Exhaust System Project - Mock UP

I had to replace all exhaust system components from the old engines 1 ½ inch system because the new engine uses a 2 inch system. This is the mock up of the new exhaust system. A sailboat with an inboard engine is usually water cooled. Instead of a radiator like your car (water to air heat exchanger) boats use a water to water heat exchanger. Sea water is pumped from outside the boat and used it to cool the engine coolant. The sea water is then disposed of through the exhaust system. The water cools the exhaust and is used to muffle the sound in a water lift muffler or wet muffler. The water lift muffler instructions give a generic layout (see below) with key dimensions required to function optimally.



From Centek muffler installation instructions

 
Here is what the 1st mocked up exhaust looked like inside Something Else.




1st Mock  up.  Exhaust elbow silver piece on the left, muffler black object on right of picture.



One concern after putting it together is the water fall dimension from the exhaust manifold and the top of the muffler. The requirement is 12 inches minimum. It is hard to measure because there is a bulkhead between the engine and the muffler and everything is on a slope. I have about 11 inches. So I need to raise the engine exhaust elbow a little since I can’t lower the muffler. I’ll raise it by installing a longer pipe. This mean the exhaust elbow will go above the engine compartment and into a storage area above the engine compartment. I made a cutout to accommodate the exhaust elbow and have installed a loaf pan to close out the area… No Mom, the loaf pan is not a good one, I bought it at a thrift shop.



Final Mock up.  Exhaust Elbow is silver object on the left and muffler is black object on right of picture.





Loaf Pan close out for exhaust elbow.



The water lift portion of the mock up looks good. I have not decided all the details of the installation from here to the transom of the boat but I have a plan.



Muffler and water lift portion of mocked up exhaust system.



TBD... How to plumb a slope from A down to B.  I think I have a plan.

Catalina Island

Mary and I are in Avalon on Catalina Island for our anniversary.  We arrived yesterday and will go home Tuesday.  Nice weather, sunny and high in the 70's.  Lots of walking is wearing us out but still having a good time.

Engine Troubles!

BMW Marine - D12 Diesel Engine

During the deliver of Something Else from Chula Vista to Long Beach California the engine died 15 miles off shore and over 50 miles from our destination. When I bought the boat it had a 10 HP BMW D12 marine diesel engine. Yes, BMW made marine engines for a very brief time. The D12 model has a single cylinder and has some “interesting” design features. However the design flaw of thin casting in the head was the down fall of the D12. They are raw water cooled. That is they circulate sea water in the engine to cool them. Salt water is very corrosive and the cast iron head rusted out. A new head today is made of “unobtainium”. Rich at V12 engineering in Canada bought up all the spare parts in the world and has cornered the market on BMW Marine parts. He sales a usable head on Ebay for $2500. I had a useable head I bought for $200 in my hands in 2011 but I decided to re-engine now instead of later when the replacement head rusted away.

The BMW engine was not the original engine for a GK29. From what I’ve read they came with a 9 hp Peters diesel. But maybe my GK29 wasn’t completely finished at Westerly and it was finished by the original owner?? I read Westerly did home completion on a few boats. BMW Marine was in business from 1977 to 1987. My boat is a 78. I have been unable to find the elusive "build number" so I don't know if it's the 1st boat or the 182th GK29 made between 1977 and 1982.

I bought a 2 cylinder 15 HP Yanmar diesel engine I found on Craigslist. I like Yanmar because the parts are plentiful and Yanmar/John Deere tractors engines have many common parts.  Also the purchase price was in my budget (CHEAP).  The engine was a taken out of a scrapped boat. It didn’t look too bad but I rebuilt it to be sure of its condition.  It is a little tighter fit than the old engine and I had to custom make brackets for the engine mounts for the engine to align on the BMW bed (white fiberglass shell the engine bolts to).

2QM15 Yanmar Diesel Engine

Aft of Bulkhead Paint Project

On The List the task called Aft of Bulkhead Paint Project is more that just applying primer and paint. The area is inside the boat behind the engine compartment. It also includes the lazarette and quarter birth. All of it is under the cockpit.

Now is the time to do this work since the engine plumbing (fuel, water, exhaust) control cables, and electrical systems are removed for the new engine installation. It has been messy, time consuming but I’m almost ready to paint. The highlights include:

Stiffened the cockpit floor and seats using fiberglass laminated marine plywood doublers.

