Will it start?

I see youtube videos with this title depicting some old rusted and/or forgotten piece of machinery that people with a bit of luck actually get up and running. I am encountering a somewhat less extreme case of this with a neighbor's long neglected twin-engine (Ford Lehman 4-cylinder engines) Taiwan trawler. He was a very intelligent electrical engineer in his day but has been challenged for a few years now with dimentia, and his family members have come to the realization that the boat must go. Lacking in even fundamental boat knowledge, they have asked me to lend a hand. Having sold my own twin-engine trawler years ago to avoid the ongoing issues of an old boat, I was a bit reluctant to get involved, but the calls for assistance kept coming. Today, at my encouragement they got the bottom scrubbed clean of four or more years' worth of biofouling, and the stepson and I and the now-dimented owner climbed around the boat, long disconnected from shore power, checking to see what would be required for getting it running so it can be listed for sale. A couple of decades ago I assisted this man in replacing the leaking fuel tanks. We lifted out each engine one at a time and placed them on balks over the other engine before cutting away the old tank and installing the new ones. He then designed an excellent fuel delivery system out of mostly stainless components. Today as we looked around the boat hunting for why we could get no power to the battery chargers once we plugged it into shore power. With the owner trying to help but unable to form words he needed to describe why he had done some rather inexplicable things to the system, assuming he even knew, it was like trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle from the back side - he had been left to his own devices on the boat for too long. The start batteries are so dead they will have to be renewed, and the stepson is on that one. He knows little about boats, but is willing to help where he can. Then we will have to sort out the various disconnected starter battery cables to the mains and the near-new generator. The house bank of four 6-Volt batteries is finally on charge, but I have little hope for them. The only reason this boat was not full of water and on the bottom is that it does not leak anywhere and lives in a covered slip. The engine fluids all look ok, and we had good water flow when we opened the sea strainers; so we are hopeful of engine start tomorrow. Then the decision they have to make is whether to take it to the yard for a bottom job or try to sell it as is in its very sad cosmetic condition. Tomorrw we will also check steering. Luckily, the owner of the hull cleaning company came by while I was crawling around, and he turned out to be the broker through whom I bought my current boat nine years ago. Maybe we can get the ball rolling toward a quick sale..... I always tell my wife she has six months to sell from the time I cannot tend to the boat anymore, for what ever reason. I think she is taking notes on this one.

I think it will start.

If it's been four years, I would consider barring the motors over versus just pressing the starters. It would be helpful to know approximately how long it's been since they were last running. If it's truly been 4 or more years, it might be worth pulling the injectors and spraying some penetratng oil to in the cylinders before trying to bar the engine over. Easier to dispose of a boat with running engines as opposed to ones needing a rebuild.

Ted

The stepson woke me up this morning with the news that the house batts are sitting at 13.5. He will be buying a couple of start batts later today when I will go over there to help get them in. Barring the engines over was on my mind last night as we all ate dinner together, and we will definitely be doing that this morning. I suggested that he shup off the battery charger for the house batts for a half hour to see how far they sag. From what we can make of the owners communications, we think the start batt charger may be tango uniform. The wife sits in awe of our ability to devine his intentions - "man talk" she calls it, and he smiles.

rgano said:

The stepson woke me up this morning with the news that the house batts are sitting at 13.5. He will be buying a couple of start batts later today when I will go over there to help get them in. Barring the engines over was on my mind last night as we all ate dinner together, and we will definitely be doing that this morning. I suggested that he shup off the battery charger for the house batts for a half hour to see how far they sag.

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Better yet, purchase an inexpensive battery load tester and test the batteries. It eliminates the guess work!

$19.99 at Harbor Freight:

Or virtually the same one at NAPA for $84.69

This is all quick and dirty trying to get the boat into the hands of a broker ASAP. If the batts don't self-discharge under no load and no charge overnight, that will be good enough for gumint work.

