Good news and more good (but expensive) news

The Admiral and I visited the engine shop today. First, the good news. The starboard engine passed its diagnostic test with flying colors. They did re-set the timing, which was off by more than 15 degrees. When we started that engine today, it started after about 15 seconds instead of two plus minutes. It was quite windy today, but it did seem that there was less white smoke, especially after the engine warmed up. There seems to be no need to do anything major to this engine now (or hopefully for a very long time).


In the shop we saw various pieces of the engine, which had been totally disassembled. We discussed our options, but once the engine has been removed from the boat, for a few extra "boat bucks" the engine can be totally re-built. Since this engine is no longer produced, some parts are no longer available, but fortunately, aftermarket replacement parts are available. All of this is what led me to the second part of the title for this post(i.e. the "expensive" news).



The picture is of the oil pan. I am used to seeing the oil pans on gasoline automotive engines that look like a relatively thin piece of stamped steel. This one is massive, and it is cast aluminum at least 1/4 inch thick.



Decisions have been made, parts ordered and work is progressing.

more engine adventures...

We spent yesterday morning taking Lucky Us to a local shipyard to have the engine removed. Actually, we went to two different shipyards since the crane at the first one could not reach in through the salon door. The second one had a crane with this most amazing long arm that pivoted off the front and could reach as far as 17 feet inside... The photo shows the arm as the crane moves slowly forward to reach into the salon just above the engine.


Once the chains on the engine were attached to the arm, the crane raised the arm about 2 feet, and then the crane slowly backed up. The engine was then placed on a truck to go to the machine shop.

Oh, and did I mention that the Admiral and I had taken Lucky Us around Clear Lake on this adventure. Yup, the trip was what is called a learning experience... Normally, a twin engine power boat is easy to maneuver at slow speed in small areas. You can turn/pivot the boat about a given point by putting one engine in forward and the other in reverse. It is a lot more difficult when when attempting this with only one engine (and remember that engine is off center in the boat). The net result is that you can turn one way rather easily while turning in the other direction is rather difficult. The bottom line is that I learned a lot about the physics of centrifical force (prop wash), lever arms, etc. In this process I think that I reached a new level in my boat handling skills, but time will tell on that.

Now that the engine is off to have the cylinders re-bored, etc., there will not be much happening on the engine front.

Honey, there's an engine in the salon...

By the end of the day on Thursday, there was an engine sitting in the middle of the salon. Fortunately, we had been off babysitting our grandkids while the 800 pound engine block was lifted out of the engine room and slid aft into the salon. At this stage the block is so heavy partly because it still has the pistons, crankshaft, etc. The engine will ultimately be slid a little further aft toward the salon door in the background. Then the boat will be taken to a local shipyard where a crane with a horizontal boom will reach in through the salon door and (gently) remove the engine.

The next picture shows the pipe A-frame and winch that were used to lift the engine up and out of the engine room. At the bottom ot the picture you can barely see the engine still in place down in the engine room. The process of stripping down the engine ( removal of transmission, starter, etc) and lifting it out to where it can be removed has already taken nearly two days. The engine still has to go to the machine shop to have the cylinders bored out (i.e. made "round" again), and then the whole process has to be reversed to replace the engine. As the saying goes, "time is money"...

Safely back home at Clear Lake

We arrived back home on Thursday, February 9 after an overnight stop at Galveston Yacht Harbor, including a wonderful dinner at Fisherman's Wharf. On the way home we ran the (bad) port engine at just above idle speed, which improved the handling. Once again, the new autopilot proved its merit by doing most of the piloting. With one engine at normal cruising of 1700 rpm and the other at about 800 rpm, the rudders were consistently 15 degrees off center to maintain course.



The engine work began on Monday, and as soon as the head was off, the extent of the problem was obvious.
The #6 piston (out of 6) just rattled around in the cylinder. This means "extreme wear" of the cylinder wall. THUS, the engine will have to be removed so that all of the cylinders can be bored out to a slightly larger diameter and fitted with new oversize pistons and rings. The picture shows the engine with everything removed (e.g. starter, alternator, transmission, etc.) in preparation for lifting it out.



This is a "worst case" scenario. If the wear had been minor, then the cylinder could have been polished in place without removing the engine resulting in a much simpler repair. The next stage involves bracing the deck and placing a large pipe A-frame over the hatch to lift the engine up. Stay tuned...

Day Three - Back to Galveston

Disappointed but not discouraged. We made it to Port Arthur to discover we have an engine issue. The port engine has a scored piston which can mean several things but none of them are good. After a discussion with our trusted mechanic we weighed anchor and headed home slowly. We should be back in League City by Thursday. As the saying goes...more will be revealed...but we are expecting this will delay our start until the Fall.

Here are some pics from the trip today:


The first is a picture of the flag flapping in the wind from our flying bridge.










The next is a picture of the white pelicans mentioned in yesterday's post.










The final picture is of a gull trailing behind us today looking for tidbits of food being kicked up in our wake.

