Starting new project 1973 Sea Ray 240 SRV

[sheboyganjohn]

Got the starboard engine aligned and went to put the drive back on and could not get it on. Every time I went to push it into place , the shift arm would pop out of the shift cable. Doesn't make any sense since it is rotating into the center of the drive, I would expect it to rotate out in the shift direction if there was an issue. It was starting to get dark out so we gave up. Will get back at it sometime this weekend. My guess is that the shaft may be sitting just a bit low. may need to lift it up a bit. I, well we, had the kid helping, were trying to do it with the back end of the boat over the grass. I am going to pull the boat forward onto the parking area so we can see thing a bit better and not have to worry about the drive sinking into the lawn as we are working.

In the mean time, more patching and painting on the house. I will be so happy once the refi is done and I can focus on the boat, or should I say boats. About time to bring the duck boat home. Still contemplating the power head swap on the mud motor this year. Will need to do some major mods to the frame to put the 25 hp Kohler engine in place of the 16 hp Briggs.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Finally have everything done around the house. Got the starboard drive back on. Not exactly sure what went different this time, but it went on after a couple of tries.Tried running the engine on the hose but it heated up a bit. It ran fine when I hooked the hose directly to the water inlet on the engine with the drive off so I am going to chalk it up to the boat fighting with the wash machine for water. Hopefully I can finally get it in the water either after work one night this week, or at least next weekend. I want to get one ride in it before I put it away for the winter. I will still work on it over the winter, but I want the warm fuzzy feeling that I am done with the drive system.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Well I spoke too soon about the house. All I had left was to hook the power back up to the boiler (rewired the house) and hang a door I had removed for painting. Hooked the wires up to the boiler, went to start it and it would not fire up. Has an intermittent pilot system on it. Igniter sparks away, but the pilot will not light. If i just briefly wave a torch past the pilot it will light and the furnace will fire up so there is gas at the pilot. Took it part way apart to clean out the combustion chamber to no avail. It looks like I will be pulling the burner with the pilot on it out and doing some additional cleaning. Good thing they are calling for rain the next couple of days so I am not cutting into boat work time.

 

[Scott Danforth]

if your pilot uses a thermo-couple, clean it with some steel wool

 

[sheboyganjohn]

It is the single wire system where it measures for pilot flame between the spark pulses. Issue is not with the spark, it is getting the pilot to light from the spark. I can light the pilot by hand. I plan on pulling the whole assembly and cleaning up all the contact surfaces to make sure the spark is as strong as possible and make sure the hood over the spark is adjusted properly to funnel the gas fumes towards the spark.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Furnace is working, inspection went well so we are all done with the house.

Now on to the boat. Got it out on the water today. Both engines started and ran fine after a quick squirt of carb cleaner into each spark arrester. Let it idle at the dock to get up to temp and the starboard engine heated up too much. I think the impeller is bad in the drive. So shut that one down but still went for a short ride, on the ticking engine. I think I have figured out the ticking. When I put it hard over it starts to growl real bad so I am going with a bad U-joint since the gimbal bearing is new. Time to winterize and put in the storage unit. At least I know what I am working on this winter.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Happy spring to all.

have got some mechanical work done on the boat the last month or so. Took the spare out-drive I had bought last year and tore it down for a rebuild. Glad I did, there was one hell of a nest inside the exhaust by the water pump. Cleaned it out and put a full pump kit on. Pulled the upper apart so I could change out the U-joints. Took it out the storage unit and did a rinse and repeat on the port drive. Now the starboard drive is in the basement so I can pull it apart and put a new impeller in it and try to figure out the water problem. Based off of what it was doing I think I may have missed the water pump with the water tube.

The stainless props are all dinged up and I never sent them out for a rebuild. I had one aluminum prop that came with the boat so I bought a matching used aluminum prop for half of rebuilding one of the stainless props. I will run the aluminum this year and get the stainless ones rebuilt this winter.

My winter shopping list was filled. Bought a walking foot sewing machine so I can do all the soft work on the boat. Bought material for seat covers, Bimini top, jet ski covers (separate project), and a roll of carpet (Yes I am doing carpet) for the floor and possibly the headliner in the cabin. Also picked up some foam to make a new rear deck sun cushion since I am going full width with the cushion.

Also had a full transom assembly that came with the spare out-drive, complete with a chunk of transom. I pulled that apart into a pile of parts. Still need to go through and sort them out so I can store them properly.

I will post pictures as I find something interesting.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Split the outdrive tonight and I was right, I had missed the guide tube into the water pump with the water tube. Changed the impeller and put it back together. Just need to remember to fill it up with fresh oil tomorrow.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Never put off till tomorrow those things you can do today

 

[chevymaher]

Never put off till tomorrow those things you can do today

Is that what it is? I always thought it was " Never Put Off Tomorrow What You Can Put Off Today"

 

[Scott Danforth]

I installed a motor and driveline once in a hot-rod..... lowered the cab on and realized I never torqued the rods prior to buttoning up the motor. all because I intended to do it the next day.

 

[Mad Props]

Hmmmm.... finding a nest in the drive sounds oddly familiar... oh wait... :laugh:

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Hmmmm.... finding a nest in the drive sounds oddly familiar... oh wait... :laugh:

That looks very familiar.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Never put off till tomorrow those things you can do today

It would be hard to forget since I left the both plugs out sitting next to the drive.

I had to make a promise that I was not going to spend all my spare time working on the boat this year. Since my wife hates the smell of oil and it was time for a late dinner I figured I was better off not messing with the oil that night.

All filled up tonight. Most likely wait until Saturday to take everything back to the storage unit and put it back on the boat.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Went out to the storage unit with the drive and the drive stand I have been using to hold them while rebuilding them. Decided to make it easier and use this wheeled stand to put the drives on. Ended up that it was about 1" too tall even with the bow all the way down. Took it back home, took it apart and removed 1.5" in height. Also re-positioned the wheels to make it less tipsy. I built it out of scrap lumber I had laying around at the time so the lumber determined the shape. Used some more wood to modify slightly. Will get out and try it sometime next week, got my conservation club's brat fry tomorrow so I will be busy all day.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Got the drives on tonight. Here is a picture of the rolling stand I use for the drives.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Stopped by the fabric store to pick up a seam ripper and some fabric pencils. Going to tear apart the cover for the jet ski, use it as a pattern and try to make a new one. This will be my practice before I try to make anything for the boat. I will have to take a photo of the 'sewing' room once I get the rest of my son's crap out of it. He at least stopped over and went through everything with me so I know what few things he wants to save and what I can get rid of.