Messages

I can mail you a 5/8 x 3/4" or 5/8 x 7/8" fiber washer to try (depending on which OD works for your flange bolt head and where it sits -- or a crush washer (which I believe is OE) but theoretically that;s good for only one use, so I'd use a fiber washer.

kk

Thanks for the offer! Still trying to pop into another store or two, but had difficulty getting out of work before they close. I'll let you know.

For now, I have an O-ring there, but would like to move to fiber ASAP. It may be another week before I know, because I need to get to the boat to look it over. If you go to this trouble for me, I want to be sure you get the right size. ID is definitely no larger than 16 mm, based on how the O-ring fits.

Thanks for the info. I need to study some more to get familiar with the cleanout bolt. I assume that this is used for some sort of anti-scaling oparation?

FYI, I close all seacocks when away from the boat. I store the motor key attached to the water intake seacock with a detachable valet key ring:

Thanks all for the suggestions. Please keep them coming.

It is entirely possible that my situation is similar to Paul's. I need to dig further into the service history to construct a full timeline, but I spoke to PO's engine shop, who told me that HX was acid washed and zinc pencil replaced in March 2015. Previous owner had to move out of the area suddenly and boat was immediately listed with the broker and placed on the hard. I believe that it was not in the water again until June 2016 when I launched it for sea trial. The antifreeze 50/50 mix is dated June 2015, so I suspect it was refilled by the broker after reinstall of the HX, and never used until my sea trial. In other words, lots of opportunity for air pockets to work their way out of the system after I purchased it.

I will check things out thoroughly per your suggestions, but it sounds like this may may be the explanation.

While on the phone with the mechanic's office staff, I asked whether they use zinc or aluminum for anodes. She wasn't very technical and I could hear her passing on questions to someone else, but they basically said they always use zinc. I asked why, since Deale, MD is definitely brackish water (mean salinity about 10 ppt), and they didn't have an answer. I suspect that they do it because powerboats could travel further down the Bay into salt water, and since they're in the habit of doing it for powerboats, they do it for everything. That's just a guess, though.

Since I've moved the boat about 30 miles up the bay to Rock Hall (mean salinity about 5ppt), I'll have to check local shops to see what they use. But I shouldn't switch the pencil to aluminum until I switch over all the anodes, so won't do it until offseason. In the meantime I will check the pencil (to be 100% sure) and replace with zinc if needed.

For when the time comes, does anyone know where I can find aluminum pencils? Catalina Direct only has zinc listed on their website.

It looks like the pencil screws in on the bottom of HX. Any special precautions I should use to avoid the whole thing emptying out onto the transmission?

Regarding KWKloeber's question, Engine is M35BC. Heat exchanger age unknown, possibly original.

I am becoming much happier with the system, and would consider Dutchman cringles in a new sail. Only reason I mention a stack pack with a new sail is that is the natural time to consider all options. By that point I will have enough experience with Dutchman that I'll be 100% sure the I either want to get another one or get something else. But so far things are looking good with it.

FYI, I drilled a new hole in the mounting plate, and expanded an existing one, so that I now have a pair of holes exactly 1/2" away from the current holes. While I was at it, I used a bench grinder with wire brush attachment to take off all rust, and repainted the thing. Friday night I went down to the boat and reinstalled the plate and shift cable, and now the transmission's shift lever travels exactly 35mm in both directions. For the inner hole attachment, minimum travel spec is 30mm, so the travel now exceeds the minimum by a comfortable amount in both directions.

There is still a slight delay in the transmission engaging in forward, but it is consistent and repeatable. And the shifting action is very smooth.

I went through the service history file for the boat, and found paperwork indicating that the previous owner sent out the transmission for a complete rebuild in early 2015 (due to rough shifting), then had an unexpected move out of the area before the rebuild was complete. The boat stayed on the hard until my sea trial about 18 months later. So when I purchased the boat it had a newly rebuilt and unused transmission.

I do wonder if the rough shifting and transmission rebuild (at only 468 hours) was due to this poorly adjusted shift linkage. Whether or not, I am glad I picked up on this problem, as it should hopefully extend the life of the rebuilt transmission.

