Cummins winter refresh

[Robb]

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We pulled the gear and engine from Stella Maris this winter. The last owners were older and did not use her for a few years before we purchased and I'm guessing were light on maintenance a few years before that. Time to get it all straightened away. After a summer of trying to repair and patch in the boat we decided to pull and make it right.

Really glad we did. On the Cummins we found the front cranks seal leaking heavily, the freshwater pump leaking, the Hurth gear shaft seals weeping. We have installed a reman Holset turbo, all new injectors, serviced the seawater side, upgraded to a SeaMax seawater pump, installed a CCV system, installed a new oil pump, oil pan pulled and cleaned, new freshwater pump, both new crank seals, boiled the gear cooler and heat exchangers, replaced the idler pulley and changed the bearings in the belt tensioner along with installing a new belt. All the preheat electronics have been removed and converted to a manual system with a button on the dash and a 115v pan heater. Starter and alternator have been rebuilt. All hoses have been replaced- some of these were scary bad after 17 years. Fuel cooler has been removed and discarded also. All in all a lot simpler and cleaner engine set-up. Engine should go in for final white paint this week. I'm excited to have a nice clean engine with no major unknowns.

On the Hurth gear we degreased and pressure washed or sandblasted as appropriate and repainted red. I always liked having the gear a different color from the engine. The seals are replaced and the unit is ready to fill with synthetic fluid. Finally I should be able to have a clean bilge this summer...

On the boat we found most of the green grounding wires rotted through and either sitting disconnected or breaking when we lift. The shaft seal was leaking badly and the hose was original. Very soft and only one remaining hose clamp holding it on...yikes.

Hopefully will get the engine back in the boat before halibut season.

[Pitou]

Very nice Robb. Now you can just worry about cruising & fishing!

I'm sure that you're on this, but what a great time to upgrade your sound insulation package.

[Robb]

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I just saw the engine at the painter. I'm as excited as a 4 year old at Christmas. Way too much work this past decade has skewed my view of what is exciting I guess.

[Pitou]

If they only had that beautiful white Cummins engine in the "old" Sears Christmas catalog!

Looking great Robb!

Are you working on isolating the engine area with some sound insulation while things are clear?

[Robb]

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Just found the before photo of the engine as it was coming out. After photo is just before going in last weekend. My advise is to not run with a leaking water pump for a few hundred hours.

Kevin, unfortunately ran out of time with all the little issues during the refresh and will not get to major soundproofing this year. Did cost the bilge with Silent Running though. Will see if that even does anything. Soundown next year...

[amber jj]

Robb did you remove your fuel cooler?I understand you can get along fine without it.It looks like it would make life a lot easier to get at the raw water pump.

[Robb]

Removed both the fuel cooler and the engine auto manifold preheater. So much more room on both sides. We wired a solenoid to a dash button to manually control the manifold heater last year and it works great. We hold 192 gallons of fuel and up here in the cool NW there is no need for a fuel cooler as the thermal mass of the tank dilutes the warmth of the return fuel.