Big wooden boat project [Splashed Sept 2017]

[bajaunderground]

As usual, nice craftsmanship! I miss my days of being a machinist...I used to make some of the coolest items. Great to have access and a talent for those type of things...otherwise, custom work is expensive!

 

[Ned L]

Thanks!, ...... and yes, "do it yourself" is about the only way I could afford any of this.

 

[Ned L]

Figuring out where to put the heat exchanges turned out to be an interesting challenge. the top of the surge tank really needs to be higher than the top of the engine for proper functioning, and the engines come within about an inch of the hatches.
I spent a good bit of time thinking about mounting them above the reverse gears somehow. In this picture you can see there is a fair bit of room, and that would have placed them close to the existing water pumps, the intake tru-hull fittings, and the exhaust elbow where the raw water has to dump.

Mounting them here would have been a real challenge, and I didn't like the idea of burying the reverse gears under even more 'stuff'. With a little more thinking I realized that they '-could-' fit on the forward end of the engines, with about a 1/4" to spare in some directions. I also realized that if I mounted them to the front of the bell housings I could use the mounting brackets that are already on the exchangers.

So this is where they ended up.

The port exhchager fit pretty nicely, ............ The starboard one (?), .......... Well, ... that's when I found out that the starboard engine is actually about 5/8" farther forward than the port engine. That ended up giving me about 3/8" between the raw water exit elbow and the bulkhead. three eighths is still fitting isn't it???

I then had to drill and tap the cast iron bell housings for the mounting bolts. .... No problem, until you realize there are only 7" between the bell housing and the bulkhead. Yeaaaa, ....... no standard drill and drill bit fit in that space. So after asking around a good bit if someone had a right angle drill that I could borrow for four holes and coming up empty I ended up buying a "Harbor Freight" el cheepo 3/8" right angle pneumatic drill for something like $38. It ended up working like a charm.

and I had my holes --------You can see them here.

And here is the starboard side shoehorned in. I'm going to have to shift some wiring.

Then ti was time to figure out where to put the new raw water pumps, (actually everything was sort of going on at once to make sure that one part wasn't going to be in the way of another part.

Off Ebay about a year ago I picked up two matching NOS Jabsco water pumps that should be just about perfect for the job.

Complete with grease cups!!!!! OK, so no one has installed anything with grease cups in the past 50 years, but if you are familiar with them and their maintenance the pumps will last basically forever. And the engines already have grease cups on the distributors so it's not like I'm adding a new kind of maintenance thing.

Then there was the 'ok, so where are the pumps going???' issue. Options were limited as they had to be in position for the pulleys on the front of the engine. In order to see that things were going to come out right (alignment is pretty critical) I made up a quick wood bracket to see where the pump landed

Once I liked how things lined up and I had a plan I started cutting metal. ..... Fortunately a couple of years ago I had been given a 6ft length of 1/4" x 2" 304 Stainless steel that was going to work just fine.

With a bit of cutting, and a bit more machining at work

and the some welding at home, I had a couple of brackets that should work fine.

 

[harleyman1975]

Awsome!

 

[gomopar440]

I'm really liking the creativity on this project! The best thing I learned from the Navy was how to machine things on mills, lathes and other shop equipment. It let me take my ideas and turn them into reality. This R&D stuff you're doing with the cooling system here is a perfect example of what I'm talking about.

 

[Baylinerchuck]

Stunning Ned. Very nice work!!

 

[RobertThoreson]

This thread has hit me in a way I can't disscribe. If I could provide for my family working alongside someone like you I would be living my dream. The craftsmanship and pure talent. I have read this thread from post one to 346 in one sitting. I grew up on a farm but always loved fishing history. I love what your doing and wish there were more people like you

 

[mickyryan]

impressive as f... is all I got to say, hats off to ya ned!

 

[Ned L]

Thanks for the nice comments guys. ...

I've been meaning to finish catching up on the fresh water cooling here. .......... So once I had some brackets roughed out it was time to figure out how and where to mount them in the boat.

By clamping a straight strip of wood on the flywheel pulley, I could then bring the water pump pulley into alignment to figure out where it needed to be.

Finally I got them mounted where they need to be

Then it was time to really start playing with the copper tubing and fittings.

I'm probably one of the few people who will still use a gasoline blow torch. (I don't have a Map gas torch, and these provide a lot more heat than a propane torch.)

