Engine gremlins hit again

Tried to take some friends out for a short trip around Suomenlinna, but this time the engine stalled when going back to idle from 'medium throttle'.. Maybe adjusting the idle-speed screw would've helped, but didn't want to take a chance. So, we enjoyed our picnic at the Tervasaari pier instead.

Good points of the day: the water-separator-glass cup was clean of any crap from the gas tanks, and the gas filter too.

Our saga continues :)

Success!

We had our first trouble-free journey on Friday (midsummer's eve). We visited the Iso Vasikkasaari and ate a great lunch there and headed back to Tervasaari. Engine worked like a charm and so did the crew :-) Even the weather was favorable, a bit windy but sunny during the whole journey.

Okay. Let's be honest. I did once accidentally drove over a buoy and Teemu did drop the aft rope into the sea (too short rope, too eager captain :P) and Inka wet her shirt, pants and towel on the shore but using our standards the journey was trouble-free.

It works! It works!

And hopefully now it will work for good, thanks to the helpful engine service guys at MM-Marine.fi. We booked them to get to the bottom of the engine gremlins, and after two hours they did it. The crap from the copper gasoline tanks was to blame again, and once they got the carburettor clean, all worked splendidly, from idle to high revs. They also changed the oil filter, the seawater impeller, adjusted the ignition timing etc. All that's left for us is to check the oil level and gas filter before starting.

We also screwed with the registration plate that Mikko had prepared from wood and genuine marble. We "borrowed" the Meri-Kukka boat next to us to install the plate:



Compared with the old paper printout, the difference is amazing!



For future trips, we might buy replacement impellers, even though the Volvo Penta original part 3593659 from the seawater pump looked fine. One choice is Biltema where 8,99€ will get you a part number 25-200.

It works! It works!

But for how long?

This time during a 45 minute intensive engine workout our Volvo B18A worked without a hitch. No problems at idle, 1000 rpm, 1600 rpm, 2000 rpm nor 2600 rpm. All this with no change in the idle rpm setting etc. Of course, this was without any load on the engine, and the weather was cold +13 Celcius.

Photo of the day: garbage collection (or lack of it) at the Tervasaari pier:

Oh No, Not Again...

Engine trouble again that is. We had a nice 4 hours at sea, first taking the scenic route via Laajasalo to Malkasaari outside Vuosaari, and returning via the Hevossalmi channel. Unfortunately our engine started shutting down at idle, just as we were in the middle of the Degerö narrow channel! We had to push her from the side of the channel. And similar problems again when returning to the pier.

But we will take this with a stiff upper lip, and just learn to adjust the idling speed of the engine. Time to dig out the Weber carburettor PDF manual again...

It works! It works!

Hallelujah, after changing the gas filter the engine was back to its normal, great running self! So the next time we (or you dear reader) see a filter full of green gunk like this, do change the filter before blaming the carburettor:



For future reference, our carb is Weber type "36DCD14". Thanks also to Pertti for helping to identify the problem, and cleaning the jets in the carburettor. For the future we'll equip the boat with a load of replacement filter (of the see-thru and not opaque kind).

May Day!

Almost at least. Our reliable Volvo B18A engine gave up the ghost after just half a mile into our last Sundays journey. More precisely, the engine stalls when giving it any gas. Our first idea was that one of the barrels of the dual-barrel Weber DCD carburetor was stuck, but that seems to be just part of the progressive design: the first barrel starts opening instantly, whereas the second opens only when the pedal is about 75% to the metal.



Check for yourselves this clip:

So this week we'll consult our engine specialist Pertti, and also some online resources:
Weber carburetor troubleshooting guide
Weber DCD manual (PDF)

Spiders and Plates

We have now made 3 journeys with Summertime, and approximately 10 approaches to pier :-)

Tomorrow's going to be the fourth, as we plan to head west and check out an island.

I visited her today to fetch the varnish for the license number plate and noticed that we are not the only ones loving to hang around in the boat:

I got the varnish and applied first layer to the license plates. After a couple of layers they'll be ready and we can attach them to the sides underneath the side windows:

Virgin Voyage

Today was a good day, and the first (real) voyage for Summertime in our hands. We took her from the home harbour at Tervasaari to the Suomenlinna fortress island, where for 6 euros we parked and had a nice salmon soup (not included in the parking fee). Check out Valimo 2011



For the first leg Mikko was at the helm and Teemu tended to the ropes etc. On the return trip we switched roles and sailed through the infamous Kustaanmiekka channel. Didn't make contact with any big boats :)


Some stats about today's trip:
Length: 13 km
Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Max Speed: 19,7 km/h
Avg Speed: 9 km/h

I will leave it to the reader to convert these to knots and miles :)

Home, at last

Finally Summertime has returned home, to the sea.

We lowered her down at Verkkosaaren Telakka and checked the water-tightness for a couple of hours before we had enough confidence to start the first journey. She didn't seem to be too thirsty as the bilge didn't fill up more than a couple of centimeters:

We then headed to Kulosaari pier to fill her up. Entering the pier has relatively easy but getting her out of there was a bit tricky. It looks like we require some 20 meters of clear water to turn her around. Hopefully we'll be able to turn the boat in a smaller space once we acquire more skills.

