3 weeks of non-stop non-progress

Three weeks have passed since my last blog.  During that time I managed to remove the Manifold and other miscellaneous parts and have them spread on the floor of the shed.  The biggest step however was the removal of the engine block.  After removing the manifold, I was able to get to the mounting bolts.  They all removed very easily with very little effort.  I did learn that the engine was held to the proper height with a series of washers.  I decided that there must be some sort of rubber washer or engine mount I can use to reduce vibration and thereby reduce the noise.  A problem for another time.  In the meantime I'll keep an eye's out for such a device.  After some fiddling with the transmission, inspecting the aft side of the engine, I realized that it's connected to the propeller shaft with the ball of rust commonly known as the 'Coupling'  Who would have thought.  After some minimal research on the web, I realized that it's not supposed to be a ball of rust and in it's natural, rust-free state, can be separated and removed quite easily.  Unfortunately, it turns out the seperation from my now ex-wife was easier.
 I began the process by simply putting a ratchet on one of the bolts.  That one came right out with minimal effort.  "great, this will be easy."  Famous last words, right?  I but the ratchet, or should I say TRIED to put the ratchet on the other two bolts.  It wouldn't fit.  They were too rusted.  I put an adjustable wrench.  no luck.  I tried a vice grip. Still no luck.  I ended up rounding the heads... not on purpose.  I then decided to take a different route.  A few days later I thought I would take the propeller off and pull the engine out shaft and all.  I can then drill out the bolts when I get it to the shop.  (I really hate hanging upside down with my torso unsupported.  Especially when I know that if I drop a tool, it's gone until I clean out the bilge.  I ain't sticking my hand in there for anything.)  I removed the lock nut for the propeller.  It was split.  It was at that point that I decided to go over EVERYTHING on board with a fine tooth comb.  I attempted to get the propeller nut off.  wasn't working.  Nothing to hold the prop shaft.  I went back inside to make another attempt with the bolts.  No luck.  Went home frustrated yet again.  The next time I was there I had to make progress.

I went back a few days later to inspect the rigging.  In addition to the main halyard and the jib halyard needing to be replaced, I found that the back stay and a starboard stay were starting to fray.  Secure now that I made a good decision to inspect everything, I removed the stays.  Took a bit of effort to remove the back stay, but nothing a hammer couldn't resolve.  I had to 'tap' the clevis pin at the top of the mast while standing precariously on a rickety ladder in 2 inches of sand.  Fun times.  I got the stay off, but the clevis pin is still there.  Another time.  The other stays looked good.

Determined to remove the engine block, and happy that I made progress, I decided to get serious with it.  I pulled out the hacksaw and, hanging upside down with my torso unsupported and balancing my good flashlight above the depths of the bilge, I sawed off the 2 bolt heads.  The bastard still wouldn't separate.  Lamenting to Jim, I heard something about using a sawz-all on the propeller shaft mentioned before I blacked out.
While I was blacked out for the next week or so, contemplating our next step, Jim wanted to remove the spreaders and the tiller and remake them.  Knowing how handy he is with a tool, and that it was a necessary part of the re-fit, I gave him my blessing.  As the starboard spreader was being removed, the wood crumbled.  Again, glad we're inspecting everything.  We're currently in the process of determining if it will be cheaper to buy new or copy these, and if we copy these, what type of wood should we use?

A sawz-all is the only option at this point.  Being that the propeller shaft is in good condition, and the coupling needs to be replaced anyway, it was decided to attack the coupling with the sawz-all.  We cut through the first bolt.  Started to cut the second bolt.  before I got too far though, I wanted to see if I could pry it apart yet.  I was successful!  The engine could now be removed from the compartment.  Now what.....

The block of the engine must weigh between 200-250 pounds at least.  Jim and I were able to pull it into the cabin successfully where we proceeded to come up with a plan.  I told Jim "If we get it into the cockpit, it's going home.  I don't want it to sit in the weather."  His reply "What, are you afraid it's going to rust?"  smart ass.  We decided the plan would be not to have a plan.  We wrapped a strap around the engine, I went to the top of the stairs and pulled, while he pushed from the bottom.  With minimal effort we got it into the cockpit.  Now what...

