Last fall Tom decided we needed a boat. He sold all of his R/C stuff and bought an old but "solid" boat. It was a "steal" at only $700. He bought it off Ebay...you know the only place to shop when you are Tom. Well E-bay and Craigslist. The boat was located a few hours away and on one of his days off, he went to get it.
He brought it home, and took it for its maiden voyage on Lake Springfield. Something wasn't right. I don't remember the technical terms he used, but basically it wasn't running right.
He brought it home, and checked the oil. It was the color and consistancy of chocolate milk.
I know, you are asking yourself the same damn thing I asked him.
"Is that a BAD thing?"
Apparently yes. When your oil looks like chocolate milk it means you have water in your engine.
Guess that "steal" wasn't really a steal after all... at least on our end anyway.
OK so Tom had a new plan. He wanted to pull the engine out of the boat, go over every piece with detail and find out how/why water got in the engine. This is like Christmas to Tom. HE LOVES nothing more than to take something apart and put it back together.
Sounds daunting right? I asked.."Babe, how the hell are you going to accomplish that?"
He has a friend (he always has a friend) that is going to hook his tractor bucket up to the engine, lift it out and set it in Toms truck.
Next comes taking the engine apart. Do you know how many parts an engine has?
A lot, that's how many.
To make a long story short, the engine has finally been put back together... despite spending way too much money on a very old boat, and despite every tool Tom owns has been stolen...tonight, they put it back in the boat.
That guy on the tractor is Dave he was in charge of lowering and Tom was in charge of alignment. I really wanted shots of the engine in the air, but yeah...the couldn't wait for me to get there and they started with out me.
Every part of that engine was at one time spread out and organized on our garage floor.
EVERY SINGLE PIECE.
EVERY SINGLE PIECE has been looked over and checked out to see how water could have gotten in the engine.
Turns out, there wasn't much wrong with that engine.
The water most likely came from the exhaust shutters being broken. I don't quite know what they are or what they do, but I do know they are not part of the engine.
Don't think this has a happy ending just yet....he still has to hook every thing up and put on the lower unit (or to us lay-people the thing that the propeller turns on). Then he will take it for another spin on Lake Springfield. Cross your fingers.
With the money we initially spent on buying the boat, plus the money we spent re-doing the engine, we could have had a nicer, newer boat. But that my friends is not the Dale way. Because according to Tom, the easy way isn't as fun.
Kinda looks like an older crusader engine to me and those are reliable and parts are readily available. I like to see good restoration its a thing of beauty maybe you can add some more pics of the boat. Would love to see that
Posted by: The Online Boat supplies store | June 20, 2009 at 10:29 AM
I don't know...the easy way is pretty fun, too!!!!!! Glad to see that you are on your way!!!
Posted by: Annette | June 21, 2009 at 10:39 PM