Yard is a verb

[lat 64]

Hi all,
I did it!
I went to the boat at 5Deg. F. and here’s the pictures to prove I'm crazy.
I want thank the forum in-general for the information to plan this endeavor. You just can’t waste time standing around in the cold figuring out what to do next. It went as well as it could. The ideas and advice for using the boom to yard out the engine were extremely useful. I will post some kind of slide show on the web somewhere for my friends and I will leave the URL here soon.

As you can see, the water was very hard and the dock was fluffy. I had to wait for high tide to get the motor up the ramp from the float. On Jan. 1-2 I drove home 700 miles to Fairbanks when it was -40 F.(not recommended). The next day I popped the head off and found out why there was a clacking noise in the engine.
The second photo shows #1 exhaust valve stuck open, head gasket starting to go between #3 and #4 and general yukiness in the top end. The #3 cylinder is the only one that has good color, and it was even sharing it's smoke with #4. I still got hull speed with this mess running. Imagine what we can do with a fresh coat of paint!
Even though this engine is a 1968, it has always had glycol in the block, so the good news is the water passages look great at this point. I'll keep my hopes up.
It will be a few days before I can take other things apart to find the gear noise(see http://www.moyermarine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2822 )

So anyway thanks again, I’ll write some more later,

Russ

P.S. Congrats to Warren Casey, “Nice”

[rigspelt]

Congrats! Looking forward to news of your progress. Our harbour is into freeze up now, but the boats have all been out for a couple of months.

[s/v Dearbhail]

lat 64, warmed up to 5F? Sounds like a heat wave!

[tenders]

> I still got hull speed with this mess running. Imagine what we can do with a fresh coat of paint!

Very funny line.

Here's a quandary I'm wrestling with: if you don't haul your boat out of the water in winter at 64 degrees north latitude, 700 miles away from Fairbanks, Alaska, cheerfully do major work on your boat in 5 degree Fahrenheit weather, AND apparently there is somebody also hanging around to take your picture, then why the heck do I bother hauling mine out at 41 degrees north latitude and wait until April to get cracking on my boat projects?

[msmith10]

And I thought I was a diehard. My, but you've shamed me.

[sastanley]

If it is under 40F, I usually skip going to the boat and find a boat related project in the garage to do. I brought the galley cabinet home this past weekend for just that...after today, it shouldn't get much above 35 the rest of the week.

Nice work russ. keep us informed!

[Baltimore Sailor]

But... but...

I don't get "Yard is a verb."

Sounds like something Buckminster Fuller might have said.

[rigspelt]

I got a big laugh out of that line. Half zen, half pun. I thought he meant "yard on that engine", but I'm still stuck on an alternative: something to do with a boat yard in the arctic, but then it is real early, and I'm only half way into the first coffee...

[sastanley]

yard

I thought he was talking about using the boom (a yard, as in yard arm) to perform an action (removing the motor) as opposed to a sedentary device that only hangs out and holds a sail in place.

Although I initially got a chuckle, because I thought he might mean yard as in 'boat yard is a verb', meaning you are supposed to work on your boats there, and he was doing so..in 4F and snow,etc.. until I saw his boat still in a boat slip. Technically still a boatyard, but just the marina portion maybe. - This is funny to me because the boats are packed in so tight in my boat yard that I have to cart all my tools, etc.. 100 yards from where I park, and I have only seen one other soul in the 100 or so other boats in the last month. I guess everyone else shows up in March and paints the bottom and tosses the boat back in. I've been down to mine almost every weekend, and some evenings too if the weather is nice.

Humor is hard on the internet - I get a feeling I'd be laughing at our buddy lat 64's sense of humor quite a bit over a few beers.

[lat 64]

The cold and the restless

Rigs,
Thanks.

Mark,
It was 5 Deg. in Homer, on the coast. Up here in Fairbanks it -40. I WISH it were +5 here!

Tenders,
The operative word here is “crazy”. My brother (another boat nut) is to credit for photography, muscle and moral support. Also 12-year-old Jamison’s(neat) lent strength to the main brace after we came in from the cold.

msmith10,
My brother says, ”When the weather gets bad we don’t change our plans, we just change our clothes.” That’s a nice thing to say, but really, we’re human too. We took the photos to brag.

Baltimore sailor,
I’ve just used the word “yard” all my adult life to mean pull or take out, so I thought it was great to actually “yard” something for once. The other day I was “backing and filling” to turn my car around and later read (in an Earnest Gann novel I think) that it was a term used by sailors to maneuver in close quarters by back-winding sails and such.
Words are fun.

Rigs’
The Zen thing comes when you have to deal with a glob of rust called a shaft coupling, and snap off the set screws. I’m seeking professional help on this.

Shawn,
In a way, until the ice melts, my boat IS on the hard.
The P.O. has left it in the slip since 1985 with no bad ice scrapes, but I might pull it out next fall to do some hull work and then leave it in a real yard for the winter.

I've heard that puns are the sign of a fertile mind, so I like to keep a little fertilizer around for my mind. My wife is an editor so I tease her a lot with made-up verbs like “lets ottoman our feet” or “please glass me a beer”.
Say…it's afternoon back east. I think the sun is just under the yardarm.

cheers,
Russ

[sastanley]

Russ,
you are right...1840 here. Had to go to the gym first..Off to bowling now...our team (Team Cygnus, named after the boat) is in first place! After the Christmas break we must defend..The sun will definitely be over the yard arm at the bowling alley!

[tenders]

> 12-year-old Jamison’s(neat)

Clearly you are a man of grace, class, and steel. A fine concoction.

> The Zen thing comes when you have to deal with a glob of rust called a shaft coupling, and snap off the set screws. I’m seeking professional help on this.

THE worst job on a boat as far as I'm concerned, at least as measured in terms of number of curse words per inch of progress. My boat partner and I joke about the time we felt strangely compelled to mess with this one dark evening about 10 years ago in 17-degree weather. (Progress: 0.) But you, sir, have bested us by a factor of more than 3!

[lat 64]

the shaft

Tenders,
I confess, the coupling is not out yet. I simply gave up when I snapped the set screw. Retreat is the better part of valor. I read your post on seized couplings and I liked the sawzall idea. I have come up with the final solution. I will get my friend and neighbor to build one from stainless steel. This sounds expensive but actually he does this stuff for a living and he has chunks of s.s. laying around big enough to sink a battleship and a modern computerized lathe.
He is a scotch Islay fan so I can see this will cost me something.
I'll post photos in a few weeks if I can follow through with this.

Shawn,
If I used GMT I could sip all day.
Also, I think that you are correct, it is over not under the yardarm

Gotta go now and tear that block apart today,
Russ

[sastanley]

Well, Russ...I think the term 'over the yardarm' means that it is not too early in the day to be sipping on something - I didn't catch that right away..once it is back under the yardarm, I may already be three-sheets to the wind

I just got off the phone with Ken a while back and completed my second order of parts - mostly gaskets and pump seals, etc.. I figure right now it is easier to repair everything else and hope the block is OK. I have no indication it is not at this time...there were too many other things wrong to rip the block apart.


Good luck with your block!!

[lat 64]

Knock knock

Just a little update on the teardown.
Q, Is this too much valve clearance?
Actually this my stuck valve. and here is a photo of my water jacket. It looks brand new(on the inside) see the casting wire(arrow). not even rusted. I'm quite pleased.
I'm going to post more on the gear noise thread soon. I have some interesting photos.

Russ