Questions about purchasing used A4 engine

[Gordo]

Alex, the first thing I did was grab an old socket that fit over the shart in the center of the flywheel and cut a groove in it with a hand grinder to fit over the pin. Turned it easily.

[domenic]

Everything is an easy fix.
Oh Alex, I see you are not Italian. The A4 is a living thing…you have to treat her as such. When she acts up sit with her, tell her how much you like her, give her a pat on the head, tell her how much you need her. If she is still obstinate, give her a little smack with a ball pen hammer. If you still are unable to reason with her, leave some brochures of Moyer Marine rebuilt A4’s where she can see them. Just remember, she is great. There is nothing major that can go wrong with her.

I think your problem might be you have not given her a name. If you don’t call her by a name, how is she going to believe you truly love her?
Remember the golden rule; “If you don’t treat her like a women…she will act like on.” That will cost you money, and lose of sailing time. Think Italian Alex. Drink a little red wine, spend time with her, put your finger on the button, and listen to how she purrrrrs.

Moyer Marine has a good book on how to get along with this type female. Pick one up. You will come to know your A4, and she will do whatever you want of her.

[smosher]

Domenic, That's good,,


and so true

[lat 64]

sweet nothings

Ah Dom, You silver-tongued devil!


Merlot will make her fall in love, but it's Chianti that loosens her morals.

And don't forget to buy her baubles when she brings you off a lee shore.

[alex.gomes]

Ha! Thanks guys. Very good advice domenic. I've scheduled a renaming ceremony for when I get back into town. She'll come around. I know it

[Bold Rascal]

Gate Valve

I've been following this thread along and your certainly getting some great advice.

One thing I didnt see that needs mentioning. GET RID OF THAT GATE VALVE AND GET THYSELF A PROPER SEA-COCK!

Be really carefull when you examine that gate valve before taking it off. Lots of PO's and schlokey marina repairman are famous for installing a crappy ball or gate valve that they got down at the local hardware store. These valves are typically not marine rated and threaded for NPT (National Pipe Thread) Most thru-hull fittings are NPS which is a straight thread (not tappered like NPT).

All that to say that NPT threads and NPS threads are not compatible. Oh yes, you can get the two together but it's a very poor and completely improper connection. Especially below the waterline.

Here's a link to an excellent "how to" web source with much more to offer you in regards to sea-cocks and fittings

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/boat_projects

I'd be curious to learn what size thru-hull fitting you have. Mine is 1/2" NPS which had a garden variety NPT ball valve forced onto it. I was able to find a 1/2" NPS threaded valve from FORESPAR and swapped it out with the boat in the water. Still not a proper sea-cock but much better than what I had.

[sastanley]

Everything is an easy fix.
Oh Alex, I see you are not Italian. The A4 is a living thing…you have to treat her as such. When she acts up sit with her, tell her how much you like her, give her a pat on the head, tell her how much you need her. If she is still obstinate, give her a little smack with a ball pen hammer. If you still are unable to reason with her, leave some brochures of Moyer Marine rebuilt A4’s where she can see them. Just remember, she is great. There is nothing major that can go wrong with her.

I think your problem might be you have not given her a name. If you don’t call her by a name, how is she going to believe you truly love her?
Remember the golden rule; “If you don’t treat her like a women…she will act like on.” That will cost you money, and lose of sailing time. Think Italian Alex. Drink a little red wine, spend time with her, put your finger on the button, and listen to how she purrrrrs.

Moyer Marine has a good book on how to get along with this type female. Pick one up. You will come to know your A4, and she will do whatever you want of her.

domenic, I was in the middle of Hurricane Irene when you came up with this gem, so I am a little late commenting on how wonderful it is...Thumbs up on that one buddy!

For alex...we'll see you when you get back..at least having some vinegar and/or oil in there, you are letting her soak while you are gone. Those exposed metal internals rust within hours when exposed to water.

If you have access to a large pair of vice grips, you can use that to squeeze the water intake hose shut while cranking with the starter...or as suggested, a $10 ball valve will do wonders for now...those gate valves are notorious for problems just as you have..they fail OPEN. They have sunk many an older fiberglass boat from the 60's & 70's. I put good marelon seacocks on mine the first winter I had her out of the water...but for now, even a temporary valve in the hose will provide some piece of mind.

One more suggestion: keep an eye on those mechanics & don't let them get too close to the motor..and don't give them any more of your money.

[Bold Rascal]

Marelon

Forespar??? I must have been dreaming...

[smosher]

I use the Forespar valves and thruhulls, working for me

[domenic]

Sastanly, hope you and yours are all okay. Any harm to the boat?

[Bold Rascal]

Forespar

Forespar markets Marelon valves...Duh!

[sastanley]

hi dominec,
The boat came thru absolutely perfect. I prepared her as best I could, had her isolated in a huge slip, with lots of dock lines, all sails below, & came back to check on her with ONE INCH of water in the bilge. Some bad girl named Irene did drop a handful of leaves in the cockpit.

I did receive some house damage (one tree leaning on the garage) & a tree smashed my old SUV/truck/haul vehicle. (I have some pictures of this in the "Hurricane Irene" thread elsewhere in this forum.)

No people hurt, and I can take my father in-law sailing this weekend when he comes in to town..so life is good.

Thanks for the concern.

For Bold Rascal:
I have a couple of pics of that. Sorry my boat is so dirty..
The first pic is a couple years old, but clearly shows the marelon for the raw water intake.
The second pic is more recent but is really a pic of the engine room in mid-clean/paint stage.

There are two plates there to get the length of the thru-hull threads short enough so the seacock didn't bottom out. The white is 3/4" PVC board, and 1/2" wood plate is encapsulated in epoxy and they were attached to hull with 5200. Then I screwed the seacock to the plate after it was threaded onto the thru-hull with pipe dope. The only improvement here could be to thru-bolt the seacock with flat head screws thru the hull, which is what that "Maine Cruising" guy you linked to recommends. I really like his ideas, but he's got way more time on his hands to be anal about stuff. He's also great at documenting it all for our benefit. I figured if the 5200'd plate & the threads on the fitting both fail, I have bigger issues to deal with than thru-bolted #10 screws.

My boat originally had gate valves, although the P.O. had replaced them with something else years ago. I replaced whatever he had on there with the marelon the first winter. If you look in the second pic up under the port settee you can see one of the other marelon fittings for the head sink as well..done in similar fashion.

[Bold Rascal]

No worries Shawn

I don't want to be accused of hi-jacking Alex's thread however, The only reason I even mentioned it in the first place is that I'm certain there are a great deal of owners (like myself) who are probably not new to sailing but are new to a boat with an in-board engine and all it's related plumbing and electrical systems.

In looking at your installation I can only wish that I had as nice a set-up.

Mine is similar to your's but without the thru-bolts and the PVC. Regardless, I think we both sleep much better at night not having to worry about it leaking while wer'e away onshore.

I to have adopted the habit of keeping the intake valve closed until after the engine is actually running. It's nice knowing that you have a good solid valve inplace that isnt going to fail (open or closed) or come off in your hand.