Skip
Well-Known Member
- Oct 5, 2006
- 1,085
- Boat Info
- 07 58 DB
Truly Blessed IV
2010 Nautica 12' RIB, 40HP Yamaha
- Engines
- MAN CRM 900s
Boating season began for us about three weeks ago when the shrink wrap came off. We have probably put on 7 hours or so and plan to run this weekend, then go for an overnighter next week. 155 hours to go this season. All good. I note with some irony that the UN now admits that the planet has been cooling for the last 10 years, and la Nina and El Nino will cool the planet more this year. I feel less guilty about burning diesel now.
This was the second full winterization and annual service that I did on the 420, and I continue to learn about big diesel boats thansk to fwebster, Gary, Dom, and others. As regards the winterizatin process, I do services on the Mains, trannies, gen set, Cruisair A/Cs, fresh water system, etc. All seems to be going as it should. We shrink wrap and lay up in the water.
I will e-mail my annual services/ winterization checklist to anyone who may be interested. None of the items are particularly technically difficult, but it is tough work being in the engine room for one or two days in 35 degree weather getting all the work done properly. I am just about done with my spring projects--now it is time to run 160 hours or so before Thanksgiving. I wanted to pass on a couple lessons learned from this spring's re-commissioning.
1. Impellers. I change mine annually, in the spring. This way the well-used impellers sit in the pumps over the winter and take the set-as opposed to the new ones. Replacing the impellers annually was very timely this year. When the impellers came out they had vanes that were more than 50% torn away from the impeller hub. I carry spare impellers and an impeller puller, just in case. At 140 hours last season the impellers were not nearly so worn. I do not run in sand or knowingly allow the mains to ingest silt or river mud. If I go over 150 hours this year I may replace the impellers as a preventive measure. I think that had I cranked the mains to pump out the pink stuff with the old impellers I would still be picking rubber chunks out of the aftercoolers.
2. Valve Lash on C Series Cummins. When I bought my boat in March 2006 the C's had 107 hours on them, but were nearly three years old. I had Cummins out and had the valve lash checked at 180 hours, in June 2006, and every cylinder was out of tolerance. Interestingly, this year, at 410 hours, only two cylinders on the stbd main were out of tolerance. I had Cummins adjust the valve lash into spec to be on the safe side.
3. Coolant. My coolant is, I believe, the factory coolant. The maintenance records on the boat were sketchy when I bought her, but I can't imagine the original owner would have flushed and filled at the one year mark. This year both mains and gen set tested at -34F with proper chemical balance. I change my coolant filters annually, and per the Cummins Tech they contain a charge of additives to keep the system healthy. I had planned to flush and refill this year, but as long as the coolant tests properly on the Cummis test strips I will hang onto my money.
4. Oil leaks. At the end of the 2007 season I noticed a slight oil leak on the stbd main, in the vicinity of the water pump. Turns out the water pump gasket was bad-where it bolts to the engine. This was allowing oil to seep past the gasket and create the leak. A new gasket solved the leak.
5. Engine Room Hatch Linear Actuators. The original owner of the boat never put a grease gun on the grease fittings for the linear actuators which raise and lower the hatch to access the engine room. By the time I bought the boat, I know now, with the value of hindsight, that the gears that help raise and lower the hatch were running dry. I failed to grease the fittings in the first season of ownership, so I, too, bear culpability. At any rate, I finally got around to greasing the actuators last season, but it was too little, too late. My hatch lowered with noticeable grinding and did not come down evenly. So- this year I bit the bullet and replaced both actuators. Taken aback at the SR Parts Counter quote ($360 apiece plus tax and shipping) I called Acculift, the manufacturer, directly. Their price is $330, and you have to pay the FedEx delivery man with a certified check or money order. No Credit Card orders over the phone-so I ordered two from Sea Ray. I got them installed today-and what a delight to have the ER hatch go up and down quickly and silently. Replacing the actuators is not hard, but you have to install one at a time and ensure that they are extended at precisely the same length for the hatch to lower evenly. As I do 99% of the work on my boat solo, this necessitated raising the hatch with the old actuators, installing one new one, plugging it in to power, raising it to the proper level, securing it to the hatch with the pin, then replacing the other one, unplugging the just-installed new one, and running the opposite side up to the same extension as the other side-then plugging both into power. This drill required several trips up the ladder from the ER to the helm to get the final actuator to the right extension length-but once done all worked as it should.
6. Exterior maintenance. I am paranoid about water intrusion in the deck core, so over the winter while the boat was under shrink wrap I re-bed the foredeck sunpad clips and track, windlass foot switches, etc. To do this I removed each screw individually, blew the hole out with compressed air, filled the hole with lifecaulk, covered the screw threads with caulk, then replaced the screws and wiped off the excess caulk.
7. Gelcoat. I compound, polish, and wax the entire boat each spring, and then do periodic reapplications of polish and wax on the foredeck, transom, and other areas where the sun is particulary hard on the boat. This year I followed the same regimen, but made it a point to clean, polish, and wax the foredeck right before the shrink wrap went on. This really paid dividends in terms of spring recommissioning. The foredeck took the polish and wax very well. Meguiars is my preferred brand for boat detailing, and this year Meguiars came out with a paste version of the Flagship Wax. I am anxious to try that on the transom and hullsides.