Her home pier is next to Tervasaari and our place has a buoy aft which we needed to catch to get her "parked". On our first attempt to enter the pier we did manage to catch the buoy but noticed that the ropes were too short to reach the pier. After some shouting and pointless hand-waving we decided to reverse and head back towards clear waters. We combined two ropes to make a longer one and made our second approach. This time the rope was long enough and after catching a wrong buoy and cleverly switching to a right one she was secured and we could pop the champagne (well, sparking wine, anyhow). Here she dwells:

Magic Moments

Mind if I clean your windows, Sir?



Fill her up, please!



Cheers!



I just hope the bilge pump keeps working :-)

Seal and Sticky tape

Here's what Mikko was talking about: a photo of the self-made seal for the water separator glass bowl, including the old broken seal and the bowl:



And as a final touch today I applied adhesive tape to the problem areas in the bottom of Summertime. Do note the use of double taping: first the narrow blue tape and on top of that wider regular masking tape. Fingers crossed and thumbs up for tomorrow...

Preparing for the launch

Again, 3 or so hours spent at the docks...

As we expected, Biltema didn't have a spare sealing part for the water separator so I bought some rubber "mat" and cut a piece that closely resembles the original seal we had. It turned out to work just fine and engine started on the first try. Teemu will surely blog a picture of this masterpiece we constructed.

As Summertime seemed a bit thirsty, we poured some 200 liters of water to the bilge. It all came out happily on the other side:

Then we disassembled the A-frame and left just the tarpaulin so that she wouldn't dry up during Friday. Saturday is scheduled to be the big day as we are "ready" to launch the boat any time after 8am... Scary...

Gentlemen, start your engines!

Now it's proven: you need gasoline in the engine to start it! After pouring 30 liters in the tank and various fuel hoses, and liberally spraying motor starter, our vintage Volvo B18 started up. Pictured here Pertti and Mikko show happy faces with the end result.



Unfortunately the seal in the fuel/water separator disintegrated, so before hitting the waters we have to find some spares. Motonet, here we come...

Clearly we must be doing something right

I had anticipated that applying the varnish would have been more difficult as it turned out to be, but no. No no no no. It was a breeze and it took only about 30 minutes to take care of one side. Here's a shot taken halfway, showing both the freshly varnished surface and the one waiting for a coat of Le Tonkinois.

After a couple of hours and 3 pizzas, here's the end result. Teemu expresses our content with perfect mimicry.

Klara Wappen!

Wordplay again in the heading, meaning Happy May Day in the second official language, swedish. Today we had no reason to yell "Mayday!", because everything worked like clockwork. We washed, sanded, hoovered, wiped and lacquered the outside of the boat:







While Pertti, our team mechanic, took care of the outdrive, changing oil and lubricating it -- do note the ingenious use of four funnels simultaneously:







We also changed the gasoline filter and engine oil, and installed the batteries. All that is left to do before Summertime hits the water is test run the engine and load the boat with all things necessary.

Anti-foul play

"It will only take 2 hours"...said one happy co-boatowner. In reality it took 5 hours but still quite easy. We applied two 0,75L cans of Blakes Cruising anti-fouling paint (color: True Blue). Remember to shake really thoroughly.



The result speaks for itself again. This is a darker shade of blue than the previous owners International Eco Cruiser.



Also, our friend Pertti agreed to be the engine specialist in our team, and did a thorough checkup with the Volvo Penta B18.



Next week will see us visiting Motonet etc, to stock up on replacement parts and engine oil.

Prime stuff

Today was a good day. In about 3 and a half hours we painted the bottom with Hempel Underwater Primer!



The primer paint will help the actual anti-fouling paint to stick to the previous layers of unknown paint and other substances. The primer paint was quite sticky so we thinned it by adding 10% of "wood turpentine". 2.5 liters of Hempel Underwater Primer was quite enough for the bottom of Summertime, with a few centimeters left over for future use. And the end result speaks for itself:

Yes. You CAN remove paint by vacuuming...

As Teemu mentioned, we "fixed" parts of the bottom by exposing the wood and applying Impreg 1 oil. We also decided to vacuum the whole bottom to get rid of dust and some unknown growth. It turned out that either we have an extremely powerful vacuum cleaner or the paint was just about to fall off since the vacuuming took away nice chunks of paint. Next autumn we'll need to impregnate the whole bottom.

Alkaa jo kyllästyttää..

That's a wordplay in finnish, hinting at the topic of this past weekend: impregnation!

Finally the weather permitted us to operate on her lower half. On Saturday we stripped the anti-fouling paint and other layers of paint/other substances partially, and also sanded the wood (by hand and with the ingenious and affordable Parkside Random Orbital Grinder by LIDL -- 19 euros!). This was hard work, as working under the belly of the boat is anything but ergonomical. To be eco-compliant, we disposed of the old anti-fouling paint in the proper wastebins.



Sunday was easier: just vacuum the bottom, and put on three layers of Hempel Impreg 1. 0,75 liters was _just_ enough.



Coming up: primer and anti-fouling paint job next weekend!