[Public-List] Atomic IV oil leak

[Gordon Laco]

Hello friends - 

SURPRISE got us back from a wonderful eight day sailing trip last night.
Thanks again for the help with our friend¹s overheating problem; that was
solved thoroughly.

However, SURPRISE¹s Atomic IV developed a problem on the last day
(yesterday).   I noticed a fair amount of crankcase lubricating oil
accumulating in the pan beneath the engine (S is a liner boat)   I am very
worried about where this oil is coming from.

I went to the boat just now, she has been laying at her jetty at the club
since we arrived yesterday.  There is a fair bit of oil under the engine and
the dip stick indicated it¹s down a litre.    Just before our trip I
installed a new Moyer raw water pump (worked wonderfully) and noticed that I
foolishly left the old gasket in place when I did the switch.  I also
noticed this morning that both mounting machine screws were not as tight as
I¹d left them.  I reckon the new gasket compressed.  Is it possible that my
oil leak was due to the slightly loose water pump machine screws?

I fear something worse....  I felt around the prop shaft exit seals but
didn¹t find any significant amount of oil there.  Any advice would be much
appreciated.

As promise, I will write in more detail about how we fixed the overheating
issue in our friend¹s engine.

Gord #426 Surprise