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Old 03-19-2012, 03:30 PM
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Gratifying

Yesterday, while we were motoring back in after a nice, albeit too-short 2-hour sail, I said to my wife that it was pretty gratifying to think that our little boat engine started up and ran so nicely after I had it torn down to every last nut and bolt in my workshop at home. I felt pretty good about myself, I have to admit.

I think it's got a very slight lifter tap - I really don't relish the thought of removing the manifold and valve cover to try to isolate it and check the clearance on all the lifters - I already have done it twice before I put the engine back in the boat. So I think I'll just run it as-is for now and keep an ear on it.

Of course, I'm still not 100% done (is there such a thing)? I need to add a battery monitor, which I currently (see what I did there?) don't have. And I probably should educate myself a bit more about the charging system and put a meter on it to see what the alternator actually is putting out and how the batteries are doing.

And I need to do something about the slightly leaky exhaust hose, which spits a little bit of water into the bilge as the engine runs.

And I still need to do a little fine-tuning of the carb, mostly to make sure it will stay running smoothly at idle.

But in the mean time, it's gratifying to push the button and have the engine fire up and rumble right along and push us easily and smoothly through the water, and think "I did that."

I have to say, though, that I don't want to be a "tinkerer", and I'm not too A.R. about the exact numbers or pinching the utmost fuel economy out of it. As long as the oil pressure looks good and the temp is generally in the right range, and it runs well and sounds right, that's good enough for me! I just want to be able to push the button, put her in gear and not worry about every little detail.
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Old 03-19-2012, 03:48 PM
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Great job Bill!
I does feel good, to see what you fixed, or built working well..
Sometimes I forget all the hard work, or want something to be a little better, or whatever, then I think,,,,
I built (in my case) this whole boat from a pile of wood, I custom made alot of my running hardware, and I rebuilt my engine, bored it out myself and turned the main bearings down myself etc,,....

After I remind myself of all my work,and it is working as planned and I am out enjoying it
I think- oh yeah,, this is pretty cool
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Old 03-19-2012, 03:57 PM
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Hey, I still want to come down there and see your boat (and you, of course) in person.

I was just up at my boat at Queens Creek yesterday. I know that's just up the road a few miles from you.

I plan on heading back out there at least a couple times over the next couple of weeks - might there be a time when I could swing by your place for a face-to-face and check out that cool boat in person?
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Old 04-02-2012, 08:53 PM
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Thumbs up Good for you BIll

I'm so jealous, havent gotten away from the dock yet myself. The water temps are still a tad chilly (even with a wet suit) to get underneath and clear away this winters barnacles. A couple of weeks yet for me. Good for YOU!
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Old 04-02-2012, 10:52 PM
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Thumbs up yeah man!

Bill..it is extremely gratifying. I have done just about everything except rebuild the motor, but every little bit you do with your own hands helps you enjoy the boat more. It helps with the ego a little bit too..If I had to pay someone to do all the tinkering I've done, I might as well have saved money and put in a diesel!!

I remember the first few times I took my boat from its mooring lines, I felt like I was driving someone else's car...I didn't dare move the rear-view mirror /worry about the engine temp at only 110°/oil pressure at 10 psi (really!?)..I just hoped it didn't quit on that cold November day on the way to the travel lift, because I wouldn't know what to do..I even kept the mainsail on the boom just in case...I figured I could at least sail it and keep from drifting into something or someone's boat. However, it didn't quit, but I am not sure why it kept running given everything I found wrong with it!

Even though I've continued to have issues with the motor, I have way more confidence in it than ever. I know every system and wire and part of the motor...and if it quits I can still sail it home..
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Old 04-02-2012, 11:18 PM
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Bonus!
Was this your first motor teardown and reassembly and/or rebuild?
I will be getting into my a4 for a complete rebuild and fwc kit sometime in the next year but I have experience with rebuilding four stroke inline fours, specifically honda car engines from years ago so im not expecting too much of a challenge with the a4 but im still looking forward to it when the time comes.
k
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Old 04-03-2012, 04:13 AM
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Smile charge indicator.

Hi Bill,

Well done on the engine Bill. Gotta like it when a plan comes together

FYI...Re: charging indicator. When I bought my boat I put a chartplotter on it (just a Garmin 172 gpsmap). Hooked it up and played with it I noticed it had a "voltage" reading. I checked it with a tester and it's accurate. When I'm sailing, and the auto-pilot is using power, the voltage display is always in front of me on the chartplotter screen. If I see the batteries drop to around 12 V I'll fire up the engine. The reading will then show 14 -whatever and drops back down as the batteries charge. I find it great because the display is aways in front of me.

On another note: Last year my deep cell packed it in. As Neil suggested in an earlier thread, dumping a high charge into deep cycles on a regular basis is not what we want to be doing. My alternator trying to dump 14.5 (sometimes up to 14.7) volts into it didn't help. I had a marine starter battery / combination deep cycle that remained fine so I replaced the deep cycle with another starter type.