A couple of months ago I topped off the coolant in my reservoir up the the max fill line. I checked it today after returning from a weekend outing and noticed that it is about 1/4 up from the minimum line, so I topped it off again. Engine usage since I topped it up is about 15 hours. I see no clear sign of any leakage from the bottle into the locker or anywhere else, but I may not know all the places to look. Total engine hours is a about 495.

I am just wondering if this rate of loss is unusually high, and what it might indicate? (Leak in HX? Bad rings? Normal loss?)

FYI, I have never checked the zinc pencil in the HX - I have not yet even figured out exactly where the HX it is. (Wanted to look for it today after returning, but engine was still hot and I had to leave.) But surveyor checked it 3 months ago and said it was brand new, and HX had been recently acid washed, and water pump was brand new with pristine impeller. With engine running reliably at 165F, I have not had reason to be overly concerned about HX integrity or any other cooling issues. The lower level that I saw today was the first reason to have some concern.

Obviously I am going to check zinc pencil next time I go to the boat, but prior to that I would appreciate advice on what else to look for, or whether this consumption is normal.

Zippers would be nice, but I'm cheap! We simply loosen the "topping lift (it's not really a topping lift, as we have a solid boom vane that supports the boom) run the forward Dutchman line toward the mast and the aft line to the end of the boom. We've been doing it this way for 18 years and never had a chaffing problem nor any clanging against the mast.

I've done this for three weekends now, and it seems to work great. I can put sufficient tension on the topping lift to keep everything from slapping the mast. Once I remove the sail cover, I just tension up the topping lift prior to raising the sail, without having to untangle everything. It's much better, and eliminates the need for me to modify my sail cover with zippers.

I'll probably stick with the current Dutchman for the remaining life of the sail. If I need to replace the mainsail at some point, I will consider a stack pack as part of the package for the new sail.

For interior applications where marine grade might not be needed, there are other options. This one is smart charging:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WHXRGL4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

There are other new standards emerging such a Qualcomm Quickcharge 2.0 and 3.0 which may be required to charge certain devices in the future. So whatever you install, be prepared to upgrade it in the future. My solution is to stick with 12v auto receptacles and buy multi-USB adapters (like the one above) to facilitate easy upgrades in the future. I admit it's not marine grade, but I keep my boat dehumidified when in the slip.

Yeah, mine's two hours away, which makes it a pain. Last time I was down there I looked for the hole on top and didn't see one. I didn't think to look on the side, because it wasn't taken out at the time. I had noticed that the dipstick was hollow last time I pulled it out.

Sounds like the O-ring will be the temporary fix while I figure out the long-term fix. I got 10 of them for about $2, so that should last awhile. I'll look for signs that it's squeezing out and avoid over-tightening.

Stores #3 and 4 were a bust the past two days. Empty pegs on the M16 washers.

One of my challenges, of course, is that I've never seen the correct washer. I measured the plug's OD to the tips of the threads (i.e., washer ID) as 5/8" or 16mm. Getting a good look at the dipstick hole to see the correct washer ID was not possible. So not really sure what the OD should be.

I was able to find an O-ring which I am sure would be a good fit, and would do fine to prevent metal-to-metal contact on the drain plug. Are there issues here? I assume the transmission gets warm, but probably not too hot. And I don't think tranny fluid is going to attack an O-ring. Are there pressure issues if an O-ring makes too good a seal? I read somewhere else that a (different model?) Hurth transmission has a vent hole in the dipstick nut, and someone lost their dipstick and replaced it with a rubber stopper which sealed it too well and blow out some other seals. I read that on the Internet, so it must be true!   

ENGINE SERVICE BULLETINS

YOU'D BE REALLY DUMB TO NOT CHECK THESE

AND THEN ACTUALLY DO THEM

...Also look around the Westerbeke/Universal engine website, here:

http://www.westerbeke.com/Products/InstallationManual.aspx?ID=7

...I clicked the link and it works for me...

The above link is still dead on all of my computers. Could someone else try it to verify whether I'm the only one getting the 404 error message shown below?