Installed a longitudinal member between the engine bulkhead and the prop shaft support bulkhead to match the one on the quarter birth. This makes the area structurally more symmetric and better supports the battery shelf.





Taken from quater birth.    A) Muffler Shelf.    B) House Battery Shelf.   C) Longitudinal Structural Member

Installed a battery shelf for the house battery and a new shelf to support the wet muffler.

Installed a 2nd battery shelf under the quarter birth for the starting battery.

Starting Battery Shelf In Quater Birth .  Marks are Location for Battery Tray.

Filled on all the old openings for engine panel and throttle/transmission control.

Filled in Holes for Panel and Throttle Lever.    Primed and Ready for Paint.

I've done something else on this task but I just can't remember what it is right now.

Delivery of Something Else

3 years ago, (10-09-2010) 4 of us left Chula Vista California bound for Long Beach aboard Something Else. The trip is over 100 miles most of it in the ocean. This was my first trip aboard a small boat overnight. This was also my first time (other than test runs the week earlier) as a skipper. Yeah, if you own the boat they call you skipper. I have NO experience whatsoever but I’m the skipper. The guy in charge! Looking back, I knew nothing. And I’m in charge? It was my good fortune that I enlisted help of my friend Greg, who is an off shore sailboat racer. He enlisted the assistance of another off shore guy, a youngster named Luke. I told Greg candidly, “I know NOTING, Nada, Zip... Zero”. He patiently explained that the skipper is the one who owns the boat and pays the bills. That’s all I had to worry about. I’m broke because I bought a sailboat; all I can worry about is paying the bills. The forth person on the trip was Dave from my reserve unit. He is working towards his USCG captain’s license. So yes I’m the only one that knows nothing and I’m in charge. Perfect!

All the logistics preparing Something Else for this day seems like a blur. A lot of work and the time flew. But finally on Saturday morning the five of us up packed up into the Mary’s car for the drive to Chula Vista. Mary came along to drive the car back; an important player in the plan. Everybody else parked their car in the Alamitos Bay Marina parking lot, the soon to be home port of Something Else.

Chula Vista is not far from the Mexican boarder.  Long Beach is at the top of the map.

The plan is to motor about 25 hours all the way to Long Beach. We are motoring because the prevailing winds and current is south and we want to go north. Sailboats can sail to toward windward but it’s slower, longer distance and allot more work as one has to tack back and forth. The plan was to be in Long Beach Sunday. We left the slip in Chula Vista around 3 PM. Chula Vista is on the southern end of San Diego Bay. One has to follow the buoy markers in order to stay in the deeper water channel. I missed a marker and went strait when I should have turned left. We came to a slow stop. Something Else has a lead fin keel that requires around 6 foot of water. The keel hit the sandy bottom. Luckily we were not hard aground so we were able to back up and continued on carefully following the channel markers. At the north end of San Diego Bay near North Island we decided to recheck the oil in the engine. When I pulled the dip stick it seemed like un-chucking an air hose, like a woosh of air pressure. It was down a quart. That seemed odd but I had 12 quarts of oil. We added a quart of oil and decided to check it again in 2 hours.

North Island aboard Something Else 10-9-2010

Past Point Loma and out of San Diego bay you have to go south following the marker buoys because of the kelp beds. Luke was at the tiller when he turned it over to me. I take the helm but I see kelp everywhere and can't see my next bouy. I ask everybody “where is the next marker?” Luke missed a marker… so I feel better about my error earlier in the day. We have to back down several times to remove the kelp from the keel and rudder. Finally we reach the final buoy and into open water. Greg asks “What heading Skipper?” I’m not prepared for such details! I jump down to the navigation station and look at the charts. I determine heading Three One Zero Magnetic. Greg was testing me as he has done this trip so many times he knows without looking.  A lesson well learned, preparation requires more than buying sandwiches and having friends meeting someplace.

Greg and Luke sugested we arrange a rolling watch; rotating one person every 2 hours. Two people will be sleeping and two people on watch in the cockpit. That agreed to we all start changing into our foul weather gear. The temperatures fall pretty quickly once the sun sets. We noticed the cabin is smokey. We check the oil again and it is down another quart and it still has the woosh. We decide to throttle back and not work the engine so hard. Two hours later we check the oil again and it needs another quart. Three quarts in 6 hours is not good. Each time we check the oil it is becoming harder and harder to start the engine.

