Hi all, thought I would share a quick experience and possible tip for others.
On Friday, while out for a quick sail, after dousing the sails, i noticed the water from the exhaust was weak in flow. Having only owned the boat for two weeks, I am not sure exactly what is the correct flow is, but from experience I can tell it wasn't right. I increased the RPM's, and the flow increased, although still weaker than I would felt is proper. I motored a short distance to the mooring safely, no engine alarm. Wish I had a temp gauge instead of the idiot light.
Yesterday, before heading out, I figured I would dig deeper. Usual stuff, make sure the seacock is fully open. Check the strainer. Yup, needed a cleaning but not too bad. Check the belt. Wow! loose as a goose. Got the tools out and some PB Blaster, and loosened the top nut after a little soaking and some muscle. Went to loosen the bottom adjusting nut, and found it slightly tucked behind the pulley. Not having the correct open end wrench yet on the boat as I am still in the process of loading tools, I went deep into the toolbox, and found a distributor wrench from my 1964 Ford Thunderbird. Interesting tool that I used once years ago. What are the chances it would fit? Fit the nut perfectly and is flat enough and offset to easily loosen the nut for adjustment. Almost like it was made for this job.
Well, removed the belt, and found it to be the incorrect belt for this 3YM30. Good thisng the PO had a spare, and the correct spare at that. I'm sure there's a reason, right? No matter, replace the belt, tightened it with the same tool, and viola, shooting water like I would expect. Here's the description I copied from Amzn to search if you want to see it or buy one. I used 1/2 of the tool with the 3/8 rachet adapter. Worked perfect. Performance Tool W1189C SAE Offset Distributor Clamp Wrench.
Fair winds!
On Friday, while out for a quick sail, after dousing the sails, i noticed the water from the exhaust was weak in flow. Having only owned the boat for two weeks, I am not sure exactly what is the correct flow is, but from experience I can tell it wasn't right. I increased the RPM's, and the flow increased, although still weaker than I would felt is proper. I motored a short distance to the mooring safely, no engine alarm. Wish I had a temp gauge instead of the idiot light.
Yesterday, before heading out, I figured I would dig deeper. Usual stuff, make sure the seacock is fully open. Check the strainer. Yup, needed a cleaning but not too bad. Check the belt. Wow! loose as a goose. Got the tools out and some PB Blaster, and loosened the top nut after a little soaking and some muscle. Went to loosen the bottom adjusting nut, and found it slightly tucked behind the pulley. Not having the correct open end wrench yet on the boat as I am still in the process of loading tools, I went deep into the toolbox, and found a distributor wrench from my 1964 Ford Thunderbird. Interesting tool that I used once years ago. What are the chances it would fit? Fit the nut perfectly and is flat enough and offset to easily loosen the nut for adjustment. Almost like it was made for this job.
Well, removed the belt, and found it to be the incorrect belt for this 3YM30. Good thisng the PO had a spare, and the correct spare at that. I'm sure there's a reason, right? No matter, replace the belt, tightened it with the same tool, and viola, shooting water like I would expect. Here's the description I copied from Amzn to search if you want to see it or buy one. I used 1/2 of the tool with the 3/8 rachet adapter. Worked perfect. Performance Tool W1189C SAE Offset Distributor Clamp Wrench.
Fair winds!
