Date: 8 December 2014. Whew! Engine O-U-T.
Of late
Seaweed has been strewn with s-t-u-f-f. Nothing is put away and it's
nearly unbearable. I like order, a tidy home and calm. What I've had
is workmen aboard, the disaster of the canning jars, and, well,
chaos. I don't like it one iota, and have been concentrating on
maintaining sanity while under construction.

Four dozen canning jars should not surround my
Christmas decorations. It's not festive.
I'm not
good at living like this and it's been weighing heavily upon my
nerves. Almost anything can be borne if one knows it will end at
such-and-such time on a specific date. During Tropical Storm Beryl, just knowing the
speed of the bands was very helpful. The article
Beryl
Lessons
tells about that situation.
But Beryl
is neither here nor there. What's here right now is a mess.
First off,
the coupler was pounded loose from Seaweed's shaft. That was loud
and involved lots of banging with a sledge hammer and a wood block.
I'm quite certain Patrick was well glad to be done with that portion
of the job.
Plus I
should have sprayed the coupler yesterday with
CRC Silicone Spray
which would have helped facilitate removal no doubt. I just didn't
think to do so. Still, Patrick got the job done and with a cheerful
attitude too.
Meet Patrick:

Steve (on
left in next photo) and
the new helper Patrick have been taking apart the old engine. Well,
actually Steve's been offering advice and Patrick's been doing the
heavy lifting.

But first,
I removed what I could from the Volvo. |
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The BOB Volvo (spoken
of in numerous articles) was a MD2. I'd bought lots of new
parts in order to make it go, but unfortunately it didn't go
nearly as far as anticipated. I blew a bearing and
overheated the engine which scorched the cylinders and,
well, does anyone want a mooring ball? Cheap.
With the engine removal
imminent it became important to lighten the load as much as
possible. In that regard all adjunct pieces, plus the wires
were my job to get rid of. By doing the work myself, I saved
labor costs too.
Basically, if a wrench and
ratchet would cooperate, it came off. Most pieces were
destined for disposal.
However there were some
parts that have monetary value and so those have been set
aside. What I've removed included:
-
Fuel pump
-
High pressure fuel
pump
-
Water pump and
impeller housing -- the whole thing.
-
The starter-generator
Make me an offer... all
work fine and I've even got spares (fan belts, impellers,
filters and more) available.
janice@janice142.com
|
After disconnecting the coupler and
shaft, next the transmission was removed from BOB.

As was expected, about a quart
of oil came out. Bilge diapers (oil-catching mats) caught it all.
It was a
mess. And oil got under my fingernails. Dirty fingernails is okay
for guys, but not me. My beautiful long nails are now chopped off.
They are also clean and growing.
So, the
transmission is off. Next stage is to raise and remove the Volvo
from Seaweed. To lift the motor a come-along, chain and hoist are required. Beast (the original gasoline engine)
was removed with this
set-up. The same will be used to remove BOB
(the Volvo) and install Betsy, the lovely new-to-me Kubota.
Here's
Patrick adjusting the brace. The
Beck plate is opened so a chain can drop through the overhead.

Next,
attach chains and haul up the BOB. It's a sad and happy day. I'm sad
that the BOB Volvo didn't survive. A lot of time, effort and cash
went into making it go, and while running I could not have been
happier. Chugging along at five knots without a smidgen of a ripple
is an amazing experience.
Plus, a
piece of Bob was cruising, albeit in my boat. Bob was a special guy.
You met him in the
Time Stopped
article.
In the
meantime, I've got four dozen canning jars spread all over my
pilothouse chart-table in and amongst the Christmas decorations. Oh
and the Volvo is swinging in my pilothouse. If anyone wonders why
I'm getting just a tiny bit cantankerous, the next picture along
with the one at the top of this article ought to give
you a reason, or two!

Life is
good, and will get better. It'll be much better when a DOA engine
isn't in the middle of the doggone boat. Engine swaps are not for
sissies.
As for me,
I opted to cancel sending Christmas cards. The
chaos is too much pressure on my soul. Those that got gifts before
the decision was made are fortunate. The rest, well, there's always
2015.
Are you living through chaos during the holidays?
Do you spend time with family or friends that have become your surrogate
family? Or are both included?
COMMENTS:
Categories: Characters,
In the Bilges,
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