When we bought Salt Whistle, we were
convinced that the engine would just need a little bit of work. We
managed to get in two decent sails (one to Great Lameshur Bay on the
south side of St. John, and the other with our friends Lauren and Alex
to Hawksnest Bay on the north side), but the engine got worse and worse.
Amy and Skeeter sailing
Lauren and Amy at Hawksnest
Skeeter and Alex sailing to Hawksnest
Not having a reliable engine is
stressful, I don’t care what the macho sailors say (“It’s a
sailboat….why do you need a motor!?”). There are times that there is no
wind, the wind is not in your favor, or you have to maneuver in tight
spots. No motor might be okay for a small sailboat, but not a 42′ boat
that doubles as our home. We’d prefer NOT to end up on the rocks, thank
you.
We live in the Virgin Islands, so finding
parts and finding a mechanic who knew our engine was not easy. After
about a year of struggling to find the correct parts for our old 1985
Volvo Penta MD30A (parts are obsolete…finding them meant days of
research, dozens of phone calls, and majorly inflated prices) and paying
mechanics who weren’t able to pin point or fix our issues, we decided
to give up.
Figuring out what to do with the old
engine was another challenge. Lots of boaters would say, “Those Volvo
Pentas are great engines,” but when it came down to it, we struggled to
even GIVE it away. We posted on sailing forums, on Craigslist, and in
Facebook groups for months with no real leads. We even joked about
“accidentally” dropping it overboard. Finally, our friend Rick told us
about a guy called “Kiwi” who has lived aboard his boat since the 70’s
and is a tinkerer who is constantly fixing and selling boats. And we
finally had a taker. Kiwi agreed to help us with the removal of our
thousand pound engine if he could have it.
It ended up being a two day process.
This was our first experience in engine removal, but Kiwi had done it
countless times so it was nice to have his expertise and extensive tool
set on hand. Hopefully this is the last time we have to remove our
boat’s engine, but we did learn a thing or two in the process that will
end up being useful.
This is how we did it:
STEP 1 – Disconnect and drain the hydraulic steering fluid lines.
Disconnecting steering fluid lines in engine room
Draining hydraulic steering fluid into containers
Access to hydraulic steering fluid lines under bunk in aft cabin
STEP 2 – Disconnect transmission cable from gear box
Disconnecting transmission cable from gear box
STEP 3 – Disconnect throttle cable from throttle linkage
Throttle cable
Disconnecting throttle cable
STEP 4 – Disconnect alternator
Alternator
Disconnecting alternator
STEP 5 – Unscrew cockpit floor and prop it up for light and accessibility
Unscrew cockpit floor
Prop up cockpit floor to let light into engine room
STEP 6 – Disconnect wiring harness from engine block
Disconnect wiring harness from engine block
STEP 7 – Cut exhaust hose free with hack saw
Cutting exhaust hose free with a hack saw
STEP 8 – Disconnect prop shaft from engine
Holding prop shaft with pipe wrench
Unscrewing bolts that hold coupling between prop shaft and transmission
STEP 9 – Cut dry riser pipe for exhaust with grinder and cutting wheel
Cutting dry riser pipe for exhaust with grinder and cutting wheel
Sparks flew, but I had the fire extinguisher ready just in case
STEP 10 – Move floor and pedestal completely out of the way
Move cockpit floor and pedestal completely out of the way
Direct access to engine room through cockpit floor
STEP 11 – Attach shackles and lines to engine in preparation to lift
Securing shackles and ropes to engine
Securing shackles and ropes to engine
Attaching chain lift hook onto ropes
STEP 12 – Support boom and attach chain lift
We used the topping lift, the main halyard, and the secondary halyard to support the boom
Securing chain lift to boom
STEP 13 – Carefully lift engine using chain lift and guide through cockpit floor opening
Guiding the engine through the cockpit floor
Barely fit. Needed to be turned to make it through.
STEP 14 – Guide engine to starboard side of boat and set down
Easing the engine down on the bench. The chain lift was out of chain and it just barely made it to the bench.
We put down plywood and an old rug to protect our boat.
STEP 15 – Raise the boom to lift engine over rail
STEP 16 – Lower engine down into Kiwi’s work dinghy
Carefully swinging the boom over and trying to ease the topping lift and the halyards evenly
Oh crap! The topping lift snapped. Near heart attack…luckily the two halyards still held.
Gently setting the engine down on plywood in Kiwi’s work dinghy
The engine made it safely out of our boat and is heading to a new home
STEP 17 – Degrease, de-rust, and paint in preparation for our new engine!
The engine room is empty!
Ready to clean, degrease, de-rust, and paint
This was quite an accomplishment for us!
We didn’t burn our boat down in the process, and we didn’t sink...two
fears that had been running through my mind. We are excited to be
making forward progress toward our cruising dream!!!
Thank you to Rick, Kiwi, and Andrew for helping make our boat 1000 pounds lighter!