We decided to get it onto the side of the boat, then go from there.  We discussed throwing a tarp over the side and using a winch to lower it, we discussed using the ladder to lower it one step at a time.  Finally we got a 2x8 and leaned it against the boat deciding to slide it down on the oil pan.  Success.  We heaved it into the truck and carried it into the shed.  Now I can progress at full speed again.

The Manifold...

A lot can happen in four days.  It was looking to be a great weekend.  Everyone commenting on how excited they are that Spring is finally here.  It's still march people!  This is just a taste.  t will be cold again before Spring really arrives.  That being said I wanted to take advantage of the nice weather.  My goal for the weekend was to make the engine ready to remove.  Talking to a friend of mine at work, who has build engines for race cars, I was able to secure an engine stand.  All that was left now, was to actually get the block out of the boat.  Before I could do that, however, I still needed to remove some components... mainly the manifold and carburetor.  Thursday evening I had some time.  I got to the boat about 5.  Plenty of daylight left.  I started in on the manifold.It was in pretty bad shape. Lot's of rust on the discharge port.  I started on the three bolts holding it on.  The first loosened fairly easily, but kept turning.  It couldn't be pulled out.  Not a good sign.  moving on, the second one was easily removed, but looking closely at it, only half of the threads came out of the block... meaning, of course, that the other half of the threads were still in the engine block.  The third bolt.  Sigh.  the third bolt.  I put the wrench on it.  The wrench couldn't grip it.... as though it were a size smaller than the other two.  That made no sense though.  I got the next size smaller wrench.  Too small.  Hmmm.  Maybe metric was used.  Tried my metric wrenches.  Nope.  Not metric.  A bolt that no wrench will work on.  Some evil trick from God, or the last person that owned the boat (Dad!!).  I wasn't sure which.  Cursing them both, I put the vise grips on it.  With little effort, it turned off.  I then pulled the stud out in one piece.  A closer inspection found the bolt stripped in the respect that it had no corners.  It had been rounded years ago by someone with a wrong sized wrench.  I'll blame my mechanic from years ago who, after working on my engine for a season, found himself in the bathroom, dead after putting a hole in his head.  Hmmmm.
I pulled the exhaust pipe off the muffler, and removed the manifold, carburator, and unknown exhaust component as one big unit.  I was able to remove the stud that kept turning.  Turns out it just needed some pressure.  It was loose from the block already.  Only half of the threads, again, came out of the block.  That's two holes I now need to drill and retap in the block.  I'm ok with that though.  Things like this are exactly why I'm doing this project.

Off With It's Head!

Monday came.  While most people were recovering from the storm, I was anxiously awaiting my stud remover.  Such an exciting life I lead.  I got home to the small package sitting on my porch.  I tore into it knowing I had about 2 hours.  Emptying out the box, I noticed almost instantly there were no directions.  Hmmmm.  I grabbed my tools and left for the boat.

Excited to actually get the head off and see what's inside, I put the stud remover on and tightened it up.  Clearly the tool is designed to work on studs that aren't rusted into the engine.  I quickly discovered after 4 attempts that you really need to bear down on the thing to get it to grab tight enough to pull the stud out.  On my fifth try, I really beared down on it.  Tightening it as much as possible with my longest wrench.  It unscrewed just like the other ones, except this time, the stud came out.  Completely shocked and excited, I continued to remove another 8 until I was finally left with the three studs it wouldn't work on.  I figured I'd try to lift the head off anyway and worry about the other three studs later.  Prying gently with my screwdriver, it unsealed and lifted.  Working me way around, I was able to lift the head off completely.
Then engine looked worse inside than it did out.  This will be a tough cleaning job to say the least.  I brought the head and left for the night.
The next day, I did a web search on how to clean engine parts.  Everything from Muriatic Acid (witch causes the parts to start rusting immediately) to easy off oven cleaner.  I decided to go directly to a professional.  I contacted Don Moyer at Moyer Marine to ask him how to clean it.  In a few hours I got an email response telling me to use "Gunk" for the metal and a carburetor cleaner with a wire brush for the pistons, etc.  We'll see if that works.  I'm not convinced it will be enough.  The horrible state of affairs inside the engine does explain why I was getting no compression when it was turning, and why it eventually stopped turning.

I stopped at the auto store on my way home and got all the cleaning supplies recommended.  Thursday night, I will be removing the manifold, and the fueal pump and carburetor after that.  I'm looking forward to a long warm weekend of scrubbing engine parts and starting the rebuild process.  Hopefully I'll be able to get the block off the engine on Monday if not before and start getting that cleaned up.  I'm not sure how heavy it will be once the components are off of it, but I'd like to get it clean and start reassembling soon.