While the boat is underway everything seems surreal. The water is like black ink and the wake is luminescent. It’s amazing and awe inspiring! I definitely see myself doing more of this!

Just before it is time to check the oil again… the engine quits. We check the oil, it needs a quart but that wouldn’t make the engine quit. We try to restart it but it won’t start. I try both WD40 and starting fluid and I won’t start. Diesel engines are pretty easy. They need fuel and compression and they will run. I turn the engine over with the hand crank… It was too easy. We don’t have compression. I take off the valve cover and find the exhaust valve spring is broken. Oh boy, were done. From euphoric to despair... It’s past midnight; we are 15 mile offshore west of Oceanside with a dead engine. There is no wind and the once smooth ocean is now pitching up and down as we bob around like a cork on the waves. I’m feeling weak and sick and I’m the skipper.

Greg springs into action like a one man crisis response team. Here are your options, and the pros and cons of each. Luke throws out some more options. You choose skipper and we’ll get it done. I decide vessel assist is the best for all of us if they will tow us to Long Beach. Greg and Luke made the arrangements over the VHF radio. Vessel Assis is like AAA. Depending on your membership coverage they will tow you X distance. Bottom of the line coverage will tow to the nearist port. Luke had access to Ultra Platinum coverage and we were towed to Long Beach. The Vessel Assist had to leave from San Diego they found us about 4 hours later. 8 hours of tow and we're at Long Beach. The tow boat towed us fast. Hull speed for my boat is around 6.7 knots. Riding the tow boats wake we are doing 8.5 knots. The only way Something Else could go faster would be to put it on a trailer and tow it freeway speeds!
I am so thankful Greg and Luke were there cause I could not have done it without them. They were Pros.

Blue Heron

Snapped this picture of a blue heron on the sailboat moored next to Something Else. He seemed to be staring at a whirligig meant to scare the birds away. They are large pretty birds and are fun to watch fishing.

whirligig like the pig on the Geico commercial… Wheeeeeeeee whee whee Wheeeeeeee

The List

I've heard it said if you want to get something done write it down. To that end I've created "The List". The Something Else to do list. My current list is the tasks required to put the boat back together so I can go sailing. It is not a list of future projects just the current things that are taken apart. Yes, it is a broad list. Completing an engine change with sub-tasks related to the engine change. On the list I have a column for tasks that are held for other tasks. I also have columns for estimated completion date (ECD) and things that need to be bought. I created the list in April with ECDs of May, June and July. In August I removed most of the ECDs cause I failed to declare what year I intended. I must of meant 2014.

How I Put a Square Peg in A Round Hole

Something Else had two logs (aka knot meter aka speedometer) one was a mechanical VDO (brand) log on the side of the nav station panel. The second log was older electronic unit on the face of the panel along with the DC circuit breaker panel and light switches. On Something Else the nav station is situated so you sit at the quarter birth facing forward and the panel is in view. I've seen pictures of other GK29 where the panel is on the port side and is viewed from the center cabin. The VDO unit was in a 4 inches hole with a teak trim piece surround. When I removed teak trim piece I tore the wood where it was bonded to the teak casing. It looked pretty bad.

I decided I wanted to put my new VHF radio (Christmas present from Mom... Thanks Mom!) where the VDO gauge was. The radio required a rectangular hole. First I glued a piece of teak to fill up the hole. It still looked ugly. Then I cut the hole for the radio. The radio didn't cover the all of the messed up wood. I looked at allot of alternatives to cover up the mess I made. I decided to fabricate a stainless steel plate to cover the mess.

The open area above the radio will have a DSC (Digital Select Calling) instruction sticker. The stainless looks pretty good buffed up with fine scotch bright. The next owner may remove the radio and look at the mess and think what was the PO thinking (or doing).

I had to do something else

Monday after work I went to Something Else with plans to work, however the boat was covered with bird poo.  I swabbing the deck to clean the mess.  In my “Wild Live” blog I said every fall an osprey comes and spends the evenings atop the mast three boats down.  Last night I snapped a picture of the osprey 3 boats down.  The joy of boat ownership is getting up close with nature in all its power and majestic glory; as well as the occasional chance of poo.