Gordonmc
Active member
The weekend brought crook weather, so there was no excuse to hold off doing some basic maintenance.
On Saturday I cleaned out the bilges of all the grot that has accumulated over years. I only bought the boat last Summer and it has been one of those jobs I had been putting off... and off. Anyhow, I felt so pleased with the result I decided Sunday was the day to tackle the iron sail.
The oil change went to plan. Nary a drop went into the bilge and the amount on me wasn't too bad.
The things started to go wrong. The drain plug on the heat exchanger was solid...
so draining the system would have to be done by removing a hose. The best bet was one short one between the header tank and manifold heat exchanger. It came off easily... but then the end cap on the exchanger disintegrated! A hefty piece of cast alloy just crumbled away.
Of course the "bit" is obselete, which means a new exchanger, which probably means a new exhaust manifold for the other end. Cost - too much.
So its down to fabricating a new end cap with the only satisfaction being it was better happening on the pontoon than at sea. Its ironic, though, that the engine never missed a beat until I started poking around.
On Saturday I cleaned out the bilges of all the grot that has accumulated over years. I only bought the boat last Summer and it has been one of those jobs I had been putting off... and off. Anyhow, I felt so pleased with the result I decided Sunday was the day to tackle the iron sail.
The oil change went to plan. Nary a drop went into the bilge and the amount on me wasn't too bad.
The things started to go wrong. The drain plug on the heat exchanger was solid...
so draining the system would have to be done by removing a hose. The best bet was one short one between the header tank and manifold heat exchanger. It came off easily... but then the end cap on the exchanger disintegrated! A hefty piece of cast alloy just crumbled away.
Of course the "bit" is obselete, which means a new exchanger, which probably means a new exhaust manifold for the other end. Cost - too much.
So its down to fabricating a new end cap with the only satisfaction being it was better happening on the pontoon than at sea. Its ironic, though, that the engine never missed a beat until I started poking around.
