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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
 Posted - 04/22/2008 : 12:32:17 PM
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Getting things ready.
Extracted a few screws on the trim tab mounting hinges that had broken off.
Found the Starboard Cutlass Bearing (Strut bearing) is tight and needs replaced. Hunting for one, found them to run from $200 to $40, pays to hunt around!
Almost have the Radar Arch done. YEAH!
I am sooo tired of sanding... lol
Will be sewing a new top together after the arch is in.
Fun stuff!
How is everyones elses projects going?
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands
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Edited by - Rockmeister on 04/08/2009 5:50:59 PM |
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mille73
USA
39 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2008 : 2:34:51 PM
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Rock, I have a puller that I made when I changed my cutlass bearings.
I would imagine yours will be the same size. Let me know if you need to use it.
Dale
Mille73 |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
 Posted - 04/27/2008 : 11:39:08 PM
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Thanks Dale!
That will save me the time of making a tool up! 
Did you make one using all-thread?
I will give you a call as we get closer to the weekend and see when will be best to meet up.
I did get the new fabric ordered for the interior, can't wait to get it done! 
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 06/02/2008 : 10:46:30 AM
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Dale's tool was awesome! It was VERY well thought out and professionaly built by him. Worked flawlessly! Nice tool! THANKS DALE!!! 
The new cutlass bearings are now installed in the struts.
Ended up pulling the couplers, shafts, etc.
(You need (2) 1-1/2" x 3/8" bolts and (2) 1" x 3/8" bolts to remove the couplers.)
Re-packed the shaft seals and the rudder packings.
The packings are easiest done off the boat by far.
Made up a PVC tool to re-pack them, worked great!
Re-installed the shafts, about kicked my butt!
My back was seriously tight from all the twisting working down in the bilge. Accck! 
Picked up the fictional boarding ladder from Ron a few weeks ago. Thanks man! lol
Have done so much, haven't had much time to post it.
Will try for tonight after work.
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
Edited by - Rockmeister on 06/02/2008 10:48:12 AM |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2008 : 7:00:26 PM
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Whew!!! 
Ok... The struts are installed and aligned.
Had to make some shims to align the struts and cutlass bearings, so I made them out of formica.
Somewhere in the past (looked factory as the formica matched the original formica) someone had used formica to shim and align the struts and cutlass bearings and it held up well, so I used formica also.
Majorly sealed the struts and bolts before mounting them, didn't fully tighten until next weekend. (To let the sealant cure and make a true gasket.)
Am sooo glad to not be under the boat test fitting, tightening, checking alignment, unbolting and doing it again until it is right!
Installed the rudders, and aligned them as well.
Lubed all moving parts of the rudders/steering.
Ready to double check alignment of the engine couplers next weekend, can't wait to put the rear deck in for the last time!
Finished mounting the new fiberglass radar arch, it looks awesome!
Still have to wire it for lights and sound, but it's getting there.
Have been testing foam for comfort in the berths all winter by sleeping on it.
Have decided on 4" of medium density foam and 2" of memory foam.
Talk about COMFORT! You will NOT want to get out of the berth!!!
The Vee Berth is now more comfortable than my bed at home and my bed is comfy!
Can't wait to finish all the berths!
I will include some of my finds for foam etc here as I have found some GREAT deals!
If you haven't priced new foam, you will be surprised at how much it costs, and how great these deals are!
For the regular medium density foam: www.rochfordsupply.com ($15 per 2" slab compared to most at about $80 2 day Fast shipping also!)
For the 2" Memory foam: www.overstock.com (Quatity of 2, 2" Cal King toppers and 4 pillows Catalog# 10468357 $120 compared to over $500 from most. Low cost shipping, not so fast, about a week.)
Am also using a Chanel fabric for the interior, it is very comfy, yet elegant looking.
Will hopefully be installing in 2 weeks.
Have a friend that got me a great deal of $16 per linear yard on the Chanel, if you are interested, contact me and I will hook you up.
Have lots planned for the Flybridge also, will fill you in later.
Just a teaser... How does Ultraleather for $16 per yard sound? Grinz
Painting the bottom is on the list for next week...
Worked half a day moving the boat outside, as my friend needed my spot to use the engine hoist.
Worked another day building and installing a front mounted hitch on his truck, to use to move the boats.
Yippeeee!!! More crawling in and out from under things!
lol
A side note:
Looked at a friends boat last weekend.
