Elsewhere, I have described how
Analie, my Seal 28, had her lifting keel unjammed, the strops replaced, and the keel lifted right up inside the boat for descaling, rust treatment, and antifouling. The process took more than two years. All other work had been suspended, since if the keel could not be fixed, the boat was little better than scrap.
Now that the lifting keel was fully functional, the next matter in the critical path was the engine. Analie was fitted with a Bukh diesel engine, almost certainly when the boat was new, so the engine was in the region of forty years old when I acquired the boat. It would start with little difficulty although with its substantial flywheel it had considerable rotational inertia and sounded a lot like Humphrey Bogart’s
African Queen. I was a little put out once at Bradwell when having given a tow to someone whose engine had failed outside the creek, the person asked me with an amused grin what sort of curious engine was it that I had in the boat. I responded “An engine that works…” So, the Bukh was reliable but suffered from several minor issues. The throttle mechanism was temperamental and needed frequent adjustment. The crank case cover had cracked in several places and had been repaired by welding. The weld had partially failed, resulting in a slow but relentless leak of engine oil. The engine was cooled directly by seawater and had a small and awkwardly positioned sacrificial anode that was easy to forget to check. The flywheel made spooling up and down to change direction a time-consuming business, and this took precious stressful seconds in potential collision situations.
I decided to buy a new Yanmar three-cylinder 20 HP engine. My friend Chris offered to help me fit it, but I decided that this was a job for a local boatyard. At the same time, I had a new prop shaft, rope cutter, and MaxProp feathering propeller installed—the latter I hoped would reduce the tendency of Analie always to veer to port when reversing at low speed (it didn’t). I believe this is a standard quirk of Seals, but to compound matters, the previous owner of Analie had fitted a ‘home-made’ transom-hung rudder. The layout is such that there is a good two feet between the propeller and rudder thus very substantially reducing the direct effect of the water-stream on the latter.
I concluded that the substantial cost of the new engine etc., would be a good long-term investment in the boat, considering the dangers of issues with the mechanical propulsion system and my own no more than modest boating ability. The Yanmar proved to be very reliable, although on one occasion the MaxProp seemed to freeze in the feathered position after all moorings had been let go and the strong tide in the river Orwell started to carry us towards an adjacent moored boat. A quick change into reverse and then forward again cleared the problem.
The boat had been ashore in the yard for several years while my own mechanical failure—a dodgy right hip—was fixed, followed by the long resolution of the keel problem detailed previously. The engine had not been run while laid up, and I’ll admit to some apprehension as the time came for a trial. A gloomy friend had warned of the danger of piston seizing and there was the horror of the dreaded diesel bug. I applied a spanner to the nut on the crank pulley and was relieved to find it completely free to turn. And the diesel tank and water separator were as sweet as a nut. So far, so good. I replaced the engine oil and oil filter, checked the coolant, replaced the impeller on the water pump, and installed a new starter battery. Rather stupidly, I neglected to check that the water pump would rotate… The seawater feed pipe was removed from the intake stopcock and filter, the end weighted and then placed into a large bucket of water. Gingerly I turned the key switch and the engine started absolutely immediately!
To say I that was elated would have been an understatement. However, rapture soon turned to doubt as I realized that the water pump was not working. It had seized solid. I pressed the stop button on the engine control panel, and nothing happened. This I had not anticipated. Doubt turned into consternation. The engine was running without cooling water and although it had plenty of thermal mass, it could not run for too many minutes before it overheated; meanwhile the drivebelt was grinding away on the stalled water pump pulley. The engine stop button is a simple ‘press to make, release to break’ switch mounted on the control panel. It operates a fuel cut-off solenoid which stops the engine. Unbeknownst to me, there is a manual stop button, very easily identified when you know it’s there and where to look. (It is situated behind the crank case in a bright red concertina cover.) The accepted way to stop an out-of-control diesel engine is to cover the air inlet. At the time, I was unaware of this and in any case, the air intake is tucked behind the engine and not easily accessible—particularly when the engine is running. I did the only thing I could think of, and with perceptibly shaking hands undid the fuel inlet pipes either side of the filter. After a few seconds, the engine hiccoughed and, to my intense relief, stopped.
The stop switch is connected via spade terminals and held into the panel by a cheap plastic nut. A hemispherical rubber cover provides notional protection against water ingress, although moisture can easily get in via the mounting hole in the panel. It was very easy to disassemble and almost solid with corrosion. As a critical component in a control panel, nearly always mounted in the open cockpit of a sea-going vessel, it seemed to me to be a very poor choice of component. A few minutes with emery paper, and the switch was fully functional again although the large helical return spring was very rusty. I didn’t trust it however and sought a replacement. I expected a price of £10 to £15; imagine my surprise when the price for a genuine Yanmar replacement, including VAT and shipping at £6.99, from an accredited Yanmar dealer, came out at £120.15… After five minutes Googling I found a switch that looked very similar from Force 4 Chandlery. The delivered price was £17.25 including VAT and shipping at £3.95. The switch when it arrived was form and function compatible, although the ‘fit’ was slightly different, with screw terminals rather than spade fittings. In a few minutes I had produced some adaptor wires. The replacement switch has the identical rubber cover and a decent metal retaining nut rather than the shoddy plastic one that comes with the ‘authorised’ Yanmar replacement.