You might want to post the boat details here on the forum before you rush to put it with a broker. If the price is right, chances are someone here on the forum may snap it up.

Also, if the price is low, you may have a difficult time getting a broker to take it on, as the perceived $$ realized to the broker for a low sale price will probably be reflected in the amount of effort said broker will expend to try and advertise/show/sell the boat.

So the suspense is killing us, what type of boat is it?!?

It's not my boat, and I just advise the family on what I think are their best options and provide some mechanical help. The wife has been so overwhelmed with the situation concerning his health and other matters over there for some years that time just seemed to slip away IRT the boat. Over time, I mentioned its deteriorating condition to her as diplomatically as possible. A couple of weeks ago, she suddenly came to the realization that it needs to go and is charging full steam ahead. I'm not so far from age 80 myself and although I can crawl around bilges tracing wiring with the best of them, I suffer for it the next day and am in need of backing away from this beast once it becomes mobile. She had asked me to sell it for them, but I demurred because I don't want the hassel. Besides, the broker I hope to get her to go with is a good guy and he does it for a living. I know only a few major details about the boat. I THINK it is a 37-foot Euro-Banker, a brand not seen here in the US much. Galley down. Two heads. Vee berth and master cabins. It has a "bustle" hull extension under where the now rotted off swimstep used to be. Twin 4-cylinder FL engines and a some sort of generator bought at a boat show in around 2000 and never really used, although he installed one of those exhaust water separator gadgets in the hull for it. Electronics? Dunno, but probably at least 30 years old. I don't know the year on manufacture of this boat but it lived on Lake Erie until he brought it here about 1999 or so. If I were to take it into my personal care, I figure around 2-4 years of my life would be involved in daily work before I would be proud enough of it to own up to the fact that I owned it. But if we can get the machinery going, it would make a nice project boat for somebody interested in that kind of hell.

Does it still have the teak outside decks?

slowgoesit said:

Does it still have the teak outside decks?

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Yes, and the polite description would be shambles.

Ahhhh, in that case, pics are probably not necessary . . .

Sadly. Taking this to a pro to fix for you would be way too expensive, but for the determined DIYer,,,,,

When we bought our small 12m De Alm the 6 cylinder 130 Ford Lheman don't run From 6 year.
Change oil
Turn engine by hand ( it is possible on 6 lt engine)
Push the stop on injection pump
Run the starter until you got oil pressure
Release the stop of the injection pump
Start !
We was lucky, no trouble at all, this engine was 8 year old but only 250 hours .

when I got to the boat, the owner and the stepson had just started the mains, in gear (some boats will) and neither one seemed aware of the fact. I jump aboard, reduced the high RPM and put them in neutral. While we checked out a few things. At idle the alternators were putting out about 13.6 Volts, but the start batteries were sitting at 12.6, another mystery to reslove. Finally got power to one bilge pump only to have the unclamped hose pop off of it - found a slightly too small clamp next to it where we theorize it was left when the owner wandered off to get another and forgot what he was going for. Genny battery too weak to start that unit - something for another day. 12 Volt power to anything else has taken a leave of absence. Eventually ran the mains in opposed gear for 15 minutes observing them and shaft seals and the exhaust. Port 20 PSI oil pressure and stbb at 40, hmmm. New impellers will be installed in the main engine cooling pumps next. Not yet safe or in legal condition to leave the pier, but the project's moving ahead.

Cool, I thought it would start -

Yeah, no matter what else is going on, always easier to sell a boat that runs.

Yeah, good thing it didn't leak and in a covered slip or it would be like you said (on the bottom) with the non-op bilge pumps.

Hope all continues to improve!

slowgoesit said:

Better yet, purchase an inexpensive battery load tester and test the batteries. It eliminates the guess work!

$19.99 at Harbor Freight:

https://www.harborfreight.com/100-amp-612v-battery-load-tester-61747.html

Or virtually the same one at NAPA for $84.69

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/BK_7001112?cid=paidsearch_shopping_dcoe_google

Click to expand...