It was ugly...
Every single bit of stringer wood is rotten on his!
It's a carver, same hull, different liner/top.
Very luckily, the stringers really won't be all that bad to replace, his stringers are much easier to get to compared to the mariners.
LOTS of work, not too much cost.
Ugly none the less... 
Soooo... when it seems things are a hassle, it really could be much worse!
Will let ya know how next week goes!
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
Edited by - Rockmeister on 06/10/2008 7:15:16 PM |
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RB13
USA
68 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2008 : 9:42:09 PM
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Hey Rock, Going to Kelley's for cocktails this weekend, what are you doing? LOL, Ron
PS: in case you didn't notice, its "BOATING SEASON" in Ohio! |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2008 : 5:24:38 PM
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*Pulls out Holesaw for Rons boat*
Let's see...
Think a 3 incher will do it...
lol
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2008 : 8:35:32 PM
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Last weekend:
Made, sanded, and applied Sikkens on new teak wood trim for the back of the swim platform to replace the broken one.
Epoxied/fiberglassed a few broken spots on swim platform, and sanded to proper shape.
Installed new teak trim on platform.
Tightened/doublechecked all rudder connections/mounting bolts.
Installed new NMEA 2000 Lowrance Trim Tab sensors in trim tab cylinders, ready for mounting!
This will display the actual trim tab settings on the fuel management computer on the Bridge.
Cleaned up and sanded teal mounting blocks for the trim tabs. Applied Sikkens to mounting blocks, they look Great!
Installed new impeller in Starboard engine Raw water pump and remounted water pump.
Removed and dis-assembled Port Raw water pump to install impeller.
Found bearing to be shot and a mounting bolt snapped off in the housing.
Ordered a major rebuild kit that includes the bearing and seal to fix the water pump.
Will extract broken bolt next weekend.
My daughter and her friend removed the existing carpeting on the 10" sub-woofer boxes, then they sanded the boxes down smooth.
They applied 2 coats of wood sealer inside and out on the sub boxes to help prevent water deterioration of boxes.
These will be mounted below the rear deck in the Port and Starboard corners.
Applied Black epoxy paint to help further seal the boxes.
Am making a 8' Stainless Steel Keel Guard for the Bow/Keel. Cut shape out of a large sheet of 14 Guage Stainless and punched mounting holes.
Still need to finish grind the edges to shape and power wire brush to round them. (Remove sharp edges, they are razor sharp right now!)
After finish work, will weld both sides together at the bottom edge.
Whew! Think this was enough for one weekend... lol
PS Ron, I didn't think your boat left the marina, even if it IS in the water!!! Laffin
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
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RB13
USA
68 Posts |
 Posted - 06/23/2008 : 6:15:40 PM
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| Rock,you are doing the right thing putting Sikkens on all your teak. Snow won't hurt it so when you finally launch Spring 09 it will still look GOOOOOOD ! LOL Ron |
Edited by - RB13 on 06/23/2008 6:18:27 PM |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 07/08/2008 : 6:01:15 PM
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Wowza!
I'm about wore out for the year! lol
K...
Stainless Steel Keel Guard is made and installed and looks awesome!
Subs are mounted in rear corners below rear deck and sound great!
Port Raw water pump was another story. After dis-assembly, found the bearings had froze and wore the stainless shaft down. Grrrrr
Found another used pump for $40 and pulled the shaft out of it. Ended up having to cross-drill the shaft for a roll pin and put a flat on it for the set screw.
Re-assembled newly re-built pump with new bearings, etc.
Re-installed on port engine.
Had to replace the Starboard seacock as it was froze also, THAT was fun due to the cramped quarters! :o
Decided port one could wait until next year... lol
Made a jig to router out new plastic pieces for the new rub rail. Am using black ABS over the existing aluminum trim, then stainless steel over that.
Needed a thicker rub rail to protect the snaps for the new camper top over the back deck.
Routered 70' of ABS with the jig, worked great!
Started mounting ABS and stainless rub rail until a major storm chased me away for the evening... 
Finished the next day. Worked really well, looks like it came on the boat that way, but it is shiney and tough!
Finally... SPLASH!
YES RON! It IS in the water!!! YEAH!!!!
And it even leaves the dock!
Did about 100 miles this weekend!
