Finally Joined - '72 Yankee 30

[TheDude7B7]

Greetings and Salutations Fellow A4 Fanatics-

After years of lurking in the shadows, I have finally joined the forum.

I bought a 1972 Yankee 30 that was on the hard for an unknown number of years on the Northern Hudson river. She had an A4 that wouldn't run, but being from a family of mechanic's I was not deterred and embraced having a nearly 50 year old, gasoline drinking, overgrown lawnmower engine as the heart of the boat. After changing the oil, fuel, plugs and doing a carb rebuild she roared to life. The A4 served us very well over the last 4 years pushing the 8,000 boat us through the brutal Hudson river currents and getting us out of the way of ferries when traversing skyscraper wind shadows. This year during spring commission she had some sea water in the cylinders. Given we were due to have our first child in April and wouldn't be sailing this season (sailing around NYC is like playing a game of Frogger on the water), it was a perfect year to do an overhaul. So I bought the MMI overhaul manual and now 5 months later I have actually been able to pull the engine and start the rebuild. I figure now is the time to stop being a leach and try to be a participant in the community here. I look forward to many discussions.

If anyone on here is in the greater NYC area, let me know. Would love to get some info on local machine shops that have A4 experience.

Kind Regards-
Keith
S/V Trillium
1972 Yankee 30

[Administrator]

Welcome, Dude!

That is one fine looking vessel.

Bill

[ndutton]

Yankee was one of our direct competitors back in the days of yore and they built an envious product. Located on Grand Street in Santa Ana, CA they fell victim to the 70's recession like the rest of us. Catalina Yachts bought the Yankee 38 (S&S) hull molds, gave it a new deck and the Catalina 38 was born.

Yep, good looking boat.

[Al Schober]

I doubt if you'll find a shop with A4 experience. Ask your local auto repair shop who they use for their cylinder head work, then visit them and form your own opinion. Explain the work (clean up the valves, grind the valve seats, hone the bores, do the Kaminsky mod on the transmission) and get their reaction. If you're going to have them tank the block, the cam bearings should be removed. A good shop is a pleasure to work with.

[TheDude7B7]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.

@ndutton - Had no idea about the Yankee 38 hull being bought by Catalina.

@Al Schober - Thanks for the tips. I have it on my list to call around to different shops this week. Hot Tank and magnaflux are on the menu for the block, head, manifold and rotating assembly. Manually polished the crank and main journals are coming up .0007 (I did die tolerance QA at a forge shop in a previous life and still have all my measurement instruments) under spec and the rod journals are averaging .0011 under. Given there is some very minor pitting, I'm on the fence as to grind it and just go with over-sized bearings to be safe. Gonna hone the cylinders and get the rest of the measurements this weekend to bounce some idea off whatever shop i decide to go with. I'm used to rebuilding 302's and 351's for the track. A4 acceptable tolerances would never fly in that world . Should be fun conversations.

[Al Schober]

You get that engine home for the winter and you're going to have to beat your relatives off with a breaker bar! They're all going to want some of the fun.
Just had a devious thought.. Charge them for the fun of working on the engine! Kinda like Tom Sawyer charging his friends to paint the fence.