Graham_Wright
Well-Known Member
(Beware;- this goes on a bit but could be amusing!)
"Invited" to assist with identifying the clutch problem instead of all this nonsense about New Year celebrations.
Just a three hour drive to Fleetwood!
Symptoms are that the prop shaft turns all the time the engine is turning (no reverse gear variable pitch prop).
Found very helpful advice from the manufacturers, Bauduoin (near Marseille) even though the gearbox must be around 40 years old, and they had even provided the parts list and assembly drawings in English.
First line of approach was to examine the "get you home" facility. The intermeshed clutch plates are normally forced into contact by hydraulic pressure acting on a piston. If the hydraulics fail, pressure can be applied from the other end of the enclosure by four screws normally retracted.
I removed the top access cover and unlocked the first (24 mm spanner which I didn't have and neither did Screwfix in Blackpool - "Christmas" they said but, half an hour later, "try next door"!).
It was necessary to use an open ended spanner due to access but there was insufficient leverage. Solved by the addition of a "King Dick" adjustable on the end which did the trick……………and the 24mm spanner disappeared into the sump!
This gearbox is about two feet deep! No magnet to hand, asked son's permission to wreck a loudspeaker I found. Granted. Access around the gears and housing was not easy as the magnet found adjacent surfaces much more desirable than the intended bottom-of-sump destination! Then the lead light fell into the bilge tripping the RCB and all the ship's power disappeared!
Unfortunately, not the RCB on the boat but that on the dockside. Dockside supply box locked and no personnel around. Switched to another shore supply and back on the job.
You cannot leave a spanner in a gearbox!
One and a half hours later, it reluctantly emerged.
With a piece of line now attached to the ring end of the spanner, the other three screws were checked. None of the four had been advanced (to activate the emergency solution).
To add to the fun, the engine needed to be inched a quarter of a turn for reasons of access to these screws. Unfortunately, on the last "inching", the engine fired.
The exhaust clamp had been removed for renewal, the oil pressure gauge was not present and I hadn't a clue how to stop it as the stop solenoid was defective and had been removed. Mobile phone battery died just as son answered my panic call! Thus, with an engine room full of smoke, a gentle jet of engine oil projecting across to the port side and spray oil from the opened gearbox splattering the starboard side, the situation was interesting! I eventually found a fuel filter changeover valve with an intermediate off position and the engine stopped.
It was time to give up and dine. Fleetwood chippies are the best!
On son's arrival the next day (driven overnight after his daughter's birthday), we decided to remove the whole gearbox top. This looked to be around a couple of hundredweight and secured in many and devious ways. First task was to remove the oil cooler. On undoing the coupling, a considerable egress of water resulted. The pipe was rusted through. Closing the sea valve and tapping in a plug sorted that.
Eventually, the top came free and could be lifted clear (photo to follow when available).
At some time in its history, the engine room had been flooded. (Intriguingly, the engine is not the original - Cummins now but was Baudouin. How on earth do you do an engine swop through an eighteen inch square hatch?). As the clutch assembly is not lubricated (obviously) it appears the clutch plates may have rusted together. Attempts to separate the assembly were eventually halted by prudence awaiting professional advice from the BPA resident engineer who, although semi-retired, was interested in the project and had offered help.
Being a holiday, that was the end of that session and I could return home.
However, this tale ends with two questions;-
1. The engine cooling water (sea) pipework appears to be brass. It really does appear to be brass! I can probably discover from Cummins if this is likely but I don't understand. Any opinions? It could possibly be phosphor bronze which can have a brass-like sheen sometimes but I don't think so.
2. If this has been a boring and/or inappropriate post, please say and I promise I won't do it again!
"Invited" to assist with identifying the clutch problem instead of all this nonsense about New Year celebrations.
Just a three hour drive to Fleetwood!
Symptoms are that the prop shaft turns all the time the engine is turning (no reverse gear variable pitch prop).
Found very helpful advice from the manufacturers, Bauduoin (near Marseille) even though the gearbox must be around 40 years old, and they had even provided the parts list and assembly drawings in English.
First line of approach was to examine the "get you home" facility. The intermeshed clutch plates are normally forced into contact by hydraulic pressure acting on a piston. If the hydraulics fail, pressure can be applied from the other end of the enclosure by four screws normally retracted.
I removed the top access cover and unlocked the first (24 mm spanner which I didn't have and neither did Screwfix in Blackpool - "Christmas" they said but, half an hour later, "try next door"!).
It was necessary to use an open ended spanner due to access but there was insufficient leverage. Solved by the addition of a "King Dick" adjustable on the end which did the trick……………and the 24mm spanner disappeared into the sump!
This gearbox is about two feet deep! No magnet to hand, asked son's permission to wreck a loudspeaker I found. Granted. Access around the gears and housing was not easy as the magnet found adjacent surfaces much more desirable than the intended bottom-of-sump destination! Then the lead light fell into the bilge tripping the RCB and all the ship's power disappeared!
Unfortunately, not the RCB on the boat but that on the dockside. Dockside supply box locked and no personnel around. Switched to another shore supply and back on the job.
You cannot leave a spanner in a gearbox!
One and a half hours later, it reluctantly emerged.
With a piece of line now attached to the ring end of the spanner, the other three screws were checked. None of the four had been advanced (to activate the emergency solution).
To add to the fun, the engine needed to be inched a quarter of a turn for reasons of access to these screws. Unfortunately, on the last "inching", the engine fired.
The exhaust clamp had been removed for renewal, the oil pressure gauge was not present and I hadn't a clue how to stop it as the stop solenoid was defective and had been removed. Mobile phone battery died just as son answered my panic call! Thus, with an engine room full of smoke, a gentle jet of engine oil projecting across to the port side and spray oil from the opened gearbox splattering the starboard side, the situation was interesting! I eventually found a fuel filter changeover valve with an intermediate off position and the engine stopped.
It was time to give up and dine. Fleetwood chippies are the best!
On son's arrival the next day (driven overnight after his daughter's birthday), we decided to remove the whole gearbox top. This looked to be around a couple of hundredweight and secured in many and devious ways. First task was to remove the oil cooler. On undoing the coupling, a considerable egress of water resulted. The pipe was rusted through. Closing the sea valve and tapping in a plug sorted that.
Eventually, the top came free and could be lifted clear (photo to follow when available).
At some time in its history, the engine room had been flooded. (Intriguingly, the engine is not the original - Cummins now but was Baudouin. How on earth do you do an engine swop through an eighteen inch square hatch?). As the clutch assembly is not lubricated (obviously) it appears the clutch plates may have rusted together. Attempts to separate the assembly were eventually halted by prudence awaiting professional advice from the BPA resident engineer who, although semi-retired, was interested in the project and had offered help.
Being a holiday, that was the end of that session and I could return home.
However, this tale ends with two questions;-
1. The engine cooling water (sea) pipework appears to be brass. It really does appear to be brass! I can probably discover from Cummins if this is likely but I don't understand. Any opinions? It could possibly be phosphor bronze which can have a brass-like sheen sometimes but I don't think so.
2. If this has been a boring and/or inappropriate post, please say and I promise I won't do it again!