It was a dark and stormy weekend...

The weather was coming.  I could feel it in my bones, and hear it on the radio.  I had the kids with me this weekend, so I wouldn't be able to work at the boat very much anyway.  That was OK though.  I had homework.  The alternator needed to be cleaned.  I could sit at my kitchen table while the kids slept and dismantle the entire alternator, determine if it needed to be rebuilt, then take the necessary action.  Saturday morning, after getting the boys their breakfast I started.  Ryan, my 8 year old, was more than interested in helping me.  A promising sign for the process.  I'd love to have my children involved.  I put him right to work scrubbing some small parts with a toothbrush and dish washing detergent.  I quickly realized that my socket set and my tools were down at the boat so I couldn't take it apart as much as I wanted.  Why is it that whenever I need a tool while I'm at the boat, it's home, and whenever I'm home, the tool is at the boat.  I think there's a special electronic chip that Craftsman puts into tools that is designed to make us by more than one of each tool.  This phenomena is part of the chips programming, as is the program that makes the tool fall into the most unreachable place possible when you drop it.  That special chip would certainly explain the expense of the tools.  In any event, I scrubbed as much as I could with a degreaser while Ryan happily scrubbed the nuts and bolts with the toothbrush.  A task that left little mark on the small parts, but kept him happy just the same.
After dinner, I was looking at the alternator laughing at me.  Mocking that I couldn't get it apart.  The boys were in their pajamas already, but it was only 6.  "Boys, put your shoes on, we're going for a ride!" 
"Nooo.  We don't want to go out"
"You can stay in the car.  I just need to run to the boat to get something"
They reluctantly put on their shoes and raincoats.  I loaded them in the car in teaming rain and 40-50 mph winds.  Welcome to the world of sailing, boys.  I drove in the crappy weather the six miles down to the boat.  It only took me 25 minutes.  Not bad considering the downed trees blocking the road.  At one point I had to go 3 miles the opposite direction to get around a closed road.  This is the type of thing that separates sailors from powerboaters.  You'll never hear the owner of a powerboat say "Yeah, I went out in a storm to get a tool from the boat"  I'm not sure if that's because sailors are stupid, or if powerboaters don't really work on their own boats.  I must say though, I've never seen a powerboater working on his engine, but I have seen sailors do some pretty stupid things.  There's always a professional mechanic working on the powerboats.
At the boat, the wind was stronger.  I fought my way up the ladder, then realized it was night and I couldn't see the combo on the lock.  Thinking fast, I pulled out me cell phone and used it's glow to see the combo.  I got the tools, and getting back in the car, Kevin, my 9 year old, decided he wanted to get out and 'experience' the storm.  That's my boy!  I unloaded him.  His brothers reluctantly wanted to get out too.  At this point it wasn't raining too hard, but the wind was about 30mph steady, gusting to 50 or so.  Of course, as soon as Ryan and Tommy, my 5 year old, get out of the car an incredibly strong gust hit us.  They freaked out a bit.  Kevin was laughing, loving every second.  I loaded them back into the car, with a mix crying and whoops of joy about how cool that was.  We drove home.
Once we got home, it was still only 7.  I began to dis-assemble the alternator and quickly found I needed to remove the flywheel before I got it apart any further.  I put the boys to bed considering my options.  After the boys were in bed, I attacked the flywheel again to no avail.  I went to google and did a search.  After realizing there's a 'flywheel puller' tool and hat the nut keeping the flywheel in place is put on with about 150 ft-lbs of torque, I decided the alternator was really working quite well.  I re-assembled it after thoroughly cleaning all the parts I could get to.  I began to paint it on Sunday morning.  I expect to finish it this coming weekend.
Sunday afternoon, I drove down to the boat to check that it was ok after the dark and stormy night.  My boat was fine tucked way in the back of the yard.  Unfortunately, there was a boat that didn't fair too well... or should I say it's stands didn't fair too well.  The boats around it seem fine though.  Monday morning it was back in it's stands and there didn't seem to be much, if any, damage.  I'm wondering if the yard owners even told the boat owner that there was a problem.