We plan to haul her in May and do bottom paint, replace the anodes (aluminum seems to be working well in the fresh water of the Potomac) swap out props (the boat came with a set of spare Sea Ray props, and I want to put them on and get the current set scanned) and install line cutters. The crabbers believe they own the river and lay pots and floats in the channel on the Potomac. I've been lucky so far, but do not want to take chances. I'm going cuttin'
best regards
Skip
This was the second full winterization and annual service that I did on the 420, and I continue to learn about big diesel boats thansk to fwebster, Gary, Dom, and others. As regards the winterizatin process, I do services on the Mains, trannies, gen set, Cruisair A/Cs, fresh water system, etc. All seems to be going as it should. We shrink wrap and lay up in the water.
I will e-mail my annual services/ winterization checklist to anyone who may be interested. None of the items are particularly technically difficult, but it is tough work being in the engine room for one or two days in 35 degree weather getting all the work done properly. I am just about done with my spring projects--now it is time to run 160 hours or so before Thanksgiving. I wanted to pass on a couple lessons learned from this spring's re-commissioning.
1. Impellers. I change mine annually, in the spring. This way the well-used impellers sit in the pumps over the winter and take the set-as opposed to the new ones. Replacing the impellers annually was very timely this year. When the impellers came out they had vanes that were more than 50% torn away from the impeller hub. I carry spare impellers and an impeller puller, just in case. At 140 hours last season the impellers were not nearly so worn. I do not run in sand or knowingly allow the mains to ingest silt or river mud. If I go over 150 hours this year I may replace the impellers as a preventive measure. I think that had I cranked the mains to pump out the pink stuff with the old impellers I would still be picking rubber chunks out of the aftercoolers.
2. Valve Lash on C Series Cummins. When I bought my boat in March 2006 the C's had 107 hours on them, but were nearly three years old. I had Cummins out and had the valve lash checked at 180 hours, in June 2006, and every cylinder was out of tolerance. Interestingly, this year, at 410 hours, only two cylinders on the stbd main were out of tolerance. I had Cummins adjust the valve lash into spec to be on the safe side.
3. Coolant. My coolant is, I believe, the factory coolant. The maintenance records on the boat were sketchy when I bought her, but I can't imagine the original owner would have flushed and filled at the one year mark. This year both mains and gen set tested at -34F with proper chemical balance. I change my coolant filters annually, and per the Cummins Tech they contain a charge of additives to keep the system healthy. I had planned to flush and refill this year, but as long as the coolant tests properly on the Cummis test strips I will hang onto my money.
4. Oil leaks. At the end of the 2007 season I noticed a slight oil leak on the stbd main, in the vicinity of the water pump. Turns out the water pump gasket was bad-where it bolts to the engine. This was allowing oil to seep past the gasket and create the leak. A new gasket solved the leak.
5. Engine Room Hatch Linear Actuators. The original owner of the boat never put a grease gun on the grease fittings for the linear actuators which raise and lower the hatch to access the engine room. By the time I bought the boat, I know now, with the value of hindsight, that the gears that help raise and lower the hatch were running dry. I failed to grease the fittings in the first season of ownership, so I, too, bear culpability. At any rate, I finally got around to greasing the actuators last season, but it was too little, too late. My hatch lowered with noticeable grinding and did not come down evenly. So- this year I bit the bullet and replaced both actuators. Taken aback at the SR Parts Counter quote ($360 apiece plus tax and shipping) I called Acculift, the manufacturer, directly. Their price is $330, and you have to pay the FedEx delivery man with a certified check or money order. No Credit Card orders over the phone-so I ordered two from Sea Ray. I got them installed today-and what a delight to have the ER hatch go up and down quickly and silently. Replacing the actuators is not hard, but you have to install one at a time and ensure that they are extended at precisely the same length for the hatch to lower evenly. As I do 99% of the work on my boat solo, this necessitated raising the hatch with the old actuators, installing one new one, plugging it in to power, raising it to the proper level, securing it to the hatch with the pin, then replacing the other one, unplugging the just-installed new one, and running the opposite side up to the same extension as the other side-then plugging both into power. This drill required several trips up the ladder from the ER to the helm to get the final actuator to the right extension length-but once done all worked as it should.
6. Exterior maintenance. I am paranoid about water intrusion in the deck core, so over the winter while the boat was under shrink wrap I re-bed the foredeck sunpad clips and track, windlass foot switches, etc. To do this I removed each screw individually, blew the hole out with compressed air, filled the hole with lifecaulk, covered the screw threads with caulk, then replaced the screws and wiped off the excess caulk.
7. Gelcoat. I compound, polish, and wax the entire boat each spring, and then do periodic reapplications of polish and wax on the foredeck, transom, and other areas where the sun is particulary hard on the boat. This year I followed the same regimen, but made it a point to clean, polish, and wax the foredeck right before the shrink wrap went on. This really paid dividends in terms of spring recommissioning. The foredeck took the polish and wax very well. Meguiars is my preferred brand for boat detailing, and this year Meguiars came out with a paste version of the Flagship Wax. I am anxious to try that on the transom and hullsides.
We plan to haul her in May and do bottom paint, replace the anodes (aluminum seems to be working well in the fresh water of the Potomac) swap out props (the boat came with a set of spare Sea Ray props, and I want to put them on and get the current set scanned) and install line cutters. The crabbers believe they own the river and lay pots and floats in the channel on the Potomac. I've been lucky so far, but do not want to take chances. I'm going cuttin'
best regards
Skip