Larry,
I'm just curious. One of the recent sailing magazines populating every room in my house (much to the annoyance of the land lubbers in the family) had a nice article on engine alignment...diagrams and all. Of course they mentioned using a feeler guage between the flange on the shaft and the flange on the engine. But they also talked about torquing the bolts down on the mounts and actually hitting the mounts with a mallet to shift the alignment one way or the other. In your hair raising discovery, with all 4 mounts loose, did it appear to you that the engine was "obviously" out of alignment? Also, when fixing the problem of loose mounts, I don't suppose you can simply take a socket wrench (if you could get it in there) and just tighten all the bolts up nice and snug without watching the effect each turn of the wrench has on the overall engine alignment. I don't know if you made your final repairs to the mounts or not but did you, or are you going to take that into account?
Warren
Setsail728@aol.com
Check that Alignment
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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Ken Cave
Re: Horror Story!!
I had the motor mounts replaced and engine aligned at a local yard in Anacortes, WA, and in Desolation Sound in Canada, found that my engine was "floating" with three of the four mounts loose!
Yes, believe it or not, the so called mechanic that did the work did not bother to install lock washers on the new mounts.
I was able to get to Campbell River, and had a local yard there re-align the engine, and, install lock washers. After two hours, the two mechanics got the engine to specs by working together and gently moving the engine and mounts. They used a 3/4 inch wrench to do the job-and-so far-it has held up after over 500 miles!
I would have attemped to do it myself, but after complete hip replacement, this is a job for the younger generation!
Ain't boats wonderful!??!
Ken Cave
bcave@whidbey.net
Yes, believe it or not, the so called mechanic that did the work did not bother to install lock washers on the new mounts.
I was able to get to Campbell River, and had a local yard there re-align the engine, and, install lock washers. After two hours, the two mechanics got the engine to specs by working together and gently moving the engine and mounts. They used a 3/4 inch wrench to do the job-and-so far-it has held up after over 500 miles!
I would have attemped to do it myself, but after complete hip replacement, this is a job for the younger generation!
Ain't boats wonderful!??!
Ken Cave
bcave@whidbey.net
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Warren Kaplan
Don Casey and Engine Alignments
The article I alluded to in a previous post on engine alignment was in the June 2001 issue of Blue Water Sailing (page 34). Don Casey wrote it and its pretty good with some clear illustrations. Worth reading just so you know what to look for. I too am not "flexible" enough to get into my engine compartment and do this job. Even the mechanics I use employee a small skinny chap(Carlos is his name and I have to find him and give him a tip) whose sole job is to descend into the bowels of claustrophobic engine compartments, wrench in hand, and have at it. I'm sure he gets hazardous duty pay for that!
Warren Kaplan
Setsail728@aol.com
Warren Kaplan
Setsail728@aol.com
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Larry DeMers
Re: Don Casey and Engine Alignments
Warren,
We used the services of our dock neighbors son last weekend. I dropped the socket and 3in. extender from the end of a 36 in. extender to my socket wrench, which Jan was using to tighten down my alternator bolts with, from the lazarette (basement), while I was in the cabin, holding the socket end on the nut..at full extension. The kid was 10 yrs. old, and was a bit reluctant at first, but then warmed to the challenge. The socket and extender were jambed between the flywheels inner webbing and the engine block itself. It also jambed the flywheel from moving. Literally, the only choice was this kid...or engine removal I suppose. UGH! Been there..Done that..no thnks~!
Cheers und Bratwurst!!
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30
~~Where again are we supposed to store 250 lbs. of canned goods again?!~~~~
demers@sgi.com
We used the services of our dock neighbors son last weekend. I dropped the socket and 3in. extender from the end of a 36 in. extender to my socket wrench, which Jan was using to tighten down my alternator bolts with, from the lazarette (basement), while I was in the cabin, holding the socket end on the nut..at full extension. The kid was 10 yrs. old, and was a bit reluctant at first, but then warmed to the challenge. The socket and extender were jambed between the flywheels inner webbing and the engine block itself. It also jambed the flywheel from moving. Literally, the only choice was this kid...or engine removal I suppose. UGH! Been there..Done that..no thnks~!
Cheers und Bratwurst!!
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30
~~Where again are we supposed to store 250 lbs. of canned goods again?!~~~~
Warren Kaplan wrote: The article I alluded to in a previous post on engine alignment was in the June 2001 issue of Blue Water Sailing (page 34). Don Casey wrote it and its pretty good with some clear illustrations. Worth reading just so you know what to look for. I too am not "flexible" enough to get into my engine compartment and do this job. Even the mechanics I use employee a small skinny chap(Carlos is his name and I have to find him and give him a tip) whose sole job is to descend into the bowels of claustrophobic engine compartments, wrench in hand, and have at it. I'm sure he gets hazardous duty pay for that!
Warren Kaplan
demers@sgi.com