I have one of those. Test process is complete when smoke emits from the tester coils.
There are electronic ones on Ebay for about the same price. No smoke and the screen display reports all.

Not sure if any work will be performed over there today. I think the routine will be son calls whenever he is headed to boat, and I wander over to assist as I can. Pretty sure next step on his part is to get generator going and power to the fwb bilge pump. I'll work on figuring out why there is no 12-Volt power to the 12-Volt buss powering things like nav lights and horn and lot of other things.

Consider donating the boat to a charity.

I'll mentionn that to them.

Today we started the 9 KW Nissan genny, the one with 21 original hours on it and ran the air conditioner with it. Running and anchor lights, check. Ome bigle pump on automatic temporaily connected. Potable water system was interesting. The pump is in the laz nearby the platform from which the water heater was removed. Switching on power to the pump resulted in a stream of water into the bilge from a hidden outlet hose which for some reason had been pulled from the barb fitting connecting it to the rest of the system. Corrected that and reenergized the pump only to have a call from the galley that water was flowing out of a PEX hose there which for some other unknown reason had been disconnected with no PEX fitting available at the moment. The nav and anchor lights work, but no power to horn or VHF radio. AM/FM radio works and seems to draw power from the start batteries. No telling what we'll find when the radar display and chart plotter are brought back aboard. There is a LORAN receiver front and center in the overhead console at the lower helm. No wheel at the upper helm, and a wasp nest prevents entry to the console to check 12-Volt power there. The lower helm wheel spins freely (hydraulic), and we believe the system to be inoperative. Baby steps,

I think you are starting to enjoy this puzzle challenge.

I can remember back a few decades when the US Navy decided to bring back the four Iowa class battleships and somehow came to the conclusion that Commander Gano was going to be the Weapons OfFicer in USS Iowa herself. I got to the ship in Pascagoula to find her layered in hoses, six-inch-thick electrical cables, light strings through miles of passageways, and just general chaos everywhere. The three 16-inch gun turrest were in place as were the six gunfire directors, but that was it. My six five inch gunmounts, eight Tomahawk missile launchers, sixteen Harpoon missile racks, four Close-in Weapons Systems, and even my .50 caliber machine guns were not yet aboard. I had two men, a lieutenant and a master chief working for me initially, Six months later with a newly trained department of 258 men, plus the several hundred cooks, bakers, and candle stick makers who manned the guns and magazines at general quarters, we sailed out of Pascagoula as a commissioned battleship to do battle with the Evile Empire. Yeah, you could say this hot mess reminds me a bit of that, but back then I wasn't on my hands and knees rehabilitating the ship cuz I had people. Now I look around to see the poor ailing owner and his capable but unknowledgeable stepson who I am quickly training to know what to do.

This one should be easy by comparison! I recall the Sydney visit of USS Missouri for an Australian Navy Centenary, one of the most impressive ships to moor mid harbour. We got called out by loudhailer for getting too close while making a circuit to take in the dramatic design of the ship.

Come on Rich, you sold your GB woody to cut back and relax a bit. Now you are roped in. Sounds like you have to be shaking your head wondering if they are hopelessly trying to sell their disposal problem. The right pigeon might come along.

I could npt agree more, but the stepson is really stepping up and getting things done. I sent them a very long and complete list of things to do, and today was an easier visit as we had some relatively easy wins. I will quickly settle in to the long term consultant mode now that the tasks are known (with maybe a screwdriver in hand from time to time). I am hoping their accountant will advise donation. With two working mains and genny right now and hopefully soon functional bilge pumps and steering, they'll have what they need to get it out of their boathouse and safely down the bay to donation and out of all our hair.

You are certainly an optimist…

I will be leaving town soon on family matters being gone long enough to wean them off of any by phoned in help from me.