Parade of failure

We went for a long sail yesterday with Jeff and Co. on Gail Force.  It was a romping good sail until late in the afternoon when Jeff was forced to fire up his engine to bring us home.  Speaking of engines...

Deb did a lot of research this weekend piecing together parts of Kintala's history and trying to figure out how we ended up where we are in spite of our best efforts; badly broken boat, falling behind schedule, and struggling to figure out how to pay for it all.  She got a lot more done this weekend than did I, though I did manage to unbolt the mount plate from the old tranny and bolt on the new one.

"There," I thought to myself with the last bolt snugged up, "the tranny is ready to install...at least we are making a little progress."

Not so fast, Buckwheat.  Something went bad somewhere that started this whole cascade of shattered metal bits, and Deb pointed me to the right place based on something she had read on failed V-drives...engine mounts.

The moment she said it all the pieces fell into place.  And, since there are a lot of big parts already removed, I could get a pretty good look at the starboard side forward engine mount - which is totally and completely hammered.  You know how old, really old, really old and used up rubber gets, brittle like cheap plastic, chunks breaking off with black dust spread around here and there?  It would be nice if the engine mounts on Kintala looked that good.

Here is what my survey says about engine mounts:  "...the engine mounts are in good condition securely attached to the longitudinal stringers..."  Just to add insult to injury, here is the comment from the mechanical inspection: "V-drive fluid/oil - Level, Color,  Smell - ACCEPTABLE, Signs of debris, NONE"

Here is where we stand.  The engine mounts are toast; installing a new tranny and V-drive would be a complete waste of time and $$.  New mounts go in first.  Next will be a new damper plate, since the tranny warranty is void without one.  Then (Buckwheat) the tranny can go on.  The V-drive goes in last and all I have to do then is figure out how to line all this stuff up so the shaft runs true.

Moral of the story?  The next time you get a survey or mechanical inspection done on a boat make sure someone looks at the engine mounts.  Better yet, do it yourself.  If they don't look freaking perfect get a big, big chunk knocked off the going-in price or walk away and don't look back.  Your bank account will thank you.

My gift to you...no charge.

p.s.  To be fair an item on the the mechanical inspection "repair" list included replacing the engine mounts.  When I asked why, given that the survey explicitly stated that they were in good condition, I was told the adjustment studs were corroded and it would difficult to alien the shaft next time that was needed.  That same list included repairing the engine pre-heat system which, in fact, works perfectly.  The mechanic doing the inspection didn't know how to use it.