As many of you may (or may not) remember, I was supposed to be taking Beowulf on a cruise to the Bahamas last spring. That adventure was canceled due to arthroscopic knee surgery and a new adventure was planned to the Keys in May. That, too, was aborted after Beowulf's engine froze up while motoring out into the Atlantic from Ft. Pierce, FL.
After a lengthy (8 hour) tow back to Patrick Air Force Base Marina (fortunately I had 'unlimited' towing with TowBoat US), the fun began!
I pulled the old engine while the boat sat at my slip in the Manatee Cove Marina at Patrick AFB, and after some inspection determined that the primary cause of the malfunction was a lack of transmission oil causing it to freeze. Of course the big question was.... where and why did the transmission fluid leak out? I had given the engine to a friend to look at, and after putting some tranny fluid in said the tranny appeared to work OK. By this time I had plenty of time to think about my options and seeing as the engine had 3600 hrs on it, needed new hoses, clamps, mounts, etc., decided that rather then trying to rebuild, I would buy a new engine. Of course the big problem was finding an engine the would fit the same footprint as the Vetus 2.05 (10 hp) I had pulled out. After a lot of searching and researching, I settled on a Beta Marine 16, ordered it from their distributor in North Carolina and waited for delivery.
The engine arrived at the marina at Patrick AFB and I took it home for inspection. At first everything looked OK, but when the outer part of the crate was removed I found the mounting boards had broken in transit and the engine was almost sitting on the oil pan. However, after looking it all over I found no damage other than a little paint loss where the oil filter pressed against the broken mounting board.
After filling the engine with all the correct fluids and assuring there were no leaks I loaded the engine back in my truck and back to the marina we went where marina maintenance helped with forklifting the new engine into Beowulf and setting it on the cabin sole. Now I was ready to begin installation... I thought.
The original shaft, stuffing box and coupler seemed to be OK and would be used with the new engine. After doing a lot of measuring, cutting, and drilling of a couple of pieces of aluminum stock and starboard we were ready to install the engine. Upon installation we found that the shaft would not go far enough forward to clear the rudder! We had put on the new flexible coupling that came with the engine as the old coupling could not be mated with the transmission coupler without it. So, it was determined that the old coupling needed to be removed and the new coupler would be used by itself. We later found that it would have been wrong to try to use two couplers at the same time! (FIRST serendipitous moment)
Well, taking the old coupler off of the shaft proved to not be the easiest thing to do. All the bolts came out without any trouble, but the coupler would not budge off of the shaft. Two types of wheel pullers were used to no effect. In fact one of them showed that the coupler was weak anyway, as while trying to pull it off the rubber portion gave way. (Serendipitous moment number TWO)
So, now the question was whether to try to pull the shaft while the boat was in the water or get it on the hard. Again after a lot of searching and researching it was decided to put Beowulf on a trailer that we had available at the marina. She had been on there before for a bottom job, but it was kind of scary. The trailer was a three axle trailer with adjustable stanchions to allow for different size boats. It had already been determined that 30 ft was the maximun size it would handle. Anyhow, that is a whole 'nuther story!!!
We got Beowulf on the trailer and I was able to remove the prop in order to slide the shaft out through the inside of the boat (remember, the coupler wasn't coming off). Of course, after doing this inspection of the cutlass bearing revealed that it had separated from the bronze tube, although it hadn't worn down enough to cause alot of play. So off came the bearing casing and the old cutlass bearing was removed and replaced. Of course, when the casing came off, the stern tube came out as well. However, the fit of the tube throught the deadwood was tight enough so there was no play, and reinserting and sealing the stern tube and
mounting the casing went very easy. (Serendipitous moment THREE)
Took the shaft to the local prop shop and they determined that it was acutally unusable as the stuffing box appeared to be a little small for the shaft and had worn a groove in it. In fact I still haven't been able to get the old stuffing box off of the shaft. So, a new shaft, stuffing box and cutlass bearing were purchased for installation.
Bottom line.... if the tranny hadn't failed, I would probably would not of found the other problems until they actually had a catastrophic failure!
Now on to the installation of the engine. Once everything was installed and hooked up, measurements taken, alignment adjusted as best as can be done while laying over the top of the engine, we found the the engine sat up too high on the engine mounts and would lean back towards the stern causing the shaft to ride into the rudder. So back to the drawing board and purchased and cut two one inch thick hardwood boards to add to
the mounts. This brought the mounting surface up high enough to get the engine further down on the mounting studs, but not close enough to bottom out. So it was take the engine off the mounts, swing it to the cabin sole, install the new mounting boards, reinstall the mounts and then put the engine back on 'em. If I recall correctly, we had to mount and dismount the engine about three times before we got it right.
To move the engine from the sole to the engine bay, we used a 4X4 across the hatch top with a small 500 pound chainlift attached to it. This allowed us to move the engine with relative ease as long as we padded the lower portion of the hatch so the chain wouldn't scratch it up much.
After a lengthy (8 hour) tow back to Patrick Air Force Base Marina (fortunately I had 'unlimited' towing with TowBoat US), the fun began!
I pulled the old engine while the boat sat at my slip in the Manatee Cove Marina at Patrick AFB, and after some inspection determined that the primary cause of the malfunction was a lack of transmission oil causing it to freeze. Of course the big question was.... where and why did the transmission fluid leak out? I had given the engine to a friend to look at, and after putting some tranny fluid in said the tranny appeared to work OK. By this time I had plenty of time to think about my options and seeing as the engine had 3600 hrs on it, needed new hoses, clamps, mounts, etc., decided that rather then trying to rebuild, I would buy a new engine. Of course the big problem was finding an engine the would fit the same footprint as the Vetus 2.05 (10 hp) I had pulled out. After a lot of searching and researching, I settled on a Beta Marine 16, ordered it from their distributor in North Carolina and waited for delivery.
