Yanmar safety alert.

[Fred Ficarra]

After 19 years with the same Yanmar 3GM30F something new and undesirable happened this week. As I was pulling into my slip a couple of days ago, I placed the shift lever in reverse and it clearly came loose from the transmission. I had no reverse. I never come into a slip 'hot' and had my midship snubber line at the ready, but,,, the thought of having to catch a cleat to keep from going over the top of the main pier scared me. (I was alone) I spun the wheel to port. My speed was less than one knot. I missed the two piers to the south of my slip and the boats in them. I was nearly stopped,,,but,,our marina management has placed an over sized ketch in the third slip south of me. His hull sticks out past the finger pier about five feet. On top of that, he has davits and a dingy on them. Worst of all I lost steerage because I was going so slow. I ran forward with my trusty boat hook. I pushed against the oncoming boat but I was six inches too late. His nearly new 15hp Yamaha outboard (2 stroke) stopped the last of my travels. The owners live aboard and rushed out to help. I had no propulsion and the wind and current were calm. My boat was secured in short order. (H34) A quick check reveled the problem. My new (after my rebuild) transmission attachment adapter had become disconnected. The jam nut on the cable had worked loose and the internally treaded nut of the adapter unscrewed itself from the cable. It is free to turn even though the rest of the adapter is still connected to the transmission shift lever. I installed this adapter so there is no one to blame but me. But still, I never noticed that the nut would back off the cable. It's the only one like that on the boat. The picture I've attached is a little dark. You can see that the jam nut is now in place. It probably isn't needed if the adapter is the least bit rusted but mine is new. Moral; Check your nuts. Oh, nether boat was damaged. The Yamaha is sad though.

 

[Fred Ficarra]

And here is my neighbor.

I think I'm going to snivel to the marina management.

 

[Rick D]

Don't Feel Bad, Fred

That's how I met a good friend. His trans shifting arm came loose and he hit my boat at the end of the dock to avoid hitting the sea wall. It was't a Yanmar, it was a Perkins with somebody's trans. Rick D.

 

[duality]

thanks fred, ill check mine if the ice ever melts!

last year my trans cable broke after we pulled out of the slip into the fairway! mine broke in the pedestal ('84 34 ) upon return of our sail my wife had to steer into the slip first time! and i was down below shifting from the trans. then i did something smart when i buoght the cable i bought one for the throttle too, thinking when i had some free time i might change it. well the next day with a full boat of guests pulling out of the slip the throttle cable snaps!!!! after a bit of confusions in the fairway and my wife at the helm again we pull back into the slip with me operating the gas (or deisel)from the engine. had the cable and 1 and half hours later we were off!cheers,mike

 

[Big Windy]

Yanmar

Thanks for the heads up...I have the same engine and will check it out.

 

[Rick]

Up creek ... have paddle

Hey FredKinda interesting to see that you might have overlooked something in your extensive refit on the hard. And pretty fast thinking. Glad to see no one hurt and no major damage. I checked the rigging on mine doing a routine racor filter change. It was loose! And by the way my slip neighbor has a similar "tail extension" problem. I think I would give the marina a nose full. Suprised that is kosher sticking out that far.Good to see your ship back in the water.. didnt know how long off the hard.CheersRickWhiskey Chaser