[Alberg30] A4, stern tubes

George Dinwiddie gdinwiddie at min.net
Sun May 20 17:53:16 PDT 2001


Rob,

RE: engines.  There's a few at 
http://www.alberg30.org/collaborate/moin.cgi/Atomic4EnginesForSale
and you can also check on the atomic 4 list at sailnet.

As for stuffing box hose (which is probably what Whitby used,
originally) you can find that at
http://www.southerncrownboatworks.com/catalog/cat/cat40.htm,
something I recently learned on the atomic 4 list.

 - George

> "R.C. Alley" wrote:
> 
> 1. Alva Windham, now commodore of the Solomon Island YC, inquired of
> me today if I knew if anyone had an Atomic 4 they wanted to sell--he's
> looking for one to rebuild.  He tells me that he once had an A30,
> named Dolphin. He left the Assn. in the late 1980's.  If you have an
> A4 for sale, or know where there is one in rebuildable condition,
> please contact him directly at windham at chesapeake.net or send the
> information to me.
> 
> 2. I removed the stern tube, stuffing box, hose, and clamps from
> Nevermore today; the engine is out and I am taking advantage of the
> opportunity to replace, rebuild, and repaint without the joy of lying
> on my belly in the cockpit and working beyond fingertip reach (in the
> rain).  What I found was troubling if not positively dangerous. The
> stern tube is about 1/8th inch OD larger than the stuffing box hose
> flange OD. For some reason, a previous owner had  used standard
> exhaust hose (two pieces, one over the other) on the tube which flares
> down to one piece (only) on the stuffing box, all about 10 inches
> long. Its been in the boat at least since I bought it in 1991, and is
> quite ready for replacement.
> 
> The standard way to do this is to purchase a thick wall hose which is
> sold particularly for this purpose, in lengths of about 4 inches. If
> used, this would have put the stuffing box back closer to the deadwood
> by about 3 inches, and may have been beyond the reach necessary to
> tighten the gland nut when necessary.  The problem,(as I see it) is
> that exhaust hose is not the proper material to use, and using two
> thicknesses of exhaust hose means that the clamps never actually bear
> on the inner hose, and, as the outer hose gets old and stiff, it may
> leak and fail--and you can't fix it without pulling the boat.
> 
> Any comments from y'all?  I'd like to know if this is the normal way
> Whitby did this, or was this the braincramp of a lesser genius?
> 
> RA

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