Sleepless Night

After work yesterday, I went down to the boatyard excited to finally work on Felicity.  I was thinking about it all day.  Made copies of all my Engine manuals, brought a change of clothes with me.  It wasn't raining.  There was still daylight.  Everything was perfect.  I had to stop at my Ex's house to drop off some medicine left at my house when the boys were over the night before.  Took me 20 mins to get out of there, but I finally did.  Driving fast and psyched up listening to the radio, I get to the boatyard.  The gate was locked.
I stood there, at the gate, pining like a puppy for about 10 mins.  I was about to leave when one of the owners of the boatyard goes into another private entrance with his dog, apparently taking the dog for a walk.  He doesn't make eye contact with me, still standing at the gate.  I get his attention and after 5 mins, he lets me in.  There's a 'clicker' we need to put a $50 deposit on that allows us to get in and out after hours.  He was very nice and proceeded to tell me I needed to get one during 'regular business hours'.  It's a boat yard!  What are regular business hours for a boatyard??  I convinced him to get me a clicker now and to put it on my account.  I was annoyed because I had just sent my final check for winter storage that week, now I owe another $50.  He then let his dog pee on my boat stands and my car tire.  Life of a boat owner.  I here people say to me "Wow!  You own a boat!  You must have some money!"  That always makes me laugh.  Boat owners never have money.
I survey the work Jim had done.  Nice job buddy!  It looks great!  A nice neat pile of stuff I need to go through.  Everything else is cleaned out.  I found where the boat is leaking when it rains.  It seems the window in the head is having some issues.  I conected power so I could have some light.  All the cabin lights are working.  I took the stairs off and stood staring at the engine.  It stared back at me.  The same way two people stare at each other when they're about to enter a battle to the death.  I'm not a mechanic.  i don't pretend to be one.  I'm an engineer by schooling and a computer programmer by trade.  I know how engines work.  Never REALLY got my hands dirty with one before.  I've tinkered with this one in the past.  Fuel pump, carb rebuild, pretty basic stuff on an Atomic 4.  This time was different.  I was embarking on open heart surgery and someone gave me a scalpel and said 'just fix it'.  I got out my tools and dove in.

I started easy.  I took off wires and labeled them as I did.  I then proceeded to the alternator.  no sweat.  Bolts loosened easily and in 10 mins I had it in my hand.  I removed the water tubing for the coolanet, the spark plug wires and the spark plugs.  I was going for the head.  I wanted to see what I'm dealing with and why she's seized up.  All the head bolts loosened easily enough.  I took off the thermostat housing.  The smell nearly killed me. Wow.  I never expected that.  it looked in good shape.  I threw it in the bucked of engine parts I wanted to take home.  I took all the nuts off the head.  12-13 of the studs stayed in place (there are 17 in total).  I tried to lift the head off.  I tried to pry the head off.  I broke my screwdriver trying to pry the head off.  It wouldn't budge.  I stopped, knowing, feeling that I'm about to break something.  Another day.  It was time to go anyway.  I took the parts and left feeling good abut the progres I had made.  I was just happy the nuts came off without any struggle.

After I got home about midnight, I couldn't sleep, so I got out the parts I had just removed from the engine.  The alternator seems to be in good shape.  It needs some cleaning though.  This weekend, while the boys are playing, I'll be taking it apart and rebuilding and cleaning it at my kitchen table.  I took a close look at the thermostat housing and realized there was no thermostat in the housing.  No idea why.  I've never looked in there before to confirm if there was EVER a thermostat.  There was never a need to replace it because the engine temp was always fine.  Later, reading online about it, I found that it's bad practice to run the engine without a thermostat (duh!) but it's still done.  I got a screwdriver to scrape some of the crud out of the housing and the internal metal crumbled.  It wasn't the bronze it's cast in, but some other internal fitting.  In any event, the whole housing will need to be replaced.  I realized that this component was in direct contact with the salt water, hence the corrosion.  The smell, I determined was old antifreeze, so I'm not too worried about that.  I'll get a new one when we start re-assembling the engine.
I also looked on Moyer Marine's website to try and figure out how to get the cylinder head off without breaking another screwdriver, or the head itself.  There was a FAQ from a guy with a similar issue.  The answer was to keep prying a little at a time from each side.  It said that it's a lot harder to do if there are studs that haven't yet been removed.  Of the 17 nuts I took off, only 3 or 4 of the studs came off.  I ordered a stud removal tool from the website last night at 1:30AM.  It should come in a few days.  I'm not going to attempt to remove the head until I get the studs out.  It will be too much effort and could potentially cause damage to the head from all the prying that would need to be done to lift the head over the studs.  Until that comes, I'll be learning everything about alternators and how to clean and rebuild them.