The water pump is fixed to the mounting assembly with two bolts, which itself is mounted on the engine with two bolts, one providing adjustment for drive-belt tension via a slot in the plate. It was easy to remove it without taking off the alternator belt and cover. I had replaced the impeller when changing the engine oil having had the devil of a job removing the old impeller. Rather stupidly, I never thought to check that the shaft would rotate. I decided first to see if the pump was recoverable. A spanner on the pulley retaining nut produced a very small amount of movement in the bearings; by jiggling it to and fro I soon achieved relatively free rotation. I refitted the pump and the new stop switch and reconnected the fuel lines. With a considerable amount of air in the fuel lines, I feared that the system might need bleeding. But after the engine had turned over a few times it coughed and spluttered and was running smoothly again within seconds. Good old Yanmar! The water pump worked perfectly as did the stop switch, but it was leaking around the shaft. It had to be either rebuilt or replaced.
A Google search revealed offerings of an equivalent pump at prices of £103, £126, and £146; or £473, £532, and £823! (plus VAT and shipping) for ‘genuine’ Yanmar spare parts. While pondering what to do, Chris identified a rebuild kit for the pump online for £50 delivered, and I found a superb video on YouTube by ‘Rob’ from East Coast Sailing posted 19 Oct 2004. The pump is a Johnson (of Sweden) F4B903 and he provided step by step instructions how to rebuild it. Here is the link:
This video includes a positive Aladdin’s Cave of useful information. Its main virtue though, is that it shows exactly how to disassemble and reassemble the pump. This is important because the two bearing races are an interference fit onto the central shaft and housing and require a mallet for assembly and disassembly. It is essential to know how the parts fit and in what order so that you know that you are not hammering in the wrong direction risking damage.
Essentially the pump consists of two cylindrical chambers threaded by a single shaft with a water seal between. The first chamber contains a six vaned impeller on a shaft which rotates pumping seawater from the inlet to the outlet. The second cylinder supports two ball races separated by a spacer; these are threaded by the central shaft. Between the two cylinders is a lip seal to stop water leaking from the pumping area into the bearings and thence into the boat. The lip seal resembles a large rubber washer containing a circular spring to hold the central part snug around the shaft. This allows the shaft to rotate but stops water egress. One of the great benefits of the video, is that it references a line-drawing of the pump online, where it is possible to identify the various parts, and ensure that the water seal (and everything else) is assembled the right way round.
I was able to disassemble the pump, clean up the casting and shaft and reassemble it with the new parts in a couple of hours. Apart from basic tools, all that is needed is a pair of circlip pliers (£6.99 from ScrewFix). The pump was stiff, but when installed in the engine it operated perfectly and did not leak. The engine needs to be run to operating temperature to ensure that all is well, but this cannot be done until the boat is in the water, particularly in the current drought conditions. Nevertheless, so far, so very satisfactory.
Finally, I needed to replace the control panel faceplate. This is made of some plastic material and is simply stuck onto the control panel. It contains four transparent windows for the indicator lights and holes for the tachometer and start and stop switches. The faceplate had partially come away and was disintegrating due to UV and general weathering. Evidently, as with the water pump, this is another part needing regular replacement since good old Google yielded numerous offers for the faceplate at between £13.99 (eBay) and £49.80 (French Marine—accredited Yanmar dealer) both delivered prices. I opted for the former which, judging from the names in the tracking information, was shipped direct from China (how do they do it for the price?). When it was delivered, it had a bit of scrappy tape across the front, which when removed revealed the name ‘Yanmar’ in large white letters… Having been involved during my professional life in the electronics spares business, I am aware of some of the jiggery-pokery and creative pricing that goes on in this area of commerce. In addition, there is a cliché in the boating fraternity that “it is a truth universally acknowledged” that almost any item relating to ‘boats’ costs at least three times as does a similar item for use on land. But if the above facts are anything to go by, then certainly in respect of Yanmar spares, “Caveat Emptor!” The figures speak for themselves.
In summary:
Stop switch, Yanmar spare, £120.15; generic spare, £17.25.
Faceplate, Yanmar spare, £49.80; generic spare £13.99 (that was actually a Yanmar spare).
Water pump, Yanmar spare £823.00; generic spare, £126.00. Rebuild kit £50.00.