August 2, 2003
BGT IN THE GALLEY

	The engine is a very tight fit going thru the hatch. Al made protectors for the wood and varnish.

Usually, jobs on the boat take longer than you think. A 2-hour job is quite likely to take 2 days--a fitting breaks, the catalyst has gone hard, you have 3 bolts but need 4--that kind of thing. I asked Al how long he thought it would take to make the changeover. Facetiously, he told me, "Two days--one to get the old engine out, and one to put the new one in!" More realistically, he thought it would be about 2 weeks--if nothing went wrong.

We started the whole affair on a Sunday. As I mentioned, the engine lives under the galley sinks, right in the center of the boat. The whole sink cabinet removes in one piece for all around access to the engine. We usually set the sink cabinet over to one side in the galley by the fridge--it is too big to go up out of the hatch. This means a total disruption of the galley, (you can't get to anything!) and I can tolerate it for 1 or 2 days. But for a long job like this we had to plan differently. We got some willing hands and lifted the entire sink cabinet up and over and through the galley and then forward into the dinette space--where it wouldn't fit. We moved it across the aisle and set it up on top of the starboard settee. (minus cushions of course). It JUST fit. This freed up the galley and left us with the dinette to use too.

Then Al started disconnecting and removing various things from the old Volvo--you know: starter, alternator, belts and pulleys, fridge compressor, hoses, pump, fuel filter--well anything that sorta stuck out. He put the pieces under the chart table, under the dinette table, inside the sink cabinet, they were lurking everywhere. Bits and bolts went into tin cans that gathered in a rattling collection in between the engine parts. Now what am I going to use for varnish tins?

Now the new Volvo is in the "hole". Now just a few more hours with the tools...

Monday we worked at getting the thing out of its hole. Al had scrounged up a 10 foot timber from the boat yard and we slid it into the 2 forward opening ports in the galley. It straddled the engine perfectly. We borrowed a chain hoist from another boat. Fortunately, the engine had lifting mounts bolted right onto it. We hooked up the hoist and--slowly, slowly--stop; take another bit off the engine--slowly, slowly--hoist again. The green and slightly oily old engine was extricated from its hole!

Next, we put boards under the engine to prop it up, and lowered the engine down onto them so we could shift the hoist. Move the beam and whole lifting apparatus to the middle porthole. Lift and slide the engine again far enough; set it down; move the gear to the aft most porthole. So teeny by teeny we got the Big Green Thing (BGT) out of the hole and onto the floor between the chart drawers and the fridge cabinet where the companionway steps usually sit. Yes!

Al then built some hatch protectors from the shipping crate plywood. We taped big pieces of crate plywood across the chart drawer cabinetry, across the double doors leading aft under the cockpit, and across the refrigerator cabinet by the companionway. We asked (hired) Terry from yacht DUNUZAAD for help in getting the lift done. He had worked often with the yard operators, so knows the crane and their system.

After lunch we did the pull. One of the marina boats towed us over to the lifting bay. There was a bit of fast action (panic?) with lines and fenders when it turned our stern in under the travel lift and crane arm and we drifted WAY too close to the cement pilings! But all worked out OK. And from then on everything went just smoothly--the old engine was lifted out, was put on the fork lift and driven away. Return of the fork lift with our new Volvo. It was hoisted up and let gently down inside to reside where the other one had been positioned. Not even a hint of a threat to the hatches or the cabinetry! So there still was a BGT in the galley. But...it was a CLEAN, newly painted, non-oily BGT!

So there it was--the change over in just 2 days. Just like Al said! (Oh me of little faith....) Not the whole story of course, as there were many days of preparation and tinkering ahead before we could consider the job done. The bilge had to be cleaned and painted, the new engine mounts bolted down to the bed. There was a flummox when Al realized the new mounts had the wrong sized hole for the bolts. Off to the machine shop in town to get double-sized bolts made. One of the big mounting bracket plates had a crack in it and went to be welded at the same time. Al carefully made a template of the mounting bracket spacing with a piece of plywood (that shipping crate has sure come in handy!) so he could position the mounts correctly. The alternator had been an awkward fit on the old engine; he adjusted the brackets for a better position. The days drifted by.

At last we did a reverse of the procedures we used before with the beam through the opening ports and the chain hoist, and lifted the new engine up and lowered it into its spectacularly clean and newly painted "engine room." (Otherwise known as "the hole"!) It nestled down onto the engine bed. It sat perfectly on the engine mounts. Whew! Then out came all the wrenches, sockets, screwdrivers, and such, and Al went to work again. This time he was attaching the starter, the alternator, all the wiring harnesses, the fridge compressor, all the belts, the hoses, clamps, nuts, bolts and oddments that had come off the old BGT--all the stuff that had been sitting around the cabin on newspaper or in tin cans ever since the project began. There was nothing left over, but we did have a devil of a time finding the little clamps that hold the throttle and shifting cables in place!

At about 4:30 Sunday afternoon, exactly two weeks after the initial removal of the sink cabinet to get the project underway, Al was about as far as he could go. He said, "Do you want to smell diesel all night? Or should I wait until morning to bleed the lines?". This is a no brainer choice and we went to the pool instead!

The next morning he managed the diesel bleeding drills with the injectors and filters and all that. Turned the key, cranked it over, and it started! Well, not right away--had to up the throttle a bit, and THEN it roared to life! What a thrill!

There was still more to be done before the sink cabinet could be replaced and I had a fully commissioned galley again. But--with the engine running, we could at least activate the refrigerator and freezer again. And that meant--cool the champagne for the celebration!