September 29, 2020

Skeedeen Phase 6-4

Tuesday

The owner asked me to remove the old engine and clean up the engine room to prepare for whatever lay ahead in that department (still pending), so to begin I removed the engine box cover for full access, storing the box at the aft end of the cockpit for now.

With clear access, and beginning at the aft end, I systematically began disconnecting and removing anything securing the engine to the boat, starting with control cables for shifter and throttle and the engine main wiring harness plug.  For better access to this space, before beginning I removed one of two exhaust hose lengths leftover from the original installation; this was difficult and time-consuming, and for now I left the port hose in place, as it was not impeding access.

Continuing, I unbolted the shaft coupling and pulled it just aft of the transmission.  Before doing this, I used some masking tape to mark the shaft where it exited the hull below, for future reference in positioning and alignment.  The metal disc of the dripless packing box prevented the shaft from moving too far aft, but it was enough and I didn’t bother loosening the disc.

I removed several green grounding and bonding wires from the after engine grounds, and removed the raw water intake hose from the engine inlet.

I removed the positive and negative battery cables from their respective attachment points, and removed and plugged the fuel line at the secondary fuel filter.  I also plugged another length of what appeared to be fuel line, but later I realized it was probably the raw water injection line leading to the packing box (which line was made from fuel hose).

Now all that remained was to remove the lags holding the engine mounts to the stringers, and to secure for storage all the loose and sundry semi-dismantled engine parts left dangling by the service yard during the initial diagnosis, including a control box, the remote oil filter, spark plug wires, and portions of the cooling system at the front of the engine.

After debating with myself during the morning’s work whether to move my crane from its spot in the second work bay, or to move the boat over to the crane, I decided to move the crane to the boat.  Normally I hate doing this because the crane is large and heavy, and if the ground outside is remotely soft, it digs in and is hard and frankly dangerous to move, but since apparently it never rains in Maine anymore in the summer, the ground was nearly as hard as tarmac, so I decided in this case it was just more efficient to move the crane.  I had to move a lot of stuff out of the way in both bays to allow the crane’s passage.

Once the crane was in position, in short order I had the engine hooked up and it was soon over the side and safely on the ground, where I stored it on a rolling platform pending its final disposition.

The engine room was filthy beneath the engine, and a good cleanup had been long awaited.

I began by wiping out some of the spooge, then installed the hull plug and filled the bilge with soapy water to let soak for a while.  After a while, I agitated the water and scrubbed the spaces with a brush, then drained the water and cleaned up the accessible spaces as much as possible for now, including the after portion of the bilge near the transom.  There remained behind some greasy residue and dirt that I’d continue working on next time, along with cleaning up the adjacent spaces and wire/hose bundles as much as possible.

Total time billed on this job today:  6 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  50°, foggy.  Forecast for the day:  Mainly cloudy, chance of a shower, sun in the afternoon, 74°