Blown Engine on my Cat!

[Bad Obsession]

Folding props. They will save you about .5 knots while sailing. They fold up or feather to reduce drag.

I have a big three blad cruising fixed prop and I know that it drags big time.

 

[Fly Away]

Hey buddy, just wanted to let ya know I got that damn coupler off. Used a 4" angle grinder, a hacksaw blade and my bare hands.

Ordering a new shaft and coupler from Catalina next week sometime.

If all goes well, I hope to have her back in the water in one month. I have to do the GPS installation while waiting for the shaft. I do NOT want to shoot that channel again with out my GPS in.

It has been a helluva ride so far.

O! Funny thing happened at the yard today, I met a guy from the UK who not only shares my name, but is married to the daughter of the former owner of my boat!! Talk about 6 degrees of separation! He lived on Fly Away for a time, has sailed on her many times and knows the boat pretty well. Said she sails like a dream!

I am beginning to find the excitement I held about boating again that I had all but lost throughout this ordeal. I am looking back at it as a great ( and very expensive) learning experience which has brought me that much closer to my little yacht.

Maybe we will be able to have a rendezvous some time this summer or fall out in the bay and down a few cold ones!

Take it easy,

-Pete

 

[christian adams]

What on earth would have caused it? I should say, why do you think the grounding and reverse was the culprit? I can undestand blowing out the transmission on the full power reverse, but a manifold or cracked cyl? Such an unfortunate feeling - I empahtize.

 

[Fly Away]

I think that the engine was just old and not as well maintained as it could have been. Ad to that my inexperience in operating it. I just helped it along on its final path. It was obviously ready to go and as I have stated before, I am glad it did. Just got my new cutlass bearing in, along with the new castle nut. Now I am awaiting my brand new shiny stainless steel shaft from Catalina Direct and I hope to have the boat back in the wet in the next 4 weeks.

 

[Bad Obsession]

Ouch....that is a huge delay. You lost a huge chunk of your season.

I am heading out tomorrow for Solomins and then on to the back way into St. Michaels. I hope that you get your issues fixed soon so that you can hit the water!!!

 

[Fly Away]

Yes, my season has been pretty much ruined by all of this. Ah well, next season should fare better I hope.

 

[edroc]

Don't be so worry about your season, here in Québec city we put the boat in the water in the middle of may, cold weather, very windy etc... the season realy start at the end of june and finish in the second week of october. You made a very good job on your boat I have the same motor on C30 1982 I just bought. Can you please tell me what kind of starter solenoid you have on both motor. Are they with studds or screws? Thanks for reply
Eddy Rochefort

 

[Fly Away]

Eddy,

I will have to go and look. Plan to head to the boat this week so I will find out for you.

Regards,

Pete

 

[BoeroBoy]

Interesting chain of events.

Yikes sorry I just finally tuned into this thread. Very interesting. Your pictures don't look anything like the Atomic 4 (at least not mine). Maybe it's a drastically different revision.

If you haven't found him yet, Don Moyer of Moyer Marine is very helpful with Cataline 30 engines - especially the A4. Note I don't work for him, but I he has saved my butt at least once.

 

[Fly Away]

Today was a great day, and a weird day.

First off.

Fly Away is officially in the wet again! Her engine runs and runs well!

We got her fired up, put her in reverse and she died. Repeated a few times and decided we have an issue.

The boat had settled significantly when we set her in the water taking everything out of whack.

Plan to realign tmorrow mornign and take her back to her slip!

 

[Bad Obsession]

Glad to hear that you are floating. I hope that you can salvage the rest of the summer. Based on the way the winds have been this year, better practice putting a reef in the main!!!!!!!!!!!!

A bunch of us are getting together at Canoe Neck Creek on September 19-20 for a raft up. It is about 1.5 days or a hard days sail from Deltaville. Canoe Neck Creek is off of St. Clements Bay in the Potomac River.

Good luck!!!

 

[Fly Away]

The saga continues.

After two days of aligning the engine and troubleshooting we have removed the transmission. Reverse is bound up completely.

The unit is now in a 5 gallon bucket awaiting shipment to WI where the builder has promised me a fast turnaround.

I hope to have it back at the end of next week or the beginning of the following week. Take about 30 minutes to reinstall it and then a bit to align it and then PRAY it works.

If so, I will have two days of reassembling the interior of the boat and then my wife will have at least 1 day of scrubbing the interior out and making the boat livable again.

I have to be honest, there have been several moments in the past months where I have SERIOUSLY considered a hole saw and deep water for this boat. I am praying for some decent sail time in the fall.

 

[Surftraveler01]

WOW!

35 views and not a single response? Wow, I would have expected at least a "wow, sorry to hear that" from one of the 35 viewers.

just saw ur post..look at the good side..it got you back in the water and you didnt run aground...thats pretty good for an old Atomic4
..if i were you Id replace it with a 2 or 3cyl yanmar or universal diesel..ck with torresen marine or a marine diesel outfit near you to see if youre transmission is compatable...ect.. torresen is super expensive, you'll get high retail prices there, so use google to hunt prices once you know what you need..

 

[Surftraveler01]

welcome to boating...its wonderful sometimes isnt it...

 

[Bruce Adams]

The salt water in the 5411 MOST LIKELY came from a rotting PLUG found under the timing gear case that is made of FERROUS METAL yet exposed to salt water which should have been taken care of as a maintenance item yet few seem to have read mid 1980s reports of this going bad. This thing is/was 1/4 inch thick and when it rots out, salt water gets into the crankcase. Salt water aslo gets in when a 5411 is tilted and salt water floods in from above the tee valve near the hydro lift muffler.

 

[Bruce Adams]

How much was the rebuilt 5411?

 

[Fly Away]

$2700.00 engine and transmission.

 

[Fly Away]

Ok here is the new lump installed and happy!

I picked the yellow hose for my wife, she loves that color!

It runs great, fires up IMMEDIATELY.

I must say, I am feeling pretty good about this whole project and all of the work I put into it, many a day was spent below decks where it was upwards of 100 degrees installing the engine and getting it all working properly. I have lost weight ( not that I have much to loose!)

Time to put it back on, topside with a full glass, the sails up and my wife at the wheel!

I hope to put together a website in the near future documenting our journey with Fly Away thus far. We have owned her for less than a year and have already replaced the engine! It has been a trial by inferno thus far! First bringing it up the coast to it's new home in a nor' Easter on my first voyage on a sail boat, to replacing the entire drive train.

Learning lots, and learning FAST and HARD.

Time to take sailing lessons!