Here I have the modifications to the heat exchangers underway.

And here I have some of the copper tubing piping underway that moves the water between the engine (mostly aft on the engines) and the heat exchanger (forward on the engine).

Here is one exchanger all modified

and the piping completed, polished and clear coated.

With a fresh coat of paint on both exchangers.

And V-belts installed

And here is the final result

I think they will work pretty well.

 

[mickyryan]

love this ned ! and now I will be afk whilst I find a gasoline torch ... even if just to say I own one damn you!

 

[gsxrdan]

luverly!

 

[Ned L]

Let's see if I can do this.

This should be a short video of the starboard engine with the heat exchange installed and running on a nice antifreeze mixture.

Just ticking away at a bit over 500 RPM. Not to bad for 60 years old, not even turning over for 14 years no carburetor adjustments in probably 20 years and not running for more than about 15 minutes at a shot for the past 2 1/2 years.

Keep in mind that flat head engines with mechanical lifters aren't really the quietest engines in town.

 

[mickyryan]

prolly just as loud as my 3.0 lol lifters refuse to be silent on straits imho and even slant 6 lol

 

[kcassells]

Just very nice Ned!

 

[Baylinerchuck]

Wow Ned, I love that stuff. Keep it coming!!

 

[proshadetree]

Love the sound of the old flattys. Amazing the carb has had to be built or touched. Detail looks great too

 

[Ned L]

I'll drift for a little bit here.
I also enjoy old / vintage marine engines other than what is in this boat.

Here is a video of a 5 HP Acadia engine that I have. Acadia engines were made in Bridgewater Nova Scotia, and were very popular with the local commercial fishermen there. They are very simple engines, anything on them can be fixed with a screwdriver and a wrench. They could be a bit finicky, but once you understand them they will run just about for ever with baling twine and a wire coat hanger.

Acadia built pretty much the same engines from the very early 1900's up to about 1970. Even though this engine is serial number 55, there is no way to date it (s/n's really mean nothing on these engines). It is most likely from somewhere between the 1930's and 1950's, but who knows.

They are pretty interesting in how they work. They are direct reversing two cycle engines. This means that you mix oil with the gas, and for reverse you sop the engine and start it in the opposite direction. They are equally happy running in either direction.

As the engine operates, ....The carburetor is actually mounted on the side of the crank case, (with a big check valve between the carb. and the crank case. When the piston goes up on the compression stroke the bottom of the piston draws a vacuum in the crank case, which draws the fuel air mixture into the crank case. When the piston comes back down the crank case is then pressurized (and the check valve closes, preventing the fuel air mixture from going back out the carb.). There is a passage cast into the block that as the piston comes down, allows the pressurized fuel air mixture to move from the crank case to the top of the cylinder above the piston. When the piston goes back up the passage is sealed off by the piston allowing the compression and power stroke to take place. After the cylinder fires, and the piston is coming back down there is an exhaust port also in the side of the cylinder that is uncovered (before the intake port is uncovered - farther down the cylinder). ..........
That might be a bit confusing, but if you followed it, that's how these work.

Also, .... There is no spark plug in these engines. There is an 'ignitor', which is like a set of heavy duty ignition points actually inside the cylinder. these points inside the cylinder open and close, just like ignition points, making the spark within the cylinder.

These engines are low speed and high torque. Even though it is only 5 HP, it still weighs 300 pounds, and needs 22 - 24 feet of boat wrapped around it.

There is no "starter" on these engines. In order to start it you advance the spark as much as possible, then turn the flywheel in the opposite direction from how you want the engine to run. The engine will fire before top dead center, kick back and start running in the opposite direction. You then quickly retard the spark as much as possible (firing after top dead center).

When you are good, ..... you can actually turn off the ignition, wait for the engine to almost stop, then turn the ignition back on. The engine will kick back in the opposite direction and continue running in that direction.

I hope it is interesting to some of you.

 

[Ned L]

Another engine I have is a 1923 Universal model C1. This is a 4 cylinder four cycle engine of about 12 - 15 HP. It has a magneto ignition, so no battery is needed for it to run. It is crank start only. Sort of a neat little engine, two people can pick it up and carry it away.

(That is only steam from the exhaust, .... It was mid winter when I filmed this.)

 

[mickyryan]

neet as hell !

 

[Baylinerchuck]

Yeah what he said ^^^^^^ .....Love old engines. Thanks Ned!!