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December — tried to go out surfing this morning and it was cold, grey, raining and blown out. I walked up and down the beach with a coffee and talked myself into going out, it was 7 in the morning and I was already at the beach, screw it. Got in my wetsuit, leashed up and walked into the water, got about ankle deep and decided against it. It was cold, damn cold and I didn’t have booties.
I’ll probably get some later today.
We’re still in Charleston, trying to get moving but sometimes things require persistence and pig headedness depending on who you ask. The paint job is about 1/3′rd done — weather should allow us to finish everything but the hatches and cockpit this week. Definitely a learning experience, I went from not knowing anything about fiberglass to being pretty confident I can do this for work along the way, but was the deck a lot of work.
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I started typing the few paragraphs above in early December. That day I went to the surf shop and got some booties and went back out to Folly Beach and had a great session. I am pig headed sometimes, if I want to do something I’m going to find a way to make it happen.
lookin' good...now if only she had an engine
Early December this year was uncharacteristically cold for Charleston and really stormy. We had a day with six inches of rain, several days in a row of 30 knot winds and about 5 good painting days. Illusion’s deck got painted with the exception of the cockpit, we’re saving that for warmer times or at least when it’s more convenient. Painting the cockpit when you’re coming in and out of the boat all the time isn’t the best idea.
Around the time we were putting down our final coats of paint, I decided to figure out what was wrong with the starter. I’d had some electrical problems and I thought there was a problem with the starting circuit. I went out and bought a new battery and connected it back up, but when I tried to turn the engine over I just got a *clunk* sound from the motor and no go. My friend Chuck came over to help figure out what the problem was, we disconnected the starter and jumped it…..it engaged just fine. My stomach dropped about from my waist to my ankles…..if the starter is fine, then the engine is not. We grabbed Chucks two foot breaker bar and tried to turn the engine by hand on the crankshaft pulley, not even a millimeter budge.
Injectors were removed, cylinders filled with penetrating oil (good ol’ PB Blaster) and Marvel Mystery Oil; Nigel Calder was consulted repeatedly, not in person but in his book on diesels and once by seance; goats were sacrificed. Patience was the word of the day, then the word of the days, then the word of the week.
My engine was seized…..gulp…..people in the marina talked to me as a child or parent was sick in the hospital; quietly and reverently passers by who had heard the news inquired about the condition of my Westerbeke. “Still down, but we’re hoping she’ll pull through any day.” On the 7th day, I knocked on the side of Chuck’s boat. It was time to pull the head and see what was in those cylinders.
The one on the right knows what he's doing......
We took the intake manifold off, then the exhaust manifold. Illusion’s Westerbeke W27 is 23 years old, it doesn’t have that many hours on it but well…it’s seen better days. Some of the bolts holding on the exhaust manifold were totally frozen and we had to chisel them off. Once we got the exhaust manifold off, the head came pretty easily. It was like opening an anticipated present only backwards — I knew I was getting something bad, just not sure how bad.
The first three cylinders didn’t look that bad, but the number four looked like shit. Chuck put his hand in the cylinder and ran his fingers around the walls, “feels like a gravel road.”
My stomach returned to my ankles.
…….to be continued……