Using starting / deep-cycle batteries work OK for what I do. For the most part I take off for a day sail. Melinda and the kids might be on for a weekend but generally I leave the dock every morning and sail with the auto pilot. When they are aboard we are running lights, video player, radio, DSi's etc (the kids won't come if they don't bring their creature comforts) After sailing all day and then anchored for a few hours I'll check the chartplotter to see where my batteries are sitting charge-wise...occassionally I'll see the voltage drop off and just fire up the engine for a bit and bring them back up.

It's been 5 years since I wired in the chartplotter, but I remember having the whole thing, antennae etc, installed in about an hour. Just throwing that out there in case you have something aboard already that will indicate your battery voltage / charging already on the boat.
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Old 04-03-2012, 06:00 AM
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Thumbs up Congratulations

on a great rebuild. You went thru every detail. Remember what Don says about that noise that sounds like a lifter? It could be the accessory drive making the common but unexplainable "tick". I agree that not everybody should be a "tinkerer" or get too AR about economy but everybody needs to know voltage figures (Remember all that coil frying trauma??). Looking forward to seeing your set up in person. Regards, Hanley
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Old 04-03-2012, 07:56 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KeysCatalina View Post
Was this your first motor teardown and reassembly and/or rebuild?
Not if you count several lawnmowers (Briggs & Stratton and Tecumseh), a go-kart (B&S) and a 1972 Yamaha DT250. Those were many, many moons ago, though - my late teen years. I was always tearing down engines and putting them back together then.

I do generally know my way around an engine, but I had never taken on a multi-cylinder engine like the A4.

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Originally Posted by KeysCatalina View Post
I will be getting into my a4 for a complete rebuild and fwc kit sometime in the next year but I have experience with rebuilding four stroke inline fours, specifically honda car engines from years ago so im not expecting too much of a challenge with the a4 but im still looking forward to it when the time comes.
k
It's really quite a simple engine - more like four Briggs & Stratton single-cylinder lawnmower engines connected in a row with a common crank and cam - and water-cooled.
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Old 04-03-2012, 08:00 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Maurice View Post
FYI...Re: charging indicator. When I bought my boat I put a chartplotter on it (just a Garmin 172 gpsmap). Hooked it up and played with it I noticed it had a "voltage" reading. I checked it with a tester and it's accurate.

...

Just throwing that out there in case you have something aboard already that will indicate your battery voltage / charging already on the boat.
AWESOME.

I had not even considered that possibility. I have a Garmin GPS chartplotter that is compliant with whatever the hi-falutin' international electronics standard is - it's got a wiring harness with about 42 little skinny wires hanging out of it - it's designed to talk to all the various boat electronics (which I don't have on my boat), so those wires are all hanging out there unused.

As I reported here, I recently got a new depth transducer, which shows not only the water depth on my chartplotter, but also scrolling sonar showing the profile of the bottom (wondering if I'll ever really make much use of that). I recently discovered it also shows the water temperature. I suppose those latter features are more important if you're looking for fish.

I will have to check to see if it has the capability to show battery voltage. That would be very nice if it does!
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Old 04-03-2012, 08:02 AM
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Originally Posted by hanleyclifford View Post
on a great rebuild. You went thru every detail. Remember what Don says about that noise that sounds like a lifter? It could be the accessory drive making the common but unexplainable "tick".
I'll have to stick my head down there and have a good listen.

I did rebuild the accessory drive with all new bearings as part of the overhaul.
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Old 04-03-2012, 08:13 AM
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Talking

Bill - Notice bold copy on page P4-3 of the Service and Repair Manual.
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Old 04-03-2012, 08:43 AM
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Thumbs up

Quote:
Originally Posted by KeysCatalina View Post
Bonus!
Was this your first motor teardown and reassembly and/or rebuild?
I will be getting into my a4 for a complete rebuild and fwc kit sometime in the next year but I have experience with rebuilding four stroke inline fours, specifically honda car engines from years ago so im not expecting too much of a challenge with the a4 but im still looking forward to it when the time comes.
k
KC, we must be distant cousins. I've done a couple Honda Civic motors as well. I tried a transmission and that didn't go so well, so right now I have a '91 Civic with 10k miles on the rebuilt motor and a locked up tranny..

Quote:
Originally Posted by ILikeRust View Post
AWESOME.

I had not even considered that possibility. I have a Garmin GPS chartplotter that is compliant with whatever the hi-falutin' international electronics standard is - it's got a wiring harness with about 42 little skinny wires hanging out of it - it's designed to talk to all the various boat electronics (which I don't have on my boat), so those wires are all hanging out there unused.

As I reported here, I recently got a new depth transducer, which shows not only the water depth on my chartplotter, but also scrolling sonar showing the profile of the bottom (wondering if I'll ever really make much use of that). I recently discovered it also shows the water temperature. I suppose those latter features are more important if you're looking for fish.

I will have to check to see if it has the capability to show battery voltage. That would be very nice if it does!
Bill, Let me tell you how nice it is to know the water temp before you go swimming!

