It's not quite a totally fixed boat yet.
My parts, are still just… parts. It’s not yet a boat. But we have a new plan to match the new
parts. Tuesday we will “lower the engine
and ‘knock it over a little’ so it lines up straight and true and with the
correct height to match the new propeller shaft. It seems that when we poked the new shaft
through the boat it does not quite line up with the engine. We are not totally surprised as we noticed it
‘fell’ when we disconnected the Tranny on the earlier dismantle. (I’m told that the shaft is supposed to line
up within one 400th of an inch alignment for accuracy. Mine is kinda twisted, off kilter, not square
and sits about a ½” lower.) If I force it, the wobble and shimmy will wear out all the new parts.
The good news: we got the new shaft into the boat. We got the new transmission installed. We got the new dripless packing gland /
stuffing box in. We got the new pillow bearing in line on the
shaft but not mounted in place. The new propeller
is sitting on my aft deck. So lots of ‘new’
is happening.
But: the shaft does
not line up as needed. So we are going
to re-align the Perkins diesel and lower it to match the shaft. Then all will be well in the world.
So take a couple of jacks and jack up the engine. Tie off the top so it does not sway and fall
in heavy seas. Disconnect the 4 brackets
(not all 4 simultaneous) and adjust the height and alignment till it’s
perfect. What could be easier?
I don’t think I missed anything? Oh yeah, the original problem – leaky dip
stick. Still leaky. That’s on hold for now.
How is your day? - Skip
the back story: imagine Diesel Don is there, sitting in his dingy aft, holding on and looking down about 6' below water watching the scuba diver who is struggling with the weight of the new 9' shaft. Derrick the diver is 'trying' to get the shaft to slide into the hole (1-1/4") and has to keep the exact angle of the entry to get the shaft to slide in. BUT it's so heavy and there is only the one diver, so he drops the shaft, twice. the drop requires him to carry it back to the surface and clean off the threads and both ends of mud. While this is going on, Jason is down in the aft head, (back bath) with his head down under the floor watching the water enter. Jason has his phone on speaker and is talking with Lynne who is up on deck, aft, yelling to Don who is trying to direct it all. (it's like herding cats. its also impossible to communicate with the diver till he comes up with mud on stuff) I am running up and down watching all and pretending to help. (nobody is falling for it) After what seems like an hour and me asking Jason no fewer than ten times, "has he gotten the shaft in?" Lynne yells over the phone, "he's going to pull the plug and push in the shaft." (Jason and i had been watching water run in thinking he was working on it. He still had the plug in place.) We had used a large orange rubber plug to close the hole till we were ready to stick in the shaft. (to keep from flooding the boat) When he pulled the plug it looked like a very high pressure fire hose was opened. Water pouring in... then the shaft comes sliding in and the water flow is reduced to zero. As the shaft goes further into the boat Jason installs the parts. dripless seal, carrier bearing and finally the Tranny connection plate. THEN we see it's not lined up and stop the project. (insert sad face here)