How many did you do? lol
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
Edited by - Rockmeister on 07/08/2008 6:05:35 PM |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 07/14/2008 : 2:34:49 PM
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Wired in new amplifier for the sub-woofers. It's getting really serious now!
Have about 1800 watts of power, the audio system definitely makes ripples in the water!
Am looking to get a small amp and speakers to add surround sound now. lol
May add an additional AGM battery to double the play life without restarting as I ran down the AGM this weekend with the stereo in about 8 hours. (A regular marine battery would last much less than an hour at the current amperage draw.)
Funny, someone mentioned that everyone thinks I have this huge bank of batterys to power the audio system, they didn't believe me when I told them it's just ONE battery! lol
Someone else thinks I have a home audio system on the boat. Laffin
Ran into something weird this weekend...
The starboard engine had no electrical power after docking.
Troubleshot it and found it had no starboard control power at the dash.
Also have a few things up by the Vee Berth that have no DC power now.
Thinking maybe there is a wire that has gotten pinched/cut down in the bilge as the wires to the dash and berth run through the bilge.
Ran into this problem last year with a water line, it was pinched by hull movement in heavy seas and started leaking.
May by-pass this route altogether and run new up above to the flybridge.
Jumpered power from the port to the starboard controls temporarily and all was fine.
Am going to run new 4 guage to the power ditribution panel for the stereo amplifiers in the flybridge anyway.
Currently using parallel 10 guage hots and grounds to the flybridge (for a 7 guage equivalent).
Will use the existing 10 guage wires for the controls and the new 4 guage for the stereo.
Have 2 ACRs (Automatic charge relays) to wire yet, will probably do them and the 4 guage at the same time.
Plans are to split the DC electrical 3 ways, into House, Start, and Stereo loads, each with its own battery.
The batterys will be disconnected from each other when not charging, then the ACRs will automatically connect them all together when a charging source is available.
That way if any one battery is run down by use, the engines will always start as the start battery is totally separated.
Decided to leave the fridge connected to the house circuit rather than to its own battery for now.
The bilge pumps will run off the AGMs as the AGMs have the greatest current capacity and run time by far!
Think thats it for this week...
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 07/24/2008 : 11:11:51 AM
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Dale and his wife graciously invited us to their club for their Regatta.
Had a blast! Thanks Dale!
Ran the 4 Guage to the Audio system, it's even more serious now! lol
Draws major current and doesn't even dim the lights anymore.
Wired the ACRs (Automatic charge relays). They work flawlessly.
The ACRs automatically connect the batteries when charging and disconnect them from each other when discharging.
Being in the small starboard locker wiring for hours was definitely a back pain test! laffin
After re-wiring the batteries, the ghost electrical problems disappeared for the time being, may have taken care of them. Who knows... time will tell.
Am also going to replace the ground strip in the power panel, it is currently a spade terminal strip. After 30 years, I can't imagine the connections being that great.
Will use a busbar with actual screws and ring terminals for a more positive contact.
Have been chasing an engine problem for a while now, the starboard engine will run great up to about 3000 RPM, then the power flattens out.
Spent a day trying many different things, taking the boat out on the lake, coming back in, trying something else, back out to test again, etc. Did this about 15 times or so.
Changed plugs, wires, cap, rotor, different ignition coil, checked all wiring, float levels, fuel pressure, re-built carb, etc.
Narrowed it down to fuel starvation.
Put a temp electric fuel pump in with a clear filter.
Finally noticed air bubbles in the fuel stream. Tracked the source of the air bubbles down.
(This one was a b****!)
Found the air to be coming from the top of the fuel pickup tube inside the tank.
The tube was tight, but not airtight!
Pulled all four pickup tubes. They thread into a reducer bushing on the top of the tank.
After pulling them out of the bushing, you could see where at one time there was sealant around the tube and fitting. The sealent dried out and was no longer doing it's job. Best I could find quick that is impervious to gasoline was permatex number 2.
Re-sealed them with the permatex and let them sit overnight. Installed the next day.
(New tubes were $30+ each, for a total of $120+)
Wasn't able to fully check out the fix due to heavy seas, but definitely more power!
Will let you know how it goes.
Am hoping this took care of it! (Fingers crossed.)
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2008 : 12:20:36 AM
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Good and bad...
The fuel pickup fix seemed to partially work. The engine is definitely running better.
Per Dales suggestion, tried "Tee"ing the pickups together. Dind't make much, if any change, yet truly appreciate the suggestion!
