Linton Bay Adventures #2

Hi everyone,

We've now been in Linton Bay Marina for over two months.  Much longer than anticipated but we now have a working engine again!  It was quite an adventure fixing it.

Semi-custom mounts ready to install

As the previous blog describes, the mount inserts were disintegrating and needed replacing.  New inserts arrived from Australia and were fitted into the mounts after removing the engine from its bay.  Replacing the engine revealed that aligning the engine with the shaft was impossible - the mounts were already bottomed-out and the engine had moved up with the new inserts.

The solution was found by Vince, an American with a metal fabrication business PCAfab in nearby Puerto Lindo.  He pointed out that new mount bases could be constructed with the 'collar' on which the inserts sit lowered.  This would give us 8-9mm depression.  We would have to cut circular holes below each mount to allow the moving part freedom to move.  And the new mount bases would need to be custom made.

Within a few hours Vince had sent us a mechanical drawing to check and we had agreed a price.  It took three weeks for a set of mount bases to be manufactured in Panama City.  Sadly two dimensions were mixed up and they had to be remade, which took another week.  A week ago we finally had the solution to our problem.  It only took two months, which I'm told isn't too bad in Panama.

While waiting on the custom mount bases we worked on the rest of the to-do list.  One item which had been languishing for months was a sewing table for Nicki.  We had bought a sheet of 9mm marine ply in Grenada and cut it roughly to size there.

The table consists of two top pieces, port and starboard, each of which stows under a saloon settee seat.  Below them is a central piece which holds the two top pieces together.  Everything is held together by four bolts which pass through top piece, central piece and the the existing table top.  Each bolt has two nuts, one to secure top to centre, and the other the whole to the table.  Came together pretty well with most time spent on the varnishing.

Measure thrice, cut once

Asssembly inverted in saloon

Demountable sewing/dining table in place

We also managed a day trip to Panama City.  We took busses all the way there and back - about 4 hours each way.  We had four hours to explore a little of the city, the sea front and the old city.  We spent the day with sv Ruffian of Amble and sv Skyfall.

Bust of Einstein in Panama City

One of many high-rise buildings in the new city

Cathedral

Panama City Cathedral

A view across (part of) the Pacific!

Mola Museum

More Molas!

Old Panama City Cathedral

Colonial architecture in the old city

Murals in the old city

The fish market

Lunch near the fish market

One of many Panama Hat shops

A couple of days before the new mount bases were due for delivery Vince visited to drill the holes in the beds.  Prior to that I had cleaned and repainted the engine bay.

Engine bay repainted and tackles rigged

Vince drilling the bed-top holes

New mounts in place

The mount bases were delivered on Sunday.  On Monday the crews of sv Skyfall and sv Triton assisted with lifting the engine back into its bay and onto the mounts.  On Tuesday I aligned the engine with the shaft and hooked up morse cables, water/exhaust hoses, electrics etc.  On Wednesday we refilled coolant and oil, and replaced the oil filter.  When we started the engine oil gushed into the bilge - not good!  Eventually we figured out the reason with help from sv Asha - I'd fitted the new filter and its seal with the old filter's seal still in place.  After fixing this error we test ran the engine from idle to its 3400rpm max.  This showed the new mount inserts are damping resonance peaks much better than the old.

On Thursday we ran the engine in gear and checked the alignment.  Everything was fine over the full range of revs (up to 2500 rpm which is our in-gear max).  We let the engine run for an hour.

Tools at the ready

Lifting gear

Engine restored!

On Friday we were visited by Carlos the mechanic.  We had him check the re-installation overall and the shaft alignment.  He seemed to do a thorough job and declared 'very nice installation ' and 'perfect alignment'.  Phew!

We're now preparing to clear-out of Panama.  We will be heading north.  Monitoring the weather.