2 June 2014. Celebrate with Me!
© janice142
The engine swap is complete -- or
nearly so. For the past few of days I've been on a rack at
Dockside Boatyard [http://msdockside.com]
run by Eric and Shiloh here in Carrabelle for the final tweaks and boy,
oh boy, it's great to be afloat again! And golly gee, it's so
wonderful to be alive. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

While on the rack at Dockside we
did a few things to make Seaweed ready to go:
-
Removed old 16x16 propeller
and swapped it for a 14x10 prop.
-
Removed PSS (shaft seal)
and replaced it with a standard stuffing box versus the dripless PSS I had been using.
-
Removed old exhaust hoses
and capped them (inside and outside)
-
Repacked the rudder (it had
a drip)
I'd hauled out on Thursday with a
planned re-launch on Friday, but, well, this is a boat. Stuff
happens. And Dockside was very accommodating with the delay. I
was delighted with their service and staff.
Taking off the old exhaust hoses was a bear. They'd
been on for 30 years and just didn't want to give. A Dremel and
finally a cutting tool made that happen. Frank had tried using hot water
but that failed rather spectacularly.
Frank rode with me over to Dockside
Boatyard on Thursday afternoon.

Side Note: When you have a hose
that doesn't quite fit (or is supposed to be really snug) you can
heat it up and generally it will slide on. That's what we had done
for the stuffing box* and it did slide back and fully seat, albeit
with some force via Frank.
Stuffing Box
Primer |
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Well, first of all, it's not a box -- it's round and
cylindrical. Basically the shaft that spins the propeller exits
your boat and to prevent water from coming in around the shaft
there is what is known as a Stuffing Box.
It's a rubber tube that is tight against the shaft
at both entrance and exit (of boat) ... on the inside is
something designed to keep out the ocean water and allow the
shaft to spin without getting hot. On the PSS variety, they use
a high-tech carbon. The regular ones use a waxed flax.
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More on the stuffing box later,
but I wanted to share my excitement and pleasure at being underway
again.
Bryce runs a fork lift thing at
dockside, lifting boats out of the water and placing them on racks for
storage.

For the big yachts, Dockside also has a 60-ton travel
lift. They've got you covered.
When I launched there was a
gathering of testosterone on the dock. Not just Eric (who owns
Dockside) but also some of his crew and Frank who had been doing the
finals on my boat. The engine however started like a champ and I
took off across the river. It was amazing and wonderful to be underway again,
with just the Skipper as my First Mate.
Of course when I looked up to see
where I was going (back to the docks behind Just Right Marine) I was
a bit anxious. Two big shrimp boats had partially blocked the
entrance to the slip where I was to tie up. They were big steel
shrimp boats and truth to tell, I was glad Frank had volunteered to
catch my lines at the dock.
Fortunately the tide was incoming so I could come
in on an angle and the tide/current would push me into the dock. It
could have been ugly but was not so bad. Next up: docking
practice.
Also I need to learn how Seaweed handles with her
new engine. Truth to tell, she idles nice and slow and seems easier
than my old gasoline beast which required a bit more throttle to not
stall out. Shifting works well (that shifter is pretty cool) and I
cannot tell you how happy I am.
Steve assembling my shift mechanism.
It's actually a Lee Outrigger torqued to work aboard Seaweed.

Because of the new stuffing box I'll be doing one
hour river runs to get it adjusted properly. It's got to drip once
every so many seconds -- too much is a mess in the bilge and too
little means the shaft will overheat and/or get scored.*
"Scored" is boat talk for deep scratches. That
is a bad thing.
So I'll be making river runs, up
the river or out into the Gulf while we make sure all is well with
the engine.
Life's great afloat
and with a diesel that runs well, it's the best!
Have you ever done an engine replacement?
Any advice you can offer for these beginning days and weeks running the
new-to-me motor?
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