - but Mom Nature stepped in to put that test on hold - Heavy storms heading up from the South East. So a quick tidy up - Put all tools away, toss out all of the hose cut offs less than 4' long, close up the boat and head home.

Really pleased with progress today - if the weather had not intervened we would have refilled the water tanks & completed the hot water heater test. Tomorrow!

Engine Ready to Start

New Breathe hose to Air filter input

New Riser Insulation jacket

Water Heater Hosed Reconnected to Engine Coolant System

Electrical wires secured from chaffe 

Alternator Reconnected

Engine Hast not been this Clean since we purchased her.

Raw Water Hose & Filter in front of Repaired Aqua Lift Muffler

Next pics should be of us underway and Eximius back out on the Water. Well, it is Labor Day Weekend!

See you out there.

Handy Weather Routing Service

If you use this service - read their disclosures and keep your own eyes open.

One of our longer term sailing goals (ok, one of mine) is to get a picture of us on Eximius with the Statue Of Liberty in the background.

To that end, I have been studying weather patterns, forecasts, weather faxes and routes from Florida up to New York Harbor.

I recently found this terrific site that provides computed routing.

Check it out!

http://www.fastseas.com/

I'll add that to my Links page (see menu above)

See you on the water - and perhaps en-route to the big lady!

Good Vibrations - Part IV

Slowly - but getting there!

Our home schedule changed this week, so we went down to the boat on both Monday & Wednesday and made good progress both days.

The Electrical harness is complete all bar the securing of the harness to nearby bulkheads and tying wires out o the way of the vibrating engine. 

The Raw Water hoses are all in place and just need their hose clamps securing.

The Engine to Water Heater hoses are both replaced and connected and the new Thermostat is in place, but I do need a couple of elbow fittings to reduce stress on the hot water tank connections and avoid having the new hoses kinking.

So the last thing to do prior to attempting an engine start is tightening all of the hose clamps, priming the Coolant System (burping the engine) and installing the new Drive Belt to replace the old one which is obviously not new and now's a good a time as any to replace it.

The plan is to get all of that done on Saturday. With luck we'll be running the engine by lunchtime.

So the to do list:

• Install 2 Elbows in the hoses from the water heater to the engine coolant water hoses.
• Tighten all hose clamps
• Install new Drive belt and adjust to correct tension
• Complete an Oil Change
• Top up the Coolant and Prime the Coolant lines
• Secure all of the harness wiring to nearby bulkheads.
• Test run the engine and look for leaks in the Raw Water System, Coolant System and Exhaust System.
• Dress the new Riser in it's fancy insulation jacket.
• Clean up the boat interior!

I hope we can get all of that done Saturday, and after running the engine for at least a half hour alongside the dock, then perhaps- Odin on our side - we'll get the boat away from the dock on Sunday!

Good Vibrations - Part III

Nearly there but we have not left the dock!

Spent 3 hours on the boat today. First thing was to check out the issue with the Fuel gauge and the Blower motor. Turned out the blower motor was not a big deal. I had not attached the positive lead to the switch - it was just hanging there! Easy fix. Then the fuel gauge... I checked the gauge, shorted the sensor post to ground and the meter read full scale (full tank) so the gauge was ok. Then cut the wire from the sensor that went to the thank ground, had voltage there, but the resistance from the sensor to the tank ground was a couple of kv. So the problem was a bad earth. New cable from the sensor to the newly installed tank ground and we were back in business. That took care of yesterday's issues.

Next a bit more engine clean up. Peggy had done such a good job yesterday that it inspired me to make further progress. Once past that I installed the Aqua Lift exhaust hose and the riser/gasket and hump hose. That went pretty quick. On to the plumbing. The silicone hose that I purchased is too short! grrrr! I'll pick up a longer hose at WM next week. But did get the heat exchanger installed and the new hose from the raw water filter to the pump and from the pump to the heat exchanger.

Just a couple o little jobs and it's getting close to engine running test time. WoooHooo!

Good Vibrations - Part III

I get it! Our boat is 28 years old, but I would like it to help it live strong for another 28 years!

Peggy & I went down to the boat this Thursday to progress the new wiring harness installation. Making good progress, but I have realized that every wire in the new harness is replacing an old wire that is way past it's prime.

Here's another one.

The Fuel Pump Ground wire was hidden behind the Fuel Pump, I had to take a pic using my phone just to see what it was like.
No surprise! Ready to fail. I removed it, made up a new ground wire and lead it into the engine bay where I have installed a new -ve Buss Bar.
I'll be replacing all of the ground wires as I get to them. Next is the ground for the Fuel Level Sensor. That will bond the tank and provide the ground (again to the -ve buss bar)

If the weather holds out today, I could get the rest of the Engine Harness in and tested, perhaps even get the Alternator installed, along with the Heat Exchanger and the new Exhaust Riser.

Weather was good!

We completed the electrical installation today and - bonus - Peggy cleaned up the engine.
She spent nearly two hours cleaning the grot off the engine using paper towels, Simply Green, a pair of tweezers and a lot of gumption.
Then I installed the Alternator and wired that up, completed the last of the ground wires, we were ready to test everything.

Initial test was not too bad. Everything seems to be working except the Blower Motor and the Fuel gauge.
I'll check the wiring on those two circuits tomorrow.

At least we have a nice clean engine to work around - Thanks Peggy!

More Saturday.

Good Vibrations - Part II

New mounts installed

Peggy came down to the boat with me today, more for moral support than anything.

As planned, I raised the Engine off of the Motor Mounts that were temporarily in place on the stringers, filled each of the forward holes (4) with 2 part epoxy putty and left it to harden for 20 minutes then Re-drilled the stringers for the new mounts.