Jim's Interest

So it turns out that Jim, a good friend of mine that I've known since elementary school, has an interest to waste his time helping me rebirth Felicity.  I'm not sure why, but I suspect his motivations have something to do with me mentioning that I'm going to have a continuous flow of cold beer in the cooler.  In any event his help is greatly appreciated.  We were visiting her last week scanning about, and taking stock of what needed to be done.  More a mental list than anything else. At one point I mentioned that I'm not putting her in the water if the engine isn't running.  What's the point.  Yet on the other hand, the interior needs some serious attention also.  With a big sigh I tell him I didn't know where to start. 
Sometimes, it takes an objective set of eyes to see things clearly and motivate you properly.  He said "Look. We need to empty all the crap out, throw away the garbage, and start with a clean, new fresh boat.  That's the only way we'll be able to make progress.  As for the engine [which we discovered is now seized] we can pull it out, put it in my shed, and work on it at our leisure."  He was right.  His shed is located in my backyard as my apartment is his basement.  He doesn't live in the house, though.  He has his own apartment.  That's another long story.  He then asked if he could come down and work on her when I wasn't there.  Stupid question.  He's a schoolteacher, so he gets out of work at 3:30.  I gave him the combination.  I then proceeded to get one of the worst stomach viruses I've ever come into contact with.  I was locked in my apartment for the next 3 days.  I was hoping to get started with my new motivation in mind.  It didn't happen.
This past Tuesday, Jim went to work on her.  He went through all the rotted towels, lifejackets, etc that were there.  Threw a lot of it away.  Anything questionable he put into a berth so we can go through it and bring it to storage "until we need it"  Isn't everything on a boat, whether it be rotting or not, needed?  Apparently not.  There were things in that pile that I didn't even know I had.  Funny how many sailors save old, bent, twisted cotter pins 'just in case', then wonder why they have so much crap.  I'm one of those sailors, I guess.  It's time to admit the problem.  My first step to recovery.

A Little Background

Before I get started, I feel a little background information is in order.  I'll spare a lot of the details, as I'm sure many will come out during the course of this blog.  A little about me.  I'm 40 years old and live in Long Island, NY, USA.  I grew up in a small town called Sayville, and except for the 4 years I was away at college, i have always called this area 'home'.  My parents were both teachers, so my summers were spent on Fire Island as I was growing up.  It's not a bad childhood, for the few who can have it.  I've been on the water ever since I can remember.  My father has always had a boat... since I can remember.  He recently published a book Sale Tales that tells his story.
Felicity is a Morgan 30.  My father bought her when I was a teenager, and sailed her for many happy years.  I have lots of amazing memories from that boat.  From almost running into Montauk Lighthouse during the Around Long Island Regatta to having my prom party on board her when I graduated High Scool.  He sold her to upgrade to a Morgan 38 when I was in college.  It was a sad day for me.  I can't say I blame him, it was time.

Four years later, I'm sitting home with my new wife-to-be.  I get a call.  "Matt, Felicity's for sale, I'm driving up [from Virginia] this weekend."
"I'm not buying a boat"
"No, I understand.  I just want to look"
"Dad, I'm not buying a boat"
"I know.  That's fine.  I just want to look"
That weekend, I bought a boat.
It only cost $3,000! (That was my point during the brief argument with my new wife-to-be).  She was actually happy I bought it, but that doesn't make for a funny story.  It needed work.  It had been neglected for three of those 4 years.  Water damage to the interior, etc. The engine worked, but barely.  I had a surveyor take a look at the hull.  It was in excellent condition.  He said I stole the boat and appraised it for $12,000.
Over the next 6 years or so, the boat demanded attention.  During that time, I had gotten married and proceded to procreate.  My 3 boys took much of my time.  I didn't put as much into Felicity as I should have and my attention for her, unfortunately, waned.  The engine started giving me too much agita, so I mothballed her until the time was right.
Five years, a divorce, a new life and a new girlfriend later, the time is right.  These are my tales...