Another friend suggested I check the tube between the fuel pump and carb closer, may have a hidden kink. Will check that this weekend.
The engine is still fuel starved if driven much above 3000 RPM. (But will now plane the boat easily.)
Am open to suggestions. Will even buy major rounds for the one that works!
Wired 4 additional speakers and another amp this weekend, fun, fun, fun! lol
Sat was a beautiful day, Sunny and 90 degrees or so. We were out in 5-6' seas coming about 45 degrees to port bow, was throwing major spray over the boat, we were soaked by the time we reached our destination, loved every minute of it!
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
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mille73
USA
39 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2008 : 09:40:45 AM
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Rock, Swap fuel lines see if the problem moves to the other engine. That was how I determined for sure it was fuel delivery problem.
We had a good time at the regatta, was pretty worn out by saturday night. We went camping all last week along Lake Michigan, sure makes our end of Lake erie look dingy.
Mille73 |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 08/06/2008 : 01:22:12 AM
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Checked the metal fuel lines from the mechanical pumps to the carbs, they are good, no kinks at all.
Dale, I have tried swapping the lines before, but may try right into the carbs and see what happens. I also have 2 new fuel pickups to install just in case.
Again, Thank you very much for your hospitality!
My temporary partial fix of adding an electric fuel pump in series with the mechanical one did cause another problem.
It increased the fuel flow much more, but not quite enough. The boat will plane pretty easily, but the starboard engine still isn't at full power yet. So not totally fixed.
However, at idle there is too much fuel pressure now and that engine wants to flood out because of the pressure forcing the float needle open. This causes the engine to sputter at idle and sometimes even to die.
I love Lake Michigan also, just haven't had the gas money to go that far! lol
I had an adventurous Sunday. After a great weekend, I was on plane heading down river towards the lake, when I hear Clang! Clang! and drop off plane... Greeeeeeat... lol
Port engine is fine but doesn't drive. No forward, no reverse. Shut down engine.
Head back upstream to dock to do a quick troubleshooting and make sure it isn't anything too major. (IE a sinkable problem.)
Prop shaft is fine, everything looks good, no turning of the shaft in any direction, and can hear a slight rubbing inside the bellhousing between the engine and the transmission.
So I head back to port on one engine (The weak one mind you, lol), at 9 mph. It's about 24 or so miles back to port so it took about 2-1/2 hours to get back.
Actually, it was a beautiful day, with mild seas to the port bow, so it wasn't all bad, would have just rather been on plane with the wind in my hair and no mechanical things to fix.
Laffin
Went to bed early to get an early start the next day. Next morning I started disassembling the transmission from the engine. When it went it had a sheet metal sound to it, as opposed to a heavy metal sound, I was theorizing that this meant it was a cheaper fix, like a flexplate!
After many cut knuckles and alot of work, seperated the bellhousing/trans/V-drive from the engine.
Found the Damper Plate on the flywheel had failed. Found a new one IN STOCK in Port Clinton, OH at Transmissions Unlimited for about $100. That is CHEAP! (Most are $150 or more.)
Drove over and picked it up. The guy was also very helpful with info and hints.
Drove back to the boat and installed it. Checked the main pump on the input shaft of the transmission, everything was fine TG!
Re-assembled the drivetrain.
Tested it at the dock, everything is fine.
The entire procedure from beginning to testing took about 16 hours.
I am very thankful I can do this stuff myself! Imagine the labor bill for that!
Took another hour to clean up all the tools and pack the car to drive home 2 hours.
Needless to say, I was beat! 
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
Edited by - Rockmeister on 08/06/2008 01:27:34 AM |
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Rockmeister
USA
307 Posts |
Posted - 08/14/2008 : 10:27:09 AM
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Damper plate worked perfectly!
Installed 2 new pick-ups in the port tank, no change in performance.
Did have to change the anti-siphon valves on the pick-ups, the old ones were 3/8" and the new ones are 1/4" More money and running to the parts store... Grrrrrr lol
About the only thing left in the fuel system that I haven't changed/rebuilt is bypassing the mechanical fuel pump to test if there is an obstruction in it.
Will get the fuel pump bypassed this weekend. Let ya know how it goes!
79 28' Mariner twin inboard V-drive.
SW Lake Erie: Maumee Bay & The Islands |
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2008 & 2009 Season!