Galveston to Port Arthur

Left the dock in Galveston at 7:15 am, and we are now anchored for the night just South of Port Arthur, TX. Today's picture is a toast last night to celebrate the start of the Great Loop (Thanks Shelly for the sparkling H2O). We had nice (overcast) weather with the temperature in the lower 60's. We are sitting in the salon watching birds feeding along the shoreline. We were going through salt marsh most of the day so we saw lots of birds, including one large flock of white pelicans (30+). Tomorrow we plan to go to Lake Charles, LA and stay at L'Auberge Casino and Resort. We plan to buy diesel fuel (and possibly food) before we venture into the casino...

Day 1. We're off...

We had a sea-trial of the new autopilot this morning that went well. Then after some last minute packing/unpacking, we left the dock at 12:20 pm with a small but enthusiastic group of well wishers. With the late departure we only planned on a short 3 1/2 hour cruise to Galveston, TX. It is here that we will enter the Gulf Intra Coastal Waterway ( aka the "ditch" since many parts of it have been dredged to make an artificial channel connecting natural bays, lakes, etc). We will spend most of the next month in the ICW as we go across the northern Gulf of Mexico.

Note: Rigorous honesty compels me to say that I was not terribly anxious to have an autopilot... However, I did use it for at least half of the trip today. The "skipper" needs to be watching for other boats, debris and of course dry land... However, the autopilot does afford one the luxury of (limited) walking around to stretch those "sitting" muscles. Okay, so I am now an advocate of the autopilot.

almost ready to start...

We now plan to depart on Monday, February 6, 2012. For me (John) it is a dream of about 30 years that is about to start for real. Yes, there have been many bumps in the road over that long period, but the dream was always there.

First a (very) little background. We purchased Lucky Us in July, 2006 with the idea that we had a few years to learn how to operate her with only the two of us and enough time to make some upgrades to her for the Loop. This meant adding some creature comforts like an all-in-one washer dryer and anchor windlass as well as the latest electronic navigation equipment. The boat came with a marvelous walk in glass shower, full galley and reverse cycle heating and air-conditioning so we had a god starting point. There are some who may think that we went a little overboard by adding a 32 inch HDTV with Blue-ray and Google TV as well as Wifi, but there are no "rules" that say one cannot really enjoy the experience all the time.

Here are some pictures of some the the more recent preparations:

Lucky Us is 43 feet long on deck and with a dingy on the swim platform and counting the bow pulpit we are closer to 50 feet. A scary (for me at least) sight is seeing the nearly 20 tons of boat being lifted out of the water in preparation for new bottom paint.

However, as you can see in the next photo, the bottom was successfully cleaned, sanded and painted. We also had additional work done while she was out of the water.

All things considered boats float very well, but when they are bigger, there are a lot of holes (intentionally) in the hull. Holes below the water line are necessary for raw water to cool the engines and for the reverse cycle HVAC. These holes have seacocks on them which amount to an on/off valves. Our seacocks were all stuck in the open position, which means that if a hose ruptures we cannot stop the water with the valve. Note, we do carry a selection of tapered wood plugs that we can hammer into holes (in theory...). I have included a picture of a new seacock since several of the old ones were broken in the attempts to unstick them. I have learned a lot of "facts" in my boating experience, and some of them are more important than others... If this 1 1/2 inch hose completely severed, about 2,600 gallons of water per hour would enter. We have three bilge pumps that could handle this amount (in theory) assuming that we had battery power and there was no clogging, etc of the pumps... We sold the house in Bryan, but for comparison, that swimming pool held about 26,000 gallons of water. That number got my attention!

One last set of pictures to briefly describe the updates to the electronics. Within the last year we have added new a GPS/Chartplotter with a 12 inch color screen on the flybridge with a monitor(repeater) at the lower helm station. We also have a 24 inch digital radar, depth sounder, satellite (XM) weather, autopilot and AIS (automatic identification system). There are advances in all of this technology at least on a yearly basis so we waited to upgrade until now so that we would have the latest gear. All are networked together, and as for me, I still have quite a bit of learning to do. The last 2 photos show the top and bottom of the radar mast. The 24 inch HDTV antenna has a digital booster, and at our home dock between Houston and Galveston, Texas, we get 69 digital channels over the air. This is up from about a dozen channels in the pre-digital era. The other view of the radar mast shows a hinge on the bottom. We installed the hinge so that we could lower the mast, and thus lower our air draft. The draft of a boat generally is used to refer to distance below the waterline to the lowest point on a boat. It turns out that boats have an air draft that is the distance to the highest point. This is important for getting under fixed bridges, and there are several important ones on the Great Loop. If you want to go through downtown Chicago, you have to be able to go under a bridge with a clearance of 15 feet. Of course, you could go around Chicago... However, one of the highlights of the trip is the view of the city from the river. Hence, the addition of a hinge to be able to lower our air draft in just a few minutes.

Well, enough information about the boat. Stay tuned for regular updates on "Lucky Us Adventures".