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  #1   IP: 66.108.50.141
Old 10-16-2009, 12:22 AM
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CalebD CalebD is offline
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Repairs underway or, it's nice to have spare parts on board.

We set out on a trip heading about 35 nm. up the Hudson from Nyack on our Tartan 27' with a north wind building. We sailed while tacking the first 5 nm. or so and then decided that the building wind was just going to make us too slow to get all the way to our destination for Plan A so we began motoring up river and into the wind. I should add that our engine is from 1967 and has been moderately maintained and is raw water cooled; we have a 2 blade prop and probably need a new Cutlass bearing but we were still up for it to see some fall foliage on the hills by the Hudson.
At one dog leg in the river we decided to raise sails again and try to sail past the Indian Point nuke plant but the fitting on our main halyard (also 41 years old) decided to disconnect and the halyard went to the top of the mast. We motored on and got to the narrow parts of the Hudson with hills on either side and the wind was whipping up to 30 knot gusts and the waters surface was showing regular white caps. We could only make just under 4 knots SOG against the head winds and waves.
We made about 20 nm. up the river during which I sighted a young Sturgeon jumping or leaping out of the river in broad daylight when we decided that because we had lost the main halyard it was time to head back down to our home port. In some sections we were able to achieve hull speed with just our 150% jib with the 30 knot gusts pushing us south. In other sections we motored to make it to the next open north/south section of the river.
[This is where it gets A4 related.]
As we headed back south into Haverstraw Bay our A4 became a bit sluggish and would not respond with vigor to an increase in throttle under load (forward) so we shut her down and were still able to see 5 knots on the GPS. We set about checking the engine while under sail.
First, we checked the choke linkage to the butterfly valve and discovered that it seemed ok. Next, we checked the spark plugs and replaced with brand new Autolite 437's and then we added a little Rotella T SAE 30 oil (1 pint) to the oil reservoir. Once we started the engine back up the engine responded normally to requests for more throttle and we shut her down as we were still able to make about 5 knots with just the wind pushing us along in our jib.
It would seem that our plugs were not that dirty but, we had cleaned these plugs before with sandpaper to clean the gap and they were neither the Champion RJ12C or J8C plugs that are recommended but some generic spark plug I had picked up at an Auto Zone store some time before. Our analysis is that it was basically one or perhaps 2 plugs that had given up the ghost after over 5 hours of motoring that gave the engine its hesitant sound as if one cylinder was not firing. The engine did not quit running but it refused to accelerate and sounded like it would have preferred a lower RPM setting; mind you, we had probably not exceeded a 2000 RPM the whole time we motored. We were consciously being a bit cautious with our old engine and trying to avoid any overheating issues as we normally run our engine for about 5 minutes to get out to a race and back.
I have read that the Autolite 437 plugs are hotter then even the RJ12C from Champion and have high hopes that the issues I have with our engine are largely related to spark plug fouling.
We made it back to our home port and I got to spend another slightly cooler night onboard our boat which really is a cruising boat rather then a racer.
We covered 40 nm. between sailing and motor/sailing giving an average speed of 4 knots over about 10 hours.
At least the engine got hot and we were able to do some maintenance while underway that seemed to help considerably.
Repairs at the dock are one thing. Are you prepared with enough spare parts and tools to do some minor repairs while underway?
I have to prepare for both as my engine is 41 years old.
All my best,
Caleb D
T27 #328 "Odalisque"
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  #2   IP: 206.125.176.3
Old 10-16-2009, 11:25 AM
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sastanley sastanley is offline
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Caleb D,

I am running the Autolite 437's, and after a discussion with my wife about how much we've used the boat this year, have decided we have about 35 hours on the plugs (& engine) this year. Earlier in the season I was doing MMO treatments in the cylinders every time I thought the boat would sit for a few days to help with what I suspected was a sticky valve(s), and the plugs continued to be in good shape each time I pulled them. I probably haven't done an MMO treatment in the last 15 hours of use, & the engine is currently running better than ever. (I do run some MMO in the fuel.. eyeballing it, about 1.5 - 2 ounces per gallon maybe?)

