Hello all at the MM community. This is my first post, and any and all help would be greatly received.
I have a 29' 1976 Ericson, which is my first boat and I have only owned her since the beginning of this year. Naturally, she has an A4.
In general, she motors pretty adequately, except that almost since the day (or second day) I had this boat, the reverse gear was never quite as peachy as I would have liked. In fact it was pretty soft, that is to say inefficient. She never pulled backwards out of the slip as I would have liked, and "walked" sideways almost as much as she was pathetically traveling backwards. Forward gear was fine. Over time, it was wierd putting her into reverse, the motor whined somewhat and I had to ease off and find a spot between mushy and useless. Eventually I would find I had a kt or so to pull me backwards, or I would just push the boat out by hand. Of course I wanted to get this looked at, but I cannot seem to find an A4 mechanic in Oxnard or Ventura, or know where to look for one. And I am dirt poor, and with very little mechanical experience, though usually a DIY guy.
Anyway, recently, my forward gear starting having several "stages." It always had a "soft" forward just ahead of neutral, and a "full" forward, pushed all the way. The soft forward was handy for pulling into the slip, and I would pull the gear lever towards me to ease her down to 2 or 3 kts as we pulled into the marina. But lately, new "stages" appeared. I noticed my full forward was slipping out to a different lower stage, and only by tying the gear lever forward I got her to throttle onwards in what felt like the right rpms, guided partly by the sound of the motor. (I have today read on the forum that this is bad and I must go to the back of the A4 classroom)
Last weekend at Santa Cruz Island (Santa Barbara Channel), my motor failed after a couple of poor anchor-winchings on the windlass. One of my batteries had been weak anyway, but now the other seemed problematic. At the same time there was a little smoke from the motor AND then the gears got stuck. It seemed that the motor would only go forwards, and too fast! Trying to anchor between other sailboats, I shouted at my girlfriend to kill the motor (at this point, her own clutch was slipping). I was preoccupied with hand-lowering the anchor in a good spot, and did not rush back to see if the temperature guage was normal.
Later I tried to look at the motor and only discovered that I was low on oil (but not below the "low" point), that I had a gasoline drip from around the carb, and that I could not change gear with the motor off using the hand lever. Now I was really worried. I had bad batteries, low engine oil, stuck gears, and no way of starting her up, even if it seemed like a good idea, which it didn't.
I decided to risk it all and sail back off the anchor with just enough wind to get us home - then we rounded the point and got hit by a blast from the West which was the strongest favorable (direction) wind I have seen yet. Our usual 5-hour trip took 3 & 1/2! Anyway, we sailed into the slip, I topped off the gasoline, and drove home to think about this and do some research.
Questions: Are these problems a reasonably willing and game (but mechanically inexperienced) fellow can take on by himself? I have the Moyer Marine manual and another A4 manual. Where to start? And if it all goes to hell, does anyone know of A4 mechanics in the Ventura/Oxnard area? Or is my motor seized and dead?
The new lad in A4 land,
Duncan
I have a 29' 1976 Ericson, which is my first boat and I have only owned her since the beginning of this year. Naturally, she has an A4.
In general, she motors pretty adequately, except that almost since the day (or second day) I had this boat, the reverse gear was never quite as peachy as I would have liked. In fact it was pretty soft, that is to say inefficient. She never pulled backwards out of the slip as I would have liked, and "walked" sideways almost as much as she was pathetically traveling backwards. Forward gear was fine. Over time, it was wierd putting her into reverse, the motor whined somewhat and I had to ease off and find a spot between mushy and useless. Eventually I would find I had a kt or so to pull me backwards, or I would just push the boat out by hand. Of course I wanted to get this looked at, but I cannot seem to find an A4 mechanic in Oxnard or Ventura, or know where to look for one. And I am dirt poor, and with very little mechanical experience, though usually a DIY guy.
Anyway, recently, my forward gear starting having several "stages." It always had a "soft" forward just ahead of neutral, and a "full" forward, pushed all the way. The soft forward was handy for pulling into the slip, and I would pull the gear lever towards me to ease her down to 2 or 3 kts as we pulled into the marina. But lately, new "stages" appeared. I noticed my full forward was slipping out to a different lower stage, and only by tying the gear lever forward I got her to throttle onwards in what felt like the right rpms, guided partly by the sound of the motor. (I have today read on the forum that this is bad and I must go to the back of the A4 classroom)
Last weekend at Santa Cruz Island (Santa Barbara Channel), my motor failed after a couple of poor anchor-winchings on the windlass. One of my batteries had been weak anyway, but now the other seemed problematic. At the same time there was a little smoke from the motor AND then the gears got stuck. It seemed that the motor would only go forwards, and too fast! Trying to anchor between other sailboats, I shouted at my girlfriend to kill the motor (at this point, her own clutch was slipping). I was preoccupied with hand-lowering the anchor in a good spot, and did not rush back to see if the temperature guage was normal.
Later I tried to look at the motor and only discovered that I was low on oil (but not below the "low" point), that I had a gasoline drip from around the carb, and that I could not change gear with the motor off using the hand lever. Now I was really worried. I had bad batteries, low engine oil, stuck gears, and no way of starting her up, even if it seemed like a good idea, which it didn't.
I decided to risk it all and sail back off the anchor with just enough wind to get us home - then we rounded the point and got hit by a blast from the West which was the strongest favorable (direction) wind I have seen yet. Our usual 5-hour trip took 3 & 1/2! Anyway, we sailed into the slip, I topped off the gasoline, and drove home to think about this and do some research.
Questions: Are these problems a reasonably willing and game (but mechanically inexperienced) fellow can take on by himself? I have the Moyer Marine manual and another A4 manual. Where to start? And if it all goes to hell, does anyone know of A4 mechanics in the Ventura/Oxnard area? Or is my motor seized and dead?
The new lad in A4 land,
Duncan
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