Accidents happen

Gearbox being stripped. Note the condition
 of the needle bearings. 

It has been a long and slow period since the past post. First of all I had a car problem: The Cruiser has had an overheating problem, which I ascribed to menopause. She is, after all, not young any more. A specialist diagnosed a leaking top gasket, and I decided to have the engine overhauled. The result was more or less as monkey business.

More than two months later she is running, apart from a few small things.

Micky Mouse has four fingers

Then came the morning when I forgot to take my stupid pills: The little diesel motor for the boat had a flooded bell housing and gearbox when I got her. I managed to get the bearings and seals to rebuild. The starter was also not working, and the local auto-electrician threw a price over his shoulder for 'strip and replace'.


So I started on changing the oil in the engine, figuring out how the fuel system and coolant works, and also how the exhaust system should work. I then mounted it on a wooden stand and had Prince, the gardener, apply the Armstrong starter. She ran! See here. And a few days later I wanted to run her for a longer time, having learnt how to get air out of the fuel system. Prince dawdled with other work, so I decided to just turn the engine over with the decompression lever down, to pump the fuel and water around. Well, the lever goes back when you release it, and she started. And began to vibrate off the stand. I tried to hold her back while getting to the shutoff lever, and my right hand went into the fanbelt. Little finger broken in five places and almost severed. The surgeon took a look and said: 'Just remember: Micky Mouse gets by with four fingers.'

So, two months later, and a finger only moderately stiff and sensitive, we are almost back to full operation.

The gearbox went together with some care. I used a steel frame and hydraulic jack to press the pieces together, and so far all went well. It turns, changes gear, and it looks as if the polishing of the rusted parts will work. The starter presented its own challenges: After some cleaning and grease the bearings were happy, and the motor turned nicely when powered up. But the solenoid was solidly seized. I managed to get it apart, cleaned everything with diesel, cleaned the contact points with swmming pool acid, and reassembled it. It clicked, pulled in the gear, but no power flowed. Alexander came to help, with his son, Christian. They were of the opinion that diesel was not the best cleaning agent, so we procured some petrol/gasoline.

Now things could get interesting: By its nature a solenoid switch makes sparks, and, with flammable fuel inside, we might have a hand grenade. So an hour in the sun, lots of blowing, and eventually we connected in. On the second try the thing worked, and no explosion!

A few days later we used the electric starter to get the motor running, now mounted on the engine beds. Still clamped, mind you, bolts will come when we have her in the boat. See here.

Now, how does the waterlock muffler work?

And next phase: The sails must be 'bent on' or hung on the masts. Hopefully we can report next week.