The resource cannot be found.

Description: HTTP 404. The resource you are looking for (or one of its dependencies) could have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.  Please review the following URL and make sure that it is spelled correctly.

Requested URL: /Products/InstallationManual.aspx

Before I summarize what I did today, I do want to mention that I discovered that my transmission fluid dipstick has no sealing ring at the top. Does anyone have a suggested replacement that I can find in a brick&mortar auto store? It looks like it would need a fiber washer with ID of 5/8" (16 mm).

It's called ACE Hardware.  Really.  A good hardware store has just about everything you need for your boat.  You could go online at McMaster Carr, but you might have to find different sizes thst span what you "may" have.

Go to your local hardware store.  You won't be sorry.  Unless you have a really crappy store.

I had already gone to two stores when I posted (one hardware, one auto parts) and could not find a part that would work. That's why I posted here.

The problem is that the sealing rings with 5/8" ID are too wide to fit in the spot (OD too large to fit in the flat area). A ring with the proper ID that is not too wide seems to be difficult to find, so I'm asking here if anyone has found these parts at a B&M store, and if so where.

Thanks for the pics! That's exactly what I have, but I was not comfortable moving the notch outside the groove. And it would definitely need longer screws, as the ones in there are barely long enough with the notch in place.

Before I summarize what I did today, I do want to mention that I discovered that my transmission fluid dipstick has no sealing ring at the top. Does anyone have a suggested replacement that I can find in a brick&mortar auto store? It looks like it would need a fiber washer with ID of 5/8" (16 mm).

I finished removing the compass today and looked down at the chain and linkages. I'm not going to attempt adjusting the linkages there. In addition to the risk of dropping something down the "chimney," those linkages are very long, and you can't just twist them without grabbing the push rods and/or lock nuts. Those elements are buried way too deep to get to. Unless I was seeing it wrong, the only way to adjust would be to remove the cable. I think drilling a new hole in the mounting plate to shift it aft by 1/2" will be a much simpler solution, and fully reversible if I need to put it back the way it is currently.

In looking over things closely, I'm pretty sure this transmission was removed and repainted, presumably as part of a rebuild. There is paperwork from the previous owner indicating that he paid someone to remove it for inspection, but no paperwork that any follow-up work was done. But by the looks of things I'd say it was rebuilt, and I may be about to solve the root cause that led to the rebuild. On the surface this looks like a clear-cut case. The cable only pulls the shift lever into forward by 1" due to binnacle interference, vs. a spec of ~1.2" (for inner holes), but it pushes the lever into reverse by up to 2". So it seems obvious that moving the cable back by 1/2" will make the lever motion symmetrical and well above spec in both directions. Service manual clearly says:

A greater amount of shift lever travel is in no way detrimental and is recommended. However, if the lever travel is shorter, proper clutch engagement might be impeded....This would be indicated by slow clutch engagement or no engagement at all.

...which is exactly what I was experiencing.

I'm pretty excited about this, because it really looks like symptoms and solution line up perfectly. While I wish the PO had fixed this before I took ownership, it's nice to have a clear solution. My pre-purchase surveyor and sea trial captain (owner was absent) had warned me to keep an eye out for this due to the interference from the binnacle tube, but they considered the shifting to be acceptable.

Finally, I have a question. As inevitably happens, you put everything back together and one extra part remains. After reassembling my compass, I found the below sticker on my cockpit sole. The adhesive had dried and it fell off from somewhere. Any clues where it was attached?

...To fix it I made all of my adjustments below the aft cabin where the transmission cable has a screw on attachment a little ways behind the transmission that allows you to adjust the cable forward or backward slightly, but enough for me, relative to the transmission...

I think I found the attachment that you're referring to, but it has a distinctive notch in it that mates with a groove in the end of the cable, so I can't adjust the cable fore-aft at all.