The engine arrived at the marina at Patrick AFB and I took it home for inspection. At first everything looked OK, but when the outer part of the crate was removed I found the mounting boards had broken in transit and the engine was almost sitting on the oil pan. However, after looking it all over I found no damage other than a little paint loss where the oil filter pressed against the broken mounting board.
After filling the engine with all the correct fluids and assuring there were no leaks I loaded the engine back in my truck and back to the marina we went where marina maintenance helped with forklifting the new engine into Beowulf and setting it on the cabin sole. Now I was ready to begin installation... I thought.
The original shaft, stuffing box and coupler seemed to be OK and would be used with the new engine. After doing a lot of measuring, cutting, and drilling of a couple of pieces of aluminum stock and starboard we were ready to install the engine. Upon installation we found that the shaft would not go far enough forward to clear the rudder! We had put on the new flexible coupling that came with the engine as the old coupling could not be mated with the transmission coupler without it. So, it was determined that the old coupling needed to be removed and the new coupler would be used by itself. We later found that it would have been wrong to try to use two couplers at the same time! (FIRST serendipitous moment)
Well, taking the old coupler off of the shaft proved to not be the easiest thing to do. All the bolts came out without any trouble, but the coupler would not budge off of the shaft. Two types of wheel pullers were used to no effect. In fact one of them showed that the coupler was weak anyway, as while trying to pull it off the rubber portion gave way. (Serendipitous moment number TWO)
So, now the question was whether to try to pull the shaft while the boat was in the water or get it on the hard. Again after a lot of searching and researching it was decided to put Beowulf on a trailer that we had available at the marina. She had been on there before for a bottom job, but it was kind of scary. The trailer was a three axle trailer with adjustable stanchions to allow for different size boats. It had already been determined that 30 ft was the maximun size it would handle. Anyhow, that is a whole 'nuther story!!!
We got Beowulf on the trailer and I was able to remove the prop in order to slide the shaft out through the inside of the boat (remember, the coupler wasn't coming off). Of course, after doing this inspection of the cutlass bearing revealed that it had separated from the bronze tube, although it hadn't worn down enough to cause alot of play. So off came the bearing casing and the old cutlass bearing was removed and replaced. Of course, when the casing came off, the stern tube came out as well. However, the fit of the tube throught the deadwood was tight enough so there was no play, and reinserting and sealing the stern tube and
mounting the casing went very easy. (Serendipitous moment THREE)Took the shaft to the local prop shop and they determined that it was acutally unusable as the stuffing box appeared to be a little small for the shaft and had worn a groove in it. In fact I still haven't been able to get the old stuffing box off of the shaft. So, a new shaft, stuffing box and cutlass bearing were purchased for installation.
Bottom line.... if the tranny hadn't failed, I would probably would not of found the other problems until they actually had a catastrophic failure!
Now on to the installation of the engine. Once everything was installed and hooked up, measurements taken, alignment adjusted as best as can be done while laying over the top of the engine, we found the the engine sat up too high on the engine mounts and would lean back towards the stern causing the shaft to ride into the rudder. So back to the drawing board and purchased and cut two one inch thick hardwood boards to add to
the mounts. This brought the mounting surface up high enough to get the engine further down on the mounting studs, but not close enough to bottom out. So it was take the engine off the mounts, swing it to the cabin sole, install the new mounting boards, reinstall the mounts and then put the engine back on 'em. If I recall correctly, we had to mount and dismount the engine about three times before we got it right.To move the engine from the sole to the engine bay, we used a 4X4 across the hatch top with a small 500 pound chainlift attached to it. This allowed us to move the engine with relative ease as long as we padded the lower portion of the hatch so the chain wouldn't scratch it up much.
So now the engine is installed and it's time to do the aligning. Fortunately all our measurements were pretty close on, as other than
a little angular adjustment and a slight left to right budge, the engine runs well with no apparent vibration. In fact, it recieved a big workout the first time we took her out. After a nice 5 hours sail down the Indian River to a party at a place called Grant Farm Island, and an overnight stay, the wind decided to come straight out of the north the next day at 20-25 knots! Of course, north was the direction we needed to go to get back to the marina, so we had a 'wonderful' 6 hour motor cruise back up the river. The new motor worked great and other than a little underpowered due to only a 2-bladed prop, got us home in great shape. Only anxious time was going under a bridge with the wind gu
sting to 30+ knots. That, with the wind driven current slowed us down to about 2 knots while we went under the bridge, otherwise we average about 4.5 knots all the way home.
a little angular adjustment and a slight left to right budge, the engine runs well with no apparent vibration. In fact, it recieved a big workout the first time we took her out. After a nice 5 hours sail down the Indian River to a party at a place called Grant Farm Island, and an overnight stay, the wind decided to come straight out of the north the next day at 20-25 knots! Of course, north was the direction we needed to go to get back to the marina, so we had a 'wonderful' 6 hour motor cruise back up the river. The new motor worked great and other than a little underpowered due to only a 2-bladed prop, got us home in great shape. Only anxious time was going under a bridge with the wind gu
sting to 30+ knots. That, with the wind driven current slowed us down to about 2 knots while we went under the bridge, otherwise we average about 4.5 knots all the way home.
