It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, that’s not because I haven’t even up to much. Quite the opposite in fact.
Throughout June and July 2020, Emigre has undergone extensive maintenance and upgrades. It started with the removal of the old engine bed, which was severely rotten and soaked with diesel. I had many issues with the propeller shaft going out of line. This was caused by the poor method that the engine was secured to the boat which included a bed of rusty steel which was secured (sort of) to the engine bed with coach screws into rotten hardwood. The iso-flex engine mounts were attached to the steel using a combination of coach screws and bolts on top of some rotting timber.
To rectify the issue, I enlisted the help of my good friend and fellow sailor Michael Green who came up with a plan to replace the engine bed. Not only did Mike help in the planning phase, he worked tirelessly to help me get the job completed. The first stage was to remove the engine and sit on the cabin soul boards in the middle of the galley area. To do this we had to assemble a frame out of 2x4 pine which would support the chain block and slings which would pick up the engine. The pine frame was screwed together using decking screws and sat on the cabin soul, reducing the weight placed on the cabin top. Firstly, I disconnected the hoses, linkages and electrical connections to the engine and then removed the coupling from the back of the gearbox.
With the engine out of the way, we set to work removing the rusty steel and rotten timber. Then it was time to make some noise and some dust. Mike brought along a seriously big angle grinder which we used in combination with a reciprocating saw, a multi tool, a smaller angle grinder with a chisel blade (affectionately named the angry teenager) and plenty of old fashion chisels to remove rotten timber from within the fibreglass sheathing. It was a fine balance between getting the job done in a reasonable time frame and not wanting to cut through the bottom of the hole with an angle grinder, causing more issues than just a poorly mounted engine, however we manage to avoid that sinking feeling…
Once the timber was removed from the engine bed, we templated new timber out of pine, cutting and shaping the timber on the dockside using a circular saw and a handsaw. With the rough template made out of pine for both of the engine beds, we moved the engine back into place to check that the engine bed was in the right position. We had to take the engine in an out multiple times until we got the alignment perfect with the shaft. It's important that the propeller shaft is in line with the engine otherwise it creates excessive wear on the bearing which sits inside the stern tube where the propeller shaft goes through the hull of the boat. I was also having issues with the pack-less shaft seal which keeps the water from coming into the boat through the stand tube. It was leaking more than I liked due to the misalignment.
With the engine beds properly templated out of pine, Michael machined some very old dry Jarrah to the same dimensions as the template. Once we had dry fitted and check the alignment once more, the engine beds were wrapped in a few layers of fibreglass tape, and West system epoxy resin. The day that we decided to fibreglass the engine beds into the boat, happened to be one of the wettest days in July. The night before, I read a tarpaulin over the companionway to try and keep the area dry so it was suitable for fibreglassing. Upon arrival the next morning, the tarp was gone but thankfully the area was dry enough to fibreglass. I mix the resin as Michael laid up the fibreglass after bedding down the Jarrah with batch after batch of west system epoxy, thickened with 410 microfibre adhesive filler. Once the fibreglass was tacky, we screwed the stainless steel all thread rod, which would become the studs which excepted the Iso-Fex mounts into the pre-drilled holes.
And just like that it was beer o'clock (as it was most days)
The next day, we came back to the boat to fit the engine and found that we had positioned 4 out of 8 of the studs incorrectly, causing the engine to out of line with the shaft. I was in a particularly bad mood after that, however once again Michael manage to resolve the situation, quickly moving four of the studs by removing and re-drilling the all thread rod. With the engine bed in the right position, I then properly bolted the engine to the bed, and tightened up the mountings. We then lined up the engine with the shaft, attached the coupling, along with the hoses, linkages and electrical connections. Once the engine was running, we found that the shaft seal was still leaking, due to the excessive wear in one position caused by the shaft being out of line for so long. To remediate this, I had to order new grub screws which attach the stainless steel collar to the shaft. The pack-less shaft seal system works by having a stainless steel collar which rubs against a carbon disk which is suspended from a rubber boot attached to the stern tube. You can tighten the seal by removing the grub screws in the stainless steel collar, and sliding it tighter against the carbon disc, compressing the rubber. Thankfully, with the seal tightened, the leaking stopped.
Finally, after hours of work, I had an engine that stayed in one spot and the shaft that didn't leak seawater into the bilge. This would not of been possible without the help of my dad and Michael along with the project supervisor Bob who helped with the annual engine service and reconnection of the hoses, cables and linkages.
This is only a small part of the work completed over the last couple of months. Plenty more to come.