Replacing the V-Belt

A few days of jetty jiving, sheltering at Kettering from the 4th cold front in a week and time could be well spent doing maintenance. The Bloke had a 'light globe' moment and decided that now that he has some skills in the engine maintenance department, that an oil change and V-belt exchange was entirely doable starting mid afternoon after a earlier luncheon out with Chris and John.

Farewell lunch with Chris and John at Peppermint Bay.

All began well. Newspaper was laid out in the engine bay to capture any spillage. Overalls were donned so that I wouldn't be presented with impossible laundry challenges. What could go wrong?

The oil extractor pump was doing it's thing and the V-Belt was removed but not because it was damaged or showing signs of excess wear. In fact there was very little carbon dust in the housing and it still passed the tension test and inspection showed it was undamaged. It's expedient to replace these routinely and the Bloke was pleased with himself that we carried 2 spares plus another 'good' 2nd hand one that had been swapped out previously. Brilliant planning, except that we discovered that our 2 new spares were the wrong size!

The Bloke consoled himself. "Good", he said, to discover this on a jetty with access to spares; better in fact than being in a jam in a heaving sea and discovering such a deficit. Annoyed but calming, he turned his attention to the oil change, at least he could accomplish that.

To work on the engine means removing panels to access it. The biggest panel has the companionway steps attached. This means that if you are in the cabin it's not going to be easy to go topside to access the Bloke's 'virtual shed' that comprises 3 lockers or lazerettes that are accessible from the cockpit. There is a solution though - sending me topside to find and fetch. Doing this meant hauling myself up through a hatch in the forward cabin which was a rather athletic manoeuvre. The hatch is meant to be a fire escape too. If you are a man, the possibility is a bit more achievable although I did think that motivation would assist greatly even if, like me, one was a bit short and lacking upper body grunt! Anyway, I got lots of practice, as various items were requested one after the other but not together. As per Murphy's Law, this was usually just after I'd dropped back down the hatch again and settled into my own tasks.

 

 Companionway steps removed to reveal the iron main.

The afternoon was declared a complete disaster when I was unable to locate the spare engine oil. There was 'some' in one container but there was meant to be another unopened one. It wasn't where the Bloke said it would be, nor in any other possible place. That means there are now 2 items we are at a loss to locate, the other being a roll of non-slip tape (think a continuous roll of self-adhesive emery paper). The companionway steps were re-instated and we quit for the day to sooth our mood with some, by now delayed, 5-ers.

The night on the jetty was as bad as any we can recall with the boat rocking and and jerking on the mooring lines. The Bloke was kept awake half the night with the thought that if we were to break free we didn't have a functioning engine to propel ourselves through the crowded anchorage adjacent. Can one over-think these things?

Day 2

A fellow cruiser, kindly took us to Repco in Kingston in search of more oil and V-Belts. He was also looking for the same engine oil and this worked well as we needed only 5 litres and he 15, so a 20L drum, at a much better unit price, was obtained and the cost split accordingly. Brilliant!

A very helpful sales rep located a replacement V-Belt after measuring up the old one the Bloke had brought with him. 2 more would be available in the Hobart store. Excellent. All sorted!

Work continued. The saltwater strainer basket was cleaned out. Definitely an improvement to be made there.

Next the new V-Belt was slipped on. Ooops - too big! The Bloke called David to borrow a vehicle and off The Bloke went, to sort this out. He returned with a grin and a declaration that this time he'd been speaking to someone who knew what they were talking about. He was holding 2 new belts to prove it. This time the belt was much harder to fit and in fact, caused the alternator to be too close to the coolant hose. What the heck, vibration would eventually result in a breakage! At least the Bloke was able to complete the oil change.

Day 3

Another run into Kingston. This time the Bloke said he spoke to someone who really did know what they were doing. this time.  An exchange was made and 2 spares brought along as additional trophies.  This time, the belt slipped on easily and once the alternator was repositioned everything looked good and was tensioned just fine. Third time lucky and the mysterious codes on the packaging were at last understood. The first 2 numerals are the width. The last 4 are the length. 2 centimetres either way was the difference in it being too long or too short. A lesson learned.

The codes on all the engine spares have now been checked and the parts vacuum sealed and stored in our special spares tub in the bilge. The motor has been tested and inspected and been given a good 'looking at'. If The Bloke ever thinks he might start a job mid afternoon, he'll face a mutiny from his crew and he won't need to get a second opinion to confirm it.