Saturday 19 November 2011

Stern Stuffing Gland

With the engine out I was able finally at last able to get clear access to the stuffing gland for the prop shaft. I posted pictures on my main website www.goodtarp.com ages ago when I was trying to identify the gland type.

The area was cleaned using dishwasher detergent to break down all of the old oil, grease and smells and did a great job as you can see. I uses a toilet brush (NEW!) to get into all the nooks and hard to reach places, and was topped off with a gentle rinse from a jet washer.

With help of Practical Boat Owner forumites and Cox Engineering we figured it out.

EDIT 14/03/2012

I finally got round to removing the whole of the tube and bearings. It was a Stuart Turner type glassed in at the inboard end so was not serviceable. It uses white metal bears that have to be lathed out, and then recast and turned! I will be replacing with GRP tube and composite bearings at the outboard end. It will be a water-cooled PSS shaft seal at the inboard end.

Here are the before and after photos!

Before steam jet washing!

After dish-washer detergent and Jet-washing!

Engine Removal


This covers the removal (more like extraction!) of the old Yanmar YSB12 from my Snapdragon 27. I have no idea how long the engine had been in there, the bolts where rusted in deep! I visited the boat every evening for a few days to soak the engine mounting bolts/brackets and ancillary equipment connections in Plusgas penetrating oil. Two of the bolts came out easy but typically the last rear bolts didn’t want to shift even with the biggest socket wrench I own, a pair of stilsons, and liberal application of heat. In the end I ground off the head of the bolts, but this lead to problems later on sliding the engine out. 

Engine Before Removal
 
To slide the engine out I had to place a small bottle jack under the engine to raise the brackets off the bolt stubs; I also had to remove the alternator so the engine would leave the enclosure.

Lifting out the Yanmar YSB12

I lifted out the engine using a forklift with extension forks so that I could get them centred over the top of the engine. I lifted the engine using chain and hooks through the engine lifting eye bolt. You can see my wonderful helper for the weekend ‘Mike’ whom was repaid with the promise of a sailing trip and a few beers. 

Engine Out! Huzzah!

Extracting the engine from the engine bay was a bit tricky, I am glad I had my helper for the day doing various twisting and manoeuvring whilst I worked the folklift.

End of a hard days work!

We got the engine onto a pallet and stored in my workshop. The engine still starts and runs; I am not sure what I am going to do with it yet. I may offer it up for sale, or I may take the time to freshen it up and put it into a project next year. 

I have been looking at replacement engines and speaking to manufactures and owners and I have decided the way forward will be with a Beta 20.

Apologies!

Sorry I have not updated the site for a while! My laptop suffered a catastrophic hard disc failure due to the main fan failing and the whole insides cooking; Fan now replaced, new hard disk installed and 118gb forensically restored from the old HDD block by block… it was like taping back together a phonebook that had been through a crosscut shredder! I did have two back-up too and although when browsing and verifying them they were ok, extracting them was a different story!

I am working on some new articles which will be uploaded over the next week:

·         Antifoul Removal
·         Engine Removal
·         Bilge Cleaning Products
·         Window / Portlight Replacement