I have a buddy with a beautiful Beneteau 343 and a fancy Link10 battery monitor and all this other gadgetry. His primary 'battery checker' is the voltage readout on his Garmin GPS in the cockpit, & I still had to drag a battery across the raft from my boat to jump start him one Sunday morning! (In all fairness, he was having fridge trouble and he forgot to remove the start battery from the equation after a beer or three)

Quote:
Originally Posted by ILikeRust View Post
I'll have to stick my head down there and have a good listen.

I did rebuild the accessory drive with all new bearings as part of the overhaul.
One more Bill, Those cheap stethescopes from your auto boutique work great. In a pinch a long handled screwdriver works OK too at isolating a noise to specific component.

Don't freak out too much, with all the work you've done it is OK to just enjoy it a bit!
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Old 04-03-2012, 10:23 AM
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Richmond sailing?

Hi I Like Rust,

Went to your web site. Egad man, where do you keep all that stuff. Actually I want to thank you - now if my wife complains that I should get rid of some stuff, I can show her your addiction and show her that my collection of old tube radios doesn't take up as much space as your old tools (yet). You have some nice stuff. I especially like the manual drill and the clockwork.

I see that you are in Richmond. The Mrs and I are moving there next week, to Midlothian. Where do you keep your boat? There are rumors of an inland marine harbor in Richmond. Is there any sailing on the James?

=Steve.
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Old 04-03-2012, 11:10 AM
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Went to your web site. Egad man, where do you keep all that stuff.
I actually haven't updated that site in a long time - I really should get back on that. I have more stuff now.

I built a detached workshop building behind my house and very quickly filled it up. It seemed so large and spacious when I first built it; now I can barely move in there without knocking something over.

I also have some "overflow" in the two-car garage. My wife insists that she be able to park her car in the garage - and she can, but the space for her car is the minority of the space in the garage. I have a big old forge, anvil, blower, leg vise, post drill, and massive 100 year-old 36" bandsaw out there, along with a big stack of lumber and smaller stack of steel stock. And lots of other tools, materials and supplies.

I really need at least two or three times the square footage I have right now. Oh well, next house. Our plan is to move from this place in 4 or 5 years, when our younger daughter will be done with high school, and get a smaller, simpler house on a much larger piece of land, with a barn or two for me to convert into a killer workshop.


Quote:
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Actually I want to thank you - now if my wife complains that I should get rid of some stuff, I can show her your addiction and show her that my collection of old tube radios doesn't take up as much space as your old tools (yet).
Two thoughts:

1. I'm a piker when it comes to collecting stuff. I have seen plenty of guys with way, way, way more stuff than I have, jammed into huge barns or warehouse buildings. I hardly have anything compared to a lot of guys I've seen.

2. When I show my wife one of those other guys and say, "look, I'm nowhere near as bad as that guy, she has two answers: either "I don't care; I'm not married to that guy; I'm married to YOU!" - so she's totally unimpressed by the fact that there are guys out there way worse than I am as far as collecting junk - or she'll say, "Yeah, you're not that bad RIGHT NOW - I'm worried about 20 years from now." She's convinced that once I get a few acres and a barn, I'll start accumulating more machinery, and some big stuff.

She's probably right.

Quote:
Originally Posted by High Hopes View Post
You have some nice stuff. I especially like the manual drill and the clockwork.
I've got lots more stuff not shown on that site.

Quote:
Originally Posted by High Hopes View Post
I see that you are in Richmond. The Mrs and I are moving there next week, to Midlothian.
Well cool beans! Welcome to the area.

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Where do you keep your boat?
Most people who own sailboats in the Richmond area keep them up in Deltaville. I keep mine in a tiny marina a few miles south of Deltaville, in Mathews County.

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There are rumors of an inland marine harbor in Richmond. Is there any sailing on the James?
There is a small marina at Rockett's Landing, which is just at the east end of Richmond. It's expensive as hell and very far from the Bay and really more suited to small power boats for fishing on the river. I don't think there are any sailboats there.

Yes, you can sail on the LOWER James - more down near the Newport News area. The River gets very big down there, but it also is a very busy area, because it is a huge port and also there is the Navy base down there. If you have a smaller sailboat, you easily could sail on most of the James south of Richmond. If you have a very small sailboat, like a little trailer-sailer, there are some areas north of Richmond where you could sail the James. But if you've got a keelboat, you're looking at much lower down on the river than near Richmond.

Really Deltaville or Mobjack Bay area is your best bet - another good location is Urbanna, which is partway up the Rappahannock River. But if you want to sail the Chesapeake Bay, Urbanna is a little far from the Bay.

Are you familiar with Virginia's western shore of the Chesapeake? There are hundreds of neat little places to explore, and many choices as far as keeping a boat out there. Most of it is 90 minutes to 2 hours driving time from the Richmond area, depending on where you're going to live in Richmond area and where you're going - Northern Neck, Middle Peninsula or Virginia Peninsula.

Let me know when you get out here.
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