We did a trip this summer when there was no wind..35 miles each way, all motor, (up on Friday & home on Sunday) - The engine ran flawlessly with those plugs, and due to the heat & no wind situation, I was running her pretty hard, between 1,900-2,150 RPM (max RPM on the C-30 is about 2200 RPM with a fresh bottom & prop. I haven't seen that since early June.)

I have a set of the RJ12C's as my spares..I think they only have a few hours on them. I also have a full gallon of the Rotella 30w oil on board, but have not had to add any oil this year.
I also have my old condensor & points, a used impeller, thermostat, & numerous gaskets in the event I had to take something off the motor 'in the field' for cleaning or repair.

Funny your comment about the halyard - When we did our one week cruise back in May, toward the end of the week & at the beginning of a long day of sailing, (& still exorcising all the gremlins out of the motor) the jib came flying down the headstay just as my wife handed me a beer & a sandwich (of course)...turns out the shackle spread out and failed, so I used my spin halyard (probably 25 years old) to get the jib back up. I prayed it would hold up in the 20 knots we experienced that day, & thankfully it did, since most of the work was upwind. Cruising friends hauled me up the rig to retrieve the jib halyard the next morning.

Back to the engine stuff, If it gets more complicated than that when we are out, I am likely sailing to the dock.
Cheers!
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-Shawn
"Holiday" - '89 Alura 35 #109
"Twice Around" - '77 C-30, #511 with original A-4 & MMI manifold - SOLD! (no longer a two boat owner!!)
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  #3   IP: 66.126.90.242
Old 10-16-2009, 01:14 PM
Kurt Kurt is offline
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I think it's very important to have spare hoses of all sizes found on your motor on board - fuel and water hoses. Not being able to replace a ruptured hose would be a shameful way to be stranded. I also have my original points, spare coil, spare water pump, spare distributor, spare carb (don't really want to clean/rebuild a carb underway), mechanical fuel pump rebuild kit, spare (fresh) spark plugs, manifold gasket, thermostat housing gasket, exhaust flange gaskets, and water pump flange gaskets.
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  #4   IP: 71.118.13.238
Old 10-16-2009, 03:01 PM
Dave Neptune Dave Neptune is online now
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Thumbs up Old A-4's

Caleb, I too have an ole' A-4 shes 40 going on 41 next season. I have around ( last check 2002 ) 70~85 lbs of compression. I just gave up on the J-8 plugs and started the J-12's a couple of years ago. I do run a little oil in the fuel most of the time, say about 150~200 to 1 ratio. I have never fouled a plug but the J-8's were starting to get pretty black at the end of the season. I am using the Indigo ignition at present and was using an electronic one I set up myself 26 years ago, so I only used the points when I bought her and brought her down the coast. The last four years I have been using the Indigo prop and cruise between 18/2100 rpm's ( 2100 @ 7" of vac.), it was a big improvement over the 5 different prop's I tried.

I just went on a motoring marathon of sorts especially for me 2 weeks ago due to lack of wind. I motored 84 miles in 15 hours in my old Ericson 35 MKII @ 14200lbs with a 25' waterline. I used about 12 gallons of fuel and a half quart of oil (2~3 oz's out the rear seal into a catch basin). That's about .8 gph which I consider very good performance for an engine that a mechanic told me I would need to replace immediatly 26 years ago since it was frozen tight. I got her to spin and did a valve job then set the money aside to convert to ~~forgive me MM~~diesel at that time. I have since spent the money on fun and consider the A-4 extremely reliable when properly maintained.

I too carry a spare parts box aboard with hoses, clamps, gaskets, point plate, cap & rotor, plugs, coil, JB weld, belt, squeeze bulb, electric fuel pump, a carb kit and misc krap. Since I check out the engine EVERY trip I have not needed the BOX much however I have gotten a few others up and running at the island when they were having trouble with there A-4's.

Dave Neptune
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