While waiting for the epoxy to harden, I spent some quality time cleaning up beneath the Engine. Not sure the area has looked that clean in many years.

After the epoxy had cured, it was pretty easy to get the new Motor Mounts installed and bolted down, although I did leave the mounting lag bolts loose enough that I could move them inboard/outboard if needed. It took about 3 hours to get all of that done and the Engine back on the motor mounts. Not bad for a first time doing an Engine job.

The motor mounts part of this job is nearly complete, only the Engine to Prop Shaft alignment remains to be done. Right now the Prop Shaft Flange to Gearbox Flange has gaps (4) of between .007" and .009" and I'm not sure of the correct gaps or range of differences that are acceptable. So I have asked the support of the C34 International Association for a procedure to follow. While I'm waiting there's always Google!

Update - Friday Aug 19th.

The Engine is aligned! Following the advice from the C34 Association members, I was able to get the Engine Alignment within 0.0025" and feel that I did a pretty good job (pats self on back a few times :)

Update - Saturday Aug 20th.

We made good progress today. The Control Panel is secured in place, including the beast of a job getting the Engine Stop lever back in place through the hole in the Control Panel. The harness is run down and forward to the Engine Space and the Blower Motor is wired up. The Starter is back in place with  it's new Solenoid and the Power Connection to the Solenoid is connected with fuse in place.

Next visit to the boat will be to get the new -ve bus bar wired up to the electrical system and engine. Then connect up the Fuel Pump, Fuel Tank Sender, Engine High Temp and Coolant Temp senders, Glow Plug connection, Alternator Excite and Smart Regulator connections in place.

To keep the control panel dry before the final screws are in place, there's a temporary Polybag taped over the panel. I have to trim the clear instrument cover slightly to make it easier to operate the Engine stop lever.

Once all of that is done, then it's time to reinstall the heat exchanger, Alternator, Raw Water hoses, Coolant hoses etc. Then inspect everything before hitting the start button for the first time.

We're getting excited! With a bit of luck we'll be able to take the boat for a test run by next weekend. WooooHooo!

Don't wait for us yet, but we'll see you on the water soon!

A bit of Kudos

Support groups are really important

Over the past 11 years that we have owned a sailboat, we have received an invaluable amount of support and feedback from the groups that we belong to.

Catalina Yacht owners make up one of the largest boat owners groups in the world, with so many models over that past 30+ years, and so many of them still in great condition, it's no wonder that someone considering buying a new or used boat nowadays looks on the web to find out how much support they can get from owners groups.

The Catalina 34 International Association and the Catalina - Capri 25's Association are two groups that we have belonged to and their support for dealing with the varying issues over the years have saved us so much work, worry and given so much additional pleasures and enjoyment from our boats.

This past year, as members of the Catalina 34 International Association and as owners of a now nearly 30 year old boat, we have done a lot on the boat and enjoyed improving our sailing knowledge, it's been an awesome year.

If you are considering buying a new or used boat, although I'm biased, really consider Catalina Yachts carefully. Get out to the boat shows, look at all of the models of different brands and compare them. Keep the comparisons on an Apple to Apple basis; An 38' Catalina cannot be compared to a 42' beneteau. A cruising boat cannot be compared to a racing sledge. 

Get down and dirty! Look under the engine, in the Bilge, under the anchor locker, beneath the V-Berth. Check out the standing rigging - lightweight or built like a Brick? You'll need to know what your plans are for the boat and that determines much of the requirements you'll be looking for. We're not racers, do we race - Yes - and we always learn so much more about sailing during those few short hours competing in a friendly local race. We like cruising - getting away for at least a few days, we're even planning on a month or more in the Bahamas next year, and our choice affected the type of boat we purchased.

But just as important as the materials, workmanship and reliability of the build, support for the model is really high up that list.

Over the past year we have done quite a few upgrades on the boat and several of them were not obvious, but the C34 Association has so many articles online I think we have done the right thing every time and had the support of very experienced owners that shared their experiences making ours less stressful and more valuable.

For example, the Outhaul on our boom looked a bit painful and likely to fail, we were in the process of replacing the sails and changing from a fixed footed main to a loose footed main and that meant the potential greater strain on the outhaul. So fixing it before the new sails were installed seemed the prudent thing to do. 

As always, I turned to the Association site for advice and past experience, reading dozens of articles on the subject of Mainsail Outhaul replacement. During that research, I found that several folks had upgraded the outhaul or a better haul ratio and, more importantly, that the Boom Gooseneck was a potential area of failure. 

So, while upgrading the outhaul, I also took a close look at the Gooseneck and found it was cracked! I would never have noticed that by casual inspection. I ended up replacing both Boom end castings. Now I know that we're not going to have that kind of failure while under sail and away from the maddening crowd.

This has been just one of the several upgrades that were completed with the valuable knowledge of the C34 Association contributors. 

So I cannot emphasize enough - check out the Support groups for any boat you may be about to buy.

I would be remiss if I did not offer kudos to the Catalina Capri 25 Association, we have been members or 10 years and were able to share with and benefit from the many other owners the knowledge gained while keeping our boat in the best condition.

This past month I have been working on the biggest job so far: A complete Engine Harness replacement, Replacing the Engine Exhaust Riser, and Engine Mounts. In each case, the Association has chimed in when asked and offered suggestions or links to online experience. I've even been able to purchase much of the materials for these projects from an Association member at very competitive pricing.

So Kudos! to the Associations that support all of us. 

Thanks.

Paul