A HITW day

[rcon]

Well, its taken me a few days to be able to write this post and its a bit of a saga, so stick with me..... it hurts...

Last Friday went down and

• changed over the starter batteries,
• had a fuel line switch installed for the genset (was getting flooded after sitting for a few days),
• had a new windlass breaker installed so I could seal up the switch box,
• had a local service company acid wash(cut?) and polish the boat,
• stocked with booze,
• rigged all the fishing gear,
• an all over tidy up,
• fueled up,

and general spent all that coin we enjoy spending in preparation for a Sunday out with my old man, his brother and bro-in-law. Great way to spend a random day off.

Sunday morning we rocked up 8am and there was an oil sheen out the back. Not a great start. Bit of elimination and we determined this was the trim rams/oil line (CHEAP!). Old man rang the mechanic who installed the brand-spanking-new engine (not recon'ed one!) at 8.45am for advice (yeah, I owe him some beer). He was happy for it to be taken out if we didn't thrash (as if we ever do!). Also mentioned to keep an eye on the trim fluid res, which we did (to top up with ATF if really needed)

We were all happy campers.

Trawled along for a bit, then got her up on the plan around 16/17 kts and everything started going wrong.

There was this big clunk noise, and we all started scanning around for the body we hit, WTF????

Couldn't see anything, both engines were still running, and nothing sounded wrong (or lumpy).

Ok, I don't like it, but maybe we did hit something?

Right, off we go.

Back up on the plane 5 min late and the same thing happens, my stomach just about falls out thru the floor.

The engine we just had installed, the side with the leaky trim ram/oil line has also stalled. Oh dear. I did not try and restart

Well, we brought it back to coast line on one engine (yay for twins!) and did some fishing in close, had some lunch, a beer and a caught some squid. Good company and all. Back to the marina.

So, what the F could it be? I'll be down on Sat morning for a full inspection...

My thoughts on what it could be, from best to worst (fact: we rarely trim much when on plane as we just start cavitation, the joys of being underpowered)

1. Spun prop or other random marina damage(?)
2. We did hit something, twice (very unlikely!)
3. It was was trim ram/drive unit moving under pressure it couldn't overcome with only half a line of hydraulics
4. It was the coupling (not sure exactly how) of the engine to the fly wheel
5. It was the drive unit just letting go

We don't have a lift at our marina, so Friday week will see me undertaking a 40nm trip on a single screw again unless I get some idea I'm not grinding my new engine into a pulp

Anyway, the ye olde HITW is very much in my bad books now.

Any thoughts, good people?


EDIT FOR CLARITY: We recently had factory new engine installed, on the side that stalled in combination with the noise. Approx 10 hours.

 

[JimG]

I'm going to go with #5

Just a guess... sorry about your troubles.

 

[Molson]

Sounds like when my Alpha 1 popped. Just like you said, we were on plane and CLUNK. Engine still idled, but I had no FWD gear. (turns out the PO had installed a standard drive in place of a CR and I was running it in reverse)

 

[rcon]

Thanks guys. It was a sh!tty feeling knowing we were likely up for more serious boat $ after just dropping a new engine in.

But, you've giving me a starting point for investigations and that helps.

I'll fire up another thread asking for advice on where to from here.