I attempted to thread the linkage tie end further onto the cable (effectively shortening it), but it immediately bottomed out. The thread is 10-32, so I threaded it into my bolt cutter and tried to cut off about 12 turns to allow me to thread the linkage on further, but that cutter is very weak (pretty much just works for brass screws), so I couldn't do that. That's a good thing, because afterwards I concluded that the best way to fix this without doing anything irreversible is to cut new holes into the mounting plate so it mounts 1/2" further back.The plate already has a bunch of extra holes (presumably for use with different transmission models), and there is already a hole right where I want it. All I need to do is make that hole a little bigger and cut a second hole, and I can mount this thing in the perfect position. And if it doesn't work, I just mount it with the original holes.

My compass housing turns a few degrees each direction, and doing it back-and-forth repeatedly caused it to ride up and come off. (Much simpler than the compass on my old C250.) Underneath is a mounting plate with four screws as described above. I'll take that off in the morning when I have light and have a look at everything. If there's a way to shorten the cable from there I may try it, otherwise I'm going to drill the holes in the mounting plate.

Another change I plan to make is to cut the wood cover under the aft berth right where the seam is between the two cushions. That will facilitate quick access to the front part, where the Racor, raw water strainer, transmission, and muffler are all located, all of which might need to be accessed quickly in the event of a malfunction. Has anyone else done that? It seems silly to have this one huge cover that is so cumbersome to remove.

I have had this problem a couple of times.  First when replacing the plastic gear shift with the metal ones in which case I could not get into forward and then again one time coming back from the boat yard when someone who was working on my boat in the general area of the transmission cable unintentionally "adjusted" it so that I did not have reverse. To fix it I made all of my adjustments below the aft cabin where the transmission cable has a screw on attachment a little ways behind the transmission that allows you to adjust the cable forward or backward slightly, but enough for me, relative to the transmission. I would make adjustments down below and then run the engine and make sure I could put the boat in forward and reverse at low rpm while still tied to the dock until I was happy with it.  The results of that process have worked fine for me so far. 

-Eric

Funny, I just crawled out of my aft berth to check your message, and that's exactly what I'm doing. Thanks for the advice!

The travel distance of the shift lever is below Westerbeke's spec in forward, because the shift lever hits the binnacle. The travel in reverse is well above spec. So I need to shorten the linkage. There only about 1/4" additional thread to shorten, and not sure if the end piece will bottom out before I take it in. But that's what I'm going to try first to see how much it improves the situation.

Ideally I need to adjust the whole thing about 7/16" to have equal travel each direction, but not sure the best way to do that. There's not enough thread left to take in that much. The mounting bar's alternate holes aren't spaced properly for the mounting posts on the transmission. I could take it off and drill new holes, but that's not a short-term project. I can't figure out how to get the compass off the binnacle, so can't adjust that end right now.

So for now, I'll take in as much as I can on the linkage, test to see how much better it is, and look for additional ways to take more in (and look for the compass manual to figure out how to take it off).

If none of that works, I can try to have the lever bent a little.

Have you checked the Critical Upgrades topic?  IIRC, there's a link to the Westerbeke service bulletins.

I could not find a link by manually scanning the topic. Most message boards have a "search within topic" option, but I can't find it here. Am I missing it? Searching the whole message board generated too many spurious hits.

I did find some TSBs on the Westerbeke website. The one on shift lever (SB36) seemed to just say the same thing that the manual already says.

Rick, we can't possibly know what you read or didn't, what search terms you used, or what you consider spurious,    so this is the one I meant:

http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,5078.msg31122.html#msg31122

The Critical Upgrades topic is all of four pages, so a search within a search is kinda unnecessary.  We've recommended that folks print them out, too.

I think you get the points made that there are two ends.  I thought your answer was very funny.    Thx.

Thanks to Stu for editing his message today to add the nonexistent link. That is one of the messages I had found by reading the whole topic last night, but I did not realize it was the one he was referring to because it lacked a link. Unfortunately the link that he added today generates a 404 error.

I still am curious whether there is a method to search only within a topic. Other message boards that I use do have such a feature, and I think they use the same web software. So maybe the feature is there and I just can't find it. This tech question is broader than that one thread - other threads can be very long and limiting a search to within a thread can get very targeted hits. I didn't mean for that to be funny.