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.