Monday, May 23, 2011

Just go


Why aren't we sailing yet?

Three reasons...

1. Leaky raw water pump. This seems like a simple fix however Travis' research has shown that our Perkins 4108 was built in Spain, and has a different timing cover on the engine that the standard Perkins waterpumps will not fit. The  TRANS ATLANTIC DIESEL company finally solved this mystery that had Travis scratching his head for nearly a month. They got us a list of parts that we will need, and fortunately for us, we were able to find them locally thanks to Craigslist and avoid the B.O.A.T. phenomenon.

2. Broken windlass. No its not a critical part of a day sail, but just like having a running engine, we like to have a working windlass for those just in case scenarios. We found a windlass at Bacon Sails, our favorite local marine consignment shop, and since it fits our previous windlass base almost perfectly, we are only waiting for some new bolts to have this project checked off our list.

3. Main sail traveller swap. We are replacing our old Lewmar main sail traveller with a spanking new one also made by Lewmar. The old one was difficult to adjust and had a tendency to get jammed in the most inappropriate times. The new one is a lower profile design, that uses ropes for adjustment rather then little knobs you have to lift and slide.

So a few more weeks and we should be ready to shake the dust off the sails. In the meantime to those who say "just go",  I say we will... in a couple of weeks, unless we get raptured first.

5 comments:

rob said...

Great engine the 4108! Ive had a few of them and refurbished a few too! you are right to obtain the correct spares for it, as I had a problem making one good engine from two not so good ones to the extent that one of the gears on the timing had an extra tooth (oh yes! and extra tooth) and turned out to have been manufactured in south America (or somewhere similar) It wasnt immediately apparent but as you turned the engine by hand using a wrench etc it clonked, so a good thing we didnt install it and run it , as you can imagine!spares are getting short now for those engines so if you find a cheap second user one buy it for spares maybe.

Travis and Maggie said...

Hey Rob, we got so lucky, because this very nice man has a garage full of Perkins 4108's and had not only the timing cover we need but a rebuilt pump as well. As far as the other parts go, there are plenty of pumps out there, just not one that fit a timing cover that appeared to have an extra plate welded to it. The crazy thing is it must have been manufactured like that in Spain, because the pump that began leaking even had the Perkins number stamped into it. You would think the engine timing covers would be the same for all Perkins regardless of location, but we learned that isn't the case.

judith said...

My son was making Rapture jokes the other day like there was no tomorrow.

Travis and Maggie said...

he he he, you're still here too?

Anonymous said...

Every weekend until October. That's what he says. Jomamma