[Public-List] Engine Alignment

[dan walker]

so gord 
were you at the tiller, or did u dash below??????

--- On Tue, 12/29/09, Gordon Laco <mainstay at csolve.net> wrote:

> From: Gordon Laco <mainstay at csolve.net>
> Subject: Re: [Public-List] Engine Alignment
> To: "Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all" <public-list at lists.alberg30.org>
> Date: Tuesday, December 29, 2009, 6:18 PM
> Here is a true story...
> 
> A wooden Folkboat with an inboard engine (clearly not TOUCH
> WOOD - she never had an inboard) was happily sailing across
> Toronto Harbour one night many years
> ago.   The fellows sailing the boat thought
> it would be fun to set the 'chute so up it went.
> 
> All good things must come to an end, and sure enough after
> a time the far side of the harbour began to loom
> large.   But what ho, perhaps they did not
> need to douse the chute, perhaps, they reckoned, they might
> sail through the harbour's Western Gap channel under
> spinnaker.  Oh what Sea Scourges they'd be with that
> tale to tell.  Onwards they went. (have a look at
> Google Earth to see the Western Gap Channel)
> 
> Their happiness was somewhat dampened when they got into
> the channel and discovered that they could barely lay it
> reaching under the spinnaker with the pole laid hard against
> the forestay.  The boat was now doing over 7knts and
> they were being steadily pressed toward the northern
> (leeward) side of the channel.   They decided
> to lower the chute but found that halyard block had jumped
> its sheave and was jammed.  They could not lower the
> chute.     Just as they were digesting
> this evidence of the developing shipwreck, the cross channel
> ferry to the Toronto Island Airport gave its hoot and shot
> out in front of them.
> 
> Thinking swiftly, one of them dove into the cabin and
> started their Stuart Turner gas inboard (called the
> 'Explosion prone Stuart Turner in Don Street's book)
> Uncharacteristically it started first try.  They
> slammed it into reverse and opened the throttle.  They
> felt the boat give a violent shake and the steering
> locked.   What had happened was the prop
> shaft had spun back away from the transmission and jammed
> against the rudder.  Worse, the prop had grabbed a line
> that was trailing in the water and that jumped the rudder up
> almost out of the gudgeons.  The boat was still
> exceeding hull speed.
> 
> The guy steering decided it would be better to hit the
> concrete harbour wall than the ferry so he wrenched the
> tiller as hard as he could to bear away... and tore the
> rudder right off.  Now free of the rudder, the shaft
> finished it's exit and left the boat (luckily still tangled
> in the sheet).
> 
> At this point the first guy dove into the cabin again and
> scrambled into the forepeak.  He grabbed the anchor and
> threw it up out the forehatch.  It cleared the rail and
> sank, with the anchor line singing out after it at about
> 7knts.
> 
> There was nothing more they could do - the boat was
> sinking, the spinnaker was jammed aloft, the ferry and wall
> were both coming... suddenly the end of the anchor line was
> reached and the boat snapped her head into the wind. 
> She came to rest with her stern within reach of the wall...
> the ferry missed them (likely never saw them, no lights of
> course).
> 
> The owner of the boat rammed a bung into the prop shaft
> hole while the other guy cast off the spinnaker guy. 
>    They opened a couple of beers and sighed.
> 
> This really happened.
> 
> Gord
> #426 Surprise
> On 29-Dec-09, at 6:02 PM, mahseer at kos.net
> wrote:
> 
> > Tom
> > 
> > Been there had same problem, not a plesent feeling, I
> also had the
> > origional bronze shaft.  I had a new bronze shaft
> made but just before it
> > was ready to be installed I discovered it had been
> made from bearing
> > bronze and was pourous.  Had the next one made
> out of stainless steel.
> > 
> > John Boor
> > MAHSEER #380
> > 
> > 
> >> Just thought I would throw in an educational story
> on engine alignment.
> >> 
> >> I bought my Alberg 30 several decades ago, and in
> its previous life
> >> the engine and shaft had not been realigned, I
> don't believe. And
> >> every year, into the crane, out of the
> crane...etc.
> >> 
> >> Took the Alberg from St. Andrews, NB down the
> coast of Maine to
> >> Penobscot Bay, and off North Haven was running the
> engine since there
> >> was a large following swell and almost no wind.
> The jerking was the
> >> final straw, I suppose...
> >> 
> >> Suddenly the tiller would not work, and when I
> tried more, the boat
> >> was swirling around in circles. Put up the sails
> to get some control
> >> (not knowing what else to do), and of course it
> just made matters
> >> worse, since the Alberg was going in tight
> circles. Thought a lobster
> >> pot line was grabbed, but that wasn't it.
> >> 
> >> Finally decided to take off the steps/engine cover
> - and with a
> >> flashlight was horrified to see the shaft within a
> few inches of the
> >> thru-hull.
> >> 
> >> Grabbed it with a wrench, and worked it forward.
> Then happened to
> >> have some brass "snare wire" and used it to get
> enough friction
> >> around the shaft, and found a way to secure the
> snare wire.
> >> 
> >> Realized it was a definite blessing that the hole
> between hull and
> >> rudder was small enough that the propeller had
> fetched up against the
> >> rudder, jamming it initially - but not allowing
> the shaft to leave!
> >> 
> >> Once the shaft was secure, had my wife watch it
> while I used the late
> >> afternoon breezes to make it across Penobscot Bay
> and as the final
> >> breath of wind died, made it to one of the outer
> moorings in Camden
> >> harbor.
> >> 
> >> Wayfarer Marine was happy to pull the boat the
> next morning, and
> >> after almost a week on the dock, I had much time
> to think about the
> >> matter of engine/shaft alignment. Especially as we
> were still living
> >> aboard, and everyone going by enjoyed the chance
> to ask how the
> >> cruising was up there (in the air).
> >> 
> >> I realigned yearly from that point.
> >> 
> >> 
> >> Tom Moffatt
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> > 
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