Seems like I heard somewhere that someone had improved access to the engine on their I-28 by installing an access hatch in the deck? We love our boat but changing oil and fuel filters, maintaining the heat exchanger, and even checking the dipstick on our Universal 3-banger always results in our grandkids hearing some new (and I hope unfamiliar) language. I have reservations about cutting a hole in the cockpit floor unless I can rest easy knowing the engine won't be flooded when the Big One comes in over the stern. Thoughts?
I-28 Engine Access
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Uh NO! you wouldnt want to do that, I am a big man an I have forced my whole body in the port access area in the cockpit not easy to get into and even harder to get out of but your gas tank is just underneathe there and I would say cutting into the floor would create some structural integrity issues. I dont find it all that difficult to get to the oil filter/dipstick or any part of the engine when you have the steps and the top taken off. I would just deal with it if I were you, you dont want to open pandora's box and wish you hadnt you know what I mean?
scott
scott
I too have gone spelunking in the port lazarette locker and I'm a relatively small guy so my hat's off to you. We've toyed with the idea of expanding the access hatch in the starboard quarterberth even just a little so we can get our shoulders behind the engine. My Alaskan commercial fishing buddies say there are solid waterproof access hatches on the decks of their boats that dog down tight and never give them any trouble but I'm like you. I just can't cut a big hole in the cockpit floor without assurances that it will work structurally. That's why I'm wondering if anyone has tried?
Our Universal diesel engine is so tight that we can't reach the injector pump fuel filter to check it and to even see the dipstick hole to get the stick back in you need to lie flat on the sole with a headlamp. Even with the steps and top removed. Maybe the PO was an orang-utang? Sheesh.
Our Universal diesel engine is so tight that we can't reach the injector pump fuel filter to check it and to even see the dipstick hole to get the stick back in you need to lie flat on the sole with a headlamp. Even with the steps and top removed. Maybe the PO was an orang-utang? Sheesh.
Engine compartment access
To Islander 28 owners,
April 27, 2010
My wife and I got our boat four years ago and as I have aged and spread, I have found it more difficult to get into the lazarette to service the engine and components. I have decided to go through the cockpit deck. I need to service the cables and drain hoses, too. I do not see any structural challenges that would be compromised by doing this. The main concern I have been paying attention to is water tightness after I design the deck cover. Additionally, if the water gets to be that deep, I'm up the creek anyway, (so-to-speak). The control cables, transmission and other items below the deck need to be serviced from time-to-time, and I can not do it correctly the way it is. I don't think the designers of the boat anticipated the I28 to be around well into the 21st century, so the access to the engine and drive units were probably on the low end of the design priority list. Our boat is a 1977 unit and I intend to keep it for many years, and getting to the "stuff" below deck is pretty important. I have spent the better part of a year designing the hatch and seal characteristics, so I expect to be cutting plastic in the next couple of weeks.
Sincerely,
Fred Langill
fdlbbl@aol.com
Erie, PA
To Islander 28 owners,
April 27, 2010
My wife and I got our boat four years ago and as I have aged and spread, I have found it more difficult to get into the lazarette to service the engine and components. I have decided to go through the cockpit deck. I need to service the cables and drain hoses, too. I do not see any structural challenges that would be compromised by doing this. The main concern I have been paying attention to is water tightness after I design the deck cover. Additionally, if the water gets to be that deep, I'm up the creek anyway, (so-to-speak). The control cables, transmission and other items below the deck need to be serviced from time-to-time, and I can not do it correctly the way it is. I don't think the designers of the boat anticipated the I28 to be around well into the 21st century, so the access to the engine and drive units were probably on the low end of the design priority list. Our boat is a 1977 unit and I intend to keep it for many years, and getting to the "stuff" below deck is pretty important. I have spent the better part of a year designing the hatch and seal characteristics, so I expect to be cutting plastic in the next couple of weeks.
Sincerely,
Fred Langill
fdlbbl@aol.com
Erie, PA
Hi, I'm looking for an I-28 owner to shed light on an engine issue w an I-28 that I'm thinking of buying. She's also a 76, but still has the MD-6 two cyl seawater-cooled diesel. It runs well, but the w/pump is not pumping due to blocked [w scale] cooling passages and/or bad impeller...
Looking for suggestions / a good used manifold... or outboard off transom alternative...
Thanks
Looking for suggestions / a good used manifold... or outboard off transom alternative...
Thanks
Please send photos
It looks like I need to remove the heat exchanger on the back of the engine and the only thing that prevented me from grabbing the SawzAll then and there was that I got stuck trying to get out of the port locker and my blind rage cooled off before I could grab the tool. There's no way I can get it out even with my handy new mirror-on-a-stick (needed to merely check the oil) so my options are: 1) Remove the engine which they apparently built the boat around or 2) start cutting holes. I'm also going to attack from the starboard flank through the 1/4 berth. While I'm at it the I-28 has some unventilated dead air dry rot incubators that I'm going to open up. Most notably under the stool in the head. When water from a leaking head fitting or even (as in my case) a poorly bedded grab rail on the cabin gets under there it stealthily takes out the plywood floor the mast compression post sits on producing the all too common I-28 Sinking Mast Syndrome. Please keep posting pictures and comments on your project and good luck to you.
It looks like I need to remove the heat exchanger on the back of the engine and the only thing that prevented me from grabbing the SawzAll then and there was that I got stuck trying to get out of the port locker and my blind rage cooled off before I could grab the tool. There's no way I can get it out even with my handy new mirror-on-a-stick (needed to merely check the oil) so my options are: 1) Remove the engine which they apparently built the boat around or 2) start cutting holes. I'm also going to attack from the starboard flank through the 1/4 berth. While I'm at it the I-28 has some unventilated dead air dry rot incubators that I'm going to open up. Most notably under the stool in the head. When water from a leaking head fitting or even (as in my case) a poorly bedded grab rail on the cabin gets under there it stealthily takes out the plywood floor the mast compression post sits on producing the all too common I-28 Sinking Mast Syndrome. Please keep posting pictures and comments on your project and good luck to you.
I checked the same thing out and came up with the answer that you pretty much have to do away with the swim ladder in the center of the transom. I've seen it cut and welded back together much narrower and moved to the side while the engine occupies the center. Check out Garelick's website for a pretty good selection of swing down and adjustable angle transom mounts. Get ready for a little sticker shock - the swing downs can be spendy and you want a good one. You definitely need to back the mount wich stainless or aluminum plates. If you think access to the engine is bad try reaching the cenetr bottom of the transom from the inside. Please keep posting about your engine hatch preferably with pictures. I'm going to have to pull my heat exchanger and it can't be done unless I remove the engine or bring out the SawzAll.Hi, I'm looking for an I-28 owner to shed light on an engine issue w an I-28 that I'm thinking of buying. She's also a 76, but still has the MD-6 two cyl seawater-cooled diesel. It runs well, but the w/pump is not pumping due to blocked [w scale] cooling passages and/or bad impeller...
Looking for suggestions / a good used manifold... or outboard off transom alternative...
Thanks
Seems like I heard somewhere that someone had improved access to the engine on their I-28 by installing an access hatch in the deck?
I am one of the owners with a hatch in the cockpit sole of my Islander 28 and it continues to prove extremely useful. Photos including a few shots of the hatch are viewable in an online album:
http://s972.photobucket.com/albums/ae201/jppseattle10/Islander28/?start=all